release date: June 2, 2011
Congratulations to the Voorheesville Middle School/High School Odyssey of the Mind team, which won first place at World Finals on May 27.
 Congratulations to the Voorheesville Middle School/High School Odyssey of the Mind team, for winning first place at World Finals on May 27.  Above, the Voorheesville team enjoys a stress-free moment at World Finals. |
In Odyssey of the Mind, students present creative solutions to problems in the form of 8-minute skits and compete in "spontaneous" questions, in which they were judged on how creative they can be on the spot to a new problem. Voorheesville's win followed a long journey of competing — and winning — first at the regional, then state levels, culminating at the world competition in Maryland.
The team's first stop was at Region 7 competition, which was organized by Capital Region BOCES; there the Voorheesville group was one of 94 teams competing from Albany, Schoharie, Schenectady and Saratoga counties.
Team Coach Jean MacKay passed along some favorite memories of the trip to World Finals:
Spending
time with their “buddy team” from Beijing, China:
"Our buddy team consisted of three boys and two girls who traveled
with three teachers from Beijing to the World Finals. This was their
first visit to the U.S. and their English was very limited. The head
teacher and one of the girls spoke well enough to get things
started. Over the course of the weekend, we cheered them on at their
performance, exchanged gifts, and ate together. On Sunday evening,
we broke out a Frisbee and a foxtail to get beyond language and just
play together. At one point as the sun was setting, a kind of magic
descended over the kids and they circled round and played simple
games together in the growing dark. Erik caught a firefly and they
watched it light up…and then they stayed up late into the night
forging friendships with one another.
"And
for me….Though winning first place was an extraordinary achievement
and a great honor, the best parts of our trip were found in the
smaller, less public moments: Watching the team play with the
students from Beijing, seeing them huddled in the dorm room,
listening to them in the car… It’s been a privilege for me as a
coach and a parent to play a hand in helping these exceptional young
people experience World Finals."
Congratulations, Voorheesville!
More details on the Voorheesville website
Check out coverage of their win on YNN
