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Carthage Press
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Odyssey team works to upgrade presentation to a higher level By Melissa Dunson Of The Press Staff Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 4:18 PM CDT Michael Weaver, eighth grade, Zach Goodwin, freshman, Kris Provins, sophomore, and Aaron Butler, eighth grade, members of one of the five Carthage Odyssey of the Mind teams that will compete at world competition May 24-27, work on a movement mechanism for their peace fingers sign using an old record player and a bucket. - Photo by Melissa Dunson/The Press Coach Sherryle Jones' Odyssey of the Mind team took their criticism to heart and created something greater. When judges at the state competition level told the team their theme, design and props all needed to step it up before heading to world competition, they listened. The team came home and immediately went to work demolishing the ideas and work they had spent the last nine months on and rebuilding from scratch a presentation to surprise even their toughest critics: themselves. "That's what I appreciate about this team, they want to go and compete, not just go," Jones said. "After state, we analyzed what we had and how we scored and used it as a guide for improvements. They felt it wasn't at a high level enough and didn't show enough of an effort to compete at worlds. So, now we're trying to do it in a different way and still accomplish the same thing." The team chose the problem of "The Great Parade" that requires students to design, build and drive a vehicle that can be used as three separate floats in a parade by changing appearance several times during the presentation. The presentation must also include a storyline and characters like a play. The team's solution to the problem's stipulations is a giant waiter's hand and the food on the tray keeps changing to denote three courses of dinner. The theme of the presentation was originally "The Tiger Den," but state judges thought it was too regional, so the students have overhauled everything to bring in a retro 1970's theme. Not only have costumes and lines been updated, but the vehicle and all of the other props have also been completely remade. "We're way outside the box," Jones said. "This team had so many creative ideas and they've really had to wrestle with what they actually want to do. It's taken a lot of compromise and talking with each other." The team is made up of Jordan Denefrio, eighth grade, Zach Goodwin, freshman, Kris Provins, sophomore, Michael Weaver, eighth grade, Aaron Butler, eighth grade, Wynonna Lage, eighth grade and Crystal Buman, eighth grade. While the team has had some differences of opinion about how to tackle their problem, the diversity of age and personality isn't seen as anything but a benefit for the group. "At times we get frustrated, but we've never had trouble working together," Goodwin said. "This group of kids worked together about as good as any group of kids I've had," Jones said. "There's differences in age range and lots of differences in personalities." The seven students will join Carthage's four other qualifying Odyssey teams at world competition in Ames, Iowa, starting tomorrow and running through May 27. "They've brought up the quality of their presentation," Jones said. "They want to do well and they won't be happy with mediocrity." | More Articles | |