Let's welcome our newest Board Members!

Joining the NYSOMA Board, and putting their enthusiasm, skills and experience to work for the benefit of Odyssey of the Mind throughout the state, are our two newest Board members, Jack Kralik and Christine Durso ... Welcome!

Jack Kralik is currently a sophomore at Binghamton University studying History and Political Science. Jack is currently in his second year as an Army ROTC Cadet.

He participated in Odyssey of the Mind for 9 years as a team member making states twice and worlds once. After graduating high school, Jack worked as a volunteer at both the state and regional level.

In addition to ROTC and Odyssey, Jack works as the Chief of Staff at the SUNY Student Assembly. He loves working out, eating awesome food, and traveling to as many different countries as he can!

Christine Durso is a recently retired teacher and OM coach/parent/primary judge whose team won a Ranatra Fusca award at the 2022 World Finals!

What she loves most about OM isn't the winning; it is the teamwork that is transformative to the kids on the team. The ability to see kids who might struggle elsewhere stretch their wings. When not involved in OM she loves to camp, train her crazy border collie, craft furniture and garden.

Someday she hopes to write a book on setting up project based classrooms and what a quality curriculum looks like.

NYSOMA is always looking for new people who can join the Board or offer their skills and expertise and serve on one of our Committees to help run and grow the program in New York State. If you are looking for something new and want to make a difference in the lives of current and future OMers, please get in touch with the Chair of our Nominating Committee, Chris Lucas at clucas@nysoma.org

Improve your Spontaneous skills

Regularly throughout the year we will post challenges that will help teams practice and develop their spontaneous problem solving skills.

There are new challenges of all types and an archive of previous challenges, together with coaching tips for debriefing.

Please Note: These are not official Odyssey of the Mind Spontaneous problems but are supplied here as training tools for improving teams spontaneous skills. Official practice problems can be found if you purchase the books of spontaneous problems and sample problems can also be found on the Odyssey of Mind website.

Pin Design Contest

It’s that Time Again! We are ready to see your ideas for next year’s pin! Talk with your team members, friends, and coaches and start sketching the kinds of pins YOU would like to collect and trade!