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- Odyssey of the Mind
Monday, March 20, 2023
This week, Mayor John Huffman gets an update from Noor Mithwani, President of the Southlake Odyssey of the Mind Board, about their incredible successes since coming on the show in August.
In August 2022, Mayor John Huffman met with Noor Mithwani in the STEAM Lab at Carroll High to discuss the Odyssey of the Mind program and the yearly international competition. CISD has participated in Odyssey of the Mind for over a decade. Many schools nationwide and worldwide participate yearly in fun challenges encouraging team building, critical thinking skills, and having fun with peers
The last time we checked in with them, the Odyssey of the Mind group began its season, and they were looking for students to join. Mithwani says, “We started with 26 teams participating in our regional tournament at Carroll High School in Southlake. From then on, we have brought home 21 trophies — nine in first place, eight in second place, and four in third place.”
Twenty teams from CISD have advanced to the state tournament, where they will compete for one of two spots in the World Finals. Congratulations to the talented students in the Odyssey of the Mind program.
To watch the full episode of Minute with the Mayor, click below.
The Odyssey of the Mind World Finals competition was held May 23-28 on the campus of Michigan State University. Over 800 teams from across the USA and around the Globe competed in Regional and Statewide tournaments to earn a chance to compete against the most creative problem solvers in the World. Teams of seven students compete in one of five Long-Term Problems (Vehicular, Technical, Classics, Structural or Performance) and in a Spontaneous Problem Challenge.
Carroll began this year with 22 teams at the North Texas Region Tournament and 18 of those teams advanced to the State Finals in Houston. At the state finals, 10 teams finished in first or second place to earn a trip to World Finals.
This year, Odyssey tradition was restored by the Carroll Middle School team with a second place trophy. Fifteen years ago, the first Odyssey team from CISD competed in the Classics Problem and also brought back Silver Medals. Five years ago, Carroll High School brought home a second place trophy, so now the tradition has been restored.
2nd Place Problem 3 “Classics” in Division 2
Carroll Middle School with team members: Kiera DiCesare, Sydney Nickel, Heloise Hoffmann, Tanner Hunt, Emma Johnson, Diya Panjabi and Lizzie Garcia. Coach: Diana DiCesare & Shelli Nickel
6th Place Problem 1 “Vehicular” in Division 1
Durham Intermediate School with team members: Grant Ogle, Jope Iluyomade, Andrew Balson, Julia Dietrich, Madison Petty, Vanessa Vazhappilly and Cody Williams. Coach: Diane Ogle & Roslyn George
6th Place Problem 2 “Technical” in Division 3
Southlake Carroll High/Senior High School with team members: Lexi Dietrich, Venezia Guzman, James Stewart, Akash Hemanth, Trevor King, Cara Connelly and Ethan Connelly. Coach: Inna Dietrich
10th Place Problem 2 “Classics” in Division 3
Southlake Carroll High School with team members: Reilly Buckley, Katie Moore, Kayla Grosskopf, Catie Pratt, Kayin Jones, Eric Lovenburg and Cole Ragsdale. Coach: Keith Buckley & Michelle Moore
16th Place Problem 5 “Performance” in Division 1
Rockenbaugh Elem School with team members: Livi Kao, Kate Fancher, Abbie Fordyce, Chloe Criswell, Ava Burke, Riley Govek and Maria Mazey. Coach: Peter Kao & KatyJo Fordyce
17th Place Problem 5 “Performance” in Division 1
Carroll Elem. School with team members: Jaiden Mehta, Harrison Moore, Dylan Mehta, Ayden Patel, Kennedy Nguyen, Adam Forst and Kenneth Warren Fambro, III. Coach: Niraj Mehta
19th Place Problem 2 “Technical” in Division 1
Rockenbaugh Elem. School with team members: Khushi Gohel, Dhruv Gohel, Swati Shankar, Noemie Houtekei, Sanjana Senthil and Praneel Veerabathina. Coach: Suman Gohel & Maha Shankar
24th Place Problem 4 “Structural” in Division 1
Carroll Elem. School with team members: Sonia Naidu, Alisha Naidu, Ethan Menezes, Eva Menezes, Tonio Castillo, Joel Hansen and Juliet Scot. Coach: Saroja Mummini & Sabina Menezes
27th Place Problem 2 “Technical” in Division 2
Durham Intermediate School with team members: Jackson Walker, John Stoklas, Ryan Adamson, Samhith Dharani, Connor MacLean, Graham Davidson, Ethan Phan. Coach: Sarah Stoklas & Tonya Walker
34th Place Problem 2 “Technical” in Division 2
Eubanks Intermediate School with team members: Ashwin Iyer, Grace Johnson, Allison Chang, William Ward, Nicolas Veit, Ben Fleming, Alfred Hale. Coach: Geetha Panchapakesan & Crystal Johnson
The North Texas Region Odyssey of the Mind Tournament was held Saturday, Feb. 25 at Carroll High School.
Seventy-two teams from North Texas competed for the chance to advance to State Finals held in Waller Texas in April. Eighteen CISD teams with an impressive 125 Dragons will advance in all five Problems across three age divisions. Every CISD team competed at the highest level, impressed the judges and spectators with their creativity and teamwork.
Odyssey of the Mind is a creative, problem-solving competitive program where teams of up to seven students work together to creatively solve one of five Odyssey problems issued at the start of the school year. At the State Finals, teams will present their solutions for a chance to finish as one of the top two teams, with the goal to advance to the World Finals in May.
Click here to see a list of the teams.
Click here to view the photo album on Carroll ISD’s Flickr page.
Eighteen Carroll Odyssey of the Mind teams competed recently in Houston at the Texas State Finals Tournament. All the teams worked hard and presented amazing solutions to challenging problems. Below are the top finishing teams at the State Tournament.
FIRST PLACE & RANATRA FUSCA AWARD: CSHS Vehicular Team, Division 3
FIRST PLACE: CSHS Technical Team, Division 3
FIRST PLACE: CHS Drama Team, Division 3
FIRST PLACE: DMS Vehicular Team, Division 2
THIRD PLACE: EIS Vehicular Team, Division 2
FIRST PLACE: CMS Classics Team, Division 2
FIRST PLACE: DIS Technical Team, Division 1
FIRST PLACE: DIS Drama Team, Division 2
RANATRA FUSCA AWARD: EIS Drama Team, Division 1
Two teams earned the coveted “RENATRA FUSCA” Award. The “RENATRA” is the highest recognition of creativity in the Odyssey Program. The only two “RENATRA” awards given at the tournament were given to Carroll teams. The HS Vehicular Team and the Eubanks Intermediate School Drama Team were honored for extreme creativity and brilliance. Winning a “Renatra” is an automatic ticket to the World Finals.
Only 33 teams of the 147 teams at the State Finals tournament advance to World Finals. Carroll will send eight teams to the World Finals, held on the campus of Iowa State University May 25-28.
| Problem / Division / School / Achievement | Coaches | Team Members |
| Vehicular ProblemDivision 3
SC Senior High FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS RENATRA FUESCA WINNER
|
Carl Anderson | Braden AndersonMackenzie Murphy
Claire Roirdan Nate Ruelas Andy Van Noy Jack Veenker Sarah Wassef
|
| Technical ProblemDivision 3
SC Senior High FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS
|
Inna DietrichJalaja Hemanth | Ethan ConnollyLexi Dietrich
Venezia Guzman Akash Hemanth Trevor King Divya Kumar James Stewart
|
| Drama ProblemDivision 3
Carroll High School FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS |
Kathy Marshall | Sarah ChapinJenna Eads
Olivia Hooper Zack Marshall Jake Marshall Logan Mikolasik Chloe Moore
|
| Vehicular ProblemDivision 2
Dawson Middle School FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS |
Heather King | Rachael ClementsSophie Dietrich
Lizzie Garcia Akshaya Hemanth Miranda King Abi Kumar Marissa Vazhappilly
|
| Classics ProblemDivision 2
Carroll Middle School FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS |
Diana DiCesareShelli Nickel | Kiera DiCesareLuke Engelhardt
Kaitlyn Guesner Heloise Hoffmann Tanner Hunt Emma Johnson Sydney Nickel
|
| Drama ProblemDivision 2
Durham Int. FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS
|
Christine Pierret | Madison BradfordSarah Chen
Gabby Dugger Audrey Nelson Olivia Pierret Stephie Smith Alysha Walsh
|
| Technical ProblemDivision 1
Durham Int. FIRST PLACE WORLD FINALISTS |
Sarah StoklasTonya Walker | Ryan AdamsonGraham Davidson
Leonard Fu Ethan Phan Jackson Power Johns Stoklas Jackson Walker
|
| Drama ProblemDivision 1
Eubanks Int. RANATRA FUSCA AWARD WORLD FINALISTS |
Geetha PanchapakesanCrystal Johnson | Andrew BalsonAllison Chang
Giulio Fausti Ashwin Iyer Grace Johnson Aman Panjabi Jack Richmond
|
| Vehicular ProblemDivision 2
Eubanks Int. THIRD PLACE
|
Kim Goff | Camden GoffKayle Nguyen
Diego Pena Ana Prince Michael Ubis Zach Wassef Anthony Zhou |
On Saturday, April 11 Carroll ISD’s 19 Odyssey of the Mind teams competed in the State Finals Tournament in Houston. A record 13 teams received medals and 10 teams will advance to Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in May.
Two teams were awarded the coveted “Renatra Fusca” Award. The “Renatra” is the highest recognition of creativity in the Odyssey Program. The only two “Renatra” awards given at the tournament were given to Southlake Carroll teams. Congratulations to the Carroll Senior High Technical Problem Team and the Dawson Middle School Vehicular Team for extreme creativity and brilliance winning the “Renatra” Awards.
To advance to the World Finals, the top teams from across the State of Texas competed and only the top two teams in each Problem and Division earn the privilege of competing at the World Finals Tournament, held on the campus of Michigan State University May 20-22. Any team earning a “Renatra” also earns the privilege of competing at Worlds.
Click here to read other stories about the recent competition.
Click here to view photos of the event posted on @Rockenquest timeline.
The 2014 North Texas Regional Odyssey of the Mind Tournament was held on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Carroll High School. Southlake Carroll teams represented 19 of the over 70 competing teams.
The top 4 teams in each Division and Problem advance to State, this includes 13 Southlake teams. The State Tournament will be held in Houston in April.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. The solutions must be created, designed, built and presented by only the 7 students on the team. No outside assistance is allowed.
Teams have been working since the start of the school year to solve one of 5 problems distributed internationally by Odyssey of the Mind. They compete within their age division, by presenting an 8 minute long term solution as well as competing in “spontaneous” problem. They are judged on the creativity of their solution along with the quality of their overall presentation.
We are proud of all Southlake Odyssey students. The teams headed to the State Tournament are:
Vehicular Problem:
Technical Problem:
Classics Problem:
Drama Problem:
Special Congratulations:
Carroll ISD will be hosting the North Texas Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament, to be held at Carroll High School on Saturday, Feb. 22.This will be the largest Regional Tournament in the Carroll ISD area in years. Carroll ISD teams will represent a record 22 (from every CISD campus) of the 74 teams competing.
North Texas Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament Director, Cynthia Featherston, CISD Quest Director, is working hard to make this a great experience for the 500-600 Odyssey of the Mind team members who have been working hard all year and will converge on CHS to compete at the highest level of creativity. With over 120 Carroll kids competing, the entire Carroll ISD and Southlake community is welcome to attend the tournament. Click here to view tournament schedule.
Carroll ISD will host the North Texas Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Carroll High School. Friends, family and members of the community are welcome to watch the competition from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. that day. The event will be one of the largest Regional Tournament hosted in the area. A record number of Carroll teams will compete. 22 teams from every campus in CISD will be among the 74 teams in the tournament.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. Students bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and other countries participate in the program.
Last year, 4 of 17 Carroll teams, representing RES, WGES, DMS and CHS advanced to World Finals and 3 of those teams placed in the Top Ten in the World.
“We are working hard to make this a great experience for the 500-600 Odyssey of the Mind team members who have been working hard all year and will converge on CHS to compete at the highest level of creativity,” said Tournament Director and CISD Quest Director, Cynthia Featherston. “We wish our Southlake Carroll Odyssey of the Mind Dragons the best of luck!”
2013 WGES OM Team
Four teams from Carroll ISD participated in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Competition Thursday, May 23-26 at Michigan State University. A pair of first time teams from Walnut Grove Elementary and Rockenbaugh Elementary placed in the competition.
2013 RES OM Team
827 teams from 12 countries competed at this year’s World Finals.
Each Problem and Division competes against an average of 50 teams and experiences a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and share ideas and creativity with thousands (over 5600) of kids from around the world, all of whom who have worked incredibly hard to shine at the highest level.
Event highlights include:
2013 DMS OM Team
Problem/Division 3 and received 5th place
For complete tournament results, click here.
2013 CHS OM Team