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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Weston, FL, United States, 02/16/2009 - Sagemont fourth and fifth grade students have been busy preparing for an upcoming event called Odyssey of the Mind. This program provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.
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The main mission is for children to have an arena to express their creativity and to learn to work with their peers as a team. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level.
Sagemont Enrichment teacher and Odyssey coach, Doris Quintero says, “Odyssey of the Mind is truly a creative experience for kids. Watching the children interact, delegate, create, and have fun while learning valuable life skills is why I commit to coaching them. The biggest challenge I face is stepping back and letting them prepare the entire program for the competition.” Kids are rewarded for how they apply their creativity, knowledge, skills, and talents. Teams are coached and supervised by adults, but cannot accept help, ideas, solutions from an adult or anyone outside of their team. Students first examine the five problems' synopses that are released by Odyssey in the fall. These are called the Long term Problems. They get together as teams by choosing the problem they want to solve. Then the teams work together by brainstorming different ways to solve the problem. Once they agree on the solution, the teams start creating a skit that contains all of the required elements such as props, scene changes, costumes, mechanics, all within an eight minute time frame and with no adult help. Another component of the competition the teams prepare for is the Spontaneous Problems. These are short-term problems that are not known or solved ahead of time. These problems must be solved in approximately three minutes at the competition.
There are three problem themes that the Sagemont students have been preparing to solve. The first is Teach Yer Creature where this team will create a humorous performance about a mechanical creature that acts like a real mammal or bird and learns lessons. The second problem is called The Lost Labor of Heracles. The children on this team will create and present an original performance about the ancient Greek hero Heracles and the team’s made up version of a "lost labor." The last team is working on the problem called Superstition. This team will have to create and present a performance that includes two documented superstitions, an original superstition created by the team, and the events that caused the original superstition to come to be.
This will be Sagemont’s 2nd year at the competition. Last year’s teams placed 3rd and 5th in their division. In their first year, Sagemont had an Omer winner which is a prestigious award given to a student who exhibits the spirit of the competition and team by providing encouragement, praise and enthusiasm to their teammates and other teams. Fourth grader Jacob Baldauf says, “Odyssey is a great experience because it really gets your mind going. The program is a challenge for your brain and is a wonderful way to meet new people through teamwork.”
Joann Laskin/Lower Campus Principal/954-384-5454
Doris Quintero/Lower Campus Enrichment Teacher/954-384-5454
The Sagemont School operates two campuses in Weston. The Lower School Campus serves students in PreK3- Grade 5; the Upper School Campus serves Grade 6 through 12. The faculty and staff at The Sagemont School are dedicated to parent-teacher relationships in a high-tech learning environment. With multiple computers in each classroom, and small class size, children are learning the skills they will need to be successful both in school and later in life.
For more information on The Sagemont School contact Dr. Brent Goldman, President, or email bgoldman[.]sagemont.com.
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mackermann[.]sagemont.com 
