Magee Middle School takes first place trophy 

at Odyssey of the Mind ‘Virtual’ World Finals

 

Magee Middle School took first place honors among US and international teams competing in the Structure problem at Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, conducted remotely for the first time ever.  Magee was the only middle school in the world to enter all five problem categories for Virtual World Finals:  Vehicle, Technical, Classics, Structure and Theatrical Performance. 

 

Odyssey Structure Teams were challenged to create a framework from balsa wood weighing no more than 18 grams that would be able to carry as much weight as possible. At World Finals, the lightweight structure built by an all-girl Magee engineering team held 1,151 pounds before breaking. 

 

Results were announced Saturday evening, May 30, with an online Awards Ceremony.  After taking top honors in Southern Arizona earlier this year, here are results for Magee among more than 300 teams in just the middle school division:

Problem 1, Vehicle:  14^th place

Problem 2, Tech:  12^th place

Problem 3, Classics:  6^th place

Problem 4, Structure:  1^st place

Problem 5, Performance:  6^th place

 

The annual World Finals competition normally brings the world’s top creativity students to a university campus to compete, but this year, for the first time ever, teams competed remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Magee entered Virtual World Finals with videos of their presentations at the Southern Arizona Regional Finals held Feb. 29 at Canyon del Oro High School, where Magee’s five teams all finished in first place in the five different categories.   In addition, each team’s World Finals entry added supplementary videos and student explanations for their creative solutions, using Zoom meetings and phone calls. The teams also used Zoom to help complete a remote Spontaneous competition to solve challenges revealed at the last moment.

 

More information on Odyssey competition and the World Finals can be found on the website, www.odysseyofhtemind.com.   

Here are the team members from Magee, 8300 E. Speedway - the only school from TUSD competing in Odyssey World Finals (other local area teams are listed after this roster):

 

Problem 1, Vehicle

Jeronimo Garcia-Ojeda  8

Isaac Holtmyer                  7

Morgan Riddle                   8

Maximus Silverman         8

Ryan Zwierlein                  8

 

Problem 2, Tech

Xiomara Cota-Robles      7

Elena Ivester                      6

Madison Kiburz                 7

Luke Musikul                      6

Armanti Ruiz                      7

Devon Spangler                6

 

Problem 3, Classics

Christy Ho                           8

Sally Kamper                      8

Alyssa Kanies                     8

Clara McNaughton          7

Amelia North                     7

Patrick Rohrbacker          7

 

Problem 4, Structure

Sofia Kalesinskaite           7

Adelle Kanies                     8

Aubrey Phull                      7

Lauren Reed                       8

Morgan Riddle                   8

Elizabeth Szlemko            7

 

Problem 5, Theatrical Performance

Anastasia Henneke         7

Isabella Ivester                 7

Elliot Knight                        8

Vincenzo Martin               8

Stephen Mischke             8

Amelia North                     7

 

 

Other Southern Arizona schools participating in Odyssey World Finals 2020:

 

Problem 1:

Satori Charter School, Div. I, 12^th place

Problem 2:

Esperero Canyon Middle School, Div. II, 32^nd place

Problem 3: 

                Children’s Museum Tucson, Div. I, 13^th place

                Dove Mountain K8 CSTEM, Div. III, 31^st place

 

(Also competing were 11 teams from Phoenix and other parts of Arizona, none of whom finished in the top 20.)