Local Odyssey team takes trophy
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Rutland engineer Tim Vile (front) and his team of students, (from left) Emily Osmer, Jacob Galvin, Randy Ettori and Louis Chamberlain, won the top prize at the Odyssey of the Mind competition. Photos Provided |
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By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: June 6, 2009
FAIR HAVEN — A group of local teens recently showed that having the right answer at your fingertips and taking the easy way out doesn't work, or win you awards.
Fifteen years ago, Rutland's Tim Vile, an engineer, volunteer and teacher, decided to give students a mechanical, intellectual and team-building challenge that they would struggle through, absent any of his help.
Vile himself is capable of welding, electrical work and designing multiple mechanical engineering innovations.
On May 30, Vile's Odyssey of the Mind team won an international competition.
His team of four local students from Fair Haven Union High School and Mill River Union High School beat out more than 800 teams from around the world in the annual Odyssey of the Mind competition held at Iowa State University.
For the second year in a row, Vile's team, sponsored by Castleton's Hayes Foundation, won first place in the international education program that tests students' problem-solving skills — from building electrical devices and robots to presenting their interpretation of literary classics.
Louis Chamberlain, Jacob Galvin and Randy Ettori, all 17 and students at Fair Haven Union High School, and Emily Osmer, 14, of Mill River Union High School, weren't new to the competition.
The team sat in a garage in October and thought about how they could win this year's challenge by doing something no one else would, and learning how to do it.
They picked two characters — TV personality Jay Leno and fitness celebrity Richard Simmons to base their project on.
Their Odyssey problem was called "Earth Trek." It called for building a small vehicle, powered without the touch of the human hand that could travel through four different environments as part of an overall project, and change appearance as it traveled.
The contest restricted what materials could be used, how much could be spent and where ideas could come from — project ideas were required to come from the students with no outside help.
The team also had to accomplish a spontaneous task in a small room isolated from their peers. That project involved a number of materials – from paper clips to a plastic bat – that had to be crafted in such a way that the judges' problem was solved.
Over seven months, the team used drills, chop saws, welding equipment, scrap metal and wiring they collected to craft a Richard Simmons robot that would travel through a kitchen, a store, a disco performance and finally, the Jay Leno Show.
They used metal brushes, light bulbs, electrical outlets, and re-configured a bicycle. All their work resulted in a musical performance where they danced, sang and rode the bike to power the robot that circled a platform, inflating its muscles, losing its hair and lighting up.
"The very restricted role of adult leaders in Odyssey of the Mind can really help to empower young people to be entrepreneurial," said Carl Buffum, chairman of sponsor the Hayes Foundation.
"(They) carry out their own project ideas rather than depending on adults to provide all the trappings."
At Fair Haven Union High School on Thursday, the team sat next to their two large trophies.
Other students walked by and said, "Awesome!"
Team Leader Louis Chamberlain said, "Persistence, if stuff doesn't work, it's a process, you got to keep trying."
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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