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Odyssey of the Mind
Does your child have a good imagination? Does he/she like to create and build things? Solve problems? Enjoy working with a team? If your child is in grades 4, 5, or 6, you may want to consider having him/her join an Odyssey of the Mind team. Odyssey of the Mind is an extra-curricular program at Gomes that involves these skills. Teams will meet on average two times a week at the beginning of the school year, more often in the spring. Parental involvement is essential to team success. Teams may compete at the regional, state, and international levels. Last year, both Gomes teams advanced to the state level, and the 6th grade team went on to the international level. OM is a fun and challenging program.
Odyssey of the Mind Team
Makes It to World Finals!
Our 6th grade Odyssey of the Mind team won the opportunity to represent California in the World Championship finals after placing second in their division at the California State Finals Saturday, April 15, 2000, in Santa Rosa. Because this team is composed of 6th graders we competed in the Middle School division against several older teams. For the first time ever, a team from Gomes is going to the World Finals. It is also a first for any Gomes team to represent our school at a national or international level. They are the only team from Alameda County to make it to Worlds! This talented team consists of Bryan Han, David Grimm, Anjali Krishnan, Gerald Lee, Amy Li, Angelo Mao, and Coach Mr. Ray Grimm.
The World Competition held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville May 31st through June 3rd. Our kids got a chance to meet and compete with teams from all over the US and Canada, as well as countries as far away as Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The team faced a new challenge. They had about 4 weeks to raise a total of $10,780 to fund travel and accommodations. They looked for corporate sponsors and donations from local businesses and/or individuals so they could have the opportunity to represent their school, the city of Fremont, Alameda County and the state of California at this prestigious competition. This was a daunting task for a group of 6th graders!
Odyssey of the Mind is a program that encourages creative thinking by having teams solve difficult problems. This program teaches teamwork and develops creative thinking, and performance skills. Teams are challenged with solving a complex long-term problem as well as an on-the-spot spontaneous problem given on the day of competition.
Starting in early November, the team chose the "Elasti-Pumper" problem. They invented and built a vehicle powered by elastic, made scenery, wrote a skit, and created costumes to go with it, all with a budget of $100.00! They practiced many "spontaneous" problems, to sharpen their problem solving skills and broaden their memories. At competitions they performed their skit which included successfully navigating their vehicle around a complex course 3 times. They also did very well with the spontaneous problems during the competitions. To learn more about the competitions and see pictures of the team in action, please visit the team Web Site at: http://members.home.net/kkrishnan/odyssey/.
Our 5th grade team also competed at the State finals taking 6th place in their long term problem and 2nd place in their spontaneous problem. This first-year team did an excellent job under critical conditions with only 4 team members instead of the usual 7 and a tight schedule for the long-term problem. Starting from zero knowledge on building a structure with 1/8" x 1/8' balsa wood, they started working on the "Shrinking Structure" long term problem in end November. Within the short time of 3 months, the team built their structure that was able to shrink from the height of 9 1/2" to 8 1/2" and held up to the weight of 130 lbs. They also wrote their skits, designed their props and made their costumes. Through the process, they experienced not only engineering design and theatrical design but also project scheduling, and coordination between team members and job sharing. By advancing to the Odyssey of the Mind State finals, the team members earned a chance to broaden their mind by competing at the state level. With the guidance of their coaches Konny Lin and Sean Yang, they overcame many challenges. This talented team cinsists of Anjani Bhargava, Joseph Lin, Ernest Yang and Rita Lu. We're hoping to see an expanded version of this team going to States and Worlds next year!
We are grateful to the PTA for sponsoring our membership in this wonderful program.
For more information, please contact Odyssey of the Mind Chair.
...http://members.home.net/kkrishnan/odyssey/
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