4 Brevard Odyssey of the Mind Teams Compete at World Finals
Search
Share This Page

4 Brevard Odyssey of the Mind Teams Compete at World Finals

4 Brevard Odyssey of the Mind Teams Compete at World Finals

The four teams from Brevard County that competed in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals returned enriched with learning, memories and critical problem-solving skills.

Two teams from Edgewood Jr. Sr. High, one from Viera High School and one from RL Stevenson Elementary were among more than 630 teams from around the United States, Poland, South Korea and Switzerland at the World Finals at Iowa State University in May.

The Edgewood teams competed in the vehicle problem, Escape Vroom, along with a vehicle team from Viera High. The Stevenson team, consisting of third graders and coaches all brand new to OM, competed in the most popular problem, Life is a Circus — the performance problem. 

All four teams first competed at the regional tournament at Viera High in February and then at the state tournament in Orlando in March. Their success at the state tournament afforded them the privilege of competing at the World Finals. They worked for weeks to fundraise and thank the community for its support. 

The days at World Finals were jam-packed with watching performances, having fun at Creativity Fest, building friendships and the ever-popular pin trading. 

The four teams from Brevard presented their long-term problem performance and participated in spontaneous problem-solving. The hard work resulted in the following placings:

  • Division 2 Vehicle team from Edgewood placed 13th out of 48 teams
  • Division 3 Vehicle team from Viera High placed 10th 
  • Edgewood Division 3 Vehicle team placed 13th out of 28 teams
  • Division 1 Performance team from RL Stevenson placed 28th out of 59 teams

Lisa and Brandon Devries have been coaching Odyssey teams for eight years and recently served as the coaches for the Edgewood teams. 

“Each year we look forward to seeing how our teams will work together over about seven months solving that year’s OM problem,” Lisa Devries said. “They gain leadership skills, learn how to budget, and most importantly they learn how to work as a team. Some are better at building and engineering and others are better at script writing and prop design. It is great to watch them come together and create amazing solutions by using everyone’s ideas — in OM there is no wrong way to solve the problem.”

Lisa says OM provides life lessons for the students and teachers: “When you are presented with a problem, remember to look at the solution from all angles and see what works — it might not be the obvious!” 

 

Odyssey of the Mind

OM is an international creative problem-solving program open to students in K-12, as well as those attending college. Space Coast Odyssey began during the 1989-1990 school year.  Many public, private, and home schools as well as community groups participate each year. 

Learn More

Odysseyofthemind.com

Spacecoastodyssey.org

Facebook: /SpaceCoastOM

 

« Back

Violets in Bloom Florist Richard's Paint Palm Shores Bistro L.H. Tanner Construction Salon Madeleine Buena Vida Estates