Three teams within the district placed at the regional level of the annual New York State Odyssey of the Mind competition. Atkinson sixth-graders and fifth-graders earned first place and second place, respectively, and the Dodd team placed third.
The program, for which students work together to develop team-building skills, also tasks them with integrating classroom curricula to solve problems through writing, literature, history, sciences and music.
"What I loved about Odyssey of the Mind is that we got to be as creative as we wanted, and the team had a lot of control over what happened," said sixth-grade student Nicole Bailey."Also, we got to express our many talents, such as acting and painting. We also got to fulfill our competitive spirit and move up as we succeeded."
"I loved being a part of the Odyssey of the Mind experience because I got to show off my creativity and put it to work," said sixth-grade student Lesley Fernandez. I got to be as spontaneous as I wanted to be. I also created things with my team and my teacher, and at the end of the day, it's all just about all of our hard work."
The sixth-graders will compete at the state level on April 11 in Binghamton. In the event they earn first- or second-place, they will continue to the World Finals, which will be held at Michigan State University on May 20-23.