Odyssey tournament empowers students

Outside-the-box thinking, spontaneity and teamwork have been known to generate unique and workable solutions in many aspects of life. These skills and more were honed at The Northeast Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament held March 3 at Pocono Mountain West High School.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem-solving competition. Students from grades K-12 receive a problem at the beginning of the school year that they must solve in an 8-minute skit that includes original costumes, scenery, technical elements and more. The event is visual as students are judged on the style and creativity of the appearance of all aspects of their performances.

This year more than 700 students from 45 schools in Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties took part in the event.

Mary Beth Adelman, coordinator for the Abington Heights school district, believes students learn many valuable skills throughout the event process.

�??One of the big goals of Odyssey of the Mind is giving the opportunity for creative problem solving,�?� Adelman said. �??The program teaches students that there is more than one way to solve a problem. Also, students have to do all the work themselves. The coaches can�??t provide ideas or assist in any part of the projects. It�??s all the kids. I think it�??s quite empowering and they come up with some amazing things.�?�

In all, 16 teams competed from the Abington Heights School District with nine advancing to the State Finals April 14 at Pocono Mountain East High School. �??It was a great day filled with amazing creativity, teamwork, and fun,�?� Adelman said. At state finals, teams will compete to advance to World Finals at Iowa State University in May. All who finished in first or second place advanced to the state finals.