inspiration, exhilaration, exhaustion (or how I spent my Saturday)
Those of you who teach know how many creative kids are out there. I spent Saturday surrounded by about 650 excited students in grades K-12, not to mention their friends, families, teachers and coaches, at Vermont's Odyssey of the Mind contest, (102 teams, approximately 7 members per team, minus a few teams who dropped out).
That's me in the orange shirt. Yeah, I know, I'm not grinning like everyone else, but that's only because it was the end of the day and I'm the Head Judge (hence the orange shirt). Believe me, I had just as much fun as the rest of my judging team. We got to see almost a dozen teams perform their version of the "Lost Labor of Heracles." Some of them were cute, some of them were funny, but they all did a terrific job of pulling a problem solution together.
That's my hat on the table, depicting Heracles' battle with the hydra. This photo gives you a better shot.
HH was there, too.
HH is the one in the back, behind the guy with the tiara (hey, Odyssey brings out the creativity in adults, too). He judges a different problem, one involving vehicles, and he takes a minimalist approach to hats:
Monkey on mah back? Nope. On mah hat.
if you'd like to see more photos of the weekend's fun, visit http://vt.odysseyofthemind.org/ . The photographer is a former Odyssey of the Mind participant, currently studying photography at Savannah School of Design.
I have to tell you, if you ever have a chance to be part of this--do it! By the end of the day, the air is electric and the kids are so buzzed they're practically floating from all the creativity and cameraderie. This is one thing my husband and I do just because it's fun. Our commitment: Two days (one for training, one for the event).
Now it's back to the world of deadlines and clickety-clickety-clickety.
That's me in the orange shirt. Yeah, I know, I'm not grinning like everyone else, but that's only because it was the end of the day and I'm the Head Judge (hence the orange shirt). Believe me, I had just as much fun as the rest of my judging team. We got to see almost a dozen teams perform their version of the "Lost Labor of Heracles." Some of them were cute, some of them were funny, but they all did a terrific job of pulling a problem solution together.
That's my hat on the table, depicting Heracles' battle with the hydra. This photo gives you a better shot.
HH was there, too.
HH is the one in the back, behind the guy with the tiara (hey, Odyssey brings out the creativity in adults, too). He judges a different problem, one involving vehicles, and he takes a minimalist approach to hats:
Monkey on mah back? Nope. On mah hat.
if you'd like to see more photos of the weekend's fun, visit http://vt.odysseyofthemind.org/ . The photographer is a former Odyssey of the Mind participant, currently studying photography at Savannah School of Design.
I have to tell you, if you ever have a chance to be part of this--do it! By the end of the day, the air is electric and the kids are so buzzed they're practically floating from all the creativity and cameraderie. This is one thing my husband and I do just because it's fun. Our commitment: Two days (one for training, one for the event).
Now it's back to the world of deadlines and clickety-clickety-clickety.