Tatum, Bay Haven Students Compete In Odyssey of the Mind World Finals

Two Sarasota schools will send its top teams to Iowa to compete in a world problem-solving tournament.

A team from in Sarasota took first place in its category in the state Odyssey of the Mind tournament earlier this month at the University of Central Florida while competing for the first time.

As a result the victorious team will head to the World Finals, scheduled for Wednesday, May 23 through Sunday, May 27, at the University of Iowa in Ames. in Sarasota placed second in two categories and also will send teams to the finals.

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program for students in grades K-12 and college. The goal is to learn creative problem solving, teamwork, brainstorming, self-reliance and respect for the individual strengths of team members.

Teams of five to seven students develop solutions to one of six long-term problems over several months, while practicing for a spontaneous problem that is presented at the competition. Teams, problems and competitions are organized into five divisions by age groups (Primary, I, II, III and IV).

A team from Tatum Ridge Elementary placed first in Division I of Odyssey Angels. The competition involves creating and presenting a performance. According to the premise, the group travels throughout one or more team-created places where they encounter negative situations and attempt to turn them into positive situations.

On their journey, they help two individuals with different problems and save a community from a crisis. One Odyssey Angel cannot speak, and another has a special team-created power.

A team from Bay Haven School of Basics Plus placed second in Division I of Ooh-Motional Vehicle, where the problem requires the team to design, build and drive a vehicle that will travel a course and encounter three different situations. The vehicle must display different human emotions and take risks to deal with each encounter.

A Bay Haven team placed second in Division I of You Make the Call. For this problem, the team designed and built a structure made of only balsa wood and glue to balance and support as much weight as possible, using mathematics and other skills.  

A team from placed third in Division I of To Be or Not to Be. In this problem, the team puts a musical theatre spin on one of William Shakespeare's most famous lines: “To Be Or Not To Be.” Hamlet, the title character in the bard’s classic play, ponders this question and realizes that the easy way out is not always the correct choice. In the Odyssey of the Mind problem, an original character based on the play must face a team-created dilemma and consider various choices.

A team from in Sarasota placed fifth in Division II of Ooh-Motional Vehicle. A middle school team from Pine View School in Osprey placed fifth in Division II of Odyssey Angels.

Tatum Ridge and Bay Haven schools will hold fundraising activities to help cover the cost of sending teams to the World Finals in Iowa, including registration fees, competition-related expenses, travel and lodging.

Anyone who would like to learn more about the fundraisers or make a donation to either school may contact Tatum Ridge Elementary at 941-316-8188 or Bay Haven School of Basics Plus at 941-359-5800.