Odyssey
Adding glitter to the petrifying statue!
Sera has found the perfect activity, Odyssey of the Mind! Eric took her to the information session in the fall, and she loved finding creative solutions to the spontaneous problem example they gave! I went to the coach training, although I was very skeptical about being the coach for this… parents and adults can’t help AT ALL! It’s so hard! I have to hide in the closet a lot because what they are doing is SO MUCH FUN! In addition to the spontaneous problem they do a long problem each year. They chose the Classics problem: The Walls of Troy. So they had to create their own skit and come up with a solution to a problem rooted in the Trojan Horse, overcoming an obstacle, the wall, and create props, and sets with a limited budget as well. SO cool. It was a steep learning curve, it took them a couple months to settle on a theme and a script. They decided to use a “Trojazon Box” essentially a big Amazon box that they labeled “Priceless” to get into a rich art thief’s house. They used a giant TV box as the set, and Karsten made a pvc base to hold it up. Sera created a Medusa statue, which was the stolen artifact the main character wanted to retrieve. She worked so hard creating that statue. One side was a mannequin head painted grey glued to a large circular gold shield, with finger knitted snakes as hair. The other side of the shield had a terrifying carved head with red eyes. She hacked that side out of styrofoam, and gleefully left bits of styrofoam everywhere that she and Ella cleaned up as the “Professional Murder Cleanup Crew.” There was a jingle. ;) Also many jokes about Ohio that I don’t understand despite being told there’s a meme. Sera really took ownership of the statue, and after Regionals she added glitter to the eyes, and a flashing light to make it more animated. They still didn’t get points for an animated statue though, so she added a moving mouth and finally achieved animation! It was wonderful to see her work so hard and really challenge her creativity. She also made her own costume for Athena, the character they chose to include from the Illiad. She was a great Athena, very annoyed at the antics of the mortals, and she added connections to mythology by including Athena’s shield, the aegis, into the statue, and implying that the main bad guy in their skit was probably related to Paris. It was awesome! They got third place at Regionals, and then worked really hard to fix all the penalties they got, mostly by going over time. They simplified their prop and set process, and they knew that when the judge says Time Begins they really had to get moving. At State they improved so much they won second place, which qualified them for Worlds! Their scores at spontaneous both times got them maximum points. They definitely love spontaneous problems!
The “Priceless” box. They created a Trojazon logo after Regionals, so I got to teach some intro Photoshop skills!
Anders is a great cartoonist, and drew this self-portrait for the rich guys house. Karsten wore the TV, and it became one of their style points. The final version Nitya and Teagan painted over the cardboard and it became much more polished! I panicked a little internally, thinking they painted over Anders original tv drawing, but he drew it again and it looked so much better.
Everyone involved with this organization is wonderful. They all make it so fun and impactful for the kids. I love the encouraging sticky notes the judges give, and they question the kids so carefully after so they can really explain all their hard work! I love seeing the kids shine!
I volunteered my van to hold all the props. Since the kids made everything at my house using my vast supply of tools, craft materials, and cardboard, it made sense. They could test to make sure it fit, which is a very important consideration! I love that they have to figure out the logistics themselves. And Sera was very willing to tetris the props.
Sera SHINES when she gets to act!
The trophy!
These kids are so great, and I love my fellow coaches too! It’s been such a wonderful experience!
