I vividly remember the first day of sixth grade; I looked at my schedule just “knowing” I would switch out of the “Odyssey of the Mind” class, especially since I had never even heard of it before. I had no idea that exactly two years later I would be the one standing in the middle of the Iowa University stadium, performing in front of hundreds of other passionate competitors from over a hundred countries around the world. I have always been good at painting, drawing, and coming up with witty answers to teacher's questions. However, only a few other students understood what I was saying. I was never able to put my creative skills to good use, besides the rare once-a-quarter projects we would have. I was often the odd-one-out because of my
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However, painting, writing, and costume-making were not the only things I had to do creatively. I also had to train myself to come up with innovative responses and techniques in a time constraint to successfully participate and complete a major part of the competition: spontaneous. Through my creative training for both long-term and spontaneous problems, I have learned how to apply my strengths in the most efficient ways. Prior to sixth grade, I found it very difficult to work with others without ending up taking the burden of the entire project and complete it myself. Through Odyssey of the Mind, I learned that it is impossible to complete a given task alone; it is necessary to work with others to reach the full potential. Towards the beginning of the first year of competition, I found it very difficult to adjust to my team. We often had arguments over little things, such as what shade of blue the sky should be. Gradually, however, we put our differences to the side and bonded during our journey to states for the second time. The most important and memorable experience for our team was when we found out that we, in fact, did make it to States in 7th grade several weeks after the regional
However, painting, writing, and costume-making were not the only things I had to do creatively. I also had to train myself to come up with innovative responses and techniques in a time constraint to successfully participate and complete a major part of the competition: spontaneous. Through my creative training for both long-term and spontaneous problems, I have learned how to apply my strengths in the most efficient ways. Prior to sixth grade, I found it very difficult to work with others without ending up taking the burden of the entire project and complete it myself. Through Odyssey of the Mind, I learned that it is impossible to complete a given task alone; it is necessary to work with others to reach the full potential. Towards the beginning of the first year of competition, I found it very difficult to adjust to my team. We often had arguments over little things, such as what shade of blue the sky should be. Gradually, however, we put our differences to the side and bonded during our journey to states for the second time. The most important and memorable experience for our team was when we found out that we, in fact, did make it to States in 7th grade several weeks after the regional