St. Bernardine Teams Win Science Honors

Two teams of students at St. Bernardine Catholic School were awarded for their creativity and science skill in the statewide Odyssey of the Mind competition.

The older team, made up of four seventh- and two eighth-graders, took second place in their division Saturday in a competition held at UC Santa Barbara. Although the fourth-grade team of seven students didn’t place in competition, it won a special prize for creativity.

Odyssey of the Mind is a national school program designed to encourage creative thinking and problem solving skills in students from kindergarten through college. The teams from St. Bernardine won first place at the regionals contest in March in Pasadena, which allowed them to advance to the state competition.

The program is conducted in two phases: The long-term problem that the teams are able to work on during the school year, and the spontaneous problem that has to be solved on the day of the competition.

For the long-term problem, the younger students chose to design and build a structure made of balsa wood and glue that would hold as much weight as possible on its own 35 grams. The St. Bernardine structure held 55 pounds; the winning structure, more than 300 pounds.

But the students made an impact on the judges with their presentation, dressing as gargoyles and evil spirits as they tested the structure, earning a special award for creativity for their original production.

“The young ones didn’t say a word, but they got a whole story across, the judges were impressed by that,” said Kathy Folk, the team’s coach and mother of a team member.

The older students chose to build an android that has human features, completely designed and constructed for less than $100 and without adult help.

Under the supervision of Quentin Stiles, one team member’s grandfather, they created a girl who interacted and even talked with the students during a skit for their presentation to the judges.

“We always knew the ability was there,” Folk said. “But to get it out of them and to see them pull it out of themselves, that’s what this is all about. They went beyond their education to achieve this.”