MMS - Odyssey of the Mind World
Donation protected
Odyssey of the Mind is a remarkable program, and the Marietta Middle School team is excited to announce that they will soon be be competing on the world stage. With a strong second place finish at State Finals, Marietta Middle School’s Odyssey of the Mind team will be representing Marietta City Schools and the State of Georgia at World Finals at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa the end of May.
To help offset travel and competition expenses for the five-day trip to Iowa, the team is asking for your help. Any donations you are able to provide will be greatly appreciated and will ease the financial burden for the team members.
Team members Abby Jacobs, Emily Howard, David Rubury, Kyle Brown, and Marcos Rios cinched their spot with strong artwork and another first place finish in the Spontaneous Problem Solving portion of the competition. The eighth graders will travel to Iowa State University May 25-28 to test their problem solving skills against middle school teams from all over the world.
Odyssey of the Mind teams compete in three categories, which are combined into an overall score. In the Long Term Problem, which is worth the most points, teams choose one of five problems to solve and spend months working on their solutions. These involve not just a technical challenge but also require the technical elements to fit into a team created story. Each team has eight minutes to present their solution.
Style elements, another category of the competition, allow the teams to display their artistic creativity. The Long Term problem mandates two style elements, and the team chooses two. This is where the art component comes in. Creative materials and flawless execution translates to higher scores.
The Spontaneous Problem tests each team’s ability to think on the fly. Judges give team members a problem they have never seen before, and they have to solve it in the time allowed. Problems can range from building a bridge with toothpicks and marshmallows to exploring what kinds of things a rock would say if it could talk. The most creative solutions get the highest score, and teamwork matters.
Marietta Middle School chose Problem 1: No Cycle Recycle, a vehicle problem. Anchored by a clever script, VG5000, a trash-collecting robot, and his ditzy alien companion roam the universe in their flying saucer collecting discarded items to repurpose into useful new things. Their travels take them to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Hogwarts, and The Yellow Brick Road in Oz. Along the way, they run into Willy Wonka, warring Slytherins, an evil Tree King, and Dorothy and Toto. Hilarity ensues, and old, discarded items become fabulous new ones.
Educators and parents are drawn to the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) emphasis in Odyssey of the Mind. Each of these elements is vital to solving every single problem, even the performance ones. However, the program is more than that. Coach Karla Jacobs says, “To talk about Odyssey of the Mind as a STEAM competition is to sell the program short. Odyssey of the Mind is really about risk taking and big ideas combined with the courage to go all in on a creative solution that may or may not work. Odyssey of the Mind rewards that kind of thinking.”
To help offset travel and competition expenses for the five-day trip to Iowa, the team is asking for your help. Any donations you are able to provide will be greatly appreciated and will ease the financial burden for the team members.
Team members Abby Jacobs, Emily Howard, David Rubury, Kyle Brown, and Marcos Rios cinched their spot with strong artwork and another first place finish in the Spontaneous Problem Solving portion of the competition. The eighth graders will travel to Iowa State University May 25-28 to test their problem solving skills against middle school teams from all over the world.
Odyssey of the Mind teams compete in three categories, which are combined into an overall score. In the Long Term Problem, which is worth the most points, teams choose one of five problems to solve and spend months working on their solutions. These involve not just a technical challenge but also require the technical elements to fit into a team created story. Each team has eight minutes to present their solution.
Style elements, another category of the competition, allow the teams to display their artistic creativity. The Long Term problem mandates two style elements, and the team chooses two. This is where the art component comes in. Creative materials and flawless execution translates to higher scores.
The Spontaneous Problem tests each team’s ability to think on the fly. Judges give team members a problem they have never seen before, and they have to solve it in the time allowed. Problems can range from building a bridge with toothpicks and marshmallows to exploring what kinds of things a rock would say if it could talk. The most creative solutions get the highest score, and teamwork matters.
Marietta Middle School chose Problem 1: No Cycle Recycle, a vehicle problem. Anchored by a clever script, VG5000, a trash-collecting robot, and his ditzy alien companion roam the universe in their flying saucer collecting discarded items to repurpose into useful new things. Their travels take them to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Hogwarts, and The Yellow Brick Road in Oz. Along the way, they run into Willy Wonka, warring Slytherins, an evil Tree King, and Dorothy and Toto. Hilarity ensues, and old, discarded items become fabulous new ones.
Educators and parents are drawn to the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) emphasis in Odyssey of the Mind. Each of these elements is vital to solving every single problem, even the performance ones. However, the program is more than that. Coach Karla Jacobs says, “To talk about Odyssey of the Mind as a STEAM competition is to sell the program short. Odyssey of the Mind is really about risk taking and big ideas combined with the courage to go all in on a creative solution that may or may not work. Odyssey of the Mind rewards that kind of thinking.”
Organizer
David Rubury
Organizer
Marietta, GA
