Students go far in brain game

They were so close they could taste victory.

Leading their division in the opening round at the Odyssey of the Mind state tournament in Orlando on Saturday, Shorecrest Preparatory's Chameleon Team members felt the thrill that comes when a long-awaited dream is in sight.

When the seventh-graders fell behind slightly in the second round, they still felt exhilarated, because they knew that the top two teams in each division would go to the world championship next month in Boulder, Colo.

But then they found out there was a tie for first place, which technically landed them in third.

Learning the final score didn't help: Shorecrest, 294.64; the nearest rival, 295.73 points.

"It was a big disappointment," said Jean Carnes, Shorecrest's curriculum coordinator and coordinator of the school's Odyssey of the Mind program. "We were assuming that no matter how many firsts they had, they'd send first and second."

Shorecrest Preparatory was one of four Pinellas County schools that advanced to the Odyssey of the Mind state tournament after regional play in February. Described as an "academic Olympics," the competition is a series of quirky, open-ended problems that encourages teamwork and creative thinking.

The Shorecrest students chose a problem from one of several categories at the beginning of the school year. They figured out solutions, wrote scripts and worked for months on their eight-minute presentations.

Besides the seventh-grade team, Shorecrest sent a fifth-grade team to the state competition, which missed a second-place berth by fewer than two points. The Palm Harbor Middle School team finished first in its division and will go to the world finals.

Pinellas results

How Pinellas County fared at the state Odyssey of the Mind competition:

PALM HARBOR MIDDLE SCHOOL: First place, Center Stage Division II

SHORECREST PREPARATORY: Second place, seventh-grade Chameleon Division II; Third place, fifth-grade Ostrich Factor Division I

PALM HARBOR UNIVERSITY HIGH: Fourth place, Center Stage Division III

PERKINS ELEMENTARY: 12th place, Chameleon Division I

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