Elizabeth Ave Creative Kids to Compete in Odyssey of the Mind 2006 State Finals – April 8^th

For the second year in a row, an Elizabeth Ave School team will compete for the chance to make it to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at the University of Iowa in May. But first, they must place 1^st or 2^nd at the New Jersey State Finals at Fisher Middle School in Ewing Township on April 8^th.

They finished 3^rd in the State Qualifying Tournament and will compete for the top two positions in their category that will represent New Jersey at Worlds,

Teams will come from throughout the US and about 20 other countries with the same goal: to earn the title of World Champions of creative problem solving in their problem category

The Elizabeth Ave teams of 4th graders are Suborna Panja, Jaime Bowman, Michelle Kwong, Ashish Murthy, Sean Gillespie and Thomas Burrell.

The coaches are Sharon Burrell and Denise Graff. Mrs. Gloria Harzold, principal of EAS is the team advisor. Last year, these same kids made it to the World Finals in Colorado one of the youngest team representing their State (3rd graders).

The Division 1 team (grades 3 thru grade 5) of no more than seven students solved the long-term problems “Ancient Egypt” (team created a performance that includes a King and two Queens that existed within a certain time period. Performance includes at least five artifacts from Ancient Egypt, a plot twist and the description of the construction of a step pyramids all taking place in an Egyptian Palace. They have 8 minutes to complete their long term solution. The team had to make all items used in their solution including all of the artifacts and palace scenery. The team score is made up of the long term solution, a style component and a separate component on Spontaneous Thinking.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem-solving program for students from K-college. Founded in

1978, it is the largest creative problem-solving competition in the world. Learn more at odysseyofthemind.com.

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