From 7 to 3 to 5: The Strenuous Odyssey
By Draven St.George
When you think about the term “Odyssey of the Mind,” you probably think of a gradual exploration of the mind that ends in triumph. Well, to be fair, that’s exactly what it is. Odyssey of the Mind (Odyssey or OM) is an extra-curricular activity run by Mr. and Mrs. Zamor. OM allows its members to explore some areas of their minds that they didn’t know could be utilized. Odyssey is a problem-solving and creativity-utilizing organization that focuses on students being given long-term problems that must be solved with dazzling technical effects, powerful script-writing and an eye-catching set design. Although Odyssey of the Mind may sound fun and relaxing, the amount of pressure on this year’s students was immense. Let’s go through the “Odyssey,” if you will, shall we?
(The finishing members of the Odyssey of the Mind team, photo taken by Natalie Turner. From left to right: Draven St.George, Natalie Turner, Julie Allison, and Marley Hutchins. Not shown: Merrik Barnes)
The year started with three returning students including seniors Natalie Turner and Draven St. George, who loved performing for this group last year and wanted to keep up their legacy.
“I did this last year because I wanted to be in another group,” exclaimed Natalie Turner, a senior on the team who helped with costume and prop ideas as well as played the “nefarious creature” within their production. “And I came back to it this year because it brought me so much joy” she proclaimed with a glint in her eyes.
That’s what all three members thought when going back to this group, and this year’s problem seemed like one to remember. In the end, it was, but mostly because of its drawbacks.
When OM started, the three returnees were able to recruit four more people, making an ideal team of seven. But, due to the unexpected obstacles each student had to face this year, only a total of three senior members remained. These three were St. George, Turner and one other new member, Merrik Barnes.. These three essentially felt hopeless after losing their whole team. In fact, they were one more obstacle away from giving up.
“The constant changing of ideas was frustrating, we all...had no motivation to continue.” said Turner from her perspective of a hopeless returnee.
Photo of the finished set completed by the team in two weeks, photo taken by Draven St. George
Within Odyssey, if a person quits or has to leave the group, the ideas they contributed cannot be used in the final product, which basically meant going back to square one each time for these three.
When all seemed hopeless, St. George and Turner had their lightbulb-moment when they thought of two people who could help fill the gap.
These two people were juniors Marley Hutchins and Julie Allison. They both had a lot on their plate, but they made the full commitment to persevere and help get OM through to the state competition. But that wasn’t going to be easy, especially since they joined the team just two weeks before state!
“I felt a lot of pressure on me to be successful. None of the set was built when we joined, and I didn’t know any of the solution,” said Allison in a moment of worry.
Allison was brought into the group for her inquisitive mind and was able to thrive by playing the main character in the skit while also building a majority of the set.
Because of the sudden urge to fight by the original three and the new-found confidence of the brand new two, the five were able to come together and successfully finish their solution at the state competition, taking home the first-place title in their division.
This team proved that with a little bit of luck, perseverance and motivation, you’re destined to succeed, and you can turn a tragic story into the legend of an Odyssey.