Support Connecticut's Creative Minds

The Hamilton Avenue Odyssey of the Mind team has been invited to represent Connecticut at the World Finals in Lansing, MI in late May. This is the 5th time that a team from Hamilton Avenue will participate in the World Finals, but for 4 of our team members, this is the first time they will be attending. These students have worked hard all year and are excited to be representing Connecticut as they compete against passionate and creative students from around the world.

The team was this year’s recipient of the OMER award. The OMER, named for the Odyssey of the Mind mascot, is given to the team that exemplifies outstanding sportsmanship, exemplary behavior, or exceptional talent. The Hamilton Avenue team received the award in recognition of their teamwork and creativity in overcoming a set malfunction during their performance.

Learning from Odyssey of the Mind

For the past nine years students at Hamilton Avenue School have had the opportunity to participate in Odyssey of the Mind, an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Odyssey of the Mind is a learning experience which has helped our students develop skills that will last a lifetime. Students have learned to cooperate and respect the ideas of others, and to evaluate ideas and make decisions on their own. Our students have gained greater self-confidence and increased self-esteem through their hard work. In addition, they work within a budget, so they learn to manage their money. Students see that there is often more than one way to solve a problem, and that sometimes the process is more important than the end result.

The Costs

Our school community and their parents all very much want these 7 hard working students to be able to attend World Finals and have the experience they have worked so hard to earn. In order to attend we need to raise funds to pay for food, housing and transportation to Michigan. The cost for each student to attend is about $1,500.

How You Can Help

We have a long way to go to reach our goal of $10,000 to send the students and their coach to the World Finals in Michigan. We are organizing fundraisers at the school and in the local community, and have received donations from many of our teachers, but we need your help to meet our goal.