Blytheville sending two OM teams to World Finals

Students and volunteers from the Blytheville Public Schools again stood out at the state competition of Odyssey of the Mind, held Saturday in Beebe. And when the World OM competition begins in May, Blytheville Schools will be well represented.

This year, four teams from Blytheville Schools competed in the state competition. The top two teams in each division qualify for the world event, and two teams from Blytheville Elementary achieve that distinction. That event will be held in May in Ames, Iowa.

Blytheville also had one seventh-place finish and one eighth-place showing, in addition to the first- and second-place wins.

"We all had a great Odyssey of the Mind experience in Beebe, and now we're excited to be going on to a great world competition in Iowa," said Diane Hay, Blytheville's GT administrator, which includes Odyssey of the Mind. "Our schools are very fortunate to have so much community support from individuals who serve as coaches and judges, and I'm fortunate to have such loyal judges each year. We are gaining a strong group of coaches now and I hope this trend continues so we can build our program back up to at least 10 teams."

Blytheville Elementary's first-place team, coached by second-year coach Toyia Taylor, competed in the technology category. The project was called "Seeing is Believing" and the team had to create two college campuses, one on Earth and the other in space, and work out traveling back and forth between the two campuses as well as detailing what it would be like to attend the campus in space.

"These kids all did very good," Taylor said. "They worked hard and we practiced three days a week and these kids were very dedicated. Their hard work really showed, too."

The school's second-place team, coached by veteran OM coach Curtis Walker Sr., tackled the stackable structure problem, which Walker's teams have always excelled at. Walker said this year, very few teams attempted this problem because of its level of difficulty -- but his team welcomed the challenge.

"These kids did exceptionally well, especially considering the difficulty and just the overall situation and what all occurred," Walker said. "When we do the engineering problem, we're scrutinized very heavily, more so than some of the other teams. But we've won, I think 12 of the last 14 years, so we catch more flack than the other teams."

"It's tough," Walker continued. "All these teams are there to win, but our kids were prepared. They performed really well under the pressure, and I'm really proud of them. Where the judges may cut some other teams some slack, we don't get that and I couldn't have asked my kids to do any better."

A third team from the elementary school, "The Not So Haunted House," coached by Candace Williams and Lori Adkisson, received eighth-place in their Division I competition.

The Blytheville Middle School team coached by LaRay Cloud and Dean White placed seventh in the Division II for its "It's How We Rule" project.

Hay said in order to make the regional and state competitions a success, it is necessary to have volunteers serve as judges from each membership. This year, Blytheville teams were required to provide six judges or volunteers for the competition. Local citizens who judged at the state event were Paige Hawks, Lou Riggs, Shannon Page, Sandra Jackson, Daniel Harris, Rae Galbraith, Eddie Hobbs and Andrea Jackson.

"Our Odyssey of the Mind teams have always been a group that shows manners and good character while on our trips," said Hay. "It's evident that they are learning teamwork and responsibility from the program. Many of our past OMers have gone on to become doctors, lawyers teachers, etc. I'm very proud of our program here at Blytheville."

Hay said she and the Odyssey of the Mind Boosters wanted to thank everyone who helped to make the state competition a big success by volunteering their time and efforts to our organization.

"We are always in need of volunteers as coaches and judges each year. Our program heavily depends on volunteers to work with these great kids and training is available for those who are interested," Hay said.

Additional information on the Odyssey of the Mind program can be found at www.odysseyofthemind.com and www.ciarkansas.org.

The OM Boosters will be taking donations for its World Finals Booster Club. These donations can be sent to Diane Hay at the Blytheville Middle School, 700 W. Chickasawba, Blytheville, AR 72315. All donations are tax deductible.

"Please consider helping us help our kids realize their dreams of competing on such a grand level against many other teams from all over the world," Hay said.

Hay said she and her team also wanted to thank GCA Services for its donation, which will go toward helping the teams travel to the World Finals.

Curtis Walker Sr.'s Stackable Structure team includes Trequwan Hooper, Bailee McCustion, Elise Harris, Connor Frasier, Wills Gullic and Molly Self.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com