Learning from Odyssey of the Mind

This year, Westbriar Elementary School has 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 that 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 learned to manage their money. Most importantly, they see that there is often more than one way to solve a problem and that the process is more important than the end result.

Our girls have worked SO HARD this year to create their 8-minute skit that solved engineering problems in a creative and fun way! This year, the girls' skit was about a service dolphin that helps others and in turn gets helped itself. They wrote the script, songs, engineered a dolphin "mechanimal," made their own costumes, props, and choreography! It has been a wild, fun ride of overcoming obstacles and learning to try and try again. They also learned how to think on their feet and take risks by practicing spontaneous. The girls have met for over 100 hours since September to do this and spent countless hours outside of meetings as well!

An Invitation to World Finals

Westbriar Elementary School's Division 2 team placed second at State Finals on April 26th and has been invited to attend the World Finals in Michigan in late May. Our school community, the students, and their parents all very much want these 7 hardworking students to be able to attend the World Finals and have the experience they have worked so hard to earn. The cost for each student to attend is about $1,000.

How You Can Help

We have a long way to go to reach our goal of $7,000 to send the students and their coach to World Finals in Michigan. We need your help to meet our goal.

The Costs

The cost of housing and food at World Finals is $730 for each student. In addition to housing and food, we need to pay for car rentals and transportation, along with supporting the girls with some of the activities that cost money (pin trading).

An Experience to Remember

The chance to go to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Michigan is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these students. Being on a college campus, surrounded by passionate and creative students from around the world, will be a life-changing and inspiring experience these students will remember for the rest of their lives. Any financial support you can provide for our team would be greatly appreciated. Please help our children reach their goal and go to the World Finals.