Knox County’s Odyssey of the Mind teams are set to take on the World at the annual competition to be held May 28—May 31 at Iowa State University.
Five Knox County teams will advance to the world’s stage after winning at the State Odyssey competition on March 29.
Odyssey of the Mind, often called OM, is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem (the Long Term problem); and present their solution to the problem at a competition. They must also in the spontaneous competition generate solutions to a problem they have not seen before.
Teams are challenged to come up with solutions to one of five mind-bending problems posed by Odyssey of the Mind. Problems winning Knox County teams the opportunity to advance to World finals include:
Problem 3: It’s How We Rule — In this classics problem, teams will recreate a King’s Court from history and make their own Royal Court set in an original kingdom at a different time and place. The Historic Court will issue a decree that fits in with its history, while the team-created Royal Court will issue a decree that changes an everyday behavior for the people in the kingdom.
The Historic Court will be composed as the team wishes, but the original Royal Court will be made up of a leader, a minstrel that performs a song while playing a team-created instrument, and a jester that makes fun of the leader. The show will include puppets and a Peoplet — a person portrayed as a puppet — and will be scored for humor.
Problem 5: Seeing is Believing — Teams are to create and present an original performance about a community that feels threatened by something in a location it has never visited. The community townspeople will use a creative method to select one or more travelers to visit and explore the location.
While at the location, a traveler will use a means of communication to send a message home to convince the community that there is nothing to fear. The performance will also include a narrator character, two rhymes about the travels and a moving set piece.
Odyssey of the Mind competitions are held on the local, state, and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the United States and from about 25 other countries participate in the program each year.
Central Elementary SECOND PLACE
Team members include (back row) Isaac Schneider , Brayden Roark, Cooper Collins, (middle row) Megan Bierman, Cassidy Napier, and (front row) Taryn Mills.
Girdler Elementary- FIRST PLACE
Shown are team members (front row) Abigail Ward, Bobbieann Dunn,
Emily Mills, (middle row) Drew Hale, Gavin Chadwell, Braxton Chadwell, and Matthew Wood.
Knox Central High School—FIRST PLACE
Team members include Devon Hurley, Jacob Bargo, Emily Hudson,
Rachael Hudson, Kristin Smith, Sabrina Smith, and Rebecca Taylor.
Knox Central High School – FIRST PLACE
Team members are Christopher Gibson, Nicholas Gibson, Lauren Hammons, Landon Hammons, Cody Swafford, Keegan Belcher, and Hannah Owens.
Knox Central High School – SECOND PLACE
Team members include Michaela Pursiful, Keona Jones, Tabitha Carnes, Tara Garrison, Rachel Brown, Madi Hatfield, and Hailey Bledsoe.