{"id":1444,"date":"2009-05-29T06:48:22","date_gmt":"2009-05-29T13:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2009-06-03T07:59:40","modified_gmt":"2009-06-03T14:59:40","slug":"%e2%80%9codyssey%e2%80%9d-a-product-of-lions%e2%80%99-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1444","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOdyssey\u201d a Product of Lions\u2019 Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"micklus\"
Sam Micklus MA \u201968 surrounded by OotM contestants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Micklus MA \u201968<\/strong> attended The College of New Jersey because he needed a master\u2019s degree to teach industrial design courses at Glassboro State (now Rowan) University\u2019s technology department.<\/p>\n

Another benefit came about from his time at then-Trenton State. \u201cHad I not gone to Trenton, I wouldn\u2019t have started Odyssey of the Mind,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n

Sam\u2019s academic competition began in 1978 with 28 New Jersey schools. He thought it would be a \u201cone-time thing.\u201d Now it has a worldwide following, including members from China, Russia, and Australia. According to an Odyssey of the Mind (OotM) spokesperson, the world finals usually draw around 780 teams, with the awards ceremony attracting 18,000 people.<\/p>\n

Before getting to the world finals\u2014this year\u2019s, the 30th annual, were held May 27\u201330 at Iowa State University\u2014thousands of five- to seven-member teams compete at local and then state\/provincial levels. Participants, whose school status ranges from kindergarten to college, spend weeks or months beforehand solving five problems in different subject areas. At competition, teams present their solutions to judges as well as solving a \u201cspontaneous problem.\u201d The problems have multiple solutions with creativity encouraged.<\/p>\n

Sam says Odyssey\u2019s competitive aspect is a key reason for its enduring popularity. \u201cIf one kid is shooting baskets, they\u2019ll see how many in a row they can make. If you get two kids together, and one of them is shooting baskets, they\u2019ll start playing,\u201d he explains. \u201cCompetition is natural for kids. The other thing, [Odyssey] is fun. Kids have to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

OotM still relies heavily on Sam\u2019s family. Wife Carole, whom he credits as the driving force in ensuring OotM\u2019s long-term survival, clarifies issues teams have about the assigned problems. She\u2019s also the tournament director for the world finals. Son Sammy is president of Creative Competitions, Inc., which licenses the non-profit organizations that administer OotM. Sammy is also director of the Odyssey of the Mind program.<\/p>\n

Sam develops problem ideas with Sammy and does artwork for competition materials. His involvement is scaled down from past years, which he enjoys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to travel nearly as much as I used to,\u201d says Sam, who highlights some of his airline misadventures in his 2006 book, The Spirit of Creativity. \u201cThat\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Sam spends the bulk of his time in Florida, playing golf and socializing with friends. The grandkids occasionally visit. \u201cI look forward to a rainy day sometime so I can keep up with stuff,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\"semenza\"
Dan Semenza \u201960<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another TCNJ alumnus involved with Odyssey of the Mind is Dan Semenza \u201960<\/strong>, who is one of OotM\u2019s seven international problem captains. Dan helps to take ideas generated by Sam and turn them into judged problems. Individually, Dan finetunes the annual structure, or \u201cbalsa wood,\u201d problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dread when he walks into a hardware store,\u201d Dan says of Sam, \u201cbecause he\u2019ll come up with three or four ideas that we\u2019re going to have to turn into a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s time at TCNJ wasn\u2019t as purposeful as Sam\u2019s. \u201cIf you talk about this to my classmates they\u2019d say, \u2018Him? Doing this?\u2019\u201d Dan says. \u201cI spent four years partying at fraternities. I played basketball, baseball, soccer. I ran track a couple of years. I worried more about athletic and social stuff than academics.\u201d<\/p>\n

A funny thing happened when he stepped into a classroom and started teaching. \u201cSomething clicked and I never looked back,\u201d Dan says.<\/p>\n

He admits that in 34 years of teaching he was far from traditional, using projects (e.g., developing the school of the future) as the basis of his lessons. And he never taught a subject the same way twice. The Revolutionary War was examined from the British and U.S. angles, with kids becoming so involved that a fistfight once broke out at recess over the Boston Tea Party.<\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s wife, teacher Josephine Weber, turned him on to Odyssey of the Mind in the early 1980s. After judging a competition, she said to him, \u201cYou have to see this.\u201d Dan did, and soon he had the Edison school district hooked. From 1985 to 1992, he coached 210 teams, taking 13 to the world finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one basic thing it did was it showed [students] that obstacles were put in the way to get around,\u201d Dan says. \u201cThere are no dead ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan now lives in Florida and is involved in Rotary International. Occasionally, Sam and Dan play golf together. When they\u2019re together for OotM, the scene is a little different, especially at the world finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam is still the icon for Odyssey of the Mind. He walks onto the campus and he\u2019s mobbed by kids,\u201d Dan says. \u201cIf someone asks for an autograph, it\u2019s a whole other story. He talks to every single kid at length.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s important to the kid, it\u2019s important,\u201d Sam says. \u201cIf some kid feels good about having his shirt or hat signed, I\u2019m fine with it. It\u2019s their week in the sun, so whatever they want, they get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s perfect for the environment,\u201d Dan says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Micklus MA \u201968 is the creator of Odyssey of the Mind, an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-june-2009"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}