May 19, 1998
Boulder Daily Camera
by Monte Whaley
Students from [Summit] Middle School will be competing for the national Odyssey of the Mind title in Orlando, Fla. Lindsay Fox, left, and Eric Gonzales, right, practice their routine with other members of the team.
Photo by Cliff Grassmick
Call it vaudeville with a brain.
Odyssey of the Mind pits elementary and secondary students around the world in a contest to see who can best think their way out of complex problems. Students who do well are not necessarily the smartest in the class, but those who look at things a little differently.
And one of the best "OM" teams at finding alternatives to solving problems is from Summit Middle School. Lindsay Fox, Tyler Fox, Eric Gonzales, Wendy Harig, Cara Harmon, Dale Swirhun and James Swirhun have taken first place in district and state OM finals, beating 330 other teams.
They have been preparing most of this month for the OM World Finals to be held May 27-30 in Disney World. There, they will face off against 6,000 other OM squads from 48 states and 30 countries.
Summit's team is, by most accounts, a veteran squad of mostly eighth graders. A few have been working OM contests for five years.
Classmates have also been recruited who show the right OM stuff. "If you want to be creative, come join us," Karen Fox said. Fox is a mother to two members of the Summit group and helps coach along with Connie Harmon.
OM teams work together for six months to solve long-term problems determined by the OM Association Inc. of Glassboro, N.J. Each year, five problems are mailed to OM participants across the globe and each squad picks one to solve for the district and state finals.
How they go about answering the problems posed separates third place from first place. Creativity rules.
"It's not like school," Fox said. "It's not about getting just the right answer."
In every OM competition thus far, Summit's solution has been lauded as inventive and funny. The problem asks the team to create and present a performance about an advertising agency that has been commissioned to make a television commercial about a nutritional product.
The agency
can have an acclaimed individual as a mentor for the project. Performances
must include the commercial, original music, product packaging and a discussion
of the product's nutritional benefits.
Props must fit inside a limited space; time limit is eight minutes and materials cannot cost more than $100.
After scratching out a script, the Summit students decided to draw upon the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius for help. He advises the advertising firm of Achilles Heel, Funny Bone and All Ears to piece together a commercial about a nutritional product called Phat Phyz.
A typical performance is a whirlwind of corny jokes and quick changes for wardrobes and props. Costumes are made out of trash bags and other throwaways, while props are melded together by duct tape.
Still, the concept of one of [the] greatest geniuses in history hawking a piece of candy comes across clearly. Lindsay Fox — one of the OM veterans — said her team's progress this year is due to more originality.
"We went further with our ideas this year," Lindsay said. "And so far we have just impressed the judges."