OM Team Headed to Worlds

Once again, Ulysses High School has qualified an Odyssey of the Mind team to participate in the World competition. This year’s Worlds will be held on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowas on May 24th through May 28th.

When asked what Odyssey of the Mind is, coach Holly Cowan explained, “Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program. Teams are given a problem and must come up with a creative solution to the problem using specific parameters and a budget. This solution must be depicted in a skit, where a creative performance is acted out while solving the problem.” She added, “the second portion of OM is called ‘Spontaneous’ where team members are posed questions and problems and must come up with a solution in a matter of minutes, verbally or with provided materials.” In Odyssey of the Mind, there is no outside assistance allowed. Coaches are actually chaperones.

Holly and her husband, Daron, have been coaches for OM for a number of years. Their daughter, Lily, began participating in the program as a fifth grader. The other team members are Adey Schneider, Sandra Spooner, Julia Rodriguez, Adrian Escobedo, Ivan Escobedo and Jonathan Pauda.

The team is looking forward to being back to an in-person competition. Due to the COVID pandemic, teams competed virtually in 2020 and 2021. While in Ames, the students and coaches will live in dorms and eat in the campus cafeteria. Activities include pin trading, when team members from all over the United States and the world exchange their unique pins. The opening and closing ceremonies are always lively and entertaining. Other planned activities are rock climbing, swimming, visiting the Creativity Festival and watching other teams compete.

Cowan wants to thank the parents of the team members for their support and for allowing their kids to spend their weekends working on solutions. She also would like to thank Misti Becker for her help and dedication to the OM program, Karen Stinson for her guidance as they were learning to coach an OM team and the USD 214 board of education who assisted with the costs of transportation and registration. Finally, she would like to thank the community of Ulysses for their support of our youth both educationally and financially. She added, “as coaches going into our fifth year, we have seen much of our team grow, not only in knowledge and creativity, but also mature into young adults who have a bright future thanks to this program.”

In recent years, there has been a decline in Odyssey of the Mind teams - not just in Ulysses - but across the state of Kansas. Cowan would like to encourage any parent who thinks that this might be a good fit for their child to reach out and ask questions. In the past, USD 214 has begun to form their teams when students enter the fifth grade.

Holly and Daron believe that the Odyssey of the Mind program sparks the imagination and creativity, as well as confidence, in our children and helps pave the way for a successful future. They are willing to mentor and help to train future coaches and encourage any parent, teacher or other adult who is interested in forming a team to contact them.