We Made Up a Little Song....

Brooke, Abby, and some of the other team members made up a song, and this is how it goes…

Got up at 4:30 it was really early, The limo we used, We went and snoozed, The plane was nice, It had drinks and ice, It was really warm, in our dorm. WE JUST ARRIVED HERE IN BALTIMORE.
We had so much fun, in the sun, we went in the pool, and it was so cool, we’re making this song, cause were never wrong, but let me tell you, there is a curfew, BUT WERE STILL HAVING FUN IN BALTIMORE.
Come with me, to Washington D.C, and then you’ll see, why you should come with me. We went to the zoo, we had to leave by two, we went on a metro, it was so retro. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN IN WASHINGTON D.C

by Alyssa

Closing Cermonies

Phew! What a busy four days! We can't believe it is already time to go home! Closing ceremonies wraps up the Odyssey of the Mind competition. The 6th through 2nd place winners are recognized during this time. Then all the first place winners. Everyone cheers and most every team has some sort of lighted device to use which makes the closing ceremonies fun. We found out that we place 32nd (out of 43 teams) in our division. This is quite impressive! It is our first time here and we've learned so much. Can't wait until next year!

Visting Washington D.C.

We spent our last day in Washington, D.C. This jam-packed day included site-seeing, visiting one of the Smithsonian museums, and meeting our Senator Susan Collins. Most of the monuments are found along the "mall" in D.C. The "mall" is not a shopping mall, but rather a large green park-like space in the center of the city. Along the edges of it are numerous museums which people can visit for free. We visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. A large elephant greets people as they enter and then visitors can choose to visit collections arranged around this center spoke. We visited the insect area, the reptile and bone exhibit, and the dinosaurs.

Before the museum, we saw the Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the reflecting pool, the Vietnam Wall, and the White House. We walked the whole length of the mall to get to Capitol Hill to make our 2 pm appointment with Senator Susan Collins. At the Senator's office one of her interns, Nate, gave us a personal tour of the Capitol building. We saw lots of beautiful paintings, statues, and halls and learned a lot of neat things about the Capitol building. Did you know that one of the only parts that survived a fire was the rock walls made of granite from Maine? Who was Hannibal Hamlin? And what is his connection to Maine?

After our tour, we had our picture taken on the steps of Capitol building with Susan Collins. She commended the team on their accomplishments and told us about her first trip to Washington D. C. She also said that one never knows where they'll end up! She encouraged us to get a good education and who knows maybe one day we'll be serving on the Senate floor!

Spontaneous

Our last “official” OM event was the Spontaneous problem. While the agreement is the team can’t share any of the details of the problem… the girls said it was fun. At the check out, Coach Peabody was presented with a “tail” made out of cloth which was duct taped to her backside. We learned this was in appreciation of all of the hard work in bringing the team here and in honor of completing the final step in the competition. We’d seen other “tailed” adults walking around.. now we knew why. Three cheers for Coach! Three cheers for Coach! Three cheers for Coach! Go team!

A Day at the Zoo

Decided to go to Washington DC to the National Zoo rather than the Baltimore Aquarium today. The weather was a little bit cooler, clear blue skies, and much less humid – more like the good ol’ Maine summer weather we’re used to! Folks at the zoo told us we had the perfect day to see lots of the animals on the move since it wasn’t as hot. We watched an elephant “weigh in” at its daily check up, a “baby” panda eat bamboo for breakfast, and orangutans walk across cables overhead. Perhaps the most fascinating were the “big cats” – the tigers and lions. We did A LOT of walking! Our legs are like spaghetti!

Riding the Subway

To get to the zoo, we had to take the Metro. Taking the Metro involves getting the shuttle bus from the campus to the subway station, purchasing a Metro ticket for the right fare amount from the kiosk, and figuring out how to find the right color train we need. A little different than getting around Jefferson!

Show Time!

OH NO !!! We heard a crack when we put the crusher board on. Michaela P., Abby, and Courteney were tap dancing on a piece of cardboard at the time the structure started to break. The team put 8 golf balls on which gave them extra points. The team put one 5 pound on after the dance was over. The structure broke as the weight was put on. The whole structure held 15 pounds.
by Michaela Peabody