AHES Teams Attend Odyssey of the Mind Competition

AHES Sends Two Teams to Regional Odyssey of the Mind Competition
Posted on 03/28/2017
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Atlantic Highlands Elementary School sent two Odyssey of the Mind teams to present at the regional competition on March 11th at The Pennington School in Pennington, NJ.  Both AHES teams are coached by Mrs. Dana Bellantoni. 

The 5th grade team consisted of Renata Herman, Casey Forbes, Ryan Kozic, Makenzie Denzler, Charlie Brekke, and Grace Schutzenhofer.  This team selected the “Classics” problem to solve, entitled “Its Time, Omer.”  From Odyssey of the Mind’s paperwork,

“The future and the past collide in this problem about important works of art- both existing and yet-to-be-created.  Teams will create and present an original performance about time travelers looking to discover the inspiration for great works of art, little did they know- it was OMER every time! The travelers go back in time- twice into our past and once into our future.  They will see OMER inspire two classical artists and a team-created artist from our future. The performance will include how the three works of art positively impact the world, a visual and audible effect that indicates when time travel is occurring, two re-creations of the classic works of art selected from a list, and a team-created work of art.”

The 5th grade team’s theme was board games and began with two sisters traveling along a Candy Land path, while falling and time-traveling through the black squares on the colorful life-sized board.  Along their journey, they encountered Anna Golubkina creating “The Mist” and Dasoja of Balligrama creating “Standing Vishnu as Keshava.”  (They had to recreate these works of art).  They not only traveled into the past, but also into the future where they met “Lady Kenzz” creating a piece of art using recycled materials.  Using their own creativity, the team had to come up with ideas about how each artist was inspired by OMER (Odyssey of the Mind’s mascot) to create each of these works of art and explain how they had a positive influence on the world.

The 6th grade team consisted of Nicholas Bigotto, Charlotte Dooley, Maggie Hanlon, Jodie Sanders, Kylie Sanders, Andrew Chiles, and Eliza Mednis.  This team selected the “Vehicle” problem to solve: “Catch Us If You Can.”  From the OotM paperwork:

“This is your Odyssey, should you choose to accept it… your team will design, build, and run vehicles from a multi-level Parking Garage to a secret meeting place without being stopped.  Vehicles will travel different routes to reach the same destination.  During their Odyssey, the vehicles will do something that prevents them from being followed.  The performance will include the reason for the meeting, someone that wants to prevent the meeting, a simulation of a scene taking place inside a vehicle as it travels, and a soundtrack to accompany the vehicles’ travel.”

The 6th grade team’s story took place inside of a “Pinterest” pinball machine.  A brother and sister are in an arcade before heading to the mall, when the annoyed older sister drops her cell phone on the floor.   When she makes her little brother pick it up, he gets pulled into the pinball machine.  His mission is to find his way out, but it is not as easy as it seems.  He bumps into a few characters along his journey, including a funny repair man, a nice girl, a Pinterest princess, and an evil Craft Queen.  Eventually, he escapes and is reunited with his sister.  She was so happy to see her phone, I mean- her brother, again!  

Both the 5th and 6th grade teams performed very well and had high scores, but the competition was tough and they did not advance to the state finals. We look forward to next year! 

Thank you to the Henry Hudson Tri-District Education Foundation for the funding that made AHES' Odyssey of the Mind teams possible.

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Mrs. Bellantoni with the 5th and 6th grade teams

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Members of the 5th grade team in costume

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Members of the 6th grade team in costume