Four Long Beach Odyssey of the Mind teams competed at the state level on March 24 in Binghamton. The elementary schools’ Team 2 took second place and has qualified for the world finals! Aaron Blau, Tabitha Freeny, Catherine Maguire, Geddy Moss, Jordi Perez and Aaliyah Trichter will advance based on their outstanding performance for the “Hide in Plain Sight” problem. They created and built a team-made mechanical creature that hides in plain sight and changes its appearance.

Team 5, comprised of Sydney Bergstein, Alanna Damiani, Matthew Diamond, Violet Richter, Avery Schab, Jordan Soriano and Sebastian Tricola, was fourth in the state and solved the problem “Opposites Distract.” Team 3 was tenth in the state for the “Leonardo’s Workshop” problem, completed by Dustin Basnyat, Winter Collinson, Shane Haglich, Benjamin Levinson, Lucinda Nash, Lucia Petty and Kate Ragonare. 

A Long Beach Middle School team also participated and showed off their outstanding work. Ryan Aba Riebli, MacKenzie Brodsky-Torres, Jack Clancy, Isabelle DePalma, Sammy Feingold, Vincent Napolitano and Annabel Pines represented the secondary level with enthusiasm and creativity. 

The elementary teams were coached by teachers Justin Sulsky and Douglas MacConnell, while Long Beach Middle School students worked under the guidance of coaches Christina Kile and Susan Kasper. Congratulations to all participants!