Questar III’s Regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament is being held Saturday, March 10 at Rensselaer City School District. The tournament consists of 80 teams from school districts in Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene County. With over 600 students participating, it is the largest tournament Questar III has ever organized.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international program with a mission to teach students how to solve problems creatively. It encourages them to use their imagination and learn the importance of working as a team. The tournament is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work by the teams.
Arlene Sampson, Odyssey of the Mind tournament coordinator, said, “This tournament is always a wonderful culmination for students of many months of hard work, brainstorming and creative problem solving as a team. Many students discover for the first time that they can really speak in front of an audience, or paint a backdrop or build a structure that holds hundreds of pounds. These are skills they will use for the rest of their lives. It is rewarding to know that the Odyssey of the Mind program can have such an impact.”
Registration for the daylong competition begins at 7:30 a.m. and performances are from 8:20 a.m.-3:50 p.m. The awards ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The competition includes teams from Averill Park, Brunswick, Catskill, Coxsackie-Athens, East Greenbush, Hoosic Valley, Ichabod Crane, Lansingburgh, Rensselaer, Schodack, Troy, Tech Valley and Wynantskill.
St. Mary’s Academy, Doane Stuart, LaSalle Institute, and Susan Odell Taylor School for Children will also compete.
Each team has been challenged to create original and creative ways to solve one of the following open-ended questions:
- Ooh-Motional Vehicle: Teams will design, build and drive a vehicle that will display different human emotions for each of the three situations it encounters.
- Weird Science: Teams will create and present a performance based on scientists uncovering the cause of mysterious events and include the appearance of actually traveling to the mysterious event.
- To Be or Not To Be: Teams will take a musical spin on Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be or not to be?” An original “Hamlet” character will take the easy way out in a team created dilemma and realize that taking the easy way out was the wrong decision.
- You Make the Call: Teams will build and design a structure made only of balsa wood and glue that will support as much weight as possible.
- Odyssey Angels: Teams will create and present a performance where they travel throughout various places and find negative situations which they need to change for the better. Amongst these “Odyssey Angels” one will not speak and one will have a special power created by the team.
- Hide and Peek: For K-2 teams only. Teams will create a device that uncovers three surprise objects by lifting a team decorated container off of each of them from 5, 8 and 10 feet away.
Due to limited parking, shuttle buses will be available every 20 minutes from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Shuttles will be running to the CDTA parking lot on Route 4 and Carmela’s Banquet House on Washington Avenue. After 1 p.m., shuttles will also be making stops at Doane Stuart on Washington Avenue.
Odyssey of the Mind mascot, OMER, will be appearing at this year’s program. Remember to bring your camera to take a picture with OMER!
In case of inclement weather, the tournament will be held Sunday, March 11. Please check local radio and TV stations for an announcement.
Contact Arlene Sampson, tournament coordinator, at 518-477-8771 or old.questar.org for more information.
