Displaying excellence, creativity and a touch of innovation, a Manteo Middle School team won first place honors at the Coastal Region Odyssey of the Mind Tournament at Swansboro High School February 24.

Odyssey of the Mind is a problem-solving exercise in which students work in teams of up to seven members toward solving a pre-determined problem under adult supervision, and then present that solution in a competition atmosphere against other teams in the same division.

While volunteer coaches may help teach skills and educate team members on ways of approaching a problem, all work and solution ideas must be by the students themselves and they have eight minutes to present their problem solution. 

Teams are formed by division according to grade with competition against other teams on the same problem. The regional competition at Swansboro included three divisions: Division I for grades K through 5, Division II for grades 6 through 8 and Division III for grades 9 through 12.

At Swansboro there were at least 70 elementary and middle school teams and six high school teams providing solution to one of five problems.

For Problem 1: Triathlon Travels, students had to create an original vehicle that a student could ride on and drive, that could change appearance, score in “curling,” hit the correct targets when “jousting” and “run track” by navigating a course in two directions.

Problem 2: Emoji, Speak for Yourself, required student to create three-dimensional emojis to communicate the life story of a once famous, but now forgotten, emoji with special functions like growing, turning into a team member and changing into a different emoji with no spoken language allowed.

In Problem 3: Classics . . .  Mockumentary! Seriously? students recount a classic story presenting characters in a different light, a humorous account, or documentary-style performance with details added, denied, exaggerated or even disputed.

Problem 4: Animal House, required teams to design a balsa wood animal that must be fed and support as much weight as possible and have its appearance transformed and explained during an original performance.

Problem 5: A Stellar Hangout teams created a humorous Intergalactic Hangout performance with original creatures, foods and a search for space treasure.

With volunteer judges awarding points for meeting specific requirements and rules for each problem, Manteo students Amelia Foti, Carlee Paramore, Evan Frank, Liam Ryan, Cole Walker, Davis Austin and Joe Roberts led the field in the Olympic inspired Problem 1 where the team, coached by Jessica Foti, finished in first for for Division II.

The top two finishers in each division advance to the March 24 state tournament at Wingate University on North Camden Road in Wingate. In the event one of those teams cannot attend, the third place finisher advances to the state competition.

Winners at the state level qualify for Odyssey of the Mind World Finals May 23-26 at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.

The North Carolina Odyssey of the Mind association was chartered in 1982 and the state is divided into five geographic regions. This year more than 400 teams representing 206 school all across the state registered for the competition. For more information about Odyssey of the Mind visit https://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

Coastal Region Tournament results for Dare County School teams include:

Triathlon Travels Division I, Swansboro HS Gym Annex

3rd Place: Kitty Hawk Elementary School A

8th Place: Nags Head Elementary School

Triathlon Travels Division II, Swansboro HS Gym Annex

1st Place: Manteo Middle School (Davis Austin, Amelia Foti,  Evan Frank, Carlee Paramore,Joe Roberts, Liam Ryan, and Cole Walker.  Coached by Jessica Foti)

Emoji, Speak for Yourself Division I, Swansboro HS Gym

3rd Place: First Flight Elementary School Team  (Angelena Bell, Serenity Cooley, Skyla Drake, Kaitlin Furr, Moira Furr, and Kate McCloskey. Coached by Helen Furr)

Classics . . . Mockumentary! Seriously? Division II,, Swansboro HS Auditorium

3rd Place: Manteo Middle School (Alonah Austin, Penelope Fiedler, Jamie Holcomb, Jordan Holcomb, Sara Kelly, Emily Meekins, and Edyth Simpson. Coached by Mary Simpson)

Animal House Division I, Swansboro HS Gym

3rd Place: Kitty Hawk Elementary School A

5th Place: First Flight Elementary School

6th Place: Kitty Hawk Elementary School B Jarvisburg

A Stellar Hangout Division IB, Queens Creek Ele Sch Cafeteria

2nd Place: Nags Head Elementary School (Isla Blankenship, Jossie Brown, Abby Edwards, Mackenzie McAvoy, Autumn Sailor, Cassidy Stanley, and Schuyler Wilson. Team coached by KC McAvoy)

3rd Place: Kitty Hawk Elementary School A

A Stellar Hangout Division II, Queens Creek Ele Sch Cafeteria

2 Place: Manteo Middle School (Cloey Davis, Owen Head, Madison Meredith,Jenna Moxley, and Meara Land. Coached by Stephanie Moxley.)