Hundreds of teams from the U.S., Poland, South Korea and Switzerland competed in the Odyssey of the Mind Competition to solve one of five long-term problems, each falling under one of the following annual categories: Vehicle, classics, structural, technical and performance.

Teams have worked, without any outside assistance, on these problems since September, submitted performance videos in March and were notified of statewide results on April 1. Teams also worked together without verbal communication with one another to solve this year’s Spontaneous problem. This problem is a tightly held secret until all teams have competed.

APS results:

Of 38 teams solving the Odyssey ReOMvention problem in division 2:
Swanson team: 6th place

Of 49 teams solving the Escape VroOm problem in division 1:
Glebe team: 3rd
Long Branch team: 14th (tie)

More about the awards is available to view here.

A key feature of being and OMer at Worlds is meeting and trading pins with kids from around the world. Another is the chance to meeting Omer – the Odyssey of the Mind mascot is who roamed the campus posing for photos.

Teams also enjoyed time navigating a large college campus, sleeping in dorms and eating dining hall delights and swimming in the Iowa State University Aquatics Center.

The experience was not without stress or challenging situations, but the teams persevered and have formed a wonderful bond that will surely last a lifetime.The four-day long event culminated in a high energy awards show. At the very end, everyone was treated to a video sneak peek at the 2022-23 long term problems!