Wagner Ranch Elementary fourth grade students took Second Place in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, May 28 (L-R) Drew Alameda, Gianna Campbell, coach Leslie Volk, Anya Parikh, Connor Volk, Stella Schmitt (front), coach Maggie Wang, Elise Nguyen and Ryan Gibson.
Wagner Ranch Elementary 4th graders (soon to be 5th graders) took Second Place in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals held at Iowa State University, May 28, competing against 35 teams.
This top result came from refining their ideas in Part I: Long Term Problem Solving and Part II: Spontaneous Problem Solving.
The students advanced to the finals after earlier wins this year in San Francisco Bay Regionals and Northern California State competitions. The winning team members are Drew Alameda, Gianna Campbell, Ryan Gibson, Elise Nguyen, Anya Parikh, Stella Schmitt and Connor Volk.
Coaches Leslie Volk and Maggie Wang guided the innovation and spontaneous team problem solving.
This team – who happened to be the youngest competitors – was also the highest placing out of all the competing Northern California teams in the World Finals divisions, ranging from elementary to college level.
Creativity, scene assembly and problem solving is all done by the team, who spent over 100 group work hours since last year October.
Jill Gibson can be reached at editor@theorindanews.com.
