Odyssey of the Mind pupils take on the world

MANALAPAN - When it comes to creativity, pupils from the Lafayette Mills School and the Wemrock Brook School Odyssey of the Mind (OM) teams proved they can meet any challenge they are given - and do it well.

OM is a creative problem-solving competition for students of all ages. Working in a team of seven members, students are given a problem for which they must create a solution and then bring their solution to a competition against other teams in their age/grade category.

All ideas, design and construction must be initiated and completed 100 percent by the team with no outside help from parents or teachers.

This year's problem was "The Eccentrics." The teams were responsible for creating and presenting a humorous performance about three eccentric characters who needed to solve a problem within or involving an Earth system.

The Wemrock Brook School Division 1 OM team of fourth and fifth grade pupils under the direction of fifth grade teacher Christina Murcia and sixth grade teacher Sharon Hanson tied with the Taylor Mills School, also from Manalapan, for first place in the Lighthouse Regional Tournament held March 15 at Ewing High School, Ewing.

The members of Hanson's and Murcia's team are Sebastian Carta, Kerri Chonsky, Chloe Craig, Grant Gibson, Colin Mahony, Christopher Mallamaci and Jamie Weintraub.

The Wemrock Brook and Taylor Mills teams then advanced to the state final competition held at Woodstown High School, Woodstown, April 12, where Hanson's and Murcia's team was awarded second place in their division after a team from one of their sister schools from Manalapan, Lafayette Mills, under the direction of fifth grade teacher Stacy Weiss, took first place in the competition.

The Lafayette Mills School Division 1 (fourth- and fifth-graders) team members are Ariana Eckstein, Amanda Barber, Allison Lebovitz, Thomas Mastrogiovanni, Kelly Mazzotta, Emily Pedernera and Daniel Puma.

Weiss' team created a skit about three eccentric characters who stopped an evil "queen of the earth's core" from making vegetables taste worse than ever.

The Wemrock Brook team and the Lafayette Mills team then went on to compete in the 29th Odyssey of the Mind World Finals held May 31 at the University of Maryland along with a sixth grade Division 2 team from Lafayette Mills coached by sixth grade teacher Howard Gandelman. Gandelman's team was awarded second place in the state competition.

At the world finals, Weiss' team from Lafayette Mills was awarded fifth place and Hanson's and Murcia's team from Wemrock Brook came in 12th out of 64 teams in Division 1.

Gandelman's team from Lafayette Mills placed 19th out of 61 teams in the world finals sixth grade division. The members of his team are Maria Jimenez, Alexandra Parisi, Gabrielle DiDomenico, Mollie Friedman, Brianne Nealon, Amy Lagomarsino and Jessica Donnelly.

Lafayette Mills Principal Gregory Duffy said, "I am very proud of our students. The students' work ethic and problem solving skills were evident as they prepared for the world competition."

"I am so proud and impressed by them because they really rose to the expectations," Weiss said. "Last year my team placed seventh in the world finals and I'm so proud of this year's team for breaking that record. I hope these memories and problem-solving skills will last them a lifetime."

"The kids were really excited about meeting people from different countries such as South Korea, China, Germany and Canada," Murcia said of going to the world finals in Maryland.

"They had the opportunity to experience, firsthand, the cultures of other children that they may have only read about in a text book," Hanson added. "Maybe if they're lucky they will remain lifelong friends with some of the people they met."

Pupil Grant Gibson said, "Going to the world finals was an awesome experience for me and the Wemrock Brook team. This is my second year in OM and my dream of going to the world finals has come true!"