Sarah Eames: On the Bright Side: Local kids qualify for global academic tourney

Apr. 17—For the first time in more than a decade, an Odyssey of the Mind team from Sherburne-Earlville Central School District qualified to compete at the international competition.

"Sherburne-Earlville has a rich tradition of supporting Odyssey of the Mind. Our 2020-21 team exemplifies innovation, creativity, critical thinking, and competitive spirit," district Superintendent Rob Berson said. "We are so proud of this team and how they have represented Sherburne-Earlville Central School District."

The seven-member team of high schoolers — five seniors, a junior and a sophomore — has more or less been together for nine years, according to their coach, Sherburne-Earlville fourth grade teacher Heidi Johnson.

"This was their last year to make it to Worlds, and they did it," she said.

Team members learned in an April 3 virtual ceremony that they took first place at the state competition and would be moving on to the World Finals.

Odyssey of the Mind teams are each tasked with solving a pre-defined problem of their choosing — in Sherburne-Earlville's case, designing a working vehicle — and present their solution at varying levels of competition.

"Teammates continue to come together in a way where ideas are expressed and appreciated, responsibility is shared, resources are managed, and new friends are made," according to the organization. "OMers — the name given to Odyssey of the Mind participants — continue to learn how to evaluate and solve problems using critical thinking and creativity. These are skills they will need in the future."

"This year, we had to create a vehicle that used stored energy, and you got more points if you didn't use a battery," said senior Maleah Britton. "We used compressed air with a pneumatic piston that creates a linear motion, and I basically used sprockets that you'd find on a bike that move in one direction and lock in the other, so it was able to push the vehicle forward and backward."

This year's vehicle had to be rideable and traverse a 10-by-10-foot square track. The project required the team to create a time-telling element of some sort to illustrate passing seconds, according to senior Justiss Kovack. The team designed origami flowers that wilted with the dying of the bees — an element of their performed narrative — and came back to life, pushed out of a tube with a pneumatic mechanism similar to the one that propelled the vehicle.

The team started meeting in September, working for two and a half months on one solution before scrapping the idea in January and starting over about two weeks before the video of their performance was due to be submitted for judging.

The original idea — solving the problem in the form of a Greek mythology-style dating game — just wasn't cohesive, said senior Lillie Ashton. "We all knew that it would be better to change it and go down a path that we felt confident about versus sticking with something safer that we had been working on."

"We are still confused on how we got everything together in the last two weeks, but we pulled it off," Maleah said. "All that time and energy we put into one idea, only to have to start over, was a little difficult, and we didn't even know what direction we wanted to go in, still, at that time."

"We also had experience knowing that the route of idea we were going down just does not feel like the right way to go," said senior Peter Peschel, the group's Greek mythology expert. "Last year, we had one idea that we were stuck on for at least a week or two. Definitely this year was a lot riskier of a decision, but we made it work. That's the case with a lot of ideas that anybody has."

"We always have a vision for what we want our project to look like and a theme we want to go with so that all of our elements look uniform, but with the Greek theme, none of us had a clear vision," Maleah said.

"I think we were all a little unmotivated about the theme we had, partly because of COVID, but once it came down to crunch time, that's when it all came together," said senior Justiss Kovack.

The coronavirus pandemic tinted many aspects of the Odyssey competition season, which spans nearly the entire school year, according to Maleah.

"Normally, we'd do a lot more — getting together on the weekend, having sleepovers and getting things done. That's something we'd normally look forward to, but the last two years, we haven't been able to do that," she said. "For the time that we pulled it off, and just looking at it overall, I think we did the best we could with what we had."

Between pandemic restrictions and uncertainties surrounding the district budget earlier in the year, Johnson said she wasn't sure the team could compete at all.

"There was no money for after-school activities or sports or anything, but because Odyssey of the Mind was something we could do as a team while still being safe and distancing, they gave us the go-ahead," Johnson said.

Johnson said she prepared a speech to give to the superintendent, only in his first year with the district.

"I started in and I wanted to know that if they made it to States, that they would be allowed to go, with COVID and money," she said. "I got about halfway through and he stopped me and said, 'If you're asking if you can go, the answer is yes.'"

All extracurricular activities were on hold at the time amid a mid-year 20% reduction in state aid, according to district Superintendent Berson, who noted that Johnson volunteered to coach the team without pay to "provide the opportunity for this team to plan, practice, and prepare."

"The Board of Education's support was instrumental in providing this opportunity," he continued. "As the fiscal landscape has improved, the district has been able to allocate resources to support our team as they aspire to success at the OM World Championships."

The district covered the costs of lodging, transportation and meals for the team to travel to Orlando, Florida, to compete at the hybrid in-person/virtual World Finals in June.

In the meantime, state judges encouraged the team to tweak and build upon their presentation.

"Many of the state Odyssey officials are also heavily involved in Worlds," Johnson said. "For them to get first place and the scores that they got — it's very meaningful for them. These are judges that really know Odyssey."

"The teams all faced a lot of extra challenges this year with COVID — personal, monetary — but they banded together and stuck it through," said Lynn Lucas director of the New York State Odyssey of the Mind Association. "Odyssey of the Mind is about team-building and their journey together — it's not just a team, it's a family. It's remarkable how this group has stuck together."

"This is how we became friends," Maleah said. "We were fourth-graders and none of us were friends. We all awkwardly came and sat at the table."

"We hang out and do stuff outside of school, but it's mostly Odyssey," Lillie said. "This has definitely solidified the bond between us."

"It's been amazing to watch these kids grow up," Johnson said. "I'm seeing it maybe more than they are, but I know they're feeling it: all except for one are seniors. I feel like they were under a lot of pressure this year with a lot of tough choices to make on top of COVID."

"Their first year, they missed going to Worlds by 2.43 points," she continued. "For nine years, they have been saying, 'We will get to Worlds someday.'"

"As fourth-graders, we were thrilled to be getting third place — that seemed like the coolest thing ever — and I don't think it really hit until several years later how much it sucked missing out on that experience, but I think it's really pushed us to want to get to that goal," said senior Lily French.

"They all went through COVID together last year," Johnson said. "They did really well at Regionals — they won the Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award at Regionals — but they didn't get the chance to go to States because there was no States."

Last year, the Odyssey of the Mind organization opened up the World Finals, allowing any team to enter, regardless of their previous scores, Johnson said. The S-E team took fourth place.

"It didn't have that same satisfaction because we didn't win our way there," Lillie said. "Knowing that we won our way there and getting first place at States really feels amazing."

"It kind of sums up our OM experience — for me, at least," Maleah said.

Sarah Eames, staff writer, can be reached at seames@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow her @DS_SarahE on Twitter.