Odyssey of the Mind - Competition Day

Today was the day the team and the parents have been waiting for. It was time to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind competition. The team chose long-term problem No 5 which was was labeled the Stellar Hangout.  The team got a really, really slow start so they had to step it up the last six weeks. It was the time that Dad and I thought we should say forget it because they were making no progress whatsoever.  The team really surprised us during the practice run through in front of a small audience at school this past Wednesday. Although they could have spoken up a little bit more, the rest of it was really well put together and we were pleasantly surprised.

Because we have done this before, we came prepared with folding chairs, snacks, and things for the kids to do while they waited for their timeslots to perform. It was fun this year that the school had five teams competing so there were a lot of friendly, familiar faces walking around the large high school during the day. Also, Collin’s really good friend from another local school was competing as well so he came to hang out with Collin while the team waited and also watched Collin and the team perform. 

The team did really well considering the few weeks that they put it all together and were able to practice running through the performance only a few times. They were much louder in the audience and judges could hear what they were saying. 

They ended up with an overall score of 133. As of right now, I don’t know what Spontaneous score is. Just as in the prior years with a team full of hardheaded students, it was difficult for them to pick two team members to stay out of the spontaneous portion of the competition. There were tears and angry comments made which got the team in a bad mood just before it was time to complete again.  I really hope they did well despite the rockiness right for they were scheduled to perform.

No matter what the overall score turned out to be, I’m very proud of this team and of calling taking it out even during the difficult times trying to work with so many different opinions and ideas.