OM update

From Friday's post, you may have gotten the impression that I was worried about Q's OM team and their competition Saturday:

After I witnessed an impromptu psychotherapy session amongst some very stressed out middle schoolers in which they simultaneously tried to convince each other to stay team players while making farting noises, I snuck up to Mr. Drama teacher and asked if they were going to crash and burn tomorrow during the competition. "Maybe." he said. "Or maybe they won't."

Well for heaven's sake.

In the set-up room at the competition, the kids were tired and unenthusiastic and nervous. They couldn't remember any of their lines, and their coach just couldn't get them motivated.


But never underestimate the abilities of a small group of talented, overachieving preteens. When it was their turn and they had the stage, a freakin' miracle happened. They were on FIRE. The quiet ones started projecting, the storyline flowed, the set changes were flawless, the exploding dinosaur brain was perfect, and they were absolutely hilareous!! They ended up with the highest score out of the 9 in their category for both their long performance and their style (costumes, set design). For those not familiar with OM, the team of kids had to do EVERYTHING themselves. The coach can give instructions and facilitate, but the ideas, the entire script, costumes, set, everything is purely the kids. (BTW the storyline - they had to explain the demise of the dinosaurs. Their heads exploded from taking the SOLs - standards of learning tests. "Apparently, the stress was too much for them." LOL)

They didn't do so great on their spontaneous portion, meaning they ended up in 2nd place overall instead of 1st (beat out by 8 points out of 350). Who knew? This is a first-year team, almost all 6th graders. I couldn't believe how they came together like that.

Yes, I had tears in my eyes watching the screaming, jumping up and down group of them run up to get their trophy. I haven't seen a smile like that on Q's face in a while. What an awesome team-building experience that was. I'm sold on Odyssey of the Mind, despite the enormous time commitment. (Gah). Q is already asking about next year.