CAMDEN, NY - The Camden High School Odyssey of the Mind team is headed back to the state championships. The Blue Devils locked up a spot by claiming first place at the Region 21 Odyssey of the Mind Competition hosted by the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District on Saturday, March 9th.
Odyssey of the Mind is a worldwide problem-solving competition for students. It consists of a long-term problem that teams work on throughout the year, and a spontaneous problem exercise that is not revealed until the team arrives in the competition room.
Often, the long-term problem is performance or engineering based, or a combination of the two. Work must be completely student-generated by the team and feature no outside assistance from coaches or others, and supplies must be acquired and documented on a strict itemized budget. Along the way, students learn how to solve problems amidst a strict set of rules, build teamwork, learn new skills, and become resourceful and self-sufficient.
Camden took home the top spot in the Division III (High School) standings for the Classics: Opening Night Antics long-term problem. This problem challenges students to devise a performance that portrays the opening night of a theater production, only the opening night is not allowed to go as planned. The performance needs to include a set malfunction, unexpected sound effects, and at some point, a theater critic character has to appear. Participants must build the set, engineer any functional pieces of the set, write an entertaining script, and create costumes.
Following the performance, participants have to be ready to answer any questions from the judges.
The Blue Devils, under the direction of coaches Melanie Callahan and Jessica Harney, have been working on their performance since September. While working hard, the rapport the team has built over time was beneficial to the end product.
“This is a fun team of friends, which helped them add humor to their skit,” Harney said. “This season has been a blast and we are excited to see what is next for them at States!”
When a team advances, they get to experience an incredible component of the Odyssey of the Mind experience. Each team will have the opportunity to improve and develop their performance based on judge feedback, make repairs, and implement changes before the state tournament is held at the New York State Fairgrounds on April 13th.
The following team members played a part in Saturday’s victory:
Alexis Albrecht, grade 10
Abigail Arnold, grade 10
Jasmyne Brouillette, grade 10
Benjamin Gallagher, grade 10
Madison Hildenbrandt, grade 11
Bella Keller, grade 10
Autumn Porter, grade 10
Congratulations!
