CRANBURY: Odyssey of the Mind team gets some spontaneity in the face

By Mike Morsch, Regional Editor
There’s an Odyssey of the Mind tradition that when all the teams finish their “spontaneous” category competition, they come off the stage and get hit in the faces with Silly String.
But at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Michigan State University May 24 through May 28, the parents of the Cranbury School students took that tradition one step further.
Each of the parents hit their children in the face with a whipped cream pie.
It was a unique way to say congratulations on your big performance, courtesy of the Three Stooges School of Parental Tomfoolery.
The Cranbury team did indeed deserve the kudos, though. Team members Graham Baird, Maddie Castillo, David Edenbaum, Delaney Keegan, Erin Liggio and Charlie Vachris placed 10th overall out of 67 teams.
Even more pie-in-the-face-worthy was the team’s first-place finish in the “spontaneous” portion of the competition, which involves problem solving and teamwork.
“The kids were beyond excited. They were so proud of themselves, especially knowing how much competition was out there,” said Christine DeJesus, who along with Karin Weiner served as Odyssey of the Mind facilitators for the students.
“When competing their long-term skit, the students rocked it on stage. They spoke loud and clear, which allowed the judges and audience to pick up on all the humor and wit included in the skit,” said DeJesus.
Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem (the long-term problem); and present their solution to the problem at a competition. They must also participate in the spontaneous portion of the competition by generating solutions to a problem they have not seen before. While the long-term problem solution often takes many months to complete and involves various elements of theatrical performance, construction and design, the spontaneous portion occurs the day of the competition.
There were teams from 15 countries participating in the finals, with the teams being chosen from among 800 teams all over the world. Students also had the opportunity to participate in the Creativity Festival, pin-trade and attend ceremonies.
According to DeJesus, one of the most exciting aspects of the competition was the realization that New Jersey is one of the toughest state competitions in which to compete. It was accomplishment for the Cranbury team, which was competing for the first time, to advance to the world finals.
“They are sincerely just an awesome, well-rounded group of kids,” said DeJesus. “They are academically, socially, athletically and creatively strong.”