Camden High School -

On Saturday, April 5th, the Camden Central School District’s Odyssey of the Mind teams matched up against the state’s best as they participated in the New York State Odyssey of the Mind Association Championships at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.

The annual problem-solving competition brings together the top teams from each region to compete for the opportunity to participate in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. The entries from Camden Middle School and Camden High School both punched their tickets with first place finishes at regionals in March.

At the state level, the Camden High School squad was 12th out of 18 participating teams. The Camden Middle School team placed 14th out of 20 teams to cap off a rewarding year for a young group.

The competition is divided over two parts. The centerpiece of the Odyssey of the Mind experience is the long-term problem, which students have been working on since they started meeting for the year. It generally involves a short theatrical performance within a defined set of parameters that can include a theme, defined traits for main or supporting characters, items on set that have to be constructed through creative means, and a series of plot points that need to be addressed as part of the story. And those elements typically are applied in an interconnected way that challenges students to be creative and apply their artistic and engineering skills. All of this is accomplished against a stringent budget requirement.

For this component, both teams took the opportunity to revise and refine their performances for Problem 5, entitled “AstronOMical Odyssey”. Team members had the opportunity to perform in the NYS Fair Horticulture building.

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 using made-up legends about stars and constellations, as told by a humorous “astronomer” character. The performance also requires lighting effects and the implementation of a moving “shooting star” element.

Odyssey of the Mind empowers students to take risks creatively and troubleshoot, and as the CHS squad has learned, those two aspects go hand-in-hand. The team, which returned six members from last year’s state qualifying team, took some bold risks with big ideas for set design and construction. Just 20 minutes before they were set to take the stage, the team caught a crucial malfunction with one of their major components. Junior Abigail Arnold stepped up to the plate to save the day with materials from the team’s emergency kit, and completed the repairs quickly to get the team on stage.

The CMS team had a humorous and inventive approach to their skit, and had the distinction of reaching state-level competition with a group of first-time competitors. They also had a team that by comparison, was small with just four members out of a possible seven. This makes every member of the team pull more weight to create a finished product, and the group rose to that challenge. This is a young team of funny and exceptional performers, and the coaches look forward to seeing them grow together in the years ahead.

The spontaneous, or short-term problem, is not revealed to the competitors until they walk in the room on competition day, and takes the form of a surprise challenge designed to test a team’s ingenuity and creativity under pressure. The competition elements are part of what is a full day including the New York State OM Creativity Expo, and a very upbeat awards ceremony celebrating the achievements of the participants.

Regardless of their journey or their finishing place, each team experiences exponential growth through problem solving, and that might be the biggest prize of all.

"It is always our hope that students can appreciate the growth opportunities that each competition year brings,” Camden High School coach Jessica Harney said. “Seeing the team come together to problem solve and work together, seeing teens step up and shine with their skill set makes this such a valuable and rewarding experience.”

The CHS squad graduates just one senior, Madison Hildenbrandt. The team thanks Madison for her 4 years of participation and wishes her well in her future. They know her Odyssey of the Mind skills will continue to pay dividends in her future as it has for many Odyssey Alumni.

Congratulations to the following team members and coaches on a great year!

Camden High School
Madison Hildenbrandt, Alexis Albrecht, Abigail Arnold, Jasmyne Brouillette, Abigail Conover, Benjamin Gallagher and Autumn Porter, coached by Melanie Callahan and Jessica Harney. 

Camden Middle School
Rachyl Bray, Olivia Libby, Annabelle Mikitin, and Kyle Smith coached by Karleen Gilsenan and Marlee Christmas.