On March 7, three teams of students from Solanco competed in the Eastern Central Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind tournament.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international problem-solving competition that asks teams of students to use their creativity to present a solution to a complex problem in the form of a live performance. Teams are graded on their creativity, risk-taking, and artistry. In addition, students are given a spontaneous problem that they have never seen before on the day of the competition.

All three teams, one elementary and two high school, performed well enough to advance to the state competition.

The students on the elementary-level team took second place in their problem, called "Taller Tales of John Jivery." This problem asked teams to create their own tall tale in the style of Paul Bunyan of Pecos Bill. The team took first place in the long-term and style portions of the scoring, with judges praising the team's humorous performance and unique use of materials for the costumes. Team members included fourth-grader Henry Van Aulen and fifth-graders Gunnar Culberson, Cole Garver, Camden Hughes, Lea Morrison, Emma Testerman, and Ian Wimer.

One of the two high school teams also competed in the same problem. The team finished in second place, beating the rest of the crowded division in both the performance and artistry aspects of the competition. The team consisted of many experienced students, including senior Brooke Hiatt, juniors Rhiannon Groff and Brianna Harvey, sophomores Sara Dalrymple and Kieran Groff, and freshmen Ava Denver and Ruby Wagner. Ruby was the only member participating for the first time.

The other high school team chose the problem "The Epic Quest," which challenged teams to write and perform an epic poem similar to "The Odyssey" or Gilgamesh. This team finished in third place with a very strong performance in the spontaneous problem-solving portion of the competition. Team members included seniors Lucy Costigan and Lydia Young; junior Morgan Krauss; and freshmen Travis Henry, Ella McGrath, Caleb Oberholtzer, and Weston Young.

This is the third consecutive year that Brooke Hiatt and Rhiannon Groff have been on a state qualifying team. Ava Denver and Travis Henry become the first Solanco students to reach the state finals as both elementary and high school students.

The state finals will take place at the Pocono Mountain School District East Campus on Saturday, March 28.