READY TO COMPETE — Students in the Steubenville City School District will take part in an Odyssey of the Mind Showcase at 9 a.m. Saturday at Harding Middle School. Joining the group will be six teams from Delta Pike schools in northern Ohio. Attending will be 21 students from McKinley STEM Academy, along with the following students at East Garfield Elementary School, from left, front, Marlee Koley, Knox Freshwater, Charlotte Staten and Madilyn Pavlov; second row, Kaemir Brown, DeMari Smith, Derek Davis and Jake Wojcik; third row, Jameson Jones, Miranda Sliva, Madison Rawlings and Daphne Andrews; and back, Jase Scott, Carmelo Prentice and Madison McCoy. -- Contributed

STEUBENVILLE — Steubenville City Schools will host this year’s Odyssey of the Mind Showcase at 9 a.m. Saturday at Harding Middle School. Six teams from Delta Pike schools will meet up with 21 students from McKinley STEM Academy and East Garfield Elementary School.

Coordinating the showcase is Heather Hoover, the district’s Success For All facilitator, who has served as the Odyssey of the Mind southeast regional coordinator since Steubenville resumed the program last year. District gifted specialist Jackie Reeves is assisting Hoover, saying the program is designed to stimulate minds and spur creativity.

Odyssey of the Mind began in 1978, serving as an international creative problem-solving program that teaches young people valuable skills that empower them to become successful leaders and innovators. The curriculum helps build self-confidence, social skills, performing talent, divergent thinking, engineering ability and improves interest in design, architecture, art, technology and music at an early age.

The purpose is to help students develop their creativity, innovation, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, while seeking a solution through teamwork.

“They present their solution in the form of a skit and meet the criteria embedded into the problem,” Hoover explained. “They can add something to highlight or enhance the solution.”

“I love seeing them band together as a team,” she commented. “They can have up to seven members on each team. We currently have 24 students involved.”

Teams compete in local, regional and state events. However, according to Hoover, Ohio does not currently have enough students to hold a state competition.

Members travel to other states for competitions, she said, noting Steubenville schools had previously been involved with Odyssey of the Mind, but transitioned to Destination Imagination. They have since rejoined the original program.

Five Steubenville teams traveled to Pennsylvania last year to “get a feel” for the competition. Hoover said it was the right fit.

“We made a decision for a new creative competition that had a little more depth and problems that were a little more challenging,” Hoover said. “We left Destination Imagination and went to Odyssey of the Mind, which still existed but was not in Ohio. We believed it was the program we wanted to get involved with. Last year, we made a commitment to do it and the state organizers are trying to bring it back.”

She said the showcase was formed in an effort to help grow the program in Ohio. Students will have an opportunity to advance to the world competition later this spring.

“I reached out because the teams in northern Ohio were interested,” Hoover said. “All of the teams are coming together this year and we are having the showcase tournament. We’re calling it a showcase because any student who attends has the opportunity to go to the world competition in May.”

The world finals will be held at Michigan State University in May. The event is expected to include more than 15,000 students from across the U.S., as well as 30 nations across the globe.