Oak Park Newspaper

"A Wonderful Album"
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.

Free Readers Ensemble

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RAVINIA
"A Great time in a
Wonderful Place" SJC

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Consulting Services

June 2, 2008

Awards from This Years and Previous Years of Odyssey of the Mind's Competitions.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

State Competition in Belleville, Illinois (near St. Louis, Mo.) this April 12th Allows Local Teams to Go the the World Competitions and Finish in the Top 12 from 800 Teams Representing the World Finalists.

by Ed Vincent

At total of eight teams from Mann, Longfellow (Elementary schools), and Julian schools (Middle School) have been awarded
scores on their performances, based on original problem solving in their teams and live performances of their problems. District 97 and all of Oak Park should be proud of these fine young participants. The same challenges that many adults have with public speaking and performing skits to an audience pertain to these young students, and their work has been fantastic.

The Oak Park teams have just returned from their World Competitions in Odyssey of the Mind at the University of
Maryland May 31-June 3, 2008. There were about 800 teams
from all over the world that competed. It was a wonderful opportunity for kids and families to interact with one another
for several days of performances. To be in the competition at any level is already to be a winner. The teamwork, innovation and
efforts are awards in themselves. The kids, parents, coaches
and teachers should all be applauded for a job well done.

District 97 schools placed within the top 12 out of 800 teams
from around the world, and some districts make Odyssey of the Mind part of their normal curriculum. If Oak Park funded this
project, had regional awards, the local teams would only improve.

For now, it was a job well done.

Mann Elementary School Has One More Practice Before
their Journey East
o

Longfellow Elementary School Does a Different Practice
Routine.

Odyssey of the MIND Website
Scores for Illinois Teams and District 97 for 2008

Dino Stories - students portray their humorous theory on why the dinosaurs died out.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

T-Structures - build w. balsa wood to support weight. The Mann team called on Lincoln's strength of honesty to help strengthen their stucture. Also John Henry's physical strength, Houdini's magical strength,
Einstein's mathematical strength, and Picasso's artistic strength.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

How much weight will their structure hold?? Watch below as the
pounds add up......
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

The balsa wood is small and has a fixed weight given to the
total structure, as you can see the pounds often go beyond
a hundred pounds while the wood weighs only a few ounces.

Eccentrics - Odd characters work together to shift the

global climate back to normal. They must also have several
unique personalities and devise a means to have a new fad
appear at the end of their performance.

Eccentrics - The Egyptian sphinx in Giza during the summer with snow falling all around.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

Eccentrics - This Mann student with wild hair shows weather trends
in a humours manner and helps begin the new fashion.

Odyssey of the MIND Website

Scores for Illinois Teams and District 97 for 2008

Odyssey of the Mind 2007 World Championship Scores for All of Illinois, and Oak Park was there too.

OAK PARK STUDENTS TAKE ON THE WORLD AT ODYSSEY OF THE MIND COMPETITION

Eight teams from Longfellow, Mann, and Julian schools
have advanced from the state level to qualify for the world championship Odyssey of the Mind competition at the University of Maryland May 31-June 3, 2008. Odyssey of the Mind is an international education program that provides creative problem solving opportunities through questions or situations developed at Odyssey of the Mind headquarters. Students select their problem/question and spend many months solution-seeking, team building, and developing creating projects to address their problem. This year, the student teams chose their problem from one of the five categories: Road Rally, Dinosaur Extinction, Muses, Tee Structure, Eccentrics. While adult coaches oversee the students’ work over the course of the year, the problems
were solved by teams of students without adult help. Solutions were presented to judges in an eight minute presentation at the state competition April in Bellville, Illinois.

Teams and their coaches are:

Mann School

Teacher Sponsers, Cristen Vincent & Kathy Rolfes

Road Rally
Elizabeth Perkins, Franklin Taylor, Esther Ramsay, Ruby Grillier, Emma Bergey
Coaches: Mr. and Mrs. Perkins

Dino Stories
Annie Schurr, Danny O'Sullivan, Helen Susman, Victoria Pancewicz, Sam Ginn, Chelsie Kowalski
Coaches Mr. Schurr and Mrs. Kowalski

Tee Structure
Will Dunne, Ethan Mertz, Ellora Jaggi, Hannah Sklar, Oliver Soto
Coaches Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Dodd

The Eccentrics
John Stankovich, Katie McGrath, Claire Rolfes, Abby Pont, Miles Blim, Bria McNeal
Coaches Mrs. Stankovich and Mrs. McGrath

Percy Julian Middle School

Road Rally, Div II

Victoria Citko, Emily Grzeda, Nathanael Koetke, Clayton Miller, and Sarabeth Weszely

Coaches: Steve Citko, and Ed Grzeda

Longfellow School

Road Rally
Alex Kenoian, James MacFadyen, Griffin McDermott, Katie Seitelman, Leah Silver, Kirk Svensson
Coaches: Eric Svensson, Karen Colley, and Penny Wallingford

Dino Stories
Henry Harper, Jacob Meister, Jeremy Pesigan, Annalore Salemi, Rory Schrobilgen, Emma Sullivan, Alex Todorovic
Coaches: Tom Sullivan, Greg Schrobilgen, Kathleen Shehan, Kathy Sullivan, and Dianna Thomas

Wonderful Muses
Aida Garcia, Zaynah Habibi, Sarah Hudson, Caroline Orlin, Cristin Reyes, Halie Schuster, William Skudlarek
Coach: Alice Skudlarek

Tee Structure
Willy Gilmore, Madison Lisle, Mylee Rolock, Reiny Rolock, Fiona Ryan, Charity Strong
Coach: Josh Rolock

A message on the Odyssey of the Mind Website reads:
“ For teams heading to World Finals at the University of Maryland we look forward to seeing your creative solutions. You have reached the highest level of international competition because of your creativity, ideas, and teamwork. To all Odyssey teams and volunteers we wish you good luck and heartfelt thanks for making Odyssey of the Mind possible.”

Schools have been engaged in efforts to raise funds for the upcoming visit to the nation’s capital. For more information, please call Julian at 524-3050, Longfellow at 524-3060, or Mann, 524-3085.