World finals in Knoxville next for students.
By: Lea Kahn
The third time is the charm — at least that’s what the Lawrence Intermediate School’s fourth- and fifth-grade Odyssey of the Mind team is hoping.
The LIS team is heading off to Knoxville, Tenn., at the end of this month to compete in the world finals of the Odyssey of the Mind contest — for the third time since 1989. The competition begins May 31 and ends June 4.
LIS claimed the state championship in 1989, 1993 and 2000, which entitles the team to seek the world championship. The team will go head-to-head against teams from the other states, plus a handful of Canadian provinces and foreign countries.
The Odyssey of the Mind is a creative, problem-solving competition sponsored by the Odyssey of the Mind Corp., said Jane Fetter, the LIS fifth-grade teacher who coaches the team. The Lawrence school has been taking part in the contest for more than 20 years, she said.
The Odyssey of the Mind contest was the inspiration of a Glassboro State College professor, Mrs. Fetter said. The goal was to stretch children’s minds and get them to think creatively, she said.
Each year, the Odyssey of the Mind Corp. hands out five different long-term problems, Mrs. Fetter said. Teams can choose from a range of problems, and LIS traditionally chooses one of the two theatrical questions, she said.
The challenge this year was to take one of the legends of King Arthur and Camelot and retell it as it was told in the original version, Mrs. Fetter said. Next, the students must take the same legend and retell it as if King Arthur had never existed.
In the legend that was chosen and acted out by the students, King Arthur is walking through the forest when he is confronted by the Black Knight and challenged to a duel. The king did not have his sword, but the Black Knight agreed to spare his life if he could solve a riddle, Mrs. Fetter said.
What do women want most — that’s the riddle that King Arthur must solve, if he wants the Black Knight to spare him. King Arthur searches high and low, but he cannot find the answer, Mrs. Fetter said.
As King Arthur returns to his castle, he meets the Loathly Lady. She said she will give him the answer — but only if he finds someone to marry her, Mrs. Fetter said. He agrees to her terms, and she provides him with the answer — which is that what women want most is to have their own way.
The knight Gawain, who is King Arthur’s nephew, agrees to marry the Loathly Lady to save King Arthur’s honor, Mrs. Fetter said. Once they are married, the Loathly Lady becomes beautiful because Sir Gawain broke half of the spell.
The Loathly Lady gives Sir Gawain a choice — she can be beautiful by day, or by night. He realizes that it is not his choice to make, because she must live with it. By giving the Loathly Lady her own way, Sir Gawain breaks the rest of the spell and she becomes beautiful all of the time, Mrs. Fetter said.
Turning the legend on its head, the team of seven fourth- and fifth-graders decided to retell the legend as the story of the camel lot — complete with Arthur the Camel and the Lady Camelia.
There is a new hand on the camel lot, and he is smitten by the owner’s daughter, Lady Camelia. She is beautiful on the outside, but ugly on the inside, Mrs. Fetter said. The camel hand asks her to marry him, and she agrees — but only if he can answer the riddle of what women want most.
He tries to find the answer, and accidentally realizes what it is after working with the camels, Mrs. Fetter said. Women, like camels, are stubborn and they want their own way. The camel hand gives Lady Camelia the answer, and she agrees to marry him.
But just then, the Black Camel arrives to steal all of the camels off the lot. The camel hand saves the camels, and Lady Camelia realizes how good he is. She becomes beautiful on the inside, and they live happily ever after, Mrs. Fetter said.
“Their acting was just wonderful. The play has to be created and written by the children. They have to make the props. It must be done in eight minutes or less — from the time they step onto the stage with their costumes and props, until they finish the second skit,” she said.
Students try out for the Odyssey of the Mind team, Mrs. Fetter said. Typically, 25 to 45 students seek one of the handful of slots on the team. Once the team is chosen, its members begin to practice. The team competes against other teams that have chosen the same problem for the statewide title, she said.
The 1999-2000 Odyssey of the Mind team includes Amisha Ahuja, Hannah Bonville, Jeff Budzinski, Parimal Garg, Emily Goodell, Hattie Huston and Kaya Zelazny.