Odyssey of the Mind - Journey to Nationals
By Shreya Rohatgi
Owasso High School has its fair share of STEM classes, but not very many people are aware of the program that implements all of these fundamentals along with creative thinking strategies. Odyssey of the Mind is one such extracurricular that successfully integrates these principles as well as the application of artistic innovation.
Kendall Welborn, Freshman
In this student-led program, teams are tasked with modern day challenges and must imagine creative solutions, testing their skills of divergent thinking and group problem solving. Each year, the problems can range from a number of categories such as vehicles, technical, classics, structure, and performance.
While these teams consist of high school student collaboration, Richard Zamor is their coach, mentoring and offering help along the way. He mentions that though he is there to provide a helping hand and offer guidance, Zamor knows that the students need only slight encouragement to bring these out-of-the-box ideas to life.
Zamor sheds light on his hopes for the current teams and reflects on the creativity of his teams in the past.
“The goal is to work hard and learn a new skill or simply do something that you have never done before. Last year, they were working on DaVinci’s workshop, and one person had to create a water wheel. They learned how to use power tools, cut wood, even fix the angle so it would match up with the design of the wheel.”
Lanie Beeson, Senior
Richard Zamor, the OM coach
He describes the dedication and work ethic of this year's teams as passionate and innovative. While past teams have done exceptionally well at prior tournaments, Zamor hopes these students maintain both personal goals to engage in critical thinking along with the possibility of bringing back some recognition for themselves and our school.
Senior Lanie Beeson and junior Draven St. George commented on their experiences in this extracurricular, noting the reasons why they joined and their experience as a whole.
Beeson joined alongside her friends in 8th grade and explains how she wants to continue this program in college while also earning a degree in engineering. “OM is growing in the right direction. In a world where more and more kids don’t have access to useful life skills, OM provides avenues for these students to learn things. This organization has benefited me so much that I hope to possibly join a team in college or after and continue competing,” mentions Beeson.
In a similar way to Beeson, St. George cherishes his time in OM. He describes that while the extracurricular can be time consuming, the effort involved is more than worth it.
Draven St. George, Junior
“It has changed my life for the better, I have never had an extracurricular that has been able to use my creativity to its full potential, and getting to go to competitions, performing, making sets, and solve complex problems all with my friends was something that has made me so happy,” states George.
Just recently, three of our teams placed at the regional competition and now face the battle of preparing for nationals in a couple of weeks. Wish them good luck as they prepare for the journey ahead!