Towering Effort By Northport Tiny School Places High In Odyssey Of Mind Finals

Wed., June 3, 1998

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

The Northport High School Odyssey of the Mind team returned home this week after another strong showing in the international championships of the brain-over-brawn contest.

The team placed 17th among 57 teams in its category at the world finals last weekend at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Many of the teams were from large urban schools, but Northport High has only 97 students.

Northport’s project was to demonstrate a strong, camouflaged structure in a creative presentation.

Coach Kris Nesse said the team’s balsa wood tower held 765 pounds, 80 pounds more than the one it used to win the Washington state championship. And the team got bonus points for good camouflage.

“They performed better than they had in any other competition,” Nesse said. “They were just awesome. They were probably the only team that imbedded its problem in a serious performance instead of something funny.”

Fund-raising to send the seven-member team to Orlando also was a big success, Nesse said.

“Folks in Washington state and even beyond were incredible,” she said of donations from around the region that supplemented local fund-raising events.

Nesse estimates that after paying expenses of approximately $8,500, the team will have about $3,000 left over for a future world championship trip.

About $5,000 worth of this year’s trip was paid with money left over from the last trip in 1995.

This year’s trip to the world finals was Northport’s fourth, and Nesse said she has no doubt there will be another.

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