By Amy Batista, Special Writer
CRANBURY – Three teams of Cranbury School students – two fifth-grade teams and one sixth-grade team – are advancing to the “Odyssey of the Mind” state competition.
Fifty Cranbury students representing eight teams, ranging in age from kindergarten to sixth grade, participated in a tournament March 12 at Woodstown High School for the opportunity to advance to the state competition on April 9.
.“For such a small school to have such a big representation at this event, I think that’s great,” said Chief School Administrator and Principal Dr. Susan Genco during the school’s board meeting on March 15.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then take their solutions to competition on the local, state and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program, according to its website.
Cranbury School board member Pramod Chivate said that the school’s students completed a clean sweep in the primary category.
“We participated in the elementary and middle school categories, from which three teams went to the states,” he said. “In each category, they picked three teams. Cranbury won three spots.”
Mr. Chivate said this was the first year that all the three teams that participated were from Cranbury. He added that some of the other teams that won had 13 to 14 teams competing.
Dr. Genco said that fifth-graders Abby Diamond, Nimala Sivakumar, Avery Gordon, Rohun Chivate, Connor Stewart, Armaan Ahmed, and Askhay Patel won second place for their problem “Shark Attack.”
She said that fifth-graders Julia Tharney, Tessa Katz, Haylee Resnick, Keira Hughes, Aislin O’Dell, and Gianna DiGiocchino won third place for their problem “Furs, Fins, Feathers and Friends.”
Sixth graders Teddy Brendel, Kallie Kunukkaseril, Chris Consoli, Jack Liggio, Saahil Lathi, Karen Qiu, and Angela Gu won first place for their problem “Something Fishy.”
“I really want to congratulate Mrs. (Christine) DeJesus and Mrs. (Vanessa) Dawson for their leadership as well as the parent team coaches,” said Dr. Genco. “They all just worked so hard to get the students ready.”
Mrs. DeJesus is a fourth-grade teacher and Mrs. Dawson is a first-grade teacher as well as being the Odyssey of the Mind co-coordinators.
Dr. Genco thanked the board for supporting a program that has grown over the past five years.
“That’s the best news of all, that the little ones were able to perform in that way,” she said.
