Finally, after nine years of competing in Odyssey of the Mind, my dream of competing in the World Finals Tournament is coming true. Hi, my name is Kaylee and I have been competing in Odyssey of the Mind since Kindergarten. I’m in eighth grade at Roosevelt Jr. High and our OotM team just won 2nd place at the California State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament on April 2, 2016 at UC Riverside. This means we will be one of two middle school teams (6th-8th grade) representing California, in our problem, at the OotM World Finals next month at Iowa State University. There will be over eight hundred different teams from around the world, competing in five problems and four divisions over three days of competition. I can’t wait!

I am writing on behalf of my team to ask for your help. Our team has competed together for four years. We all attend Roosevelt Jr. High, however, since Odyssey of the Mind is considered an extracurricular activity and not an official school club, neither the school district or the school can help us with any of the expenses associated with our trip to Iowa State University.  So, we are looking for sponsors to help make sure we can attend and compete in this extraordinary experience.

We need to raise an estimated $20,000.00 by April 29th to cover all of our travel and tournament expenses. If you would like to help sponsor our team, we would greatly appreciate it and we will always remember your help!

Odyssey of the Mind is a team creative problem solving competition. We have worked hard all school year to create a solution to our three-page problem. Our experiences through OotM have not only helped us put to use lessons in math, engineering, literature enrichment, science and art; they have also helped us to develop strong communication skills, teamwork, critical thinking and dedication.

Teams are judged based on three different areas. The long term score is based on how well we created and presented a solution to the problem we have been working on since the beginning of the school year.  The style score is based on the creative use of different mediums or objects, artistic quality and other problem specific components. The spontaneous score is based on an unknown problem we get at competition, with only the judges in the room. The spontaneous problem can be verbal, hands on or a combination of both. For all of these scores, the finished product is not the only thing judged. We are also judged on team work, communication and presentation. We are not allowed to have any outside assistance or help. Everything from ideas and research to planning, building, constructing and presenting has to be done by the team members only. Not even our coach can help.

Our long term problem this year was to create a vehicle for two people to ride on.  We had to create a propulsion system that could not include pedaling of any kind. The vehicle has to pick up, adapt and drop off three different items in and out of two team created eco systems. Within the problem there are many other problems such as, we had to use trash in a costume, we had to cross specific areas before the vehicle could pick up or adapt an item, and many more. Oh, and everything within the three-page problem has to be tied together with a team created theme and presented theatrically in under eight minutes. The theme we created this year presented the importance of taking care of our Earth and maintaining healthy air.

Personally, competing at Worlds has been a dream of mine since 1st grade. We are all very excited and extremely proud to be the first team to represent our school and community in the largest international creative problem solving competition in the world. One of the best things about OotM is that even though so many teams have the same problem, you never see the same solution twice. It is amazing to see the solutions different teams come up with.

Thanks for any help you can contribute!