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We are proud members of a CVUSD Odyssey of the Mind team. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students like us. The Odyssey of the Mind teaches students to learn creative problem-solving methods while having fun in the process. Teams bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level.
Odyssey of the Mind has helped us learn to work as a member of a team. Our problem “Ready, Set, Balsa, Build” is technical in nature and requires us to design, build, and test a structure made of only balsa wood and glue that will balance and support as much weight as possible. We also present a performance with a theme about using what's available and that incorporates weight-placement and assembling original team creations. We have worked on this long-term problem for several months. As a team we work together to coordinate our different strengths to successfully solve the problem.
Our favorite part of this challenge is that we learned to build different designed structures using a simple blade to cut and wood glue to piece it all together. It was sometimes difficult because our design couldn't hold the weight we needed to. So we would have to start over again. We also loved finding creative ways to collect and create our props from trash, especially the chip bags used for our costumes. This challenge taught us about trial and error, collaboration and perserverance as we worked through our challenges together as a team.

Our parents and teachers have said that being a part of Odyssey of the Mind has pulled us out of our shells, helped us learn to be leaders, think under pressure, become out of the box problem solvers, given us skills in building and presenting in front of an audience, and persevering through failure - having to keep trying when what you build doesn’t work exactly right.
On March 25th our team, Chino Valley AdvoGATE Team C, competed in the state finals at Heritage High School in Brentwood, CA and won 1st place! Yah!!!!!! Placing 1st in the state finales has earned our team the right to compete in the World Finals, at Michigan State University in May. They call it a world competition because we don’t just compete with other states, but with 29 other countries that will be sending teams to represent them.
We can’t wait to compete at the world championship in Michigan. We would get to go to a state that most of us have never been to before, and have the opportunity to represent our local community on the world stage and possibly win a world title. Our team is excited to represent our local community at World Finals, and appreciate all the help you can provide towards helping us get there. Any amount you can graciously donate would be greatly appreciated by all 7 members of our 4th grade team. Thank you for your support. We will make you proud!
Sincerely,
Chino Valley AdvoGate Team C
Nicholas Meksavanh
Colin Kawakami
Kiran Wong
Austin Liu
Audrey Tjandra
Cheryl Chung
Sophie Miller
Help spread the word!
Odyssey of the Mind has helped us learn to work as a member of a team. Our problem “Ready, Set, Balsa, Build” is technical in nature and requires us to design, build, and test a structure made of only balsa wood and glue that will balance and support as much weight as possible. We also present a performance with a theme about using what's available and that incorporates weight-placement and assembling original team creations. We have worked on this long-term problem for several months. As a team we work together to coordinate our different strengths to successfully solve the problem.
Our favorite part of this challenge is that we learned to build different designed structures using a simple blade to cut and wood glue to piece it all together. It was sometimes difficult because our design couldn't hold the weight we needed to. So we would have to start over again. We also loved finding creative ways to collect and create our props from trash, especially the chip bags used for our costumes. This challenge taught us about trial and error, collaboration and perserverance as we worked through our challenges together as a team.
Our parents and teachers have said that being a part of Odyssey of the Mind has pulled us out of our shells, helped us learn to be leaders, think under pressure, become out of the box problem solvers, given us skills in building and presenting in front of an audience, and persevering through failure - having to keep trying when what you build doesn’t work exactly right.
On March 25th our team, Chino Valley AdvoGATE Team C, competed in the state finals at Heritage High School in Brentwood, CA and won 1st place! Yah!!!!!! Placing 1st in the state finales has earned our team the right to compete in the World Finals, at Michigan State University in May. They call it a world competition because we don’t just compete with other states, but with 29 other countries that will be sending teams to represent them.
We can’t wait to compete at the world championship in Michigan. We would get to go to a state that most of us have never been to before, and have the opportunity to represent our local community on the world stage and possibly win a world title. Our team is excited to represent our local community at World Finals, and appreciate all the help you can provide towards helping us get there. Any amount you can graciously donate would be greatly appreciated by all 7 members of our 4th grade team. Thank you for your support. We will make you proud!
Sincerely,
Chino Valley AdvoGate Team C
Nicholas Meksavanh
Colin Kawakami
Kiran Wong
Austin Liu
Audrey Tjandra
Cheryl Chung
Sophie Miller
Help spread the word!