El Camino Creek 6th grade Odyssey of the Mind team wins first place at state tournament

El Camino Creek Elementary School in Carlsbad’s 6th grade Odyssey of the Mind team placed first at the state tournament held April 1 at Moreno Valley High School. The team is now moving on to the 2023 World Finals tournament to be held May 24-27 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.

This year El Camino Creek’s 6th grade team competed against seven other schools at the state tournament, placing first in spontaneous problem thinking and first for their long-term problem.

The 6th grade team is called the Hamster Tribe and members include Emily Drennan, Edward Hall, Trey Lincecum, Noah Stuempfig, and Ben Anderson. Trey, Edward, Noah and Emily have been competing in the Odyssey of the Mind program offered through the El Camino Creek PTA since the second grade and this is their first time competing at the World Finals tournament. The team is raising funds now in order to get them to the World Finals tournament to help pay for the registration, flights, room and board, and food.

The mission of Odyssey of the Mind, an international educational program, is to foster creativity and problem-solving skills in students from kindergarten through college, from all over the world. Through practicing out-of-the-box thinking, writing original scripts and creating costumes, props and sets, teams of students work together to produce incredible solutions to creative problems.

To help in their fundraising efforts join the team May 3 at Jersey Mike’s and Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt at La Costa Town Square. They will be donating 20% of sales that day to support the team. If you’d like to match their fundraising efforts or send a donation, contact NatalieDrennan46@gmail.com.

For more information about this program, visit odysseyofthemind.com — Team news release