What do counting sheep; Santa and his reindeer; stunt mobiles; seven kids; and Colorado have in common?

Quite a lot if you are talking about Raymond’s Jordan Small Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team and their OM World Finals eleventh place finish.

The team’s members, Aaron Guiseley, Jake Lipman, Landen Rankin, Colleen Sadak, Haven Smith, Corrie vanHaasteren, and Alan Wardwell, began working on their OM long-term problem last January, under the guidance of coaches Mary Guiseley and Teresa Sadak.

And guidance was all Guiseley and Sadak were allowed to provide. Under OM rules, the students themselves had to develop creative solutions to their problem, with a budget of only $140 for all materials. Although parents donated the money, team members had to keep the books. Not only were they limited by budget, but by space, as all their props had to fit within a certain sized box.

Choosing to tackle the Stunt Mobiles problem from their five options, the team’s mission was to design, build, and run two vehicles that could traverse five different obstacle courses, popping a balloon at each finish line. Along with the engineering design, the problem required the team to come up with a theme that would incorporate the stunt mobiles with a skit that explained them.

The theme they selected was “counting sheep,” though, for a while, they had trouble integrating it with the vehicles. Eventually, their imaginations led them to Santa Claus who asked the counting sheep to become substitute reindeer. The vehicles they designed also carried little stuffed sheep.

After meeting once or twice a week for three months, the team competed in the April 2 Maine Odyssey of the Mind Association Finals at Bates College in Lewiston. Though plagued by last minute catastrophes, including one team member fainting moments before their presentation, the team won first place in their division as well as an Omer award for overcoming obstacles. The win qualified them to attend the world finals at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

But their odyssey to the finals was not easy. While States had cost $40, an amount covered by the school, the team had only six weeks to raise the $7,200 they needed to get to Worlds.

So the team and its coaches went to work. They sent out letters to area businesses, held a silent auction, sold candy bars, offered an evening of babysitting, had a yard sale, and ran a bottle drive. They even held a murder mystery dinner, “It’s My Party, I Can Die if I Want To.”

“We could not have done it without the help and support of the community,” said Sadak. She also acknowledged Beth Gaudet, owner of the Center Stage for Performing Arts, who donated the use of her dance studio for the dinner theater and the babysitting evening.

Within the six weeks, the team had their money and was ready to go.

While in Boulder, the group had time to go to the zoo and tour the highest peak (12,182 feet) in the United States accessible by road.

But their ultimate thrill was the competition itself. After opening the event with a ceremony on Saturday night, May 21, the Odyssey of the Mind tournament ran from Sunday through Tuesday, with nearly 800 teams from the United States and 13 countries around the world competing in several divisions within the guidelines of one of five different problems.

The Raymond team of six (Landen Rankin was unable to attend because of another commitment) not only completed their skit and series of obstacle courses with two seconds to spare, but also scored high marks in the spontaneous portion of the event.

This component required five team members to solve a specific problem in a stated time period using only the objects provided. The spontaneous score was added to their problem solving scores with any penalties incurred deducted from the total, which resulted in a final score.

In the end, the Raymond team earned an eleventh place finish out of the 51 entrants in their division and category.

Though the competition is over, many of the participants are already talking “next year.” And the rules allow this group to remain a team if they desire.

Guiseley said the Raymond team worked well together, sharing the various tasks necessary to succeed. She also mentioned the many college recruiters who attend the annual event. “If they stay intact as a team,” said Guiseley, “it’s going to be to their benefit.”

Raymond

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