On March 9th, three Keystone Montessori teams made their debut at the Odyssey of the Mind Regional Competition. Odyssey of the Mind is an international, educational, and creative problem-solving program for K-12 students. Teams are asked to use their creativity to solve problems ranging from building mechanical/structural devices to changing the last chapter of a classic novel. It encourages children to work in teams to foster skills needed to be successful in school and their careers: cooperation and respect for their teammates’ ideas, evaluate ideas, decisions making, building self-confidence, working within a budget, time management, and creative thinking. Most importantly, it is a hands-off program for the adults and only the team members can use their knowledge, skills, and research to solve the problem.
The elementary students presented their solution to three of the problems: vehicle, classics, and theatrics. The Vehicle Team tied for third place. They scored the highest in one of the judging categories in their division and qualified to attend the State Finals in Tucson on April 6th. The Classics Team placed fourth place and the Theatrics Team placed 7thout of 14 teams. For being the first year of competing, these are very impressive results. Already, team members are asking to participate next year! Thank you to all of the parents for their support.
Contributor: Jess Morales-Ruan, Keystone Parent and Keystone OM Coordinator