Four area teams placed in the top three in their categories at the state Odyssey of the Mind tournament and will head to the world finals competition next month.
Odyssey of the Mind teams are each tasked with solving a pre-defined problem of their choosing. The teams are broken up into three divisions, with elementary schools in division one, middle schools in division two and high schools in division three. During competition, the teams are also tasked with solving a spontaneous problem.
Oxford Academy Middle School beat Golding Middle School of Cobleskill-Richmondville by 11.1 points to win The Most Dramatic Problem Ever!!! Division II competition. Oxford Academy coach Megan Kappauf applauded her team on the school’s Facebook page. She said the team competed at regionals in 2022 and came in third.
This year the team of Gabby Palmer, Clara Leach, Ahnalee Kappauf and Emily Williams returned to Regionals as a team of four (most teams have seven members) competing in Division 2 (Grades 6-8), Kappauf said on Facebook. “We arrived with the goal of doing a little better than the year prior and we did,” she said. The team came in second, which allowed the students to compete at the state competition.
“After the win at Regionals, the team came home and got to work,” she said on Facebook. “They looked over the feedback the judges gave them and adjusted to compete at a higher standard at States.”
Kappauf said it’s the first time a team from Oxford has qualified for the world tournament.
The team from Sherburne Earlville Middle School placed ninth and Holy Family School of Norwich placed 11th in The Most Dramatic Problem Ever!!! Division II competition.
The team from the Cobleskill-Richmondville High School placed third in The Most Dramatic Problem Ever!!! Division III competition and will compete at nationals. A team from Greene High School placed sixth, team B from Sherburne Earlville High School placed seventh and team A from Sherburne Earlville placed 11th in the same category.
Greenlawn Elementary School placed 13th in The Most Dramatic Problem Ever!!! Division I competition. Advisor Kimberly Morris-Schinn said in an email late Friday, the team picked the problem “because it was a problem that needed humor to solve. They all have great senses of humor.”
The fourth team that qualified for the national competition was Sherburne Earlville Elementary School, which placed third in the Classics… The Walls of Troy Division I. Cobleskill-Richmondville Elementary School placed sixth in the same category. Sherburne Earlville Middle School placed 19th in Classics… The Walls of Troy Division II. Middleburgh High School placed fifth and Cobleskill-Richmondville High School placed 11th in Classics… The Walls of Troy Division III.
Cobleskill-Richmondville High School placed eighth in Pirates and the Treasure Division III. Sherburne Earlville Middle School placed sixth in Because iCan Division II. Holy Family School placed 13th in Where’s the Structure Division I.
The world finals competition will take place May 24-27, at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.