SLC OM Teams Headed For State Tournament

BRASHER FALLS - Four St. Lawrence Central School teams will be heading to the state Odyssey of the Mind tournament later this month at Binghamton University.

"We're very pleased with our turnout and the hard work of the kids and coaches," said first-grade teacher Scott Sharp, the district's Odyssey of the Mind coordinator.

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program for students from kindergarten through high school. Students apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics.

The school fielded six teams for this year's competition, and they all took part in Region 8 competition last weekend in Ogdensburg.

"We had six teams, the maximum our membership would allow. Since I've been doing it for four years, we started with one team and went to six. It's definitely growing," Mr. Sharp said.

They were among the approximately 200 students from the St. Lawrence, Lisbon, Madrid-Waddington, Potsdam, Ogdensburg, Gouverneur and Saranac Lake central school districts.

But only students who perform well on the problems have the opportunity to move on to the next competition, and St. Lawrence Central will be among them.

"We have four teams moving on out of six," Mr. Sharp said.

The students are in grades one through five, according to Mr. Sharp. Students in grades kindergarten through two compete in the primary division, while students in grades two through five compete in Division I.

Mr. Sharp, who spent his day judging one of the problems that students had to solve, said the St. Lawrence Central teams began practicing in late October, early November for the Ogdensburg competition.

One of the benefits they had, he said, was a number of students who had competed in previous Odyssey of the Mind competitions and knew what judges were looking for.

"Probably half our kids are veteran kids," Mr. Sharp said.

In Problem 1, Division 1, first place went to the team of Kolby Perkins, Ethan Villnave, Levi Simmons, Cash Feeley, Jacinta Gomes, Marissa Kelly and Lizzanne Lalonde from St. Lawrence Central.

That problem required teams to design, build and drive a human-powered vehicle and camper for a camping trip. When the vehicle arrived at the campground, the camper had to be disconnected and the vehicle had to travel on a team-created nature trail.

On the nature trail, the vehicle had to overcome an obstacle, clean up the environment, encounter wildlife and undergo a repair. The performance included a character that was in or near the camper who explained the experience as part of its role.

The winners of Problem 2, Division 1 were St. Lawrence Central's team of Marissa McLean, Madison McLean, Abigail Lemieux, Emily Lantry, Sean Perry, Myles Bordleau and Brenna Strickland.

Those teams had to make and operate a series of aircraft that completed a variety of flight plans. The flight plans included flying straight, making a target spin, traveling slowly, dropping something into a target, touching down and taking off, and a mass launch of multiple aircraft.

The aircraft in the solution had to be made from a variety of materials and feature a variety of power sources. The testing of the aircraft was presented in a team-created performance that included a character who served as a creative "air traffic controller."

The team from Brasher Falls also took Problem 3, Division 1. Team members were Carter Bordleau, Makenzie Taylor, Skyler Brothers, Matthew Svarczkopf, Luna Porcaro and Emma Sutton.

Teams had to create and present an original performance that included the portrayal of the discovery of two archaeological treasures. One portrayal was a team-created version of the discovery of an actual historical treasure. The other portrayal was the team's depiction of a modern sculpture or structure that exists today but is discovered in the future.

The performance included an artistic representation of the two discovered treasures and characters that are part of the discovery teams.

Region 8 also awarded a "lottery slot," an award similar to a wild card that allows a second place team to advance to the state tournament.

The lottery slot was awarded to the team of Chad Mason Jr., Grant Taylor, Olivia Hunter, Savannah Adams, Veronica Lashomb, Laura Jones and Chloe Lalonde from St. Lawrence Central.

In Problem 5, Division 1, a St. Lawrence Central team finished third. They were Alyssa Montgomery, Breana Evans, Cole Meacham, Hunter Brownell, Andrew Lantry and Kaitlyn Montgomery.

They had to create and present a humorous performance where a food item was accused of being unhealthy and had to defend itself among its food peers. All characters were food items and included "the accused," "the accuser," a jury that was not portrayed by team members, and additional team-created characters.

The St. Lawrence Central team that competed in the primary competition included Rilee Flanagan, Aleesa Jarvis, Hayden Perkins, Alex Burg, Parker Mullen and Arieigh Smith.

That team had to create and present a humorous performance that included a surprise party for a team-created character. The theme of the party was a surprise because it was being given for something that was not normally celebrated.

Partygoers gave three gifts that helped symbolize the theme of the party. The performance also included an original party "noisemaker" that made an unusual sound instead of a loud sound.