Middle Schoolers take pride in their odyssey from Warwick to Iowa and back again

Warwick - Fourteen countries, 33 states, 776 teams, all gathered for one reason, and that’s to be creative. This great event is Odyssey of the Mind. As you may know, two Warwick teams made it to states: Pine Island Elementary came in third place, one place from going to worlds, but Warwick Valley Middle School came in first, and on May 24 left for the World Finals in Ames, Iowa. Getting to Iowa was a rough day. After getting up at two in the morning, the plane ride brought tiredness that was overpowered by excitement. The team of seven, the coach and the principal flew into Des Moines, which was close by the tournament site at Iowa State University. Some parents and siblings flew most of the way to Minneapolis, but still had a three-hour drive of flat farmland, some houses, farm animals and a couple of huge fields of windmills. The day ended with an opening ceremony which brought all the teams together until about 10 PM. The team included Justin and Jimmy DePierro, Kristina Heeren, Zack Morrison, Jake Blank, Ashley DiCarlantonio and my sister, Shanna Wood. The team was coached by Christy Halligan and Jocelyne Eisele. In the competition, the team had to perform their long-term skit and compete in the spontaneous category, where they had to solve questions creatively. In their free time, the team and some siblings got to trade pins with other teams, go to the pool, or go to Creativity Festival which was a fun place where teams could meet and play games from different states. After it all was the awards ceremony, which brought both fear and excitement, but as the places flew by, fear grew and excitement shrunk. As they were about to call first for their division, Jungle Bloke division II, hearts leaped among the Middle School team - but it wasn’t them. The team members later found out that they came in 25th out of 62 teams in their division from all over the world. They were overcome by both disappointment for the placement but pride for getting so far. After a long year, the team grew together and got to know each other well. They will miss each other, but they will probably try out next year. The eighth-graders may try out for the high school team, but they will not be able to be on a team with the same coaches or kids. For everyone though, saying good-bye is hard, but everyone has fun memories from throughout the year. Eddie Wood has been the cub reporter for The Warwick Advertiser, covering students and events at Pine Island Elementary.