Sanford Middle School

SMS Odyssey of the Mind Team

Competes at World Finals in Michigan

Congratulations to Anthony, Ben, Chris, Derek, John, Kirk, and Sunash for their outstanding performance and hard work at last week’s Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. The team came in thirteenth against teams from around the world including groups from China, Poland, and Korea. Great job!

Congratulations to all Odyssey of the Mind teams who competed this past February’s regional tournament. All performances were highly creative and polished. Every participant should feel very proud for solving the extremely difficult long term problems and bringing them before a group of judges. Special congratulations to the teams that will be competing at the state tournament in April.
See the bottom of the page for pictures from the competition.

The following teams were recognized at the Odyssey of the Mind Awards Ceremony--

Team #1           1^st Place (moving on the State Finals)
Team #2           1^st Place (moving on to State Finals)
Team #3           3^rd Place (1^st Place in Spontaneous)
Team #4 A       5^th Place
Team #4 B       3^rd Place (moving on the State Finals)
Team #5 A       9^th Place
Team #5 B       5^th Place
Team #5 C       10^th Place

Teams of five to seven students solved specific long-term problems over the course of several months and presented these solutions in eight minute skits for a panel of judges. The other half of the competition was Spontaneous, where the team learns of the problem when they arrive in the Spontaneous Room. All teammates committed to working together without any outside assistance, including adult or coach suggestions, for both long-term and Spontaneous rounds—making the challenge very difficult. Both long-term and Spontaneous solutions were scored on teamwork, creativity and series of specific requirements. The long-term problems for this year are summarized below.

Ames, Ia. May 30--- Out of over 850 teams, the 2009 Odyssey of the Mind World Champions have been declared, and Sanford Middle School ranks among them.

Young people from all over the world came together in Ames, Iowa on May 27^th to compete in this creative problem-solving competition. Fifty one teams qualified to compete in Problem 2: Teach Your Creature, Division II, and of those, thirty seven made the trek to Iowa State University.

The Sanford Middle team, going up against teams from Changwon, South Korea and Gdansk, Poland, ranked 5^th in the world with their creatively engineered creature, Toddy the Elephant; their 100% recycled set and costumes boosted them to 1^st in the “Style” category. Sanford Middle School’s Teach Your Creature Team report that the high points of the trip most definitely included hearing their school name called as 5^th during the Awards Ceremony and meeting other students from Singapore and Poland during the pin trading sessions. The students, Jenny, Justin, Darcy, Neil, Brianna, and Rachel are also grateful to their Principal, Mr. Mark Russi, for being their biggest fan and supporting their efforts to finance the expensive trip. The team also wears their sponsorship t-shirts proudly in honor of the local business partners that made their adventure possible.

Odyssey of the Mind is founded on the idea of innovative thinking and recognizes exceptional creativity through this competition. Teams work for months and were considered to be the best in their state or country. They have worked hard, fund-raised constantly, and traveled far to attend this three-day event. Along the way, they’ve made new friends, learned about different cultures, and stretched their creative abilities to new limits.