Over this past weekend two teams from Northampton High School traveled to Menchville High School in Newport News, Va. to compete in the 2025 Virginia State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. This tournament brought together over 50 teams from the 7 regions across the state to compete and earn one of two spots for each problem and division to represent Virginia at the 2025 Odyssey of the Mind World Finals being held in Michigan in May. After a long and grueling day of competing, our teams represented Northampton County with great success and their hard work was rewarded.
We are pleased to announce that our team competing in Problem 5: “AstrOMnomical Odyssey” ended the weekend in third place. The team gave a creative performance about a futuristic setting and having to travel back in time to understand why a constellation is worshiped and a major part of their civilization. This team has done well all season and a high note for some seniors on the team who are ending their high school Odyssey of the Mind career with 4 consecutive years of top three finishes in the state!
In addition, our other High School team made up of students all in 9th grade, one 10th grader and one senior with some completely new to Odyssey of the Mind competed in Problem 3: Classics: Cooking with Books. They had to create a skit about a gourmet meal and dinner party based on Roald Dahl’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This team has taken home the state championship in their problem marking the third straight year a team from Northampton HS has been crowned the state champion. These students now qualify for the World FInals where they will compete against teams not only from the USA but from more than 24 other countries.
We would like to thank all of our support from Northampton County Public Schools, the Northampton County Education Foundation and many other community partners this season. The team that will be moving on still needs your help in support of the travel to the World Finals in May. If you would like to donate to help them get to Worlds, please contact Mr. Brad Ford at bford@ncpsk12.com or contact the Northampton County Education Foundation with your support.
The 3rd place NHS Team(Pictured Left to Right): Steven Cardoza (9th), Kiera Budenos (11th), Autumn Buckley (12th), Maliyah Jones (11th), Mariam Mehdi (kneeling, 9th), Kayla Hicks (12th), Coach Brad Ford
The 1st place NHS team (Pictured Left to Right): Anna Temich (kneeling, 9th), Garrett Fisher, kneeling, 9th), Raul Rodriguez (10th), Candy Castaneda Cova (9th), Billy Pike (kneeling, 9th), Yahzara Gholson (12th), Coach Brad Ford (Not Pictured: Elsie Irminger)