AMES, Iowa - A team of Juda Middle School students will compete in the world finals of the Odyssey of the Mind program Wednesday, May 23 to Saturday, May 26.
The Odyssey of the Mind program provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state and world level.
Juda sent two Division II teams to the state Odyssey of the Mind competition In March in Madison, with one team advancing on to the world's competition with a solution for the "You Make the Call" problem, and the other taking second overall in Spontaneous Problem-Solving.
The seven Juda students on the World Finals qualifying team are eighth-grader Megan Pollansky; seventh-graders Nick Baum, Chelsea Burkhalter, Aurora Daniels and Matt Schmitt; and sixth-graders Trent Davis and Hailey Kammerer. These students competed in the "You Make the Call," which is a balsa wood structure problem with a large focus in how much weight the structure could hold. They also produced creative skit and song as part of their performance with the problem.
This is Juda's second year competing in the Odyssey of the Mind program. As many as 750 teams from around the world will compete at the world finals. To make it to world finals, teams must have placed first in their state tournament and received a qualifying score.
Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.
The Odyssey of the Mind program provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state and world level.
Juda sent two Division II teams to the state Odyssey of the Mind competition In March in Madison, with one team advancing on to the world's competition with a solution for the "You Make the Call" problem, and the other taking second overall in Spontaneous Problem-Solving.
The seven Juda students on the World Finals qualifying team are eighth-grader Megan Pollansky; seventh-graders Nick Baum, Chelsea Burkhalter, Aurora Daniels and Matt Schmitt; and sixth-graders Trent Davis and Hailey Kammerer. These students competed in the "You Make the Call," which is a balsa wood structure problem with a large focus in how much weight the structure could hold. They also produced creative skit and song as part of their performance with the problem.
This is Juda's second year competing in the Odyssey of the Mind program. As many as 750 teams from around the world will compete at the world finals. To make it to world finals, teams must have placed first in their state tournament and received a qualifying score.
Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.
