Got creativity?

I do.

Of course, all children are born with out-of-the-box thinking ability before public school marks it out with the infamous red pen, however I was privileged to learn about the actual concept of creativity at a very young age: seven years old, to be exact. My creativity was nourished, explored and taken to new heights because of my involvement in a creative problem-solving program called Odyssey of the Mind-- or OM, for short.  The program literally changed. my. life. and it's available right now in your town, though you may not be aware of it. If you are a parent of a student in grades kindergarten through college, a teacher or professor, a college student yourself, or even a citizen who wants to teach children how to stay creative, please, read more about this program.  Out of every extracurricular activity I've participated in (and I participated in a lot of 'em!), OM is the one that has benefited my life the most.

Just what the heck is Odyssey of the Mind, you ask? Here are the basics:

*Each OM team consists of five to seven students. The team can be formed from a church, a home-schooling group, a public school, or even a Girl Scout troop, etc.

*The coach may be a parent, teacher or community volunteer.

*There are three main aspects of competition in which the team is judged: Long Term, Style and Spontaneous.

*Long Term consists of an eight minute skit, created over the months solely by the team according to certain specific parameters called "The Problem".  The team receives The Problem and works on it throughout the year until the Regional Competition, where teams compete to see who has the most creative, yet effective, solution. The winners from Regionals go on to State, and the winner of State goes on to World, where students from all over the globe compete.

Creativity knows no language.

*Style is how well certain aspects of the skit embody the spirit of The Problem, the creativity and quality of the props, costumes, scenery etc., and also the team's stage presence (or "sparkle" as I prefer to call it), among other things.

*Spontaneous is a task the team is presented with on the day of competition. It showcases their ability to think creatively on the spot. The spontaneous problem could be anything from "name things that are red", to "make the tallest structure you can out of this bag of marshmallows and toothpicks". The students are given points based on the creativity of their answers, so of course "newspaper" and "a mind" would be more creative answers to that particular question than, say, "an apple".  You get the picture.

*The most important and unique rule about OM is that each idea, each stroke of paint on the scenery, each stitch (or squirt of hot glue, as was the case with my team last year!) in a costume must be the work of someone on the team. Coaches, parents, siblings nor friends may give ideas or help in any way, as this is considered "outside assistance" and the team is penalized for it.

So what is the object of Odyssey of the Mind? To bring the mind to new creative heights. To build bonds that will last a lifetime. To have fun. To build teamwork. To improve self esteem. To explore one's unique talents and see value in the unique talents of others.

Odyssey of the Mind has been a part of my life for 19 years now, and during that time, I've been the student on the team, the community volunteer at competition, the parent of a child on a team as well as the head coach. Check back tomorrow for a post about my personal experience with this life-changing program. 

I just couldn't let another school year go by without spreading the word about the positive impact that OM has had on my life. It's free for the children who participate in it and it's an experience they'll cherish for the rest of their life. I know I do.

Feel free to visit the Odyssey of the Mind website [here] for more information.  There's a video to watch...but beware, the beginning is cheesy and looks like it's from the 1980's.  I promise, it gets better after the opening sequence!  If you're interested in coaching a team yourself, feel free to email me directly; I'd love to talk to you in detail about it and/or answer any questions you have.

(I have no association with the Odyssey of the Mind organization or Creative Competitions, Inc other than volunteering my time as a coach and receive nothing in exchange for this post or for volunteers whom I recruit. It's just a program that is near and dear to my heart!)

Comments

[Davinie]

I'm happy to see they still do this! I was part of OM in Middle School and loved every minute! Love balsa wood and skits mixed together! :)

[Elsa Velez]

This post brought back so many wonderful memories! My oldest did OM in team activity experience as parents. It taught us the importance of involvement in our kids' school activities. Now that the last one is a Sophomore in college, I was wondering if we could be coaches for OM without having a child on a team? If so, how would I go about finding a school that might have a need for such parental support? Again, thanks for the great blog.