Two Fort Couch teams advance to world competition
Two teams of Upper St. Clair students are headed to the
Odyssey of the Mind World Finals after earning top marks at the
Pennsylvania State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament on April 2, 2016. The World Finals are set for May 25-28 at Iowa State University.
Earning first place was a team of Fort Couch Middle School students that includes Vivek Babu, Christina Conte, Jacob Conte, Yash Jajoo, Gracie Lowden, Maggie Lowden and Isabella Putorti. The team completed the vehicle problem titled, “No-Cycle Recycle.”
No-Cycle Recycle: Teams will build, ride on, and drive a no-cycle, recycling vehicle. It will pick up discarded items, adapt them in some way, and then deliver them to places to be re-used. The vehicle must travel without pedaling for propulsion. In addition, the driver will have an assistant worker riding on the vehicle that will help process the trash items being repurposed. They will make an unplanned stop along the way to perform a random act of kindness.
Another team of Fort Couch Middle School students finished second. The team includes Victoria Cuba, Brianna Lin, Joseph Markovitz, Max Murtough, Sammie Seewald, Constantine Tripodes and Eric Wang. The team completed the classics problem, “Classics…Aesop Gone Viral.”
Classics... Aesop Gone Viral: Teams will create and present an original performance about a fable gone "viral." The problem will include a list of fables attributed to Aesop. Teams will select one and portray it, and its moral, as going viral - that is, being shared throughout the community and beyond. The performance will be set in a past era and include a narrator character, an artistic representation of the fable's moral, and a character that makes a wrong conclusion about the moral and is corrected.
“We are thrilled for the kids and so excited that they will participate in this extraordinary event,” Alison Hess said.
The Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind tournament was held April 2, 2016, at Moon Area High School. The Fort Couch Middle School teams advanced to the state finals after finishing strong in the Western Pennsylvania Regional Odyssey of the Mind competition in March.
According to its website, “Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the United States and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.”
