During March and April, our Speyer Odyssey of the Mind teams put all of their hard work to the test at the Regional and State Competitions — and of course, our Dragons were once again beyond impressive!

A little about Odyssey of the Mind: the competition is broken down into Long-Term (a problem-solving challenge that is prepared for over many months) and Spontaneous (where each team is given about 10 minutes on the spot to provide their most creative solution to an unknown problem) and there is no adult assistance or help allowed for either part of the competition.

Speyer offers Odyssey of the Mind as a year-long Middle School elective and our teams have been competing in the tournaments for a few years now, where they go against schools that have been a part of this competition for decades. Those who are familiar with it all say the same thing — the Odyssey of the Mind competition encompasses all of the hallmarks of what makes a Speyer education unique. Teams that do well at Odyssey come with a foundation of knowledge, but it requires so much more — commitment, teamwork, imagination, empathy, creativity, problem-solving, and resilience. It is truly the most "Speyer-y" competition there is!

This year, Speyer's Odyssey Coach Mr. DeCostanza and three teams (a total of 18 students) travelled to Lido Beach, New York in early March for the Regional Tournament. Kitted out in handmade props and costumes and surrounded by beautiful painted backdrops, the teams stood before supportive parents, eager students from across New York, and an official panel of judges to share the stories they've spent all year developing. There was a birthday party that narrowly escaped a disastrous end; there was a chance encounter between wayfaring astronauts and an exotic race of space aliens (whose society centers around cheese, of course); and there was the dramatic story of a reluctant cook commanded by his tyrannical king to trek into the forest in order to kill a beautiful and innocent deer for a meal of venison.

The judges were wowed by our hard-working and creative students! Speyer took home two Regional trophies, and one team advanced to the States Tournament in Syracuse, New York, which took place last weekend (where Speyer again impressed the judges with their creativity and performance skills)!

We are so proud of all of our Odyssey of the Mind students and give them a round of applause for the immense hard work, collaboration, and creativity they showed — and huge high-fives to Mr. DeCostanza for his guidance and support of the teams! GO DRAGONS!

Classics 1 Team

Landon I., Landon F., Sam C., Max S., Deacon G., Mia S., Emma C.

Classics 2 Team

Mijo C., Isabel S., Haylee O., Gabi K., Leah M.

Performance (AKA "The Big Cheese")

Jessica H., Dean K M., Sebastian S., Ari H., Aiden C., Theo D., Ethan V.