WVMS team finishes first at Odyssey of the Mind 2020 Virtual World Finals

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WVMS team finishes first at Odyssey of the Mind 2020 Virtual World Finals

July 1, 2020

One Warwick Valley Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team finished first and another finished second out of more than 800 teams in the Odyssey of the Mind 2020 Virtual World Finals. In addition, the Park Avenue Elementary School team placed fourth and the Sanfordville Elementary School team finished seventh. The top three teams in each problem and division will receive a trophy and a medal for each team member. Teams placing fourth through sixth will receive a certificate.

The WVMS team of Alana Adee, Sophie Amato, Stephen D’Ambrosio, Cavan Byrne, Mary Hoey, Sophia Samborski and Arianna Weinberg captured first place in their Division II presentation of Problem 2: “Net Working.” J.B. DiCarlantonio, Michelle Amato and Casey Mears coached the team. In this problem, the networked devices were characters who work to keep the world connected. During the performance, an image, a text message, an email and other information was transmitted between locations in a team-made system. Pop-up advertisements appeared and a malware character infected the network and took it offline. An anti-virus hero came to the rescue and team-made instruments were used to present an original song that explained their jobs.

Amato, D’Ambrosio and Hoey were also on the WVMS team that finished first in the 2017 World Finals.

“I’m so proud of all of the students year after year,” said Warwick Odyssey of the Mind co-coordinator Christy Brown. “They always blow me away with their ideas and creativity! It is truly a wonderful program and Warwick has always had a high success rate due to the combined efforts of support from our district, Odyssey co-coordinators, coaches, parents, team members and our community.  Odyssey of the Mind can be tough to explain in a few sentences to people that aren’t familiar with the program, but once you are hooked, you see all of the benefits the creativity teaches them.”

The WVMS team of Kooki Aryeetey, Sophie Cresser, Ava Gell, Talia Hartigan, Olivia Holland, Alexa Keys and Julie Woods finished second with their Division I presentation of Problem 1: “Longshot Solution.”  Donna Denny and Rekha Woods coached the team, which also won a Renatra Fusca Creativity Award. The team members will receive gold medals and the coaches receive a plaque for their school. Orinda (Calif) Intermediate School finished in first place with 341.39 points. WVMS was a close second at 341.23 points.

Warwick’s Aryeetey, Gell, Holland, Keys and Woods were also on the team that finished first at the World Finals last year in East Lansing, Mich., and on the Sanfordville Elementary School team that place first at the World Finals in 2017.

The Park Avenue Elementary School team of Ashlyn Brown, Lyla Brown, Anya Campbell,  Isabella Costanza, Charlotte DeGuzman, Abbie Gawronski and Hayes Pizanie placed fourth with their presentation of Problem 5: “Gibberish or Not” in Division I. Christy Brown and Corey Brown coached the team.

The Sanfordville Elementary School team of Cora Colin-Green, Lucas Cresser, Ryan Kobrick, Emily Powers, John Powers, Leonard Tosh and Chris Tyler placed seventh with their presentation of Problem 3: “The Effective Detective” in Division III. Heidi Powers and Kevin Powers coached the team.

The Warwick teams submitted videos from the regional competition in March, along with all of the necessary paperwork and a virtual spontaneous competition. The awards ceremony was streamed live on May 30 and can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/bDXVTmTLoJg

The photos below were taken at the regional competition in March.

 

 

Warwick Valley Middle School. Problem #2. Division II. First place.

Warwick Valley Middle School. Problem #1. Division II. Second place.

Park Avenue Elementary School. Problem #5. Division I. Fourth place.

Sanfordville Elementary School. Problem #3. Division I. Seventh place.

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