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May 4, 2009

Girdler qualifies two teams, K.C. qualifies one team for Odyssey of Mind World Finals

Special to The Times-Tribune

The stakes were high at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green on April 18 as around 60 teams of students from around the state showed off their creativity at the Kentucky Odyssey of the Mind Association Finals. The competition determined the teams that will represent Kentucky at the Odyssey of the Mind 2009 World Finals, May 27-30, at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

 When it was all over, all three teams from Knox County qualified for the World Finals: two from Girdler Elementary — one in the lower grades (Division I) and one in the upper grades (Division II), and a high school team (Division III) from Knox Central High School. Only the top two teams competing in a division in a specific problem event qualified to advance to the World Finals. All three Knox County teams won first places.

Girdler’s Division I team, coached by Jennifer Carey and Kim Chesnut, defeated seven other teams, all of which had qualified at regional competitions, in the Problem 3: The Lost Labor of Heracles category. Team members are Madason Thomas, Trey Chesnut, Landon Hammons, Madison Gibson, Nick Gibson, Hannah Riley, and Jathan Caldwell.

This problem required teams to create and present an original performance about the ancient Greek hero Heracles (Romans called him Hercules).

Girdler’s Division II team, coached by Donna Welch and Sherri Hammons, defeated six other teams competing in Problem 5: Superstition. Students had to create and present a performance that included two documented superstitions, an original superstition created by the team, and the events that caused the original superstition to come to be. Team members are Rebecca Welch, Ricki Griffith, Hannah Owens, Mikaela Rhodes, Christopher Gibson, Lauren Hammons and Matthew Rose.

Knox Central’s Division III team, coached by Melissa Buchanan, finished in first in Problem 2: Teach Yer Creature in which teams were to create a humorous performance about a mechanical creature that acts like a real mammal or bird and learns lessons. Team members are Natasha Buchanan, Jimmy Hall, Justin Miller, Bethany Bargo, Tyler Dunn, Sara Gray and Cory Butler.

Knox County’s teams, as well as the other teams competing, worked for months developing solutions to the various “problems.” Teams are judged on originality and innovation, and because Odyssey of the Mind is based on creativity, every presentation is different from the next. At Association Finals, they had eight minutes to show the product of their work and to earn a chance to compete for the World Championship.

Knox County’s success at the World Finals in years past is well documented. High points include a Girdler Division II team placing third, a G.R. Hampton team placing sixth, and a Knox Central team placing ninth at the World Finals.

The Knox County School District’s Gifted and Talented teachers, Billie Ferguson and Mary Hammons, coordinate the program locally. They also serve on the Kentucky Odyssey of the Mind Board of Directors. Teresa Martin, a retired Knox County math teacher who still substitute-teaches in the system, also serves on the State Board.

All results from the 2009 Kentucky Odyssey of the Mind State Tournament are available at the following Web address: http://kycreative.mis.net/StateScores09.htm

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