ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603190045
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
Savanna Roach stands next to a huge cardboard box that is taller than she is, a colored marker in her hand. Sara Boyd and J.C. Simmons have plenty of room as they sit inside the box, pushing on the top with their hands.
``What are they doing inside the box?'' asks Dan Roach, their Odyssey of the Mind team coach.
``They're stabilizing the box so I can draw on it,'' says Savanna, his daughter.
``Good idea,'' the coach says.
This is teamwork and this is part of what OM is all about.
OM teams include kids from kindergarten through 12th grade, all over the United States and in other countries, too. Not every school has an OM team and some schools have more than one. Teams have five to seven members plus a coach, who is a parent volunteer.
Savanna, Sara and J.C., along with three other pupils, make up the OM team from Wasena Elementary School in Roanoke. Their team is for third- through fifth-graders. For most of them, it's their first experience with OM.
Each year, teams must choose and solve one problem from a list they are given. This year, choices include designing, building and driving a vehicle (expenses must be no more than $100), designing a product that will help a person with a physical disability perform a task, ``Crunch!'' (more about that later), and creating and presenting a humorous performance about an original tall tale.
Competition is coming up soon and the team is busy readying the project they agreed on - ``Crunch!'' It has nothing to do with dry leaves or eating cereal.
``We had to make a structure out of balsa wood and glue that won't break under a weight or while it's being bombarded with cue balls,'' explained Mark Guerry, a third-grade team member.
Cue balls are used for playing billiards [pool]. They're rolled down a chute toward the structure. Balsa wood is really light, so it's hard to imagine the cue balls wouldn't break it or the weight, with 25 pounds added at a time, wouldn't crush it.
``Whichever structure lasts the longest wins points,'' Mark adds.
The team also must write a short play, with costumes and props, that includes the balsa wood structure. The team decided their structure reminded them of a pyramid, so they called themselves The Pyramid Builders. Each team member plays a character of ancient Egypt, with slaves who try to destroy the pyramid - the balsa wood structure.
Coach Roach's role is to keep the students organized and making progress on their problem. Coaches can't make decisions or tell the children what to do. Decisions are made by the group, as a group.
Roach did find the huge box, though, which will be used as a huge stone block, the kind pyramids were made from. The slaves will drag it onto the stage area and the balsa wood structure will be inside.
``I've been in garbage cans all over town, looking for a box this big,'' Roach says. ``What did you decide to do last week around the border [of the box]?'' the coach asks.
``We're writing `Wasena Elementary' in hieroglyphics,'' answers Sara Boyd.
Sara and Elizabeth Rudis, both fifth-graders, work quietly in a corner, using a chart to translate their school's name into the Egyptian characters. They show Roach the symbols.
``Good work. Where do you want to start?'' he asks.
Meanwhile, Mark and J.C., both third-graders, carefully trace diamond shapes around the edges of one side of the box. Savanna looks at information about pyramids to get an idea of what the lettering should look like. She'll try to imitate the style as she writes her school's name on the box. The coach reminds her the letters must be seen from 25 feet away - but he doesn't tell her how big to make them.
Soon, the only sound in the room is the rubbing and occasional squeak of markers on cardboard. Everyone is hard at work, side by side. No one is arguing or being bossy.
``This is a lot harder than I thought it would be,'' Elizabeth says. ``It's fun, though. We get to make up new things and try to solve problems.''
``This has really been a challenge, but it's been fun,'' Sara says. ``The structure was hard to make because it had to be an exact size.''
A pile of broken balsa sticks sits on a piece of board in the corner. ``This seemed so easy, but it wasn't'' Savanna says. ``Everyone's learned to stick with it and no one stopped when they felt `Hey, this isn't going to work.'
``I've learned that not only you make a difference, but everybody else makes a difference.''
On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, these kids from Wasena could have been outside, enjoying the nice weather. Dan Roach, coaching his first OM team, could have been relaxing and watching sports on TV, as he likes to do on weekends.
``I had no idea how involved this was,'' he says. ``I enjoy it, though. There's nothing more interesting to me than seeing kids get it together.''
Someone asks, ``Will this box fit through the door?''
``Gee, I don't know,'' the coach answers.
``We could take it apart and then tape it back up,'' Sara says.
``That's exactly right,'' the coach says, smiling.
Regional competition Saturday
Odyssey of the Mind Roanoke Regional Competition will be held Saturday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at Northside High and Middle schools in North Roanoke County. Everyone is welcome. There is no admission charge.
More than 900 students, kindergarten through 12th grade, from Roanoke, Salem, Covington and Danville and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Augusta and Highland will compete for a chance to go to the state finals at Radford University in April and then on to the world finals in Iowa in May.
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. J.C. Simmons (left) and Markby CNBGuerry, members of Wasena Elementary's Odyssey of the Mind team,
work on "Crunch," the team's project. The team must make a structure
out of balsa wood and glue that won't break under a weight or while
it's being bombarded with cue balls. 2. Fellow teammates Sara Boyd
(below, from left), Elizabeth Rudig and Savanna Roach prepare the
outside of a box for use in competition. color.