Odyssey of the Mind

Megan and Kristin both participated in the Odyssey of the Mind competition that was held at the University of Delaware today. If you don't know what Odyssey of the Mind is you'd better look it up since I'm not sure I can explain it right. :) I'll try my best though. The kids are on teams with a coach and they have to choose a problem (there's 5 to choose from) and interpret and perform it. They formed their teams shortly after Thanksgiving and have been meeting and planning since then. My two girls were on separate teams so they really kept me busy getting them to their meetings and picking them up. The last 2 to 3 weeks have been especially busy since they were trying to finalize everything.

Anyway, back to the whole idea of today. The kids on the team have to do everything themselves, from writing the script to designing the scenery to making their costumes. And I mean EVERYTHING, there is to be no "outside assistance" from anyone, they only have their coach for guidance, even she can't tell them what they should do. We as parents couldn't even comment when we saw their props, it is so hard not to say, "wow, that looks really good" or "what are you going to do with that empty spot over there?" We had to keep our mouths shut! Very hard for me to do.

So Megan's team was the first to perform today. Their problem was, "The Lost Labor of Heracles" and they were to reenact one of the 12 labors as well as make up a Lost Labor that was forgotten in history. There's more to it but that's the gist of it. Here's my gal waiting with her team to go on.

Another thing they had to do themselves was to move and set up the scenery. Here's a little blurb of them moving everything on stage. Megan's in the pink pajama top.

Here's just a portion of their play, I only included the beginning because that was where Megan said most of her lines and the very end. I'm sorry, you won't get to see the main part of the play, it was really neat but too long to put on here.

Here's Megan's team after their performance. What a great group of girls.
Then it was Kristin's teams turn. Her team chose to do "Teach Yer Creature" as their problem. This was to be a humorous performance about a mechanical creature that learns lessons, one that is purposely taught to it and one that it accidentally learns.

Here's my Kristin helping move the props from the storage area to the staging area. She is a doctor's assistant in her skit.

We could help them get everything to the staging area but then it was hands off for us parents, the kids had to take it from there. So here's Kristin helping to set up the props. Her team didn't have nearly as many as Megan's team.

I only included the set-up videos because I was really impressed with what the kids did. I'm sure it's not as impressive on these short little clips but them having to do everything themselves and learning to problem solve on the spot when something fell down was neat to see.

Then of course here's part of her play. I put two clips together, one where Kristin is acting and the other, well just watch and see.

In case you didn't catch it the polar bear accidentally learns to fart. Yes, I said fart. The kids had a fart machine inside the polar bear and one of them is holding the remote. The things kids come up with! It was pretty funny and they got a lot of laughs from the judges. Afterwards the kids said that the judges wanted to hear it again! Oh, speaking of judges, they all wear funny hats, not sure exactly why, but that's what you see in the videos. It's a cute idea but not for all the parents with their video cameras!

Here they are after performing.
I won't go into it but not only do they do their "Long Term problem" each team has to do "Spontaneous." Parents cannot watch Spontaneous though, we're not even allowed in the building. The scores from both events are what's used to determine the winners in each category.

Which now brings me to the awards ceremony. Even though Megan's team did an awesome job they didn't place in the top 3 for their group. Megan was a little upset about that (and so were her teammates) but they were the youngest age team in their group, they went up against 4th and 5th grade teams. So maybe next year she'll have her shot at winning. Kristin's team on the other hand won 2nd place! They were so thrilled!

You go Kristin! The team got a trophy and each teammate was supposed to get a medal but because they tied with another team for second place they now have to wait for them. The other team was given the medals and I assume they now have to wait for their trophy.

Kristin was smiling non-stop the whole way home and Megan was crying! What a fun trip that was. Congratulations Kristin! And Megan you'll kick butt next year, I just know it.