ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604290050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: HALE SHEIKERZ STAFF WRITER
AMUSIN' CRUISIN', OMVENTION, AND CRUNCH are just a few of the problems Virginia students confronted at the state competition.
Running on two batteries, two motors and gear boxes, a vehicle-like trolley traveled through San Francisco Land, stopping at Chinatown, the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf. It was quite an adventure for the seven Christiansburg Middle School students who designed and operated this amusement park. An Amusin' Cruisin' journey, to be exact.
More than 1,100 kindergarten through 12th-grade students, along with their parents and coaches, participated at the Odyssey of the Mind state competition Saturday at Radford University. Students from 13 regions in Virginia competed in elementary, middle and high school divisions. Teams selected and presented one of five problems, including Amusin' Cruisin', which required teams to build a vehicle that would take the driver though an original "amusement park" while performing team-created tasks.
In addition, Amusin' Cruisin' teams were limited to spending less than $100 for materials. The Christiansburg team spent $98.50. Third-and fourth-graders from West Salem Elementary School spent even less - $77. Their team's journey was through Riddle Land, where the task was to recite riddles (and use humor) to get out.
The all-boys team from Cave Spring Junior High presented Musicland, a history of music from jazz, the '60s, hard rock and disco, including the Village People's "YMCA." The boys put a humorous twist in their skit by having Bernie, the character from the movie ``Weekend at Bernie's,'' as the traveling tourist.
Other competition problems included Omvention, Classics ... Great Impressions, Crunch, and Tall Tales of John Jivery. All problems were limited to eight minutes. Teams were limited to seven members; however, only five could present. In addition to the long-term problem, the competition also encompassed two other scoring areas: style; and spontaneous problems, either verbal or nonverbal.
"There is no way to describe the spontaneous when it comes to the nonverbal," said Richard Vogel, a problem captain. He said students don't know which of the two they will have until it is presented to them by a judge. Students also are not allowed to disclose any information about the problem to anyone, including their coaches and parents, until the OM competition is completely over. Point distribution is 200 for long-term, 100 spontaneous and 50 for style (narration, costumes and design). Winners were determined from the combined long-term, spontaneous and style scores in each problem. Winners were announced Saturday night.
"I liked everything ... having fun and being with the team," said Samantha Kurtz of Kipps Elementary School in Blacksburg, who played the role of Claude Monet. Her team competed in the Classics ... Great Impressions, where they selected a painting by Monet and had to write a poem relating to it.
For Samantha, OM was a family affair. Her parents, Susan and Jeff Kurtz, were the coaches, and her brother also had a part. In addition, her grandparents came from New York to see their presentation.
"I learned about OM and how it relates to science and other problems," Zach Kurtz said.
To get to the state competition, teams had to win first place at their regional competition. Winners of the state competition advance to the OM World Finals in Iowa, where they will compete against 50 states and about 20 countries.
"People are competitive, but also friendly. There's a real nice air," said Linda Morales-Burton, coach for Christiansburg Middle School.
The OM experience is not about competition, but to let kids "travel uncharted paths" and use "creativity to make the world a better place in which to live," as the OM pledge reads.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LORA GORDON. Wendy Joines, 8, of Elliston-Lafayetteby CNBElementary School holds up her hair while teammate Kristin Wood ties
on her star as she gets ready for her part as a starfish. color. 2.
C.J. Clarke (center) demonstrates a sawing motion for the judges as
he explains how many saws his Chilhowie Elementary School team broke
before using a cutting torch.