Annah Rothe, a kindergarten student at Turner Primary School, appears happy that volunteer official John Randall has called Rothe’s Odyssey of the Mind team into the staging area during the event’s primary tournament at Auburn Middle School on Saturday. Rothe and her six teammates performed a skit that involved secret agents and criminals while trying to solve the problem “Movin’ Out.” Lee Wise coached the team, which was comprised mostly of students from Leeds Central School. “I was going to volunteer, but they needed a coach,” Wise said. “At first, I was a little nervous, but I really enjoyed it.” Twenty-two teams registered for the tournament, said Maine Odyssey of the Mind board member Carl Bucciantini. Teams did not compete for points or placement while being judged for their creative problem-solving skills, Bucciantini said. “They all get feedback, so everyone wins,” he said.
Thomas Lachapelle, 7, sets up a circus tightrope during the East Auburn Community School Odyssey of the Mind at Auburn Middle School on Saturday. Lachapelle’s team skit was about a family of rabbits that move to the circus after discovering that one of the bunnies has a hidden talent of eating a lot of carrots. Pictured with Lachapelle are, from left, Molly Tardy, Cooper Blair and Clover Pross.
Jackson Moize, 5, walks into the staging room before his Leeds Central School’s Odyssey of the Mind performance at Auburn Middle School on Saturday. The kindergarten student is dressed as a robot for his team’s problem-solving skit that involves criminals and secret agents.
Autumn Wise, 6, listens as her mother and coach, Lee Wise, talks to the Leeds Central School Odyssey of the Mind team at Auburn Middle School on Saturday. Autumn Wise is a first-grade student.
Autumn Wise, 6, turns her Leeds Central School Odyssey of the Mind team paperwork into volunteer official John Randall during the event’s primary tournament at Auburn Middle School on Saturday. Students are responsible for just about everything involving Odyssey of the Mind tournaments, including handing in the necessary paperwork. Randall, of North Berwick, has volunteered with Odyssey of the Mind for 25 years. Two of his grandchildren are performing in the event, another grandchild is his assistant and a son and daughter are Odyssey of the Mind coaches.
East Auburn Community School Odyssey of the Mind team coach Heidi Lachapelle helps Cooper Blair find lost carrots while getting ready in the staging room at Auburn Middle School on Saturday.
Volunteer staging judge Terri Jackson of Windham lets the East Auburn Community School Odyssey of the Mind team know it’s time to take the stage. “Three years with the program and I am hooked for life,” Jackson said of her time spent with the Odyssey of the Mind program.
Student volunteer Emily Farrington, left, escorts the Odyssey of the Mind mascot, Omer, around Auburn Middle School on Saturday. Farrington, a freshman at Edward Little High School, is a member of the high school Odyssey of the Mind team, which will compete at the state meet in Biddeford on April 1.
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