Three NNPS Odyssey of the Mind teams advance to state
Posted: March 20, 2024
Three Newport News Public Schools Odyssey of the Mind teams earned top honors in the 2024 Tidewater Region Odyssey of the Mind Tournament held March 16 at Menchville High School. They will advance to compete in the Virginia Odyssey of the Mind State Tournament on April 6 at Tuscarora High School in Leesburg.
Teams representing Knollwood Meadows Elementary School and Booker T. Washington Middle School earned first place in their problem and division. The team from Warwick High School earned second place and also will advance to the state tournament.
Knollwood Meadows' team comprised of Ryan Wilder, Cree Proctor, Ava Robinson, Alani Joseph, Ryan Zagursky, Camilla Monge and Kaleb Proctor, and coached by Lauren Hancock and Katelyn Wilmer, placed first in the Rocking World Detour problem. In this problem, teams created a performance about a rock band on tour.
Things got derailed in a very Odyssey way-while playing a song, the band was transported to an unexpected location. The band members had to figure out how to use music to get them back on their tour. The performance also included band merchandise and original hairstyles.
Booker T. Washington's team of Andrew Cochran, Lydia Lynerd, Clair Park, Zoey Cox, Leyla Brin, Arielle Woods and Berkley Hanlon, and coached by Jessie Sprouse, earned first place in the AI Tech-No-Art Problem. In this problem, teams designed, built, and operated an Artificial Intelligence Tech-No-Art device that determined if a work of art was beautiful or not.
It dismantled a work of art that it decided was not beautiful to create a new work of art it believed was beautiful. The humorous performance also included an artist character who stood up for their work of art, sound effects and team-created artwork.
The Warwick team of Angel Draughn Woodson, Cameron Johnson, Graysen Hoefflin, Derek Holliday and Kendra Thorne, coached by Aja Bradley, earned second place in the Drive-In Movie Problem. In this problem teams designed, built and ran a vehicle with a team-created rider that traveled to a drive-in movie theater.
The movie takes place around the vehicle when a team-created special effect occurred on the vehicle that made it become part of the action. The performance included a lead actor character and the fun that came with a nostalgic outdoor movie experience.
McIntosh Elementary School also competed in the Rocking World Detour problem and earned third place. A second Booker T. Washington team competed in Opening Night Antics and earned fourth place.
The teams of students have worked since September to practice spontaneous problems and solve their specific long-term problem. Odyssey of the Mind emphasizes teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, budgeting, time management, public speaking, performance and set design, costume design and building.
