Once again, Norwalk Public Schools were well represented at the 2013 Odyssey of the Mind Connecticut State Final, held on April 6th in Bristol, with 9 teams from 5 schools attending – Brian McMahon, Roton Middle School, Brookside School, Naramake School and Rowayton School. In addition, five of the Norwalk teams have earned a berth at the World Finals, to be held May 22-25 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program for students K-12 and college. It provides teams the opportunity to learn teamwork, brainstorming, self-reliance and respect for individual strengths. Once teams select a long term problem from a choice of five, they spend five months developing a theatrical and engineering solution. A coach is available to provide guidance, but cannot provide any assistance which might impact the solution. Just as much fun are the spontaneous problems, where the students develop brainstorming skills to solve problems given at the competition. The five teams selected for the world finals spend the next six weeks fine tuning their performances and trying to raise funds to offset the costs for the trip to Michigan.
The participating Norwalk teams attending World Finals are as follows:
- Brien McMahon High School – 1st Place, Pet Project Division III: Millie Cunningham, Megan Evershed, Seeley Fancher, Nicole Lue, Maddy Vineyard
- Brien McMahon High School – 2nd Place, The Email Must Go Through Division III: Matt Allen, Max Blumenthal, Aman Karunakaran, John Pearson, Tom Skipper, Sam Starkman
- Roton Middle School – 1st Place, The Email Must Go Through Division II: Emma Curtin, Olivia Fassett, Jack Feinstein, Cate Herbert, Derek Lue, Keara Meyerson, Isabel Vineyard
- Rowayton Elementary School – 2nd Place, ARTchitecture: The Musical Division II: Julia Arsenault, Julia Curtin, Jamie Hogan, Ethan Keyes, Rachel Smith, Jason Tagariello
- Rowayton Elementary School – 2nd Place, It’s How You Look At It Division I: Michael Berkowitz, Peter Meyerson, Emma Mulligan, Shelby Oak, Victoria Parizot, Alex Vineyard
If you would like to make a donation to support the costs for the teams to attend the finals, please mail checks (mark OM on check) to Brien McMahon High School, 300 Highland Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854, Roton Middle School, 201 Highland Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06853 or Rowayton School PTA, 1 Roton Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06853.
Hop on over to the Community Center, rain or shine, to meet the Easter Bunny and participate in RCA’s annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 30 at 10am at the Rowayton Community Center. Parents, please drop off six plastic eggs filled with candy, snacks or coins for each participating child to T.G. Diamandis at 3 St. James Place (off Yarmouth Road at the top of Browne Place) on Friday, March 29 between 12 noon and 8pm. Eggs may also be dropped off at the Community Center field before 9:30am on the day of the hunt. For more information, email T.G. Diamandis at diamandis@optonline.net or call 831-0870.
