Local teams take 'Center Stage' at OM competition

By Rose Hooper

Fairview students Colleen Davis, Brittany Haskett, Molly Gehring, Gloria Bui, Aaron Young and Starlyn Matheny delved into the eighth century for the solution to their modern-day problem.

The solution netted this team second place in the Center Stage problem of the George Schunke Western Region Odyssey of the Mind Tournament held March 23 at Western Carolina University.

Smoky Mountain High School students also took second place in the high school division of that same problem.

About 700 students from more than 50 Western North Carolina schools and one South Carolina school gathered for the March 23 tournament.

Odyssey of the Mind is a national competition among teams of students, generally five to seven, who are given a long-term problem to solve, usually involving numerous technical and creative aspects that require ingenuity, talent and teamwork in a myriad of areas.

The Center Stage problem asked students to create and present an original stage performance based on a written work selected from a list of classical writings.

The recent movie "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou" inspired the Fairview team. The movie, starring George Clooney, was inspired by the Greek poet Homer's epic "The Odyssey."

So, fittingly, the Fairview team used "The Odyssey" to win at the Odyssey of the Mind Tournament.

The value of the classics, point out AIG teachers Terri Hollifield and Richelle Sampl, is their timelessness... and how they pop up ­ however disguised - in modern-day artistic forms, including movies like "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" or popular musicals like "Cats," based on a book of poems by T.S. Eliot, and "Man of La Manca," based on Cervantes' "Don Quixote."

"OM gets the students reading; my elementary students were reading Homer," said Hollifield.

Sampl's high school students re-read two works of classic literature, "Rip Van Winkle" and "Pandora's Box" for their presentation called "Rip-off." Dubbing themselves the "Chronical Cerebrals," SMHS students Scott Persons, Heather Wilkes, Rebecca Madill, Stanton Kidd, Keri Upson and Kari Wilson set their mini-musical skit in the 1960s. A lazy Rip, who just received his draft notice, decides he is not going to serve. But when he dozes off, his military ancestors appear in a dream, putting a guilt trip on him. When he wakes up, it's 1984.

For their Pandora's Box the Chronical Cerebrals used a television set; the Fairview team's box of trouble turned out to be "veggies" instead of the chocolate they craved.

"My students were so bright, so creative in their problem solving," said Sampl. "When they had to devise a set that changed scenes, they used mini-blinds that reflected different backgrounds, depending on which way you pulled the cord."

As their teacher, Sampl said she had to maintain a "hands-off approach."

"I could guide them, but I couldn't direct. I could say to them, 'Does anybody see anything that could be improved on the set?' but the students had to come up with their own solutions. The OM experience helped teach them to be self-evaluators," Sampl said.

The experience also "weed-out" those who weren't truly dedicated, both teachers discovered.

"Back in September I opened up the competition for every child. Several students came but dropped out when it wasn't their niche or it involved more time than they were willing to give," said Hollifeld, who ended up with six highly-inventive problem-solving girls.

The "coming together" of the high school students was equally challenging, said Sampl, who was assisted by co-coach Debbie Madill.

"All of the students are strong, opinionated individuals. But the more they worked and practiced together ­ all after school hours ­ the more they grew as a team. Then on the day of competition, magic happened ­ it all fell in place," said Sampl, who said she felt the judges had picked up on the team's camaraderie.

Following their local wins, both teams will travel to Wingate College in Monroe April 13 to compete at the state level.

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