Odyssey of the Mind

It’s Odyssey of the Mind time again! Summit Street School’s Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program. These programs are designed to encourage young people to think creatively, to reach beyond the typical, and to take calculated risks to find solutions that are unique. To do this, multi-age teams work together over a period of months to create a solution to a problem. This problem might be creating and presenting a performance about a someone who “travels” in their sleep, repeatedly falling asleep and waking up somewhere different, creating a humorous explanation for the extinction of dinosaurs, building and operating a vehicle that, in addition to having to navigate a course, needs to compete in various athletic events, presenting a performance about a muse who uses her art to inspire characters, both historical and imagined, to change the world for the better, or building a structure out of balsa wood that has to support weights mounted on golf balls. Solutions are then presented and assessed for creativity at a state-wide competition. Odyssey of the Mind is divided into divisions, so that children of all ages can compete on a level playing field. Last year, over 20 Summit Street students participated in the program.

Like many things that we do in our community, the success of this program will be dictated by the level of commitment of parent and teacher volunteers, who will act as coaches for these teams. Similarly, the number of volunteers will determine the number of students that can be involved. Teams typically meet after school and on the occasional weekend. If you are interested in having your child involved in Summit Street School’s Odyssey of the Mind, or would like to become involved yourself as a parent volunteer, please come to the Parent Awareness Meeting on Tuesday, October 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in the Learning Center at Summit School. Please RSVP to Karyn Roberts at 878-6064 or ootm_summit_fleming@verizon.net if you will be attending.