The Camden Central School District Odyssey of the Mind teams continued their tradition of excellence in regional competition on Saturday, March 8th. Entries from Camden High School and Camden Middle School brought home first place trophies in their respective competitive classes in the the New York State Region 21 competition hosted by the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District.
Through their victories, both teams have earned the opportunity to represent Region 21 in the upcoming New York State Odyssey of the Mind Association Championships at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. That competition will be held on April 5th. Winning teams at states earn a bid into the World Finals to be held at Michigan State University.
For the Camden High School squad, a return to states is a welcome sight as a fixture of the state-level competition. Their 2024 entry placed seventh at that level, with six team members returning for 2025. That includes senior Madison Hildenbrandt, who recently received a special medal at regionals for her four years of participation.
Odyssey of the Mind is a worldwide problem-solving competition for students. It consists of a long-term problem that teams work on throughout the year, and a spontaneous problem exercise that is not revealed until the team arrives in the competition room.
Often, the long-term problem is performance or engineering based, or a combination of the two. Work must be completely student-generated by the team and feature no outside assistance from coaches or others, and supplies must be acquired and documented on a strict itemized budget. Along the way, students learn how to solve problems amidst a strict set of rules, build teamwork, learn new skills, and become resourceful and self-sufficient.
This year, both squads elected to tackle the problem entitled "AstronOMical Odyssey!". This problem is themed around ancient civilizations and the well-documented influence of astronomy on their daily lives and culture. In this problem, teams are tasked with creating a humorous performance about an ancient civilization of their own creation. They must develop a series of stories about their civilization’s history and culture through the use of made-up stories and legends about stars and constellations.
As part of their performance, competing teams have to have a humorous “astronomer” character to help tell the story, and also include lighting effects and a moving “shooting star” of their own design as components of the production.
The process of putting a competitive entry together takes a great deal of time and effort. Teams start preparations in September and work for months around their other commitments to write a script, devise creative solutions to meet the problem’s logistical requirements, and fine-tune their execution for competition day.
For state teams, that process goes even further. Competition scores are accompanied by judges’ feedback, which teams can use to refine their performances for the next stage. Both teams will spend the coming weeks refining their performances and making any necessary repairs/improvements for state competition.
As important as it is to do well in the competition, it's equally as important to have fun doing it. It's not out of place to see non-competition events planned throughout the day at each level of competition, and two members of the CHS squad took home a small cash prize as part of the region's "Chuck-a-Duck" competition during the day.
Congratulations to the following team members!
Camden High School
Alexis Albrecht, Abigail Arnold, Jasmyne Brouillette, Abigail Conover, Benjamin Gallagher, Madison Hildenbrandt, Autumn Porter
Camden Middle School
Kyle Smith, Olivia Libby, Rachyl Bray, Annabelle Mikitin
