Westhampton Beach Elementary Students Solve Problems, Take Top Honors At Regional Competition

Donning aprons and while balancing faux ice cream sundaes on a tray, Westhampton Beach Elementary School students Emma Mignone, 10, and Lilly Moeller, 11, spent part of their lunch break one recent Tuesday afternoon pacing back and forth in the school gymnasium, pretending to be waitresses at a fake sweets shop.Behind them, four of their classmates—Zachary Bennett, 10, Lily Jackey, 10, Carter Padavan, 10, and Delaney Variale, 11—carefully ran through their respective lines about their ongoing quest to “catch” the perfect chocolate chip for their ice cream, while a mystery box that they would later discover suddenly makes it “rain marshmallows.”

The team, which also includes 11-year-old Evelyn Reynoso, is one of two squads representing the district that took top honors in the recent regional Odyssey of the Minds competition—an international contest where teams of young students work for months to come up with creative solutions to problems. They must then present their solutions by performing an original skit.

“My team worked on ‘Something Fishy,’” explained Lily, noting the name of the problem that her team solved. “You have to catch three different items—something expected, unexpected and a new discovery—then there has to be a change of weather. We had to work together a lot and think outside of the box.”

As part of their routine, team members must catch an ice cream cone, a chocolate chip and, finally, a mystery box that ultimately makes it rain marshmallows. Their lesson was to show others the importance of working together to accomplish a “fishing” task.

The second team, which includes fellow Westhampton Beach Elementary students Kristina Cavaliere, 10, Caroline Eliot, 10, Delaney Fay, 11, Emily Galovic, 11, Alexandra Garcia, 10, Jack Kelly, 11, and Ethan Vogt, 11, also took first place for their theatrical interpretation of a problem dubbed, “No Cycle, Recycle.” To solve their problem, students also had to catch three items—in their case, a piece of driftwood, a net and assorted bottles—and use the materials to perform a random act of kindness. The students, who have been working on the problem since November, ultimately decided to refurbish their captured objects to help an injured sea turtle.

The teams performed their skits in the event’s regional competition on March 12, held at the Board of Cooperative Educational Services building in Wantagh, where both took first place for solving their respective problems. Roughly 20 teams competed in the event, according to Alaina Maggio, the school psychologist and teacher adviser for the “Something Fishy” group. With their wins, both teams punched their ticket to the state competition, held this past Saturday in Binghamton.

“Once you start performing, you’re not nervous anymore,” Jack said of his squad’s winning performance. “You just forget all about it.”

As part of the competition, students are also presented with a random problem that they must immediately solve to demonstrate their ability to work together as a team, according Ms. Maggio.

The purpose of the competition, according to Jennifer Veale, a spokesperson from Odyssey of the Mind, is to foster creative problem-solving methods by combining different academic subjects.

“The competition will teach kids to come up with a new solution to problems using creativity,” she said. “It teaches them how to work in teams.”

The students, who had already presented their skits to all of the grades in the elementary school, traveled to Binghamton University for the state competition, which featured approximately 209 teams from 21 regions. Though both put on strong performances, neither of Westhampton Beach’s teams will be advancing to the world competition scheduled for later this year in Iowa, according to Westhampton Beach Elementary School Principal Lisa Slover.

While practicing last week for states, the students said they had a lot of fun competing in the regional competition, and were happy they had done so well. While they were hoping to take first at states, they were just excited to be able to participate.

They noted that their training for the competition included a lot of trial and error, explaining that they often had to build and test things, like the props showcased in their skits, to make sure they would work.

“We tried a lot of new things,” Delaney said.

Her teammate, Emma, agreed, saying there was a learning curve for finding the right combination for their project.

“We had to learn to catch a lot of things,” she said. “We used magnets and had to make sure the negatives and positive sides attract, then we had to get it on giant poles to try and grab the stuff.”

For Ethan, he said one of his favorite parts of the program, which the district only opens to fifth-graders and requires a rigorous audition process, was performing the skit in front of his peers at the elementary school.

“We were nervous before but when we started it, we felt good about it and our team,” he said. “I really liked doing it for our other grades.”

On Monday night, Schools Superintendent Michael Radday announced that the students had competed admirably and that they made the district proud, adding that the Board of Education plans to invite them to perform at an upcoming board meeting.

“They competed and they competed well,” Mr. Radday said. “They had a great time.”