Caroline Knightly, Reporter
@knightlycourant
While most students express their talent through theater or dance performances, some prefer to use their brains as talent rather than their body and voice. Odyssey of the Mind is a program for students who are encouraged to use their brains and step outside their comfort zones using creative thinking and teamwork to solve long-term and short-term problems.
For junior Miles Turpin, Odyssey of the Mind has encouraged creative and quick thinking during competitions.“There are three types of short-term answers called spawns, verbal, verbal hands on, and hands on,” Miles said. “They practice thinking on your feet and emphasizing creative answers while also thinking outside the box.”
Like Miles, junior Chloe Rosenberg knows how to mentally prepare herself and the team for upcoming competitions, such as Worlds, in a way that will benefit the team. “Half of the competition consists of our skit, which we have rehearsed dozens of times,” Chloe said. “The spontaneous questions in a competition are harder to prepare for because we don’t know exactly what the question is and it can be nerve-wrecking.”
Miles has been competing with the Odyssey of the Mind program since he was in fourth grade, making it one of his most enjoyable school activities. “I love the idea of creative thinking because it applies to all aspects in life,” Miles said. “There’s so much you can do with creativity and there are no limits to anything with Odyssey.”
Her first year involved with Odyssey, Chloe wanted to be involved with an activity that was different from anything else she was doing. “Odyssey combines some of my favorite things: spending time with friends, weird puns and trying to think out of the box,” Chloe said.
While preparing for a competition, understanding your teammates and accepting their ideas is key to success. “Odyssey’s definitely one of those things that requires a strong team bond,” Miles said. “You want to be able to trust each other and know that your ideas aren’t going to sound stupid.”
After winning the state competition in March, the Odyssey of the Mind team is hoping for a positive outcome at the World’s competition, which will take place in May. “This being our first time going to worlds, we have a period of time where we get to improve upon our state performance,” Miles said. “Having the states as a trial run showed us our strengths and weaknesses as a team.”
With confidence in the team, Chloe is excited to face the challenges that will be brought by the Worlds competition. “Worlds is going to be great, with teams from dozens of different countries, it will be interesting,” Chloe said.
