Indian River School DIstrict wins two Odyssey of the mind state championships
by Ted Yacucci
INDIAN RIVER DISTRICT WINS TWO ODYSSEY OF THE MIND STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The hits keep on coming for the Indian River School District. Two of its teams captured state championships at the Delaware Odyssey of the Mind competition at the University of Delaware on March 6.
A team coached by Lisa Forney took first place in the “Nature Trail’R” category for Division III (high school), while a team coached by Forney and Becky Burton won first place in the “Food Court” category for Division II (middle school). In addition, a district Division I (elementary school) team coached by Jeff and Terri Evan received the prestigious Renatra Fusca Award for outstanding creativity.
"The children are amazing," states Forney, who teaches talented and gifted students in the IR District. "These kids give up their weekends, and I mean Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, from December to March. The dedication of the students, teachers, and everyone involved in the District is really our secret to success," said Forney.
Odyssey of the Mind was founded in 1979 by Dr. Sam Micklus of Glassboro State College. The competition encourages students to find solutions to open-ended problems by utilizing creative problem-solving methods. Each year, five new competitive problems are presented and teams spend months working toward solutions. There is a limit on the amount of money teams can spend on materials used in their creative solutions. During the competition, teams are also required to solve a spontaneous problem as part of their score. Millions of students from kindergarten through the collegiate level have participated in Odyssey of the Mind since its inception.
The Forney team that won the “Nature Trail’R” competition consisted of students from Indian River and Sussex Central high schools. Team members were Amanda Schultz, Carol Linde, Payton Saxton, Macy Lyons, Jessica Gude and Holly Kaufman. This team also took third place in the “Food Court” category for Division III.
The Forney/Burton team that took first place in the “Food Court” category consisted of students from Selbyville Middle School, Millsboro Middle School, Southern Delaware School of the Arts and Lord Baltimore Elementary School. Team members were Cory Burton, Jack Saxton, Farris Hauck, Logan Robinson, Matthew Lyons and Matthew Parsons.
The Evan team that received the Renatra Fusca Award while finishing third in the “Food Court” category for Division I consisted of students from East Millsboro Elementary School, Lord Baltimore Elementary School, Long Neck Elementary School and Southern Delaware School of the Arts. Team members were Andrew Evan, David Fike, Maggie Ford, Lily Zechiel, Lauren Thornberg, Brittany Ritter and Karrsin Mitchell.
Indian River School District students have won 32 Odyssey of the Mind state titles since 2000. Forney says that the IR District begins choosing teams with 5th grade students. All 5th grade students are invited to try out, with a final team of seven kids chosen to comprise a team. "Many of these students will compete in the competition each year through high school, gaining experience each season. In addition, the teachers are all very experienced, which gives us an edge in doing well," Forney explained.
Another district middle school team also took second place in both the “Nature Trail’R” and “Discovered Treasures” categories for Division II. Team members were Cameron Goff, Madison McCabe, Eliza Bomhardt, Natalia Elling, Randy Short and Mallory Nielsen.
The “Nature Trail’R” competition required teams to design, build and drive a human-powered vehicle and camper on a camping trip. Once the vehicle arrived at the campground, the camper was disconnected and the vehicle traveled on a team-created nature trail. On the trail, the vehicle overcame an obstacle, cleaned up the environment, encountered wildlife and underwent repairs.
The “Food Court” category required students to create and present a humorous performance in which a food item is accused of being unhealthy and must defend itself among its food peers.
Both first-place teams and the Renatra Fusca Award winners qualified for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals to be held May 26-29 at Michigan State University.
"It's not just Odyssey of the Mind that the District focuses on," Forney says. Indian RIver places great emphasis on our students competing in all state competitions, and many IR teachers are involved in running these competitions at the state level. "
Schoolnite.net wishes the Indian River competitors the best of luck as they now carry the First State name to national competition.
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