Home Contra Costa County 7 BUSD Odyssey of the Mind Teams Qualify for World Finals at Iowa State University

7 BUSD Odyssey of the Mind Teams Qualify for World Finals at Iowa State University

Press Release

by ECT

“What is Odyssey of the Mind?” It is a place where knowledge, creativity, imagination and ingenuity come crashing together to allow one-of-a-kind solutions that only can be created by students at a given moment in time.  Odyssey is a combination of theater and problem solving which needs the use of both sides of the brain to solve and present.

Students of all ages, kinder through college, write original scripts, creation costumes, props, scenery, and technical elements.  Teams of students work together to produce incredible solutions to creative problems while thinking “Beyond the Box!” Students with talents in many areas find a unique opportunity to showcase their gifts in engineering, script writing, physics, costume creation, math, music, dance, visual arts, construction, problem solving, leadership, critical thinking, and more!

Brentwood Union School District has a long history of having elementary and middle school students create teams to participate in Odyssey of the Mind tournaments.  BUSD recently had 8 teams compete at Odyssey of the Mind’s NorCal State Tournament on March 26, 2022.  Seven of those teams have earned their way to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University from May 25th to May 28th.  These students have worked tirelessly since October creating a solution to a complex problem.  Their teamwork, dedication, and creative thinking resulted in placing at the Delta Regional Tournament of Odyssey of the Mind in late February.  They then followed that up with placing in the NorCal State Tournament on March 26th against sixty-seven other teams all across the state of California!

At Iowa State, the team will compete against close to 100 teams from all around the world.  The competition emphasizes creativity and teamwork and has grown into the largest international creative problem-solving competition worldwide.  While the competition is fierce, there is also a feeling of camaraderie among competitors. Many students form life-long friendships that span the U.S. and the globe. At World Finals, teams have the chance to learn about other cultures through a common goal . . . to be as creative as they can!

Help Our Students get to the World Finals:

An Odyssey of the Mind team consists of approximately six students and 1-2 coaches.  Expenses include airfare, registration, transportation of competition materials to the University, lodging and food.  So net- we are looking at a total cost for the trip to be around $15,000.00 for the teams to take part in this incredible opportunity that they worked so hard to earn.

Any help you can provide in the way of a tax-deductible donation to the Brentwood Union School District would be greatly appreciated.  If interested in donating, please contact Andrea Zeigler at 925-513-6331 for a donation letter which includes our Tax I.D.  Checks should be made payable to BUSD (Brentwood Union School District) and can be mailed to the following address:

Brentwood Union School District
Attn: Andrea Zeigler
255 Guthrie Lane
Brentwood, CA 94513

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