The Odyssey of the Mind World Finals are complete. The scores are in. The awards have been given. The Photo Galleries have been posted. And we’re all heading home.
Among the Balsa Builders, where we spent a lot of time observing the action, the Middle School teams out performed the High Schools. No High School team this year built a structure that held over 1000 pounds — the best, 980, was achieved by two teams –, but no less than 5 Middle School teams held over 1000. The top Middle School team held 1220. But that was overshadowed by the performance of a structure build by Elementary School students from Oak Hill Elementary in Herndon, VA which held 1280 pounds.
Our buddy team from Guangdong, China finished second in the Middle School division of the small vehicle problem, Tag ‘Em.
And our team from Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC finished 10th in their problem, The Large and Small of It.
Synopses of next year’s problems are already posted.
The pleasure and pain of Odyssey of the Mind for this GeekDad is that I have such great ideas for solving the problems — but the rules and my son agree: I have to keep my big mouth shut and see what the kids come up with.
Information about finding OotM (the preferred abbreviation of Odyssey of the Mind) can be found by contacting your state or country directors.
