Broadalbin-Perth Odyssey of the Mind team wins world championship at finals in Iowa |
On Board Online • July 22, 2024
By Robin L. Flanigan
Special Correspondent
It started as a joke. In late 2023, an Odyssey of the Mind team in Fulton County renamed its group text chat "World Champs."
In May 2024, it came true. //Sr. High School won first place in their division at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, held at Iowa State University.
"It was a goal, but it was so unreachable it was funny," said senior Jacob Hughes, a member of the team. "Then it happened. I don't even know how to let that set in."
Odyssey of the Mind, originally called "Olympics of the Mind," is a 46-year-old international competition that challenges students to solve problems collaboratively and creatively.
Broadalbin-Perth's team competed in a challenge called "AI Tech-NO-Art," which involved the question of whether a work of art is beautiful or not. The team needed to create a device to answer that question, as well as find a way to transform something ugly into something beautiful.
The team accomplished this in the form of an eight-minute skit that took place in prehistory. The set included a tree with an eye, which represented a prehistoric deity. The tree expressed disapproval of a cave painting by dropping leaves from one of its branches. But the all-wise tree approved of a ruby red pterodactyl that emerged from a nondescript egg.
Creating the wings of the pterodactyl was a unique challenge. In final form, they took the geometric shape known as an icosidodecahedron, which has 12 pentagons and 20 triangles. Cardboard and magnets kept everything folded up inside the egg. A release mechanism created on a 3-D printer used string and a weight to allow the pterodactyl to unfurl its wings as the egg fell apart.
In addition to winning the top award in their problem and division, the Broadalbin-Perth team was the only American team to receive a coveted award for exceptional creativity. Called the Ranatra Fusca Award, it commemorates a floatation device that a student made in the 1970s that resembled a water insect known as the brown water scorpion (in Latin, ranatra fusca).
Judges said they were particularly impressed with the team's costume of a sabre-toothed tiger. Played by junior Ryan Michalski, the tiger walked menacingly across the floor of an Iowa gymnasium while senior Blaine Herrick used a cardboard tube to make growling noises.
Judges said: "The movement of the tiger character in the costume made it come to life in a way that was both frightening and mesmerizing. It was extraordinarily designed and executed."
The costume was made of foam, PVC, Styrofoam and cardboard. It was meant to look "as realistic and terrifying as possible, so that it didn't just look like a high-schooler in a costume but an actual living creature," senior Logan Aery said. "We wanted to have something take center stage that would shock not only the audience, but our characters as well."
It was the fourth year in a row that a team from Broadalbin-Perth had reached the World finals. Recalling the impact that past champions have had on the team, senior Lauryn Donahue said: "I really hope we can be an inspiration to any younger teams that may come along."
As is tradition at the World Finals, the team trashed its set and costumes in Iowa before returning home.
Word about the first-place finish spread quickly. , , some residents along the main road stood outside their houses to wave. And nearly 100 people - students, district officials and community members - gathered at the school building to welcome them home with signs and streamers.
"The kids arrived with a full stream of fire trucks, sirens wailing," said Stephen Tomlinson, superintendent of the 1,780-student district. "Isn't that typical Americana? It was quite a sight."
Since then, the team has had a packed schedule. They toured the state Capitol at the invitation of the district's representatives in the Assembly, Mary Beth Walsh and Robert Smullen. High School Principal Mark Brooks held a celebratory dinner. And the Broadalbin-Perth Board of Education passed a proclamation in their honor on June 17.
District administrators plan a legacy banner to hang permanently in the high school gymnasium, and they are working with Jostens to design customized world championship rings for team members.
The CBS affiliate in Albany posted a video montage of the team's presentation, as well as a video of the entire presentation. View them at bit.ly/3RrRY3I .