Local Students Take Top Honors in International Creativity Contest

Local Students Take Top Honors in International Creativity Competition

Paul Duke STEM HS Odyssey of the Mind team beat out much of the competition at the World Finals in Iowa.

Agroup of seven talented and determined young ladies from Peachtree Corners returned home triumphant after setting off in late May to conquer the world in a competition that requires creativity, wit, spontaneity and a whole lot of courage.

The Paul Duke STEM High School Odyssey of the Mind team recently took second place overall in their division in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. They came in first place for their long performance skit.

“Being at World Finals was an incredible experience. Since we were competing at the high school level with such a young team (six freshmen and one 7th grader), our goal was to try and place in the top 10, which we knew would be a feat,” said Coach Lisa Dommert. “Placing second overall and first in the skit was amazing!”

Although she presented this as a “fun fact,” Coach Dommert said the Paul Duke team received the highest score for skit amongst all problems / divisions at World Finals since Odyssey first started publishing scores in 2006. The girls scored 194 out of a possible 200.

These students competed against youth from as far away as Europe and South America. This was the fifth year in a row for the team By Arlinda Smith Broady Photos by George Hunter

Left, the Paul Duke STEM HS Odyssey of the Mind team on stage taking their trophy from this year’s finals. (Photo courtesy of the team) Above, Top row: Emma Betteridge, 14, freshman at Paul Duke, Sophia Dommert, 13, 7-grader at Pinckneyville MS, Molly Ellner, 14, freshman at Norcross HS, Claire Ott, 15, freshman at Paul Duke, Elisa Banks, 14, freshman at Paul Duke. Bottom row: Addie Ebert, 15, freshman at Paul Duke and Kyle Dommert, 15, freshman at Norcross High. (Photo courtesy of the team)

comprised of six high school freshmen who attend Paul Duke and Norcross High School and one middle schooler from Pinckneyville Middle School.

Five of the seven members of this team have been to Odyssey of the Mind World Finals four times before. Each one competed on Pinckneyville Middle’s team for the last three years, which won fourth place in 2019 and first place in 2020 as well as first place in the World Finals Virtual and In-person competition. Five of the members won first place in 2018 on the team from Simpson Elementary. The Odyssey of the Mind program

The Odyssey of the Mind World Finals is the pinnacle of a decades-old program that teaches youngsters to use creative problem-solving activities that require knowledge along with their imagination to build, fix and create what might have been unimaginable. Odyssey of the Mind was founded in 1978 to foster original and divergent thinking.

Through the Odyssey of the Mind program, organizers promote creativity by challenging teams to solve problems with more than one solution, according to its program guide. By working as one unit, participants learn teamwork, the appreciation and understanding of others and that a group is a more powerful thinking force than an individual.

The guide went on to add that the students develop a sense of self-respect and respect for others through preparatory activities such as brainstorming and role-playing. Many of the most successful teams are those with participants with a wide difference in interests such as dance and sports, math and poetry, etc.

The competition has three divisions for K-12 students that break down by age, but are generally elementary, middle and high school. And within the divisions there are five different types of “problems”

Reactions to this year’s competition from team members

“My favorite moment of the competition was watching the girls’ faces when they received a standing ovation for their performance. We were told by other coaches and spectators that it was one of the best skits they have ever seen.” — Coach Lisa Dommert

“I love how Odyssey of the Mind has allowed me to compete with and meet other people from all over the globe, make new friends and learn how all of our hard work has paid off.” — Kylie Dommert

“Odyssey has given me a chance to express myself in a new way and grow life skills, better character and true friendships.” — Molly Ellner

“Being in Odyssey of the Mind has taught me so many skills that I will need in life, including problem-solving, teamwork and being able to work under pressure. I am also very grateful for the valuable friendships that I have made in Odyssey that will last a lifetime.” — Elisa Banks

“Through Odyssey, I not only learned hard skills like construction and design, but also soft skills like collaboration and creative problem-solving.” — Addie Ebert

“Odyssey of the Mind has given me the opportunity to be creative in different ways and learn many important skills such as teamwork and quick problem-solving.” — Claire Ott

“Odyssey has helped me meet so many new people and get closer to my teammates. I have learned so many new skills and have had so much fun. Getting a standing ovation this year was so amazing and is something I will never forget.” — Sophia Dommert

“Odyssey has given me new ways to express myself creatively. By working together building sets and figuring out problems, I have learned problem-solving skills and how to work with a team to achieve great things.” — Emma Betteridge

for students to tackle.

The Peachtree Corners kids always focus on Problem 5 – Performance, where scoring is based mostly on the performance and elements within the performance. It sometimes requires a specific character, sometimes humor, sometimes an original story, but it’s always supposed to be fun.

Creativity within a budget

Although the costumes and props may look like they cost a lot to construct, the team can’t spend more than $150 for all the materials. “You have to keep it within that limit,” said Coach Dommert. “A lot of times they try to build something and it doesn’t work, so they don’t have to expense that. But we are required to submit receipts.”

Along with thriftiness and ingenuity, the teams are encouraged to think about environmentalism. “Luckily, most of our stuff is recyclable. The PVC pipe was reused from last year, instead of throwing in the dumpster. We just took it back home and we’re able to reuse it,” she added.

She pointed out that one of the elaborately designed costumes could have rivaled an “unconventional materials” challenge on the popular TV competition, Project Runway. “I think this outfit might have cost $3,” said Coach Dommert. “I’m really proud of this team that

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Before they headed off to the World Finals, the team explained to Peachtree Corners Magazine how they came up with their award-winning concept.

“Our problem is a girl is in a regular world and then suddenly, she wakes up in the circus world,” said Kylie Dommert. “We didn’t want to do a normal circus because that’s what a lot of other teams would do. We wanted to do something original and creative.”

After a lot of brainstorming the girls decided on a Cirque du Soleiltype theme with a lot of word play. The main character is named Sir Gus.

“The way we are scored is based on our performance, the originality of the performance, the overall creativity and then our tricks and style elements,” said Emma Betteridge.

That’s one of the cool things about the Performance Problem. But the other areas have cool factors as well. “Other teams are scored on things like how much weight they can hold, if it’s a structure problem,” said Molly Ellner.

Plans to build on success

Coach Dommert has seen the girls grow in so many ways that she’d love to see more schools get involved. And it’s possible for Paul Duke to have more than one Odyssey of the Mind team.

“We would love to start building that because it really starts at the elementary school level,” she said. “It’s hard to get formed at a lot of schools because many have coaches that are also teachers.”

After a full day at school, it’s not easy to devote weekends and

afterschool hours for just about the entire school year. The teams will get the problems for next year this summer and start the process all over again.

Although the materials are lowcost and creativity is free, registration, transportation to tournaments and lodging for events can run into the thousands of dollars. The team created a GoFundMe page to raise money to get to this year’s finals.

“I am so amazed by what these girls accomplished, not only this year but for the last six years. They work beautifully together and strive to set the bar higher every year. I am honored to work with such a talented group of young women made up of scholars, artists, musicians and athletes,” said Coach Dommert. “Every year they make me laugh, cry, and go a little crazy. That is the life of an Odyssey coach, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Learn more about the Paul Duke STEM High School Odyssey of the Mind team at performance-pc. info. ■

Visit our website for a full photo gallery of the team and this year’s problem for Performance Teams Life is a Circus!

Odyssey of the Mind Results for Local Team

2022: 1st in Georgia, 2nd in World 2021: 1st in Georgia, 1st in World (virtual), 1st in World (in-person) 2020: 1st in Georgia, 1st in World 2019: 1st in Georgia, 4th in World 2018: 1st in Georgia, 1st in World

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