Presenting Mark Twain Middle School's Odyssey of the Mind team! This is a team of five 8th graders and one 7th grader who attend Mark Twain Middle School in Alexandria, VA guided by their volunteer coach John Clemmer. On April 1st 2022 (no joke!), the team placed 3rd at the OM state finals for Virginia, becoming eligible to compete at the 2022 World Finals at Iowa State University! And now we're trying to help raise some funds to get them there!

What is Odyssey of the Mind? Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving competition. Teams of students work together, applying their skills and imaginations to develop and present solutions to problems that can range from building mechanical structures and vehicles to re-imagining literary classics. We would love to tell you their awesome solution, but want to keep it under wraps until the Final competition! We can promise to post a video for your viewing once the competition is complete.

Attending the World Finals is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students to compete on an international stage. Teams from all over the United States and from more than 20 countries around the world will be gathering at what has been described as the "Olympics" of creativity. This group of kids have put in countless hours over this past school year—writing their script, building props, costumes and practicing their performance—it is a dream come true to make it to this next level!

But the team needs your help. The competition is May 25-28th so there's not much time to raise the money to be able to attend. Donations will help pay for travel, room and board, and competition costs for our 6 person team and 4 adults (1 coach and 3 chaperones). The team is responsible for most of the money needed, so every little bit can help! If you can't donate, please share this and spread the word! Right now we're looking at driving the kids and their props 15+ hours across the US to get them there (probably close to $2100 for transportation of props and kids to Iowa). And then its $650/kid room and board at Iowa State University for the 4 day competition. Any bit will help us get there!

Thank you in advance!