Schools

Brookfield Odyssey of the Mind Headed for World Finals

Two Brookfield teams to compete in "Olympics of Creative Thinking."

The Brookfield Odyssey of the Mind (OM) teams are heading to the World Finals at Michigan State University again this year after four teams placed in the top three of their divisions at the Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind Tournament held at Bristol Eastern High School on April 6.

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative thinking competition where schools send teams of students from 3rd grade to 12th grade to compete against students in their division in solving a long-term problem. The problem categories are Vehicle, Technical Performance, Classic Performance, Balsa Structure and Performance. The teams demonstrate their solution to the problem in an 8-minute performance in front of a panel of judges. The first and second placed teams for their problem in their division are invited to the World Finals where 800 teams from other states and all around the world compete. 

Brookfield’s Huckleberry Hill Elementary School sent four teams of students, Whisconier Middle School sent five teams and Brookfield High School sent two teams to the Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind Tournament this past Saturday. 

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Whisconier had two teams place in the top three. The Technical Performance team of 6th graders Macie Carroll, Renee Dackow, Alex Dauphin, Julia Gharaibeh, Connor Kelly, Josie Luizzi and Robbie Luizzi placed third in Division II (6th-8th grade) in their long-term problem, The Email Must Go Through. The Vehicle team of 5th graders Jasmin Bahl, Jacob Beazer, Matt Danetiu, Mae Gereg, Matt Menedez-Aponte, Amelie Ranchy and Kylie Shuflata placed first in Division I (3rd-5th grade) in their long-term problem, Pet Project.

Brookfield High School had both their teams place. The Technical Performance team consisting of Subha Chelladurai, Sequoia Lowe, Sofia Gharaibeh, Stephen Heald, Allegra Jordan and Daisy Stott placed third in division III (9th-12th grade) in their long-term problem, The Email Must Go Through.  The Performance team consisting of Martha Diezemann, Aaron Klein, Dan McLoone, Beau Pettit, Jason Reilly, John Sayour and Kevin Sayour placed first in Division III (9th-12th grade) for their long-term problem, It Is How You Look At It.

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Both first-place teams — the Vehicle team from Whisconier and the Performance team from Brookfield High School — have been invited to go to the World Finals May 22 through May 25 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. 

But before the World Finals these teams will be very busy tweaking their performances, repairing any damage or improving on props to prepare for the big competition as well as practicing their performances.

Both teams will also be busy fundraising to help defray the cost to send the team to the World Finals. It costs about $6,000 to send a team to World so the Brookfield Odyssey of the Mind teams started fundraising by in February and raised about $1,800 by selling Butter Braid pastry.

One fundraising event going on now features families “clucking” each other by putting up paper chickens on neighbor’s lawns overnight. Residents can donate $25 to have another family "clucked" and have the option to donate an additional $25 for insurance against being “clucked.”

If you would like to donate to the Worlds teams, you can contact Cindy Carroll, the Brookfield OM Advisor, at boston_carrolls@hotmail.com.


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