Sioux City schools will make their first appearance at the state Odyssey of the Mind competition Monday in Grinnell. A number of other Siouxland schools also qualified for the event, advancing from regionals at Council Bluffs last month. Founded in New Jersey in 1978, OM is now a regular part of the school year in elementary, middle and high school classrooms around the world.
Teams choose one of several long-term problems to solve over a matter of months.
They attend regional, then state, then world competition to present their solutions. They're given just two or three minutes to answer and are judged on creativity. But, now that they've seen what a rewarding experience it is, Weir said she expects more schools and more students to be interested next year. The kids invent everything from scratch, including heaven and the earth's atmosphere as their journey destinations, complete with a greeting by George Burns. Parents are not allowed to do the work and coaches can only ask questions that lead the kids to possible solutions.