Area schools participate in Odyssey of the Mind Regional

Local students in elementary through secondary school will compete in the Region 14 Odyssey of the Mind Regional Competition on Saturday, March 1 at Canandaigua City School District. This event is the first in a series of competitions that will determine which teams will represent the state of New York at the Odyssey of the Mind 2003 World Finals at Iowa State University in May.

Working in teams of five to seven, students have spent most of the school year applying their talents and imaginations to come up with creative solutions for a variety of "problems." They present their solutions in eight-minute competition periods and are judged by local volunteers, who score on criteria such as creativity, originality and meeting the problem's requirements.

There are five different challenges, and teams compete against one another in the same problem and age group.

Participating school districts include Brighton, Canandaigua, Churchville-Chili, East Irondequoit, Fairport, Greece, Holley, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Nazareth Schools, Our Lady of Mercy, Palmyra-Macedon, Penfield, Pittsford, Spencerport, Webster, West Irondequoit, Wheatland-Chili.

A Scene from Above has teams design, build and run three vehicles that transport items from an Orbit Area to an Assembly Station. In a humorous presentation, the items are added to a 3-D representation of a scene of the Earth as viewed from space. This problem is sponsored by NASA.

The Know-It-All is a technical problem that requires teams to design and build a character that possesses "artificial intelligence" (A.I.) The A.I. character is believed to be all knowing, but when people ask questions, it gives unrelated advice. The people, in turn, interpret A.I.'s advice into brilliant pieces of wisdom.

Put a Spin On It is about the creation of a classical work of great human achievement, and includes a scene showing possible (and sometimes outrageous) reasons for the creation of the work. It's a problem of possibilities, where the team holds a "spin session" to generate the reason that is accepted today as fact.

Odd Pod Structure challenges teams to design and build a structure of balsa wood and glue that will rest on an odd number of team-made pods and hold an incredible amount of weight. The teams incorporate weight placement into an original skit.

Fooled Ya! features two team-created characters who perform at least five "illusions" that entertain other characters in the performance. One of the illusions turns out to be not an illusion at all - it actually happens!

Teams also have to solve a spontaneous problem - a short-term challenge presented on the day of the competition that requires them to "think on their feet."

Over two hundred teams are expected to compete at the tournament, representing more than fifty schools from the area. Those who place will advance to the New York Odyssey of the Mind Association Finals on Saturday, March 15 at SUNY Binghamton.

The competitions begin at 8 a.m. and will continue throughout the day. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremonies, beginning at 6:30 p.m. All events are free of charge and open to the public.