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4 local schools in Odyssey of the Mind World Finals

Four local teams from Lycoming County will be participating in the 2018 Odyssey of the Mind World Finals this week in Aimes, Iowa.

Curtin Intermediate School, Williamsport Area Middle School, Loyalsock Township High School and Montgomery Area Elementary School will be competing with teams from across the world at Iowa State University.

World finals arrivals start on Tuesday, and the competition goes from Wednesday to Saturday.

Opening ceremonies take place on Wednesday. The Odyssey Alumni meeting takes place from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of things that go on. It can get pretty crazy,” said Karyl Otruba, Odyssey of the Mind North Central Regional director.

The Thursday competition runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the Creativity Festival is noon to 5 p.m.

“They have a career activity festival that teams can go to. Each state sets up a booth and has something fun for everyone to do,” Otruba said.

The float and banner parade takes place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

NASA Science Talks and NASA Classroom activities also will be available to students on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Otruba said the parade is lots of fun to display all the countries and areas of the world that people have come from to compete.

She said there is a friendly competition in the evenings as well.

“Judges, officials and whatever can solve a problem, and they put it on in front of an audience,” she said.

The competition continues through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. with the Creativity Festival 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Throughout the competition, pin trading is a popular activity many of the students do when they are not actively competing.

“There’s pin trading. That’s the big thing,” she said. “They spread out all over and just trade pins back and forth all day long. It’s pretty neat to see with kids everywhere with blankets and towels with the pins all out, trying to trade pins for that special pin that any state has they might like.”

Graduation and coaches competition will be 7 to 9 p.m. Friday.

Ortuba said the graduation is a ceremony meant to celebrate the seniors who will be graduating this year.

Saturday will continue the competition from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The creativity festival takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

International Festival will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The awards ceremony starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, which will announce the results of the competition.

Parties to celebrate the results start at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Things wrap up and housing check out is scheduled from morning to noon on Sunday.

“I wish our teams the best. I hope they do well,” Ortuba said.

She said that the opening ceremonies and the award ceremonies also are usually livestreamed on the www.odysseyofthemind.com website.

Team members from Curtin Intermediate School include: Olivia Ciabattari, Reese Kirk, Ross Mahler, Alanna Ramos, Lillyana Sponhouse, Muireen Tran and Tyler Williamson. They are coached by Bret Southard, Denise Southard and Hao Tran.

Team members from Williamsport Area Middle School include: Mia Clark, Jack Klingler, Mairead Ferry, Kendall Kelley, Sydney Kelley, Lisa Lewis and Ben Manetta. They are coached by Beth Lewis and Liz Manetta.

Loyalsock Township High School members include Connor Gross, Zack Keller, Collin Porter, Alex Bartley, Ryder Haines, David Hutchinson and Nathan Genduso. Mark Porter and Chris Haines are the coaches.

Montgomery Area Elementary School team members are: Camden Dalrymple, Madelyn Dieffenderfer, Katie Webster, Emily Miller, Dylan Hill, Cash Hill and Amelia Shrimp. Craig Miller and Carrie Kiess Hill are the coaches.

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