BATH

How much weight can a small, lightweight balsa wood structure hold? More than you might think.

As part of Odyssey of the Mind, a team of students from Fisher Mitchell School in Bath were tasked with designing a small structure — taller than eight inches and weighing less than 15 grams — that could hold as much weight as possible. With those meager guidelines, the students were free to create whatever they wanted to accomplish the task at hand.

As the teams from Bath schools headed to Biddeford for the state finals, they decided to go with a balsa wood structure designed by Grace Torrey.

“She’s very precision oriented, so everything was absolutely level,” said Elise Copeland, coordinator and coach of an Odyssey of the Mind team at the Fisher Mitchell School.

The structure was entirely untested, but they set it up and began placing weights on it.

“All she hoped was that she’d make the team proud — let’s hold 20 or 25 pounds,” said Copeland.

It held 330 pounds. That’s the equivalent of four fifth graders, noted Copeland.

“I thought that was impossible,” said Torrey. “I thought it was going to hold 65 pounds.”

Copeland’s team took second place statewide on their problem, qualifying for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University in May, along with another team at Fisher Mitchell and a team at Bath Middle School.

The balsa wood project is one of five problems teams can choose to solve. Each problem is given a minimum framework to work within, but otherwise is free to solve it as creatively as they like. Unlike most academic competitions, students participating in Odyssey of the Mind receive no help from parents or teachers.

“In my head, what Odyssey teaches kids is all about risk taking. You try it. If it doesn’t work, you can either go home crying or you can say, that didn’t work. I’m going to cross that off and move on to the next,” said Copeland.

Even as a coach, Copeland isn’t allowed to help the students develop their solution. For the students involved, that’s one of the main draws.

“I like it because I like how the coaches can’t help,” said student Tuck Mercer. “The kids mostly do everything.”

“It’s fun because the adults can’t tell you what to do,” added his teammate Waylon Rhorer.

“I think it turns out better, more creative, if kids do it, not adults,” said Mercer.

“It’s more creative if the kids do it,” said Ephraim Burke.

Not every student creates a design. Each team also puts on a skit at the competition, so there are scriptwriters, actors, designers, and helpers among other things.

With the state finals behind them, the students at Fisher Mitchell are excited to be heading to the world finals in Iowa. There they’ll meet and compete with students from all over the world.

“Right now, we’re just trying to get plane tickets bought and get fundraising going,” said Copeland.

To that end, one of the coaches, Karen D’Silva, has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the trip. With 18 students looking to travel to the finals, the teams are trying to raise $29,000 to go.

“It’s an undertaking,” said Copeland. “But we’ve done it before.”

Individuals looking to help the teams travel to Iowa this May can visit the GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/our-odyssey-team-needs-your-help.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the trip for the students is the trip itself. The students expressed excitement to be able to stay in dorm rooms, collect unique pins they trade with students from other countries, and attend a student-only party. Perhaps the most exciting part, however, is being able to spend even more time as a team.

“I’m excited because I’m going to be spending more times with these guys,” said Madison Bowling.