Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School to Compete in Odyssey of the Mind World Finals

A team of seven 7th and 8th grade female students from the Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School recently qualified to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind 2014 World Finals.  

Odyssey of the Mind is an international program whose mission is to teach students creative problem-solving methods while having fun in the process.

The Plainview-Old Bethpage team won first place in the Long Island finals for depicting and acting out the problem, “The Not so Haunted House.”  The Plainview-Old Bethpage students then competed against 20 teams in state finals held in Binghamton and earned second place, qualifying the team for the world finals.  

 “I am extremely proud of these young ladies who not only apply themselves in the classroom, but have also dedicated themselves to grow as leaders and critical thinkers through the Odyssey of the Mind program,” said Dr. Lorna Lewis, superintendent of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District. 

“The competition directly correlates with the district’s STEAM initiative – which includes science, technology, engineering, arts and math,” she added.

The team is the only group from Long Island to qualify for the world finals, taking place at Iowa State University, May 28-31. The team will represent its school and the region. 

Students will use their creative thinking skills to conceive of and solve a problem about guests who enter a haunted house or forest.  The students will then present an eight-minute performance with technical devices and creating costumes and props and drafting and acting out a script to accompany their performance.

The group will compete with more than 800 student-teams from all around the world.  Previous world finals have included teams from five continents and 25 countries, including Africa, Poland, Uzbekistan, Russia and Japan.