A team of seven DeSales Catholic School students returned homefrom the holiday weekend from a world competition in Maryland,where their creative problem-solving skills were pitted againstthose of more than 850 other teams.
The DeSales students placed 13th out of 65 teams in theirdivision in the classics category at the Odyssey of the Mind WorldFinals.
It was the second Top 15 finish for the team in three years, and they were up against schools from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Poland and other countries.
"It was really fun," said Lauren Isherwood, 14. "You had so many people with different backgrounds, but then you realized how much you were alike, because you're all there for the same reason."
The team created and performed an eight-minute skit chartingtheir travels around the world with a tour guide whose personalitywas based on a character from a classic literary work.
During the tour, an inanimate object had to show signs of life,the tour guide had to give the wrong explanation about something,and the guide also had to give a creative explanation about why itwas important to guard and secure a worthless item.
Reporters and a know-it-all tourist went sightseeing through Niagara Falls, and a land made of Scotch tape with a wicked witch as their guide in the DeSales team's skit. They encountered a talking pedestal and, in their world, duct tape was sacred.
"We all worked really hard," Lauren said. "The judges really appreciated everything we did to make our performance stand out."
The skit -- which team members spent the year writing, directing and producing themselves -- had already garnered them state and regional recognition. At the regional competition, the team also took home the coveted Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award.
The awards ceremony for the three-day competition was broadcast live Monday on the Internet, where Sam Micklus, who founded the competition in 1978, addressed the winners.
"Each team can return knowing you represented your country with dignity and honor," he said. "You are all winners."
e-mail: niagaranews@buffnews.com
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