Attica fifth graders Caden Morrison, Claira Deuel, Erin Murphy and Amara Brinkman were shining stars at the Region 15 Odyssey of the Mind Regional Competition Saturday at Mount Morris.
Starting in October, the four teammates along with Selena Barrios, who was unable to attend Saturday's competition, have been meeting to come up with a solution to their chosen, long-term problem, which tasked teams with creating a performance about a touring rock band that is suddenly transported to an unexpected location in the middle of a song. The band members must figure out how to use music to get them back on their tour.
To meet this prompt, our fifth graders wrote two songs and a skit, designed instruments, scenery, band merchandise and created costumes, hairstyles and makeup that tied everything together.
They also practiced scenarios for the spontaneous portion of the competition (as much as they could for something that they would have no prior knowledge of).
All those months of hard work paid off Saturday in Mount Morris as our team earned a near-perfect score of 347 out of 350. With the score, our team earned the Problem 5 Division I title and qualified for the New York State Finals in Syracuse April 13.
“This team gave up countless lunches, advisements and study halls and stayed after school several times per week, including some Fridays and one Saturday,” said Odyssey Coach Stacey Donahue. “They worked at home every night to memorize lines and lyrics and put their singing voices to work. I’m so proud of what they’ve achieved and can’t wait for them to show what they can do at state finals!"