Three NNPS Odyssey of the Mind teams take top honors at state
Posted: April 8, 2024
Three Newport News Public Schools Odyssey of the Mind teams earned top honors in the 2024 Odyssey of the Mind Virginia State Tournament held April 6 at Tuscarora High School in Leesburg.
The Booker T. Washington Middle School team earned first place and qualified to attend the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Tournament at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, on May 21-24. Teams from Warwick High School and Knollwood Meadows Elementary School earned third place in their respective problems and divisions.
The Booker T. Washington 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 is 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 that stood up for their work of art, sound effects and team-created artwork.
The Warwick team of Angel Draughn Woodson and Graysen Hoefflin, coached by Aja Bradley, earned third 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.
The Knollwood Meadows team comprised of Ryan Wilder, Cree Proctor, Ava Robinson, Alani Joseph, Ryan Zagursky, Camilla Monge and Kaleb Proctor, coached by Lauren Hancock and Katelyn Wilmer, placed third in the Rocking World Detour problem. In this problem, teams created a performance about a rock band on tour. Things get 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.
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.
