February 28, 2009

Fifteen teams and dozens of students from Scotia-Glenville competed in Region 7 Odyssey of the Mind competition at Mohonasen High School and Draper Middle School

Three Scotia-Glenville teams placed first regionally and will
compete at SUNY Binghamton in April

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Here are the final Feb. 28, 2009 results (in PDF).

For the past several months, students at Glendaal, Glen-Worden, Lincoln, Sacandaga and the Middle School prepared for today's competitions.

The teams had to study a problem, as detailed below, and use their ingenuity, interests, imaginations and skills to solve the problem in a unique way. Each team constructs its own props, develops it owns skits and must work toward the solution in a uniform way outlined at this Odyssey web site: www.odysseyofthemind.com

“These students have dedicated months to devising solutions to one of five problems posed by Odyssey of the Mind,” said Mindy Iannotti, Capital Region BOCES Program Manager for Special Student Services. “Not only do they have to solve the problem, but they also have to be the most creative, take risks in their solutions, and work as a team.”

They will also incorporate their own skills and interests into the solutions. This could mean singing, playing instruments, skating, or gymnastics — anything that they want as long as it aids in solving one of these five problems:

• Earth Trek: Teams had to design and build a small vehicle that can transform its appearance four times as it appears to travel around the world.
• Teach Yer Creature: Teams had to build a mechanical creature that acts like a real animal and learns new tasks during a performance.
• The Lost Labor of Heracles: Ancient Greece is revived in a performance depicting Heracles’ 12 labors and a “lost labor” that is created by the team.
• Shockwaves: Teams designed a balsa wood structure that weighs no more than 15 paper clips and supports weights. These lightweight structures are known to hold over 1,000 pounds. The structure must also be able to absorb and withstand “shockwaves” from falling weights.
• Superstition: Teams explore origins of superstitions from around the world and invent a new superstition while giving a performance that shows why they occurred.

Region 7 winners will go on to the New York State competition at Binghamton University on Saturday, April 4 and possibly to World Finals to be held at Iowa State University May 27-30.

The top three teams in each category received ribbons with the top teams heading to Binghamton.

Each team was judged on the overall long-term project, style and a spontaneous exercise with the judges. Among the Scotia-Glenville teams winning on Saturday:

• Earth Trek Division 1 (grades 3-5): A team from Glen-Worden placed first out of 6 schools with a score of 343.18 and a team from Glendaal placed fourth out of 6 schools with a score of 234.36

• Teach Yer Creature Division 1 (grades 3-5): A team from Lincoln placed first out of 10 teams with a score of 327.17; a team from Sacandaga placed third out of 10 teams with a score of 313.56; and a team from Glendaal placed 10th out of 10 teams with a score of 247.32.

• The Lost Labor of Heracles Division 1 (grades 3-5): A team from Glen-Worden placed first out of 4 teams with a score of 337.4

• Superstition Division 1 (grades 3-5): A team from Glen-Worden placed second out of 11 teams with a score of 278.63 and another team from Glen-Worden placed 11th out of 11 teams with a score of 139.32.

• Superistition Divison 2 (grades 6-8): A team from S-G Middle School placed second out of 9 teams with a score of 322.65 and antother team from the S-G Middle School placed fifth out of 9 teams with a score of 261.16.

Scotia-Glenville also had five primary teams from Glendaal, Glen-Worden (2 teams), Lincoln and Sacandaga. The primary teams (grades 3 and under) do not compete in the states or nationals but are judged at the regional competition.

Below are some of the scenes from the Region 7 competitions:

Sacandga ES primary