THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020245
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER C. O'DONNELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Six fifth-graders and one third-grader from Crestwood Intermediate School competed with some of the keenest minds in their age group last week in the World Finals of the Odyssey of the Mind Competition.
Fifty-nine schools from across the country and from Canada, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Poland and Australia gathered in Knoxville, Tenn., to test their problem-solving abilities.
The competition involved solving both short- and long-term problems. In addition, students were evaluated on creativity and style in solving the problems.
The Crestwood team made up by Meghan White, Carleta Ricks, Shari Schaefer, Michelle Crawford, Liza Baer, Nickesha Neal and Sara Quesinberry, placed fifth overall and won first place in the long-range problem-solving competition, which involved creating an eight-minute vaudeville act with a message.
``They were required to emphasize a positive aspect of society,'' said Edna Faulk, principal of the school. After much thought, the students chose recycling as their theme.
In order to qualify for the competition, the students had to adhere to certain rules. The vaudeville act could be no longer than eight minutes, including set-up time. The students could not spend more than $80 on their props and costumes, which all had to fit into two large suitcases. In addition, the presentation had to be authentic vaudeville.
``We found out that some of the ideas we had were not vaudeville at all,'' said Faulk. ``Some were more in tune with Broadway. That meant the students had to rework the ideas or come up with new ones.''
The project touched not only on problem-solving but research as well. In order to find out what the vaudeville era was like, the students watched old movies and researched the era at the library. One youngster pulled information off an on-line computer service.
The Crestwood team had to jump several hurdles before they were allowed to compete in the World Finals. The team competed last March against 13 teams from other Hampton Roads schools. They won, then moved to the state finals last April and won again defeating 140 schools from throughout the state.
The Odyssey of the Mind competition was a time-consuming project for the students. They began working on their vaudeville act last September and with the help of fifth-grade teachers Dawn Shropshire and Dana Beasley, they met three to five days a week and on Saturday to perfect their act.
The effort paid off. The students, decked out in top hats and hand-made costumes, wowed the judges with their soft shoe dance, comedy routines and singing. In keeping with their recycling theme, the students re-wrote the lyrics to famous blues songs to touch upon the importance of recycling water, plastic, metal and even cow manure.
``It was a real effort for all of them,'' said Faulk. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Students in the Odyssey of the Mind were, from left in the back row:
Nickesha Neal, Michelle Crawford, Carletta Ricks and Liza Baer;
front: Meghan White, Sara Quesinberry and Shari Schaefer.
by CNB