Madison Students Succeed At Odyssey Of The Mind, Bringing Home Two Golds, Two Silvers, Two Bronzes And Some Great Memories

Creativity was in the air at the Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind tournament in Bristol recently.  Madison sent sixteen teams to the competition, one of the highest participation rates in the state.  Local students in grades 1 to 12 competed in all problems and divisions at the annual academic event. 

Founded in 1978, Odyssey of the Mind (OM) is the oldest and largest creative problem-solving competition in the world.  Each fall, teams choose one of six problems with technical or artistic criteria.  Teams work all winter to develop a solution to their problem, which they present at the state tournament in the spring.  Students may learn about history, literature, science or engineering as they gather information needed to solve their challenge. 

In Madison, OM is an extracurricular activity.  Teams of seven children are encouraged to “think outside the box” as they develop their own solution to an open-ended question involving technical or dramatic components. Volunteer coaches provide supervision, however, all ideas and work on the problem come from the students.  As a result, before the teams even reach the competition, they have achieved success by developing a creative solution to a problem on their own.

"Something I would have wanted to do as a kid ... "

One of this year’s problems required building a vehicle powered by mousetraps.  Another involved creating a Rube Goldberg device that solves a simple task in an unnecessarily complex manner.  Teams build structures, write scripts, create costumes and props and prepare to perform before an audience.  

This year in the primary division, children were challenged to present a humorous performance about a character who tries to make money from wild ideas. 

According to primary coach Michael Looby, “I decided to do Odyssey because I liked the idea of its main goal of providing creative problem-solving opportunities to students.  Also, it sounded like something I would have wanted to do as a kid.  I felt that starting with a young team of 6- and 7-year-olds was a chance to preserve as well as develop the imagination and creativity that children already have at this age. As we grow up this tends to fade, and as adults we might see a banana as just a banana, where a child sees a telephone or a giant smile. ”

Spontaneous competitions in addition to long-term competitions

At the tournament, teams are also challenged to think on their feet, by solving a Spontaneous problem that they have never seen before.  The combined scores from the long-term and spontaneous competitions determine who will represent the state at the World Finals.

Madison had six teams medal, with two golds, two silvers and two bronzes.  The first and second-place teams have been invited to the Odyssey World Finals at the University of Maryland, May 27-30.  With two months to fundraise and perfect their solutions, the local teams will now prepare to compete against the champions from other states and countries.