Students represented Long Beach with winning presentations at Odyssey of the Mind Worlds Competition in Orlando, Florida, during the weekend of June 12. The collaborative efforts of seven elementary students earned a first place award, and two middle school team placed third and fourth out of contenders from around the globe.

The elementary team, coached by Douglas MacConnell and Justin Sulsky, was comprised of Nathan Bregman, Emilio Diaz, Patrick Maguire, Sophia Milito, Calie Spitz, Jackson Spitz and Maximo Vitolo. They designed and built a virtual reality world that included technical effects and met required criteria.

From Long Beach Middle School, the OMER and the Beanstalk team received the bronze medal for placing third in their division. Members included Isabelle DePalma, Catherine Maguire, Marin Meola, Lucinda Nash, Kate Ragona and Kasper Yanowich. The fourth-place team, Super Socks, was comprised of Sydney Bergstein, Aaron, Blau, Jordan Soriano, Mia Rose Techera, Aaliyah Trichter and Sebastian Tricola. Both groups were coached by Susan Kasper and Mr. MacConnell and were required to write skits, create costumes and scenery and perform an eight-minute skit, according to the guidelines from Odyssey of the Mind.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international competition that provides its participants the opportunity to solve defined problems using a predetermined set of rules for the team to follow. Congratulations to the Long Beach participants!