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An Odyssey - all the way to world finals

Seven students from Inverness Primary and Pleasant Grove Elementary put their heads together.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published April 21, 2006

INVERNESS - Citrus County students had a late start for the Odyssey of the Mind academic competition. They had never participated in the contest. Their head coach was advised to take part and just see what it's all about, not necessarily compete.

But the associate director for Florida Odyssey of the Mind, Keith Karlberg, later called and apologized for giving that advice. One of the Citrus teams, Jelly Jam, won at the regional and state levels and next month will head to Iowa to compete in the world finals.

This year, Inverness Primary School art teacher Jana Flaherty decided to give gifted students a chance to experience Odyssey, an international program that encourages problem solving for children from kindergarten through college.

Even though the Citrus students began significantly later than students at most Florida schools, Flaherty decided to give it a shot.

As Karlberg had suggested, the children would at least gain experience.

Several teams from three schools - Inverness Primary, Homosassa Elementary and Forest Ridge Elementary - pulled together to enter regionals.

Jelly Jam has seven members, two from Pleasant Grove and the rest from Inverness Primary. The team won the Magic Region competition in Orlando. It won again at the state competition at the University of Central Florida.

Now the team will head to Iowa State University for the May 24-27 world competition.

The team comprises Inverness Primary third-graders Brianna Ellis and Christian Anderkin and fourth-graders Sean Flaherty (Jana's son), Michael Seaman and Stryder Matthews. Cody (second grade) and Hunter (fourth grade) Dillon are the Pleasant Grove members.

Guided by coaches Flaherty, Dora Ellis and Angela Anderkin, the children were required to build a machine that could accomplish long-range transfer of objects. It was hands off for the adults.

The team's theme was peanut butter and jelly, and members wore costumes in keeping with the theme.

They built a robotic gizmo that had a claw attached to a handle with heavy gauge wire. The claw could be operated to move things.

The team was required to design two tasks for the machine. The children dreamed up using the arm to feed a cardboard man.

Their first task was to use the arm to pick up a simulated peanut butter and jelly sandwich (made of cardboard, sponge and duct tape) and deliver it to a plate.

The plate was attached to the cardboard man's hand. The hand was attached to a yardstick operated by Brianna, who was standing behind the man.

She made the plate pop up and toss the sandwich into the cardboard man's mouth.

The second task was to have the gizmo pick up a carton of "milk" (it actually contained white beads) and pour the material into a cup the cardboard man was holding.

The cup was then brought up to the cardboard man's mouth, with Brianna saying, "Gulp, gulp gulp."

Flaherty said the judges looked astonished.

At the state level, Michael won the OMER Award, which Flaherty said is given "for meeting and exceeding the goals of the Odyssey of the Mind problem solving competition."

Out of about 260 teams of generally six to eight students, there was one OMER Award, she said. OM stands for Odyssey of the Mind; the ER was added to create a name for the competition's mascot: OMER the raccoon.

The trip to Iowa for the seven students will cost $1,000 per child, Flaherty estimated. The team seeks sponsors to help pay for travel, room and board.

[Last modified April 21, 2006, 01:41:14]