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Grade 6: Second Place at the Chinese OM Competition

March 2, 2017

Grade 6: Second Place at the Chinese OM Competition

On the afternoon of Feb 26th, the 38th Odyssey of the Mind competition in China took place. The SHSID sixth grade team won both second place and the Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award in the “Catch Me If You Can” competition. With their big win, they now have the chance to compete in the world finals at Michigan State University this May.

The OM finals in China hosted 450 teams with four teams coming all the way from Germany and Korea. The other teams came from other places in China such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, and Jiangsu. The SHSID team was made up of seven students. The OM competitions are events that promote creativity, teamwork, innovation, and the application of real world skills.

The competition is divided into two parts: long-term and spontaneous problems. The long-term problem is a very important part which was prepared for months in advance. On the other hand, the spontaneous problem challenges the students’ thinking ability and decision making. The spontaneous questions are usually divided into three types: verbal, hands-on, and a ‘combination’ section. In the verbal section, students needed to answer set questions in order. In the hands-on section, the teams needed to build a special item. In the combination section, the teams needed to build an item and introduce it to the judges. No matter whether it was the long-term or spontaneous problem, the students needed to work together and use their creativity to solve the problem.

The long-term questions topic our team chose was “Catch us if you can!” Not only did we have to construct the paths for three differently powered cars, we also had to perform in a creative play using our imagination. In this play, we had to depict the three cars we designed. Set in a limitless universe, our story told the tale of the clash between two planets, and how the people worked together to protect the environment. The costumes, set designs, and background are all made using recycled materials, once again emphasizing the fact that we should all work hard to preserve our fragile environment. The design and creation of the cars was challenging, yet we leapt over these obstacles and constructed three absolutely dazzling and fabulous cars. During the spontaneous problems, we reacted quickly and efficiently, demonstrating perfect teamwork in our problem solving. Our team’s performances amazed the judges, leading us to win the “Most Creative” prize of the topic “Catch me if you can”!

Let us warmly congratulate the SHSID team on this amazing accomplishment, their astonishing teamwork, and their opportunity to compete again at the World Finals!

(Written by 6(3) Albert, 6 (1) Athena, 6 (9) Jonathan Pictures by Li Jing)