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Do you know about Odyssey of the Mind ? It was new to us this year, even though it's been around for 25+ yrs, some how this was the first I'd heard of it. This educational program challenges young minds to problem solve creatively while mastering the skill of team work. Kids take these skills and address a given problem in a competition first at a district level, then state, and world level. So we signed up Aidan to participate in this, he was in a group of 7 7-8 yr old kids from his school. With the help of parent volunteers, really angels, they spent several months in preparation for the tournament this past weekend. They practiced responding to spontaneous questions as a group, and worked diligently on their skit addressing the given problem. They demonstrated, fantastic thinking skills, creatively thinking outside of the box, and best of all managed to do this as a team. And although tournament day managed to be a long grueling day for some parents (yes that might be me),the day came with lots of rewards. Seeing Aidan beam with pride after the reward ceremony, showing me his medal, and knowing all the skills he attained from this experience, made it all worth it.