1st Place, Baby!

Wow. Wow. That's all I can say at this point as I'm STILL in a state of euphoria! My team knocked it out of the park on Saturday at their OM competition and took 1st place in their division (there were a total of 16 teams competing)! But even more exciting than that (can you believe we get more excited about something other than taking 1st place?) is my team was honored with the most coveted OM award that is given out at competition. It's called the Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award and is presented to teams or individuals who exhibit exceptional creativity, either through some aspect of their problem solution, or an extraordinary idea beyond the problem solution. Judges write up nominations based on what they witness throughout the day and then vote for the winner(s). In our case, there happened to be four awarded that day and our team received one of those four! We are honored, humble and thankful for all the blessings and support our team has experienced!

It was a day to remember and a day filled with joyful tears! The suspense at the end of the day finding out who the winners are...there were two coaches and seven kids who were just about having a heart attack waiting for the announcement of winners. You see, they start out with 6th place and announce all the teams from all problems in all three divisions (there were 5 problems) in 6th, then they move to 5th place, then 4th and on and on.  As soon as they finish announcing all the 2nd place winners, they stop for a few minutes to give out what they call the OMer Awards. When THAT'S finished, they announce the 1st place winners. We don't know our scores at that point so once your team hasn't been called and they're preparing to announce the winners, we say it's either "1st or crap!" We ended up with 1st!

Now we prepare to move on to State competition in April (with much more practicing so my presence on-line will be limited!), so until we find out if we move on to World's from there, I won't be posting any videos yet (it's not allowed!). As soon as I am able, I would love to share it here so you can see how hard these talented kids worked! Until then, here's a picture of our team in costume in front of set at State competition...

Odyssey of the Mind

Oh my goodness. I looked back to see that my last post was a long time ago! Terrible. Just terrible. But I haven't been shirking my duties for no reason at all. You see, I have been spending all my waking moments as well as sleeping moments DREAMING about my Odyssey of the Mind team that I'm coaching this year.

What IS Odyssey of the Mind?  The Odyssey of the Mind teaches students to learn creative problem-solving methods while having fun in the process. For more than twenty five years, this unique program has helped teachers generate excitement in their students. By tapping into creativity, and through encouraging imaginative paths to problem-solving, students learn skills that will provide them with the ability to solve problems -- great and small -- for a lifetime. The Odyssey of the Mind teaches students how to think divergently by providing open-ended problems that appeal to a wide range of interests. Students learn how to identify challenges and to think creatively to solve those problems. They are free to express their ideas and suggestions without fear of criticism. The creative problem-solving process rewards thinking "outside of the box." While conventional thinking has an important place in a well-rounded education, students need to learn how to think creatively and productively.

The Odyssey of the Mind has its roots in the Industrial Design classes of Dr. Sam Micklus, Odyssey of the Mind founder. As a professor at Rowan University in New Jersey (formerly Glassboro State College) Dr. Micklus challenged his students to create vehicles without wheels, mechanical pie throwers and flotation devices that would take them across a course on a lake. He evaluated them not on the success of their solutions, but on the ingenuity applied and the risk involved in trying something new and different. Students had fun. Word spread and the students' activities attracted attention from the local media. Soon, people on the outside wanted a part of the action. This public interest led to the development of a creative problem-solving competition for school children. The Odyssey of the Mind was on its way. Since then, Dr. Micklus's life has been happily consumed with developing problems for other people to solve. His rewards are in the joy and pride of the millions of participants who rise to the challenge of solving those problems.

OM has been such a huge part of my daughter's life these last 3 years (my daughter seen here creating a "banner" made out of drink pouches by sewing them together for her team's 2012 problem!) and, as a coach of the team, has had a huge impact on MY life! If you'd like more information about OM, please don't hesitate to read up about this fantastic organization and all it can do for your child. Amazing!

With all that being said, I am currently coaching a 2013 team of 7-5th graders and their Regional competition is this Saturday, March 9th. As soon as that's over, I'll be somewhat back to my normal self and will continue posting whatever crosses my mind (oh, that's just down right frightening at times!) but if my team moves on to the State competition, I'll be with them practicing, practicing and more practicing! I'll keep you posted and hope to post their long term performance video here (have to wait until after competition, though, as it's truly top-secret!). Until then, have fun scrapping and capturing those precious memories...