Odyssey to Binghamton

Middle School team going to Odyssey of the Mind world finals; Pine Island finishes third out of 19, By Eddie Wood Binghamton - On Saturday, March 18, two Warwick teams went to the New York State finals for Odyssey of the Mind in Binghamton. Both came home winners. Odyssey of the Mind is a competition where teams are given a problem that students have to solve in a skit that is no more than eight minutes long. The teams compete in a spontaneous competition and have to answer questions quickly. The skit is judged on creativity, how well it answers the problem and many other qualities. The Pine Island Elementary team is coached by Della Powderly and made up of Griff Dowden, Sarah Wicks, Emily Jados, Bridget Scheinert, Julia Rupp, Tricia Brierley and Kelsey Aeberli. The other Warwick team was from the Middle School and is coached by Christy Halligan and Jocelyn Eisele. Their team is made up of Justin and Jimmy DePierro, Jake Blank, Ashley DiCarlantonio, Zack Morrison, Kristina Heeren and my sister, Shanna Wood, who was the only former Pine Islander on the team. Both Warwick teams spent hours each week preparing for regional finals at BOCES earlier this month where both came in first in their divisions. Immediately afterwards, they began preparation for the state finals in Binghamton by working on improving their costumes and skits. Just making it to the state finals is a great honor. The night before the competition, the kids were so excited, but not as nervous as they would be the next day. That night they said “definitely,” “of course,” and “absolutely” to trying out for the Odyssey of the Mind team next year. During the competition, the students from Pine Island and Warwick Middle School were supportive of all other teams because they felt competing should be a fun experience for everyone. All teams worked hard and had amazing skits, but only first- and second-place from each of three divisions made it to the World finals in Iowa. During the awards ceremony you could see fear, excitement, determination and dozens of other emotions. Then the time came. The judges announced fifth and fourth places for the “Ancient Egypt” problem, Division I. For third place, the judges announced Pine Island. This was the first time most of the Pine Island team members had been on a Division I team, though Emily Jados had competed in Division I before. Bridget Scheinert, Sarah Wicks, Emily Jados and Tricia Brierley have all been on the primary team before. The team got an award but the team members were disappointed that the World finals just weren’t in their story this year. Then came the announcement for the “Jungle Bloke” problem, Division II, in which the Middle School competed. On the Middle School team, everyone except Shanna Wood has been on Odyssey teams for at least three years. The judges announced fifth, fourth, third and second places but when they said “War… ,” the whole Warwick section of the room was screaming like maniacs. It was hard for anyone from Warwick not to scream because all the emotions had no other way of escaping. So, after a long day that started with waking up at 5:45 am, being too worried to sleep, and spending all day running around, Pine Island amazingly came in third out of 19 teams in their division. They were relieved, but wanted to keep going on to the World finals. They also were still excited that the Middle Schoolers, who worked hours and hours each week for months, made it on to the World finals after winning first out of 17 teams in the State finals. Now Warwick Middle School will have to start practicing to make something great even better. Eddie Wood is a cub reporter who writes about students and activities at Pine Island Elementary School for The Warwick Advertiser. He traveled to Binghamton last weekend to report on the state finals of the Odyssey of the Mind competition.