On February 25, 11 teams from the JP Stevens Odyssey of the Mind (OM) club competed in the Gateway Regional tournament at Sayreville War Memorial High School. The teams have been working hard since the beginning of the school year to create creative solutions to challenging problems and were strong competitors at this year’s regional tournament.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international organization that teaches students important life skills such as teamwork, time management, and budgeting, all while presenting out-of-the-box solutions to complex problems. Each team’s solution consists of two parts: the long-term, which is the skit teams work on in the months prior to competition, and the spontaneous problem, which is a varying problem that teams are required to solve on the spot. There are five long-term problems in total: Problem 1 is the vehicle problem, Problem 2 is the technical problem, Problem 3 is the classic problem, Problem 4 is the structure problem, and Problem 5 is the performance problem. Teams choose which problem they would like to compete in and construct their solutions accordingly. As for spontaneous, the problems can be of three types: verbal, verbal/hands-on, or hands-on. Verbal problems require verbal responses that are scored on creativity, hands-on problems require tangible solutions that are scored uniquely, and verbal/hands-on problems require tangible solutions that include some sort of verbal component. After all teams in the regional tournament have completed both parts of their problem, the winners are announced and the top two teams advance to the state tournament. From there, they have the opportunity to move on to the world tournament at Michigan State University.
On competition day, the teams arrived at Sayreville War Memorial High School bright and early, moved their materials into the holding areas, and awaited their performance times. Between their own performances, the JP teams made sure to support each other by showing up at each other’s long terms. At the end of the day, all the competing teams gathered for the long-awaited awards ceremony. Huddled together, anticipating results, the teams showed one another a great deal of support and encouragement.
“I’ve done OM for a while now and I can say that the awards ceremony is just as stressful as it seems,” said senior Krish Nambiar. “I’d describe it as the very chaotic culmination of the event when all teams start overthinking their performances. Despite all that, I’m always glad we end the day together; it makes the wins worth celebrating and the losses worth moving past.”
Despite having to deal with many stressors such as college applications, SATs, homework, and other extracurriculars, our teams are genuinely passionate about OM and demonstrate insurmountable dedication.
“This year had a rocky start for me personally because I play a fall sport and I had to deal with college application season,” said OM board member senior Zoya Azeem. “Even though I had so much stuff going on and OM demanded a lot of my time, it never felt like a daunting task. This club has taught me so many things and given me so much to be proud of.”
With the help of their advisor, Mr. Parekkadan, the teams have been able to succeed in competitions. Between efficient meetings and honest feedback, each and every team was given opportunities to improve. This year, all 11 teams from JP worked very hard, with six of the teams qualifying for the state tournament representing JP.