Chester Elementary wins first in Odyssey of the Mind

CHESTER — The Chester Elementary School Odyssey of the Mind Team took first place in Division 1 at the Region 5 competition held at Orange-Ulster BOCES in Goshen on March 2.

They excelled at solving the problem titled "The Email Must Go Through." Monroe-Woodbury Elementary took second place in that category.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that challenges students, from kindergarten through college, to solve problems creatively. Team members solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to interpreting literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

The members of Chester Elementary's team are Carolyn Harvey Munsch, Michaela DiCurcio, Faith Wilson, Aurora Meinsen, Nicholas DiCurcio, Isabella Acevedo, and Colin Murray. Their parent-coach is Kim DiCurcio, who is assisted by Karen Brock. They will be representing Chester at the State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament in Binghamton on March 23.

Middle school students from Chester Academy also competed, bringing home a third-place trophy in Division 2 for "The E-Mail Must Go Through." These students are Sophia Kohan, Alyssa Detwiler, Shaela Acevedo, Danny Lusignan, Gabby Bonilla, Victoria Scrobe and Christiana Scrobe, and their coach is Cynthia Acevedo.

Chester also had a Primary Exhibition Team at the competition. These first- and second-graders did not compete, but they were judged similarly to the older students to get some Odyssey experience. They created a very imaginative skit to solve their problem, "Top 'Sea-Cret' Discoveries." The participants were Rasleen Ghuliani, Jacob Teshome, George Lawson, Alexandria Cox, Emily Murray, Antonio Rivera, and Victoria Willson, coached by Wendy Murray and L. Goldthwaithe.