SBISD College and School Teams Compete at Odyssey World Finals

A founder of the district’s popular student Odyssey of the Mind program and five Spring Branch ISD graduates brought home a first-place trophy this summer from the 2014 College Level (Division 4) Odyssey of the Mind World Finals.

Iris Story, who is SBISD Council of PTAs creativity chair, had the chance to practice what she preaches at the college-level World Finals held on May 28 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. More than 836 teams attended the finals.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international program that provides students in kindergarten through college the opportunity to solve problems through applied creativity and interpretation.

Having coached more than 50 teams and coordinated Odyssey of the Mind in SBISD since 1995, Story decided to return to college and qualified to compete at the college level in Odyssey earlier this year.

Her University of Houston team consisted of five other SBISD graduates and former students; Cheire Plouff, Gabe Perez, Addison Story, Cameron Perry and Mason Story, all of whom attended Spring Woods High School.

As an Odyssey coach, Story wasn’t able to provide outside assistance to the many teams she has led. This opportunity however, allowed her to speak up, build, sew, act and create with the student team unlike before; she regarded it as “a wonderful experience.”

At the World competition, the UH team created a comical, circus-themed musical to address “Seeing is Believing,” one of several “problems” that student teams are asked to solve. 

The UH team placed first, and was followed by Penn State University, University of Delaware, Northern Kentucky University, San Antonio College and Michigan State University, in consecutive order.

In separate but related news, four SBISD student teams also competed at the World Finals competition. They included Cornerstone Academy, Westchester Academy for International Studies, Spring Oaks Middle School, and Spring Woods High School. 

The teams placed as follows:

•  Cornerstone Academy (Division II) – 33^rd in Problem One, “Driver’s Test"
•  Spring Oaks Middle School (Division II) – 38^th in Problem Four, “The Stackable Structure”
• Spring Woods High School (Division III) – 19^th in Problem Five, “Seeing is Believing”
• Westchester Academy for International Studies (Division III) – 20^th in Problem Four, “The          Stackable Structure”

Communications Dept. Intern, Kali Venable complied this report.