Plymouth Whitemarsh High School's Odyssey of the Mind team places third in World Finals
Plymouth Whitemarsh High School’s Odyssey of the Mind team placed third out of 44 schools from across the globe in their division and category at the World Finals event held at Iowa State University from May 27-May 30.
The high school team of Leo Nasatir, Eleanor Hormell, Stephanie Davies, Rosa Warshaw, Thea Kupersmith, and Charlie Stieg competed against 44 schools during the event, going up against schools from as far away as Hong Kong, Poland, and Switzerland, as well as many others from across the U.S.
Students have been working toward the World Finals since September, when they began meeting as a team and worked together to figure out a solution to a problem and how to convey it through an eight-minute performance. The performance had to include seven specific elements, such as an epic poem, characters including a hero, sidekick, and beast, a quest, and a rescue. Team members also had to produce their own props and costumes for their performance using just $145.
Plymouth Whitemarsh’s team put in hundreds of hours to develop their performance and it paid off this past spring. The team placed first in regionals in and then again at the state finals in March. At the state finals, the students were also selected to receive the prestigious Ranatra Fusca award, which is given to teams that demonstrate creative thinking and risk-taking.
But as the students prepared for the World Finals, they faced one of their biggest challenges yet: Having to replace costumes and a marionette that were lost when being shipped from the Philadelphia area to Iowa State for the competition. Not willing to give up, the team members got right to work when they arrived in Iowa, working over the course of 11 hours to acquire new materials in order to construct a new puppet and replacement costumes. Their efforts resulted in a tie for third-place in the Epic Quest division.
The students also had the excitement of being interviewed by a documentary film team that was at the World Finals and working for the Odyssey of the Mind organization. They may be featured in a film to be released in the fall.
Odyssey of the Mind is a program that teaches students problem-solving skills, teamwork, drama, art, carpentry, time management, and conflict resolution. It is open to students of all ages. For more information about Plymouth Whitemarsh’s team and program, contact Steve Hormell at shormell@gmail.com
