Folks in McHenry who’ve got a problem may need to look no farther than McHenry Junior High School to find the answer.
After all, the school has three teams vying for the state championship in this year’s Odyssey of the Mind competition.
Now in its 20th year, Odyssey of the Mind is an international program aimed at developing creative problem-solving skills among participating schoolchildren.
Teams composed of from five to seven students, plus one or two adult coaches, are given often whimsical problems to solve as imaginatively as they can. The solutions are demonstrated through skits–complete with homemade props, costumes and a little song and dance–that are no more than eight minutes each.
Teams compete at the regional level before going on to state and international championships, according to Edie Burke, Odyssey of the Mind coordinator and coach of one of the five McHenry teams that will compete at the state level April 18.
Joining the three McHenry Junior High teams at that competition will be one team each from the Hilltop and Valley View elementary schools, Burke said.
Odyssey of the Mind is an extracurricular, voluntary activity, Burke said. Teams begin working on their problems in October, usually meeting at the home of the adult coach.
“We’ve been practicing in my basement three days a week,” said Laura Lugge, who coaches a team of 4th graders from Hilltop School. “My basement will never be the same,” she added with a laugh.
In addition to being graded on the creativity of their skits, the students are judged on their responses to a problem posed during the actual event.
“They might ask you to name everything you can think of that’s colored blue,” said Katie Birn, a McHenry Junior High student now competing in her fourth Odyssey of the Mind event.
Like Birn, many of the team members at the school are repeat competitors, with one having started in the 3rd grade.
For first-year coach Lugge, that continuity within the program presents something of a challenge. Win or lose at the state level, “I hope to keep the team together and bring them through junior high,” she said.
