Odyssey of the Mind

Yes, this is our son! What a nut!!! Last weekend, Jarod was involved in an Odyssey of the Mind Competition. Odyssey of the Mind is is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program. This was his second year involved with this program and it was so much fun!
This is Jarod's team - Raymond, Ethan, Timothy and Jarod. We were missing Olivia. Jarod's problem was called Earth Trek and this problem requires teams to design and build a small vehicle that will visit four locations. The locations will be different places within one or more team-determined environments. Each time the vehicle leaves a location it will look different in
appearance, and after leaving one of the locations it will appear to be a group of vehicles that are traveling together. The team’s performance will incorporate the visits to the locations, the environments, and the changes in appearance of the vehicle. Jarod's team came in 4th place! Way to go, Jarod!
While waiting for our team to perform, there were several stations set up in the Court Yard for the kids to be involved in. Russ was in charge of the Sling Shot. Here's Jarod getting ready to take his shot.
They also had a Spontaneous Competition for the grown-ups. Russ got involved with this and made it to the second round. Basically, you are given a select group of objects with specific instructions to build something in a limited amount of time. Jarod got to help with this one.
It was a fun, yet exhausting day! We look forward to being involved again next year!