Pine Island sends another team to Odyssey World Finals
In addition to the team from Diplomat Middle School, a group of students from Challenger Middle School also is headed to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals this summer. Team 37241 – Matt King, Skyler Ferris, Abby Kingery, Shelby Starks, Milissa Matura and island resident Gerilynn Rossman -also won in its division in this highly acclaimed educational program by solving a creative problem.
Thousands of teams from throughout the United States and 25 other countries will participate in the world finals to be held at the Iowa State University later this month.
The “problem” presented to the Challenger team was called “Earth Tech,” which required the team to design and build a small vehicle. The cost of the project was $145 and the team claimed first place in its division competing against a total of seven teams in the middle school division.
“Our team chose Earth Trek sponsored by NASA. We had to build a vehicle that would travel to four environments and change appearance in each of them. One of the changes had to make the vehicle appear to be a group of vehicles traveling together simultaneously. We had to do a skit around it, with an eight minute time limit,” said Rossman. “Our vehicle appeared to be an RV on the outside, made of an old cooler. Our changes were a slide-out, a bed popping out, a disco ball being placed on the roof, and it towing three police cars behind it. I got the original idea for how to propel the car by surfing the Internet. I found a Web site where this guy made projects out of stuff you would find laying around your house.”
After having developed a plan, Rossman and her team set to work.
“It took me about a month to actually build the vehicle,” said Rossman. “It is remote controlled and a 9.6 volt drill battery which powers two cordless drills that can go in reverse because of the switches in the wiring.”
At the state tournament, the Challenger team finished second out of the entire state of Florida. Also at the state level, Rossman and her team were presented with the events highest honor, “Ranatra Fusca.” This award goes to the team showing the most creativity in the solution of the problem. To win this award, the team must be nominated by a judge at the competition. Only three of the nominations are presented with this award.
“I have participated in the Odyssey of the Mind program for two years beginning with my sixth grade teacher, Jim Melvin. My coach this year is Rena White and she is phenomenal as was Mr. Melvin, but my first real instruction to critical thinking was at Pine Island Elementary,” said Rossman. “I would especially like to thank my part-time gifted teacher, Jeff Nelson at PIE.”
The six seventh graders are currently busy holding fund-raisers to help defray the cost of attending the World Finals.
“So far we have had a pancake breakfast at Beef O’Brady’s and next we will be having a fund-raising night at Il Primos on May 6,” Rossman said.
To make the trip, the team will need to raise approximately $12,500 and have also held sponsor nights at local restaurants, a school garage sale and other fund-raisers.
Odyssey of the Mind involves students from third grade through college and team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem and present their solution to the problem at the competition. They also must generate spontaneous answers to a problem they have not seen before.
To make a donation for the Challenger team, mail it to Challenger Middle School, 624 Trafalgar Parkway, Cape Coral, FL 33991. Checks should be made payable to Challenger Middle School, Odyssey of the Mind.