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Odyssey of the Mind team going to state<br>

Members of Grand Canyon’s Division II Odyssey of the Mind team perform their skit at last week’s sixth grade silent auction.

The school sent two teams to regionals on Saturday, March 12, in Flagstaff – the seventh and eighth-graders and a team of sixth graders who placed fourth in the Division I category.

Odyssey of the Mind encourages students from kindergarten to college age to develop creative problem-solving skills through long-term and spontaneous challenges. In long-term challenges, students have several months to work out a skit that meets stated objectives, while in spontaneous problems, they are given about 10 minutes to work out a solution. In both, they work as a team.

OM was developed by Dr. Same Micklus, a professor at Rowan University in New York, based on challenges he presented to student sin his classes – challenges like building vehicles without wheels or inventing mechanical pie throwers.

According to Division II coach Lori Bowman, the older students chose a problem called “Get the Message?” The objective was for the team to tell a story three times, using three communication methods – one primitive, one evolved and one futuristic.

They also had to use signals representing a state in the process of the Earth systems to indicate a change in communication method. The Grand Canyon team used body language, a tape recording and a translation to tell their story, choosing the water cycle for their Earth system.

According to Division I coach Norma Gomez, the sixth-graders chose “In Your Dreams,” a problem in which they had to perform a dream that included cheerful, non-sensical and nightmarish parts. The nightmare had to include a monster that changed appearance and performed various tasks, including turning 180 degrees and picking up an object. While the students had to design the monster, they could not be a part of it.

The students began preparing for competition in October, choosing their problem, developing a skit, creating the set and practicing spontaneous problems. Bowman said the students could receive no help from coaches and parents and that they had to stay within a budget of around $125 for all skit materials and costumes.

On the seventh and eighth-grade team were Chloe Phillips, Arielle Schoblom, Monique Streit, Chelsea Fairhead and Luke Bowman. On the sixth-grade team were Craig Bowman, Connor Phillips, John Kissner, Chrystal Robinson, Brandie Gomez, Hailey Ingols and Madison Berry.

Eight teams – four from each region – will compete at state.


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