Students at Charter Oak International Academy in West Hartford were given citations for their success at the regional Odyssey of the Mind competition.
Odyssey of the Mind students perform at an assembly at Charter Oak International Academy. Courtesy photo
By Ronni Newton
Three teams of students from West Hartford’s Charter Oak Academy won their divisions in the regional “Odyssey of the Mind” competition held at Southern Connecticut State University in March, and have earned a trip to the Odyssey of the Mind Worlds competition at Iowa State University in Ames, IA, in late May.
State Sen. Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) presented the students with State of Connecticut citation and Connecticut state pins in an assembly held Friday to honor the students and wish them good luck as they represent West Hartford and the state in the world championships on May 23-26.
The students honed their problem solving skills by meeting weekly for more than six months to develop their own solutions to one of several creative problems.
Teams from Charter Oak had the following results at the regional competition in March:
- The Grade 5 “Emoji, Speak for Yourself” team swept the competition in all three categories and placed first overall. The team also was awarded the Jill Riggles Award for the highest spontaneous score in their division/problem.
- The Grade 4/5 “Mockumentary! Seriously?” team placed first in their problem with the highest number of long term points, and scored high in other categories as well.
- The Grade 4 “The Stellar Hangout” team placed first in their problem, had the highest long term points in their problem, and were also awarded the Jill Riggles Award for the highest spontaneous score in their division/problem.
Odyssey of the Mind, according to its website, “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.”
Teams from Connecticut have participated in Odyssey of the Mind since 1981, and there are thousands of teams from throughout the country as well as approximately 25 other countries that attend the world championships.
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State Sen. Beth Bye congratulates one of the Charter Oak International Academy students for success in Odyssey of the Mind. Courtesy photo
Odyssey of the Mind students perform at an assembly at Charter Oak International Academy. Courtesy photo
Odyssey of the Mind students perform at an assembly at Charter Oak International Academy. Courtesy photo
