Pine Bush Odyssey of the Mind teams are moving on

Pine Bush has five Odyssey of the Mind teams moving on to the state competition in Binghamton on March 23 after first-place finishes at the Region 5 championships held Saturday, March 9, at Orange/Ulster BOCES in Goshen.

Seven middle school girls, dressed in light blue tshirts on a stage with their coach at one end and the Odyssey of the Mind mascot, a red-shirted raccoon. — Crispell Middle School’s first place Odyssey team.

Both Pine Bush High School teams took first place for their respective problems, OMER to the Rescue Again and Opposites Distract. Crispell took the top prize in the middle school division for Structure Toss; EJR was tops for Structure Toss in the elementary division. Pine Bush Elementary came out on top for Hide In Plain Sight.

Seven elementary school students, two boys and five girls, wearing light blue tshirts with metals around their necks standing on a stage with their two coaches at left and in the center the Odyssey mascot, a raccoon character dressed in a red tshirt — The EJR team was thrilled after winning their division.

In addition to these five first place finishes, Pine Bush had a total of three teams place second or third in their divisions.

Seven elementary students smiling broadly - one with his arms straight up in the air - all wearing light blue tshirts. Their two coaches are at the left with the Odyssey mascot, a raccoon wearing a red tshirt. — The PBE can barely contain their excitement after taking first place in their division.

“Saturday was a good day for Pine Bush at Odyssey,” said Tim Mains, superintendent of schools. “Eight of our 10 teams earned trophies for their performances. All did a great job, coming up with very creative solutions to these unique problems.”

Seven high school students and their two coaches are on stage with the Odyssey of the Mind mascot. — Pine Bush High School had two winning teams! This one took first for the problem, “OMER to the rescue again.”

Crispell Middle School’s team, coached by Matt Schomber, took on the problem Leonardo’s Workshop, and placed second. They took home the coveted Renatra Fusca Award for extreme creativity.

Seven high school students wearing light blue tshirts and first place medals smile and hug on stage with the Odyssey mascot — Pine Bush High School took first place for Opposites Distract.

Circleville Middle School and Circleville Elementary School teams placed second and third respectively.

The teams worked diligently leading up to the competition, beginning their brainstorming in the fall. The Region 5 competition drew approximately 500 students on 68 teams from 12 school districts in Orange and Dutchess counties. Pine Bush has two Odyssey teams in each of its secondary schools and one in each of its elementary schools.

Pine Bush first place finishers

Pine Bush High School, coached by Bobbi Walter and Gary Manheim
Pine Bush High School, coached by Katie Terwilliger
Crispell Middle School, coached by Stacey Mark
EJ Russell, coached by Naomi Bush and Doreen Sandor
Pine Bush Elementary, coached by Valerie Turcotte and Jacki Halpin

These teams will be traveling to Binghamton on March 23 for the state competition. They all have the support of Pine Bush behind them! Good luck to all!

Click here to read the Times Herald-Record’s story on the Odyssey of the Mind competition.

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