Penn College Students, Staff Assist at State "˜Odyssey' Competition

Pennsylvania College of Technology students from a variety of organizations provided event support April 18 at the Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind state finals, which brought more than 3,000 people to the Williamsport area.

Students from Phi Theta Kappa (Benjamin Bollinger, Katie E. Buhrman, Timothy E. Funk, Matthew S. Hyde, Andrew T. Koskie, Marc E. Nelson, Amie L. Rinier, Ernest M. Ruzicka, Abigail L. Schuler, Elizabeth M. Segraves, Kelly J. Slaterbeck, Kari Jo Snyder and Carol E. Withey), Students in Free Enterprise (Christopher M. DiStasio), Early Educators Club (Aaron P. Kruppenbacher and Kelli-Anne Pidcoe), Wildcats Event Board (Danielle L. Harmon, Megan R. Pennington, John C. Phillipy, Alyse M. Poswiatowsky and Kristen L. Winslow), and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (Michael P. Luckenbill), served as door monitors and score-runners and in souvenir merchandising and other support functions.

Michael J. Hersh, WEB adviser, and Sheila A. Kramer, PTK president, were instrumental in organizing the student volunteers. Timothy A. Miller, a graphic design student, designed the logo for the event. In addition to the student volunteers, the college also supported the event by providing sound and presentation equipment for the awards ceremony, laptops for use in competition scoring, workspace prior to the event for organizers to prepare traffic-control signage, and printing services for the competition program.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Students apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building balsa-wood structures that support 1,000 pounds of weights, to vehicles that have to operate on their own, to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics, to original comedic skits, all on a limited budget and that have to be completed in just eight minutes. The team then brings its solution to competition on the local, state and world levels. Thousands of teams from the United States and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

This year's World Finals will be held at Iowa State University.

Anyone wishing more information about Odyssey of the Mind can visit online . Any Penn College students who might be interested in forming a team for next year's competition can contact Mike Cunningham or Henriette K. Evans . College students comprise Division IV, which competes only at World Finals.

Photos and information provided by Mike Cunningham, chief information officer