Odyssey of Mind contest brings more than 1,000 students to EKU

“Odyssey seeks to inspire kids

to find new ways to solve all types of problems

through critical and creative thinking.

The more students apply their creativity,

the more creative they become.”

-- Jeanie Goertz, assistant professor, EKU’s

This from the Richmond Register:

Life can be characterized as an Odyssey of learning, especial for youngsters from kindergarten through high school.

[Last weekend], a program that bills itself as Odyssey of the Mind brought more than 1,000 students from across Kentucky and parts of Tennessee to Eastern Kentucky University to competitively test their creative and critical thinking skills. Each team had placed in regional competitions. The competition was last on EKU’s campus 10 years ago.

The students, including a team of fourth and fifth graders from Kingston Elementary School, prepared for one of five challenges, some of which resembled the network television series “Survivor.”

They could go on a nature trail adventure, revisit humanity’s quest to fly, create and test an architectural structure to the breaking point, search for archeological treasures or challenge a food court to offer healthful selections.

Each team also was challenged to solve a spontaneous problem in addition to the long-term problem for which that had months to prepare.

Students from kindergarten through second grade staged surprise theme parties.

The Kingston students competed in the “Nature Trail’R” category in which each team designed and constructed a human powered vehicle, went on a family camping trip on which they overcame unforeseen obstacles.

They designed and built a camping trailer and cart that two students propelled by pushing it along the floor of Model Laboratory School’s gym with kitchen sink plungers.

Arriving at the camp site, they intended to use solar power, but their solar panel kept falling down. In addition, they had to deal with wildlife that kept invading their site. On the way home, they had to contend with a tree that had fallen across their path.

The team consisted on three fifth-graders, Rebecca Moskal, Ellie Brock and Maribeth Bowman, and three fourth graders, Hannah McNemar, Lesley Reynolds and Rachel Brown.

The students had been working on their problem since mid-December, Moskal said.The project had taught them they “can do more than we think we can if we use our imaginations,” McNemar said...