Onto the Binghamton odyssey

By Nancy Kriz
CENTRAL VALLEY — Four Monroe-Woodbury School District teams - including two from Monroe-Woodbury Middle School, North Main Elementary and Monroe-Woodbury High School - advanced to the Odyssey of the Mind state championship tournament following first-place finishes at this past weekend's regional competition at Orange Ulster BOCES in Goshen.

Odyssey of the Mind 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. Monroe-Woodbury has participated in OM competition for nearly 35 years.

Teams representing Monroe-Woodbury Middle School and North Main Elementary School won first place in their respective divisions for their response to "Something Fishy."

In this problem, the teams designed and operated a technical solution that simulates multiple styles of fishing. A fisher character worked from a designated area to "catch" three different objects that are outside of that area. The catch was on the move and included something expected, something unexpected and a new discovery.

The performance included a change of weather and a humorous character who portrayed a potential catch and avoided being caught by the fisher.

The middle school team, coached by Joanne McInerney, is comprised of Meghan Buckley, Colin Davidson, Livia Davidson, Elena Kelbley, Fiona Leitner, Colin McHugh and Brian Whitfield. It earned a perfect score of 350 points.

The North Main team, coached by Lindsay Roe and Nicole Bosi, has Chase Cassidy, Leanne Fernandes, Jillian Hinkelman, Avlinn Jaskowski, Amara Leitner, Markus Leitner and Isabel Wolgamuth as its team members and earned 334.39 points.

Also addressing this question was a team from Monroe-Woodbury High School, which placed fourth in its division. Coached by Diane English, team members are Jason Bieger, Natalie Davidson, Michael Donovan, Jon Koll and Nathaniel Kisten. The team earned 294.19 points.

The second high school team earned first-place honors in its division for the "Aesop Gone Viral" problem.

In that problem, the team created and presented an original performance about a fable gone "viral." The problem included a list of fables attributed to Aesop.

The team selected one and portrayed it, and its moral, as going viral - that is, being shared throughout the community and beyond. The performance was set in a past era and included a narrator character, an artistic representation of the fable's moral, and a character that made a wrong conclusion about the moral and is corrected.

Coached by Donna Wetzstein, team members are William Carter, Brendan Fernandes, Kajetan Leitner, Katrina Paredes, Camryn Stella, Amy Sullivan and Matthew Yoon. It earned 341.25 total points.

Also earning first-place honors for the same problem in its division was a second middle school team, coached by Jessica Hutter, earning 343.85 points, with Camron Adams, Simran Arneja, Aiden Berges, Alexi Berges, Jack Kralik, Alyssa Kamara and Alessandra O’Day as members.

A team from Central Valley Elementary, coached by Lauren Phillips, also addressed this same problem in its division, earning fourth place with 294.30 points. Team members are Marisa Arone, Bisma Malik, Eryn Sammut, Lucy Silber, Alexa Thomas, Audrey Whitfield and Ellie Wright.

A team representing Pine Tree Elementary School earned second place for its response to Stack Attack! In this problem, the team designed, built and tested a structure, made only of balsa wood and glue that will balance and support as much weight as possible - twice.

During weight-placement, teams had to "attack the stack" where they removed all of the weights except for the bottom one and the crusher board.

The team also received points for removing weights. After attacking the stack, the weight placement process was repeated to add to the total weight held. The team incorporated weight-placement, repetition, and "attacking a stack" into the performance theme.

The team, coached by Nathaniel Peterson, has Sophie Baer, Dani Baig, Sarah Hudson, Julia McHugh, James Nicoll, Zachary Rowen-Delson and Lillian Varcadipane as members and earned 189.79 points.

A third Monroe-Woodbury Middle School team earned eighth place in its division for Furs, Fin, Feathers and Friends. For this problem, the team created and presented a humorous performance depicting problem solving from the perspective of three different animals. The animals helped a stranger, helped each other, and solved a problem that threatens the survival of all animals. Du

Coached by Donna Sit, earned 202.79 points, with Jimmy Donovan, Nicholas Gutierrez, Nea Kosturik, Aayan Krishan, Aman Shetty, Cassidy Stella and Dylan Wright as team members.

State competition will be held at SUNY Binghamton on April 2, with any first- and second-place teams having the opportunity to attend world competition at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Odyssey of the Mind is the only world competition the Monroe-Woodbury district participates in annually.