December News

News from NY Odyssey this month includes our new pins, the 2025 NYSOMA Scholarship, our new Odyssey Inclusive program and important deadline reminders for Team Registration and for sumbitting Team-specific Clarifications.

NY Odyssey pins for 2025

This year we have 3 pin sets, Paint Tubes, Lava Lamps and a Bee and Flowers set. Our Broadway Playbill series continues with Six: The Problems, a motif that will also be found on our State T-shirt and the 2025 Hooded sweatshirt. Our 2025 State Finals pin has a purple and gold color scheme. Rounding off our 2025 pins we have a Lucky Omer, a NY State shaped pin and as always, an Omer Statue of Liberty.

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Oh wait, we have one more wickedly creative pin that will be magically appearing in a few weeks, can you guess what it is?

2025 NYSOMA Scholarship Announcement

Every year NYSOMA awards a number of academic scholarships to New York OMers, who are graduating High School or have just started their freshman year of college.

This year's challenge is to make a more effective and creative Super Bowl Ad for Odyssey of the Mind

The millions who watch the Super Bowl have one thing in common each year: they all think they can make better commercials than the advertisers. This year New York Odyssey of the Mind is clapping back with a bold, yet simple challenge: Prove it!

Think You Can Do Better?

Unleash your creativity and love for Odyssey by creating a better Ad than NYSOMA ever could.

We are looking for video submissions that are creative, memorable and really do an effective job of selling Odyssey to a specific target audience. Further details and the online application form can be found at https://www.nyodyssey.org/scholarship-application.

Odyssey Inclusive

Odyssey Inclusive provides opportunities for neurodiverse students and students with disabilities to enhance their visual and performing arts skills, social skills, teamwork, academics, and creative problem-solving abilities as part of Odyssey of the Mind!

Neurodiverse students and students with disabilities have always been welcome, however Odyssey Inclusive makes it easier for them to participate with developmentally appropriate accommodations built into the program.

After being piloted in Maine and Southern California, this year New York is leading the way in 2024/25 with two Odyssey Inclusive programs. On December 16, the first OI team completed their showcase performance.

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Check out some photos from the first team’s performance, Autism Up in Rochester, NY.

Congratulations to Amar, Jovie, Lily, Vivian, Drew and Emily for an outstanding solution to the ‘Our Amazing Animal Friends’ problem.  The judges loved watching their solution and were amazed by their creativity and teamwork. A huge thank you to the staff at AutismUp for supporting the team and the program!

Anecdotal reports suggest that in addition to team members having a lot of fun, participating in Odyssey Inclusive improved students’ teamwork and social skills.

Jan 6th Deadline for Team Registration

Another reminder!  

Coaches, January 6, 2025, is the deadline to register your team’s chosen Problem in the Odyssey system as well as the Division in which they will compete. 

To register the head coach for each team must set-up an account under the school Odyssey membership and register as ‘coach’ in the ‘association role’ field:  https://odysseyofthemind.com/kb/add-a-coach-to-your-membership-as-a-school-contact/

(Wait for a confirmation email before the next step)

Then login into the Odyssey website using the password sent in the confirmation email and the email address used to register.  Follow directions: 

https://odysseyofthemind.com/kb/how-to-create-your-team-by-problem-and-division/

The team’s problem and division must be registered under the coach and their contact info.

At the moment, you do not need to enter a Team Roster or register for a specific Regional Tournament - info and instructions to follow.

If you have problems meeting the Jan 6 deadline, please contact your Regional Director or Lynn (LLucas@nysoma.org) by Jan 6.

Team Specific Clarifications

If teams are unsure about their proposed solution and/or have questions about how to interpret the requirements and limitations of the Long-Term Problem or the Program Guide, they should request a Team Specific Clarification.

Teams should not just hope their solution will be legal, or seek guidance from an experienced coach or their RD. The questions and answers remain CONFIDENTIAL, and the emailed clarification should be provided to tournament officials, to affirm that a team’s solution is valid.

Once you have registered your team's problem and division, access the Member Area to submit a new clarification.

The deadline for submitting Team Clarifications is Feb 15th, 2025.