Here are the scores from yesterday’s state tournament

Please keep an eye on the state website – paodyssey.com – and state Facebook page for more updates about State Finals.

Good luck to the OMERs from our region that will represent Pennsylvania in the World Finals tournament at Michigan State University in May!

2013 Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind State Finals

For the latest info, check out paodyssey.com and the PA Odyssey of the Mind Facebook page

• Tournament schedule
• Directions to PME
• Photo tour of competition sites
• School maps of performance sites
• Webcast of Awards Ceremony – begins between 5:30 and 6 p.m. ET

Remember to check out our Facebook page and Twitter for updates throughout the week and on competition day!

Thank you to all of the volunteers and the Pocono Mountain School District for making State Finals possible!

We’re excited to have OMERs from all across the state come up to our neck of the woods, and equally excited to be working with the Pocono Mountain School District to provide a top-notch tournament site. Every single long-term competition will occur in a gymnasium or auditorium. The hallways are spacious, and all the competition sites are within close proximity.

We’re so excited that we wanted to give you a sneak peak of the competition sites. Especially for those teams that have to travel several hours to get to Swiftwater, PA, we want to be as accommodating as possible as you continue your Odyssey here in the northeast.

You can either scroll through the tour below, or click on a problem/division to jump to photos of a specific competition site.

Problem 1: Pet Project
Div. I – Jr. HS – Aux Gym
Div. II, III – Jr. HS – Main Gym

Problem 2: Email Must Go Through
Div. I – Jr. HS – Aux Gym
Div. II, III – Swiftwater Intermediate – Gym

Problem 3: ARTchitecture: The Musical
Div. I – Jr. HS – Auditorium
Div. II, III – HS – Auditorium

Problem 4: Tumble-Wood
All divisions – HS – Gym

Problem 5: It’s How You Look At It
Div. I – Jr. HS – Auditorium
Div. II, III – Swiftwater Intermediate – Auditorium

Spontaneous
HS – First Floor

Overview Map

We start our tour…

outside, at the center of the campus. To the left is Swiftwater Intermediate, straight ahead is the high school, and to the right is the junior high school.

Hint: You can click and drag your mouse to scroll from side to side in any of the panoramas.

First up: Pocono Mountain East High School

The high school will be the home to Problem 4: Tumble-Wood (all three divisions), Problem 3: ARTchitecture (Div. II and III), registration, merchandise sales, spontaneous, and the awards ceremony.

Note: you can click on any still photo to enlarge it.

All divisions of Problem 4: Tumble-Wood and the awards ceremony will take place in the high school main gym.

The divisions will be split up alternating on opposite sides of the gym. There will be seating for at least 350 spectators for the competition.

Prior to the awards ceremony, we will have a slideshow of photos from throughout the day. With the bleachers fully extended, there will be seating for 3,200 people, so please sit in the stands and keep the floor clear!

Unloading for Tumble-Wood will occur at this entrance of the high school. The auditorium and gymnasium are off the same hallway.

Here is part of the spacious prop storage for Tumble-Wood.

Next Page

View the Scores

Photos from the Tournament

Photos from the Awards Ceremony

State Finals information

Line Mountain Scholarship Application (.pdf) – Due March 25

Good luck to our OMERs at State Finals – Saturday, April 13 at Pocono Mountain East!

Saturday, March 9 at Pocono Mountain West High School
(Snow date: Saturday, March 16)

• Tournament Schedule
• Directions to PMWHS
• Tournament Instructions (.pdf)
• Map of Tournament Sites (.pdf)
• Parents’ Outside Assistance Guide (.pdf)
• Parents’ Competition Guide (.pdf)
• Guidelines from Pocono Mountain
• RSVP to the event on Facebook
• Coaches’ Contract (.pdf)
• Press information / press release (.doc)
• This year’s problem synopses

If all goes according to plan, we’ll once again provide a LIVE webcast of the Awards Ceremony for friends and family who can’t make it to the tournament.

The webcast will start at about 5:30 p.m. at www.nepaootm.com/webcast.

Thank you to the coaches, judges, officials, volunteers, parents, family and friends who make our program possible! NEPA Odyssey of the Mind is a 100% not-for-profit, volunteer organization.

The Regional Tournament will be Saturday, March 9 at Pocono Mountain West High School.

State Finals is Saturday, April 13 at the Pocono Mountain East/Swiftwater campus.

To get the “Early Bird” discount, regional membership of $100 is due by Saturday, Dec. 1. After Dec. 1, the price increases to $120. Membership, team and judge registrations must all be in by Saturday, Jan. 19.

For the complete schedule, check out the Schedules page. Be sure to also check out the Events on our Facebook page.

 
Subscribe to the Official NEPA OotM Google Calendar

Peter was a part of the Odyssey of the Mind program for eight years. The $1,000 scholarship will go toward his studies at Moravian College.

The scholarship is presented in memory of our former co-director, Karl Schneck.

Thank you to all who donated to the scholarship fund at this year’s regional tournament!

• Problem 1 – Ooh-Motional Vehicle – Div. I
  Dingman-Delaware ES – 29th of 55 teams
• Problem 2 – Weird Science – Div. II
  Shohola ES – 21st of 63 teams
  

  Members from Pennsylvania teams make a grand entrance at the Opening Ceremonies last Wednesday. Courtesy odysseyofthemind.com.

• Problem 3 – To Be or Not to Be – Div. II
  Crestwood MS – 15th of 58 teams
• Problem 5 – Odyssey Angels – Div. I
  Pocono Ele Center – 12th of 59 teams
• Problem 5 – Odyssey Angels – Div. III
  Delaware Valley HS – 16th of 48 teams

You all made our region and state proud!

If you attended World Finals, you can share photos and stories on our Facebook page!

To see the results of all Pennsylvania teams, click here!

For more coverage of World Finals, click here!

…and congratulations to the Penn State University div. IV team that received 2nd in problem 4, 1st in problem 5, and an OMERs Award! The team includes our very own NEPA structure judge and photographer Dustin Balton.

• State Finals Survey – How was your experience?
• Photos – Awards Ceremony
• State Finals Scores
• Watch back the Awards Ceremony Webcast

Here they are! Photos from the State Finals competitions! Click here.

Congratulations to the NEPA teams that placed!

Cedar Crest MS - State Champions!

Ooh-Motional Vehicle div. I
Dingman-Delaware ES – 2nd place

Ooh-Motional Vehicle div. III
Pocono Mountain West HS – 3rd place

Weird Science div. I
Pocono Elementary Center – 3rd place

Weird Science div. II
Shohola ES – 2nd place
Dingman-Delaware MS – 3rd place

Weird Science div. III
Abington Heights HS Tm A – 3rd place

To Be or Not To Be div. II
Crestwood MS – 1st place
Easton Area MS – Upper – 3rd place

Odyssey Angels div. I
Pocono Elementary Center – 2nd place

Odyssey Angels div. III
Delaware Valley HS – 2nd place

Read more for the OMERs and Ranatra Fusca Award winners…

OMERs Award Winners – 2012 State Finals

Moon Elementary School – Odyssey Angels div. I

Nominated by another team. This team was observed picking up trash outside with bags. The team did this willingly, without any complaints. They took the initiative to do this, picking up everyone’s trash. Everyone on the team worked diligently to clean up other people’s mess.

Hollidaysburg Area Junior High School Team A – Ooh-Motional Vehicle div. II

Nominated by a long-term judging team. Their vehicle fell apart. Their team sign, which was judged in style wouldn’t turn. Their props spilled all over the floor. These problems were almost a chain reaction started when a small boy passing by pulled a glass ball off the top of the vehicle while they were in staging. The team did their best to fix everything but to no avail. All this didn’t stop them though. The team performed with enthusiasm, and their perseverance with such a positive attitude truly exemplified the spirit of Odyssey of the Mind.

Wellsboro High School – You Make the Call div. III

Nominated by a long-term judging team. This team demonstrated outstanding workmanship and dedication, through the design and construction of their balsa wood structure. The structure required the team to split their strips of wood into flexible pieces. The team then bent, dried and assembled the strips into a beautifully crafted cylinder. This 9-gram structure demonstrates the outside-of-the-box thinking and dedication that exemplifies an outstanding OMER.

Washington School – Odyssey Angels div. I

Nominated by a spontaneous judging team. Although this team did not score the highest, they presented with multiple skits. During the practice portion of their hands-on/verbal problem, they simultaneously created their own Cinderella’s other story. The team worked simultaneously, cooperatively, and patiently with each other to develop a complete short story using every single item on the table that was provided. The team also demonstrated teamwork, physical comedy to supplement the verbal, and excellent body language. During the three minutes of scoring of the performance, they completed a significant portion of their short story; however, one team member struggled with stage fright and time was lost. Nevertheless they demonstrated excellent teamwork, excellent flow of story, and maturity beyond their ages. The judges are still looking forward to the rest of their story.

Ranatra Fusca Winners – advance to World Finals

Pennridge High School – Ooh-Motional Vehicle div. III

This team was nominated for extreme creativity in the design and engineering of the vehicle and the methods used to complete the task. Specifically, the gearing and pivoting of the legs showed exceptional engineering with the use of multiple pivot points and levers. The team merged exceptional engineering with creative artwork and engaging story. The innovative use of mechanical legs to convert rotational motion to linear motion gave the vehicle the appearance of truly walking across the floor. It was obvious to the judges that the team spent a significant amount of time designing, testing and perfecting their walking system and the entire vehicle. In addition their methods of changing and displaying emotions were also creatively designed and well-engineered

Berwick Area HS – You Make the Call div. III

This team showed exceptional creativity in the construction and design of a complex device as their function. From the audience’s point of view, it appeared that the team put in three different objects for input, and then turned a knob and produced three different outputs. The device was actually much more complex on the inside. Input one, which was one pound, caused a lever to release an output and a gauge with a needle to go up. The second input, which was two pounds, released the second output, and the gauge went up again; this time a little higher.  The third input, three pounds, triggered the gauge to go all the way up to max, and close the circuit that triggered a pneumatic device to fire what appeared as water into the air, with a loud bang. From the audience point of view, one did not expect such an awesome effect, which appeared to be just turning a knob was in reality a Rube Goldberg chain reaction. It was simply awesome.