On Friday, October 10, students strolled into the J.P. Stevens cafeteria for the Odyssey of the Mind Movie Night. This was a night highly anticipated by many of the participants in the club as it was an excellent opportunity to support O.M. while also spending time with one’s friends after a long, busy week of school. It was organized by Mr. Parakadden as well as the 2025-26 Odyssey of the Mind Executive Board, made up of Aura Vyas, Aksh Doshi, Sanya Kochhar, Ujali Patel, and Vibhat Puchalapalli. They helped manage the funds and permitted entrance to viewers.
The evening began at 4:45 PM., and the movie that was being shown was Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. This movie was chosen through a poll put out to members. Originally released in 2017 with famous actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jack Black, it depicted four high school students that were drawn into a jungle video game. They were forced to navigate through deadly obstacles and ravenous animals, as beating the game was their only shot at returning to the real world.
Entry tickets were $5 unless purchased on the day of, which would bump the cost up to $7. The club required at least four people to attend from each team. Along with existing members, any outsiders who wanted to just relax on their Friday night were welcome to attend. This led to the movie night being an excellent fundraiser for the Odyssey of the Mind club, bringing in funds for future competitions and events. Junior Vibhat Puchalapalli, an executive board member for the JP Stevens Odyssey of the Mind, said, “The money raised from this event will be returned to competing teams through amenities such as prop transportation, refreshments, etc. These resources are useful privileges which are not available to other competing teams. All in all, we thought that the movie night had a great turn out and I was glad to see the spirit of Odyssey of the Mind shine through the event.”
Students watched in the cafeteria, and snacks were also served. Cookies, popcorn, and water bottles were available to viewers. Students were talking, laughing, eating, and all in all having a good time during the two hour film. Sophomore Yashas Kamarajugguda commented, “The O.M. movie night was a great experience to learn and watch an entertaining movie with my friends, I truly enjoyed it. Plus, it showed us ways to incorporate comedy into our long-terms in a fun way.”
Though many regard this movie night as a casual and simple event, the added benefits from it were quite clever. Obviously, the club gathered for entertainment and fundraising purposes, but truly dedicated and creative O.M. students took away more from the movie than The Rock’s jokes while escaping Jumanji’s jungle. Students, like aforementioned Yashas, took this group meetup as an opportunity to integrate irony, humor, wordplay, and dramatic effect into their long-term skit.
The long-term is the challenging problem O.M. members solve which culminates into an 8-minute performative skit. Experienced juniors, seniors, and advisors recommend using humor in their long-term, and this movie night was a perfect place to plan this out. Sophomore Vihaan Sondurker stated, “[The movie night] definitely helped me build a stronger connection with my O.M. team as well other members of the club. That truly helped us work better together as a team,” emphasizing the success of this event.
Eventually, around 7 p.m., the movie ended and students started to file out. In summary, the Odyssey of the Club movie night was an enjoyable event that not only raised money for the club but provided a gathering for its members to discuss their long-terms, engage with each other, and prepare for the weekend.
