Help this AwesOMe team get to World Finals!

Hi, family and friends! We are Anya, Elle, Gabe, Havana, Jared, Lachlan, and Sidney and we make up the Masterman/Central Odyssey of the Mind team. On April 1, we finished first in Pennsylvania’s competition and are advancing to the World Finals at Michigan State University on May 24-27, 2023 – and we need YOUR help to get there! Please donate as soon as you can so that we can pay our costs in time for competition!

A bit about us…

We are a blended-school team, with 4 of us attending Masterman High School, and 3 attending Central High School, both in the Philadelphia School District. We were a new team this year - 4 out of 7 of us had never even heard of Odyssey of the Mind before - and we somehow managed to make it all the way to World Finals! Each of us contributed our own unique talents and skills to the group – Anya made the brain and flag, Elle brought mad art skills and played the lungs, Gabe very generously agreed to serve as our queen, Havana was our king, Jared played the extremely pained gut, Lachlan was our [Hepatitis-C] sea monster, and Sidney created the vehicle and stained glass X-ray/treasure map prop.

A bit about the competition…

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving competition, with both a long-term component (technical requirements worked into a theatrical performance) and a spontaneous component, in which we solve problems on the spot. We have been working since September, about 6-8 hours each week, to prepare. For this competition, we were challenged to develop a two-person ride-on vehicle, loaded with devices to thwart a monster and retrieve a treasure as part of a pirate-themed performance.

Our team finished in first place in Southeastern Pennsylvania and first in State Finals held at Lock Haven University on April 1. Michigan State University - 25 states and 15 countries - May 24-27th.

Why we need your support…

In addition to the $650 per person tournament registration and lodging fees (we will stay on the MSU campus), we expect to spend about $2,000 on equipment/outfitting, and about $4,500 on travel (by bus or plane).

Our usually-reserved Coach Brett said, “ if you told me that our team (especially one with so many new OMers) would need to beat two Ranatra-Fusca [highest creativity award] winning teams, I could not have imagined it would be possible — that was something unique and wonderful!

Please give whatever you can - no amount is too small - and MANY THANKS for your support!

With love and gratitude,

Sidney, Lachlan, Jared, Gabe, Havana, Elle, and Anya

(ps - we would love to show you video of our performances, but we are asked to keep them under wraps until after the world competition for confidentiality reasons...)