Odyssey of the Mind World Championship May 24-28

Durham and Middlefield have a team of students that qualified for the Odyssey of the Mind (OM) World Championships at Michigan State! The competition takes place May 24-28, 2023.

We're competing under the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation banner.

OM is a creative problem-solving program in which teams of up to 7 kids solve long-term and short-term problems without outside assistance from adults. Teams choose from 5 long- term problems and spend months working together to develop a solution that is presented in an 8-minute skit. On tournament day, teams also compete in a short-term spontaneous, or brainstorming, problem. All the work of the team is done by the kids alone. Adults, including coaches, cannot contribute ideas or help make the props, structure, or devices. The kids develop problem-solving skills, teamwork, and creativity.

Our Division 1 Team is comprised of 6 students in grades 4-5. They chose to solve a problem that required them to build a balsa wood structure weighing no more than 15 grams that would hold as much weight as possible. Our structure held 400 pounds! The team presented their structure within a performance centered around a Veterinary office theme. The structure had to have three parts hidden in plain sight. During the performance, the team revealed each part and assembled them into a final structure for testing. The performance also included a poem about searching for something special.

Our team includes Tucker Ventola, Kinsen Rizzi-Smith, Louisa Grant, Lily Cate Waterman, Mya Nappi and Audrey McGoldrick.

Your support will help our teams cover the cost of travel and lodging to the OM World Championships at Michigan State University in May. In the past, 30,000 people have participated in this four-day competition.

The team has worked for months on their OM projects. Thank you in advance for helping them participate in this amazing and unique experience.

I am running this campaign as a parent of one of the competitors. The coaches are parents of one of the competitors. Once the campaign is complete, I will withdraw the funds from this campaign to my personal bank account and the funds will be equally distributed to all team members in cash.