Odyssey of the mind.

An UNOFFICIAL page.

This page is not an offical webpage of OM nor does it make any profit. This is a fan page for entertainment only.

The OM pledge: Let me be a seeker of knowledge. Let me travel uncharted paths, and let me use my creativity to make the world a better place in which to live.

Odyssey of the mind, it is, by far, the best thing in the world. If you don't know what OM is, I'll explain it.

Odyssey of the mind is a creative problem solving organazation. Teams are orginized with a max of seven members. They choose a problem that the Odyssey of the Mind officials put out each year. The problems usually consist of some "classic" types, involving creating a skit within a time limit that solves the problem given as creatively as possible. The other basic problems are the balsa structure problems. These problems are usually along the lines of "how much weight can a balasa structure hold" the balsa structure must follow guidelines, and a skit usually goes along with these problems. Those are the two main probablem types, and the types of those can vary from year to year. Other problems are kinds when you have to build a vehicle to go somewhere by itself, or achomplish something. All these problems have a performance time limit and a cost limit. Only the team can solve the problems, no outside assenstance is allowed. That is the Long-Term problem explained. Teams will take their production to a regional tournament, where they compeat agenst other teams on a point system. They are scored on Long-Term, Style, and Spontainous. The more creative you are, the more points you get. Another component in OM is brainstorming, or Spontainous. This is when you go to the tournament, and you are given a verbal or hands on problem to solve on the spot. You are again scored on how creative you are solving this. There is a time limit here too, but no one knows the problem till you get there. There is no way to prepare for this except for doing your own spontainous problems durring practice before compatation. If you get more points that most of your compatation in a tournament, you advance. First you compeat at regionals, agenst teams in your region. If you win, usually the first 4-2 places, you go to a state level and compeat agenst teams that won at reigionals. If you win there, you must get first place to advance, and you would go to worlds. It is extreamly hard to go to worlds. At worlds, you just compeat to be the best. OM is an extra-curicular thing, and usually school orginize it. There are sories I've heard about OM being apart of the curriculem of a school, and I wish that was the case for me at my school. OM takes months of preperation. Usually you start around October, and regionals is around March. States is around April and Worlds is usually a weekend in May.

This is my sixth year in OM. I started when I was in 4th grade when my school started OM. I was on the first team for my school, and everyone on my team was completly new to OM. We had tryouts, and out of 32 fourth graders, my team was chosen by how creative we were. I was the third most creative person out of the 32 kids. That first year was what we now refer to at my school as "the dream team" We all were extreamly creative kids and we did the John Jivery problem, Division I. We placed first at reigon, and fourth at state. We had, like, 5 coaches, it was beyond wonderful.

The second year I did OM was when I was in Fifth grade. That year we had four or five teams from our school, a big change from that first year of only one team. We had only two coaches that year, and I was with a bunch of new people. One of those new people was Mrs. Mcleod. She began coaching OM when I was in fifth grade, along with my mom(sigh,gasp). It was very different, but we had a blast anyway. That team consisted of: Katie, Erik, Derrick, Natalie, me, Madison, & Amy. We did the Heroic Porportions problem, Division I. We placed First at Regionals, and 13th at state (dead last). To this day, no one understands why we got dead last from first. It was depressing, but we are over it.

The third year I did OM was when I was in sixth grade. Mrs. Mcleod and my mom coached us again. It was our first year in Division II, and we didn't really know what we were getting into. Our team consisted of: Me, Elizabeth, Katie, Kate, Celia, Derrick, and Erik. We were a good group. We did Our first classics problem, Marvolus Mentor. We Got a narrow 5th place at regionals, so we didn't go to state. (in South Carolina, the first four places at region go to state) We believe we got fifth because of the age difference. We later discovered that All four of the four top placing teams were eighth graders, and fifth place was us, those little sixth graders. I was proud of that. This was also the first year we had to compose music, and I had that responsibility.

The fourth year I did OM was in Seventh grade. Mrs. Mcleod was our only coach, and that was new for us. Our team included: Me, Elizabeth, Derrick, Erik, Chris, & Harrison. This was the first year we had sixth graders(younger teammates)on our team. It was also the first year we had dropout problems. We also had another member, but the day before the region tournament he didn't show up, and he didn't come to the tournament. He quit. We were extreamly mad, but he wasent a crucial member, so we made due. At the region tournament, our second year in Division II doing a classic problem, (Oh my Faire Shakespeare) we get a narrow 4th place, it was a really big suprise! So we went to state. We did our thing. Our scores came back. we had 25 deduction points. All hope was gone. But we had a really awsOMe spontainous, so we figured we could just place. Well, turns out, we got 10th place, but we had the second highest spontainous. Ain't things funny? We figured out that if we hadent gotten our deduction we might have had a shot at fourth place, thats how tight the scores were. I was glad to just get to states. It's always nice to go. This was the first year that the girls on the team were a minority, and I was the only "original" OMer on our team. It was fun.

The fifth year I did OM I was a coach. Due to all the crap law suites my skiddish school decided to hold a "school wide" compatition, so I coached 8 5th graders. It was a great experience, they are wonderful kids. Made friends with them too. Our problem was to create some puppit show, it was a problem my school made up, so it was really loose. My team compeated against two 4th grade teams, and we got first place. They were so wonderful!!! I learned a lot from coaching.

This year, now that I'm a freshman in high school, we are really having orginized teams. I am the rep for OM in general for the High School, which is pretty cool. It kinda sucks now though, we might not finish this year... got sorta boring...

If you want to start a team, be warned, it takes a lot of time. A LOT OF TIME. hehehe I'll put it as Madison did a few years ago, "If you have a life, don't do OM" she is SOOO right! hehehe

If you want to know more about OM, you can go to any of these Websites:

The offical international OM website Has all the information you'll ever need, you can get a better explanation of what OM is, how to start it at you school or how to orginize a team.

South Carolina OM Has news about Om in South Carolina. Neato Music!

 

Disclaimer: These pages are produced by, and are the responsibility of Elizabeth. Since these pages are not reviewed by OM Association, Inc., which administers the Odyssey of the Mind program, it is not responsible for their contents. These pages should not be viewed as authoritative for any information.

Information about the Odyssey of the Mind program, its problems, problem definitions, problem clarifications, terms of participation and other program-specific information is available only from OM Association, Inc.(http://www.odyssey.org/).

All competition rules in the Odyssey of the Mind School Program Rulebook apply on the Internet, through E-mail, or in newsletters, newspapers, etc. Be particularly aware of the rules concerning outside assistance, problem clarifications, and copyright.

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