Oak Park High School students placed third in the California State Odyssey of the Mind competition at Heritage High School Saturday, Mar. 25.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international program that encourages critical thinking and creative problem-solving. The program released five problems in September and teams of five to seven students chose one problem to solve over the course of several months. At the competition, the teams presented their solutions in an eight-minute presentation.

“The five problems are purposely open-ended, so there’s a lot — like an infinite number of answers — and it’s your job to come up with the most creative solution for it,” freshman Jake Brumby said.

Each problem has three divisions: elementary school, middle school, and high school. Students may compete up in division, but not down — a middle schooler can compete with high schoolers, for example, but not the other way around.

The top two teams from each problem and division will advance to the World Finals at Michigan State University in May, as well as a Ranatra Fusca team that advances due to having the most creative idea.

The Oak Park team, in its first year, comprised four freshmen, two sophomores and one sixth grader from Medea Creek Middle School. The team advanced to the state competition after placing first in the Los Angeles Basin Regional competition.

The Oak Park team chose a structure-building problem which required using 15 grams or less of balsa wood to build a structure that could hold weight. They presented the project in a skit, with the theme of “precision.”

Ultimately, the team’s structure held the most weight of all the competing teams.

“The team built many, many structures and crushed them in the OPHS weight room until they engineered a structure to hold over 700 pounds,” Coach Jane Brumby wrote in an email. “Then, they wrote a skit to perform at the tournament and rehearsed it until it was flawless.”

The team met at the Oak Park Library every Friday after school for seven months to prepare for the regional and state competitions.

“We eat food, we yell at each other, we come up with things and we brainstorm and we build things. Towards the beginning of the year we brainstormed a lot,” Jake Brumby said.

According to freshman Rithwik Adicherla, no outside help could be used during the team’s solution of their assigned problem.

“Our coach provides us space and snacks, but otherwise just supervises us and does not interfere,” Adicherla wrote in an email.

A a panel of judges scored the teams based on the structure’s integrity and the stylistic elements of the skit. The competition also included a spontaneous task, which was assigned on the day of competition.

According to Jane Brumby, Odyssey of the Mind provides students with valuable skills.

“I think the Odyssey experience is phenomenal for teaching students how to problem-solve — as a team — without the assistance of others,” Jane Brumby wrote. “I’m always amazed at what kids come up with when the ‘scaffolding’ of rules and requirements is removed.”