Much like Odysseus in Homer’s famed work ‘The Odyssey,’ Crestwood’s Odyssey of the Mind Team has had quite the journey.
The difference, instead of returning home from the Trojan War, the modern-day Crestwood team returned home recently from the University of Iowa, where they secured a first-place win at the Odyssey of the Mind World Championships.
Odyssey of the Mind, according to its website, “teaches students how to develop and use their natural creativity to become problem-solvers.” Since that initial vision was realized, it has expanded into a global network of teams, from kindergarten through college, who work throughout the academic year to solve a pre-determined problem, and then present their solutions via skits in various competitions. The competition is split into divisions based on age groups, and sees various levels of competition.
Crestwood’s team, coached by Ed Griffiths, took first place in the state finals at Lock Haven University on April 2, and were awarded the Renatra Fusca Award, which recognizes tremendous creativity. When the World Championships rolled around, from May 25-28, in Iowa, the Crestwood High School team would repeat, once more taking first place against 28 other teams and taking home the Renatra Fusca Award.
Griffiths, who began his OOTM coaching endeavors with Rice Elementary and grew with the team said, “I just don’t have enough words,” when asked what it meant to see his team take home the win. “The experience that they get throughout the year is what really counts and the hardware’s nice, but to see them progress through the years and the things they’ve learned is just so rewarding. It’s amazing.”
Griffiths explained that the work starts in August, when the academic year begins. The problems from OOTM are issued and the teams of seven plus their coach have a few months to get a solution figured out before competitions being in March.
“So, a lot of teams don’t start doing their thing ‘till January. We typically go right outta the gate. I mean, we are hitting it the day they issue the problems,” he explained.
And while Griffiths spent his career working in nuclear power for 42 years, the coaches are not allowed to provide creative solutions. Coaches can teach their teams things like how to build a circuit board (which Griffiths did) and how to use the tools, but solving the problem was entirely on the students.
The team, made up of upperclassmen Shannon Griffiths, Olivia Richards, Nicole Zurawski, Chris Hannon, Ruthie Mullisky, Claire Lenio and Kaitlyn Leicht, has worked together now for eleven years. They put their heads together and came up big in front of 14,000 people and 630 teams of varying divisions from all over the world.
So, what was problem and what was the solution?
The problem was officially labeled by OOTM as an “Escape VRoom.” The description from the website reads as follows: Odyssey teams take their problem-solving skills inside a box as they create a performance that includes one or more team-created vehicles that will help a group of characters escape an unusual room. The vehicle will travel to areas within the room and complete tasks. Each time it completes a task it will release a “clue” that the group will use in the next area to release the next clue, and so on. When the vehicle performs the final task, it will reveal a final clue that allows the group to escape the room, and they discover the mystery behind the room.
So, the Crestwood Team engineered circuits, gyroscopes and laser targeting — just to scratch the surface — on their vehicles and presented the solution in a skit. The skit was set after hours at The Louvre Museum in Paris where the artworks come alive when humans aren’t present.
Griffiths said, “The skit was, you know, basically they’re finding clues that the ghost of Michelangelo came back and wanted to get his David sculpture to escape from that room. So, he planted clues until they all figured out how to escape the room. And then he got to in the process, destroy the Mona Lisa by painting a red mustache on it and stuff like that. So, there was a little bit of humorous elements to it.”
The judges were floored by the creativity and ingenuity of the team, with some remarking that the stage props almost seemed like the actual piece in The Louvre.
Of course, the trip was made possible by very generous donations from the Crestwood Education Foundation and the Mountain Top Kiwanis, who each put up $3,000 to fund registration and the trip.
“And we’ve been having a lot of other fundraisers, and we pretty much got all of our registration, our travel expenses and hotels, paid for. It was really a wonderful community to turn out. It almost makes you tear up,” Griffiths reflected.
Moving forward, Griffiths is considering becoming an OOTM Judge, but he encourages parents and community members to step up and volunteer, and he’s always willing to help a team kickoff and get started, if anyone was interested.
“I am always available to help,” he said.
In closing, he showed his appreciation and awe of his students, as he said, “It’s been such a gift. These kids are just tremendous. You know, they’re all very high up in honors and stuff and smart and creative and it’s just over the top for me.”
