Carmel Middle wins first place in Odyssey of the Mind world competition

Congrats to Carmel Middle for taking the top spot in the challenge called "It's How You Look at It" at this year's world finals for Odyssey of the Mind.

Carmel Middle OM team. Photo courtesy CMS

The first-place winning team:

Ethan Foster
Luke Foster
Katie Freije
Rachel Gardner
Will Horne
Lucy Koeniger
Beckett Stillman

Carmel has won a first place prize in the world finals for the past three years.

The competition, at Michigan State University, involved 813 teams from around the world, according to a release from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

In the challenge, the team of seven students had to give a humorous performance about two characters who think they're acting naturally but are strange to those around them.

Four other CMS schools placed in the competition: Elon Park Elementary, Irwin Academic Center, Community House Middle and Myers Park High.

Charlotte OM teams travel to World Finals

Each year, hundreds of Odyssey of the Mind teams from across the globe compete for first place in the World Finals held in May.

In the 2011 tournament, more than 800 teams earned an invitation to the competition held in College Park, Maryland. And the 2012 tournament is just around the corner.

Multiple Charlotte-area Odyssey of the Mind teams competed in state finals March 31 at Wingate University and secured a spot in this year's World Finals competition May 23-26 at Iowa State University.

At the Odyssey of the Mind state finals, four teams from Myers Park High won their categories, plus one placing second, and all five advance to World Finals.

Three Unionville Elementary teams also advanced. Other area teams headed to Worlds by finishing first or second in their divisions are Beverly Woods Elementary, Carmel Middle, Charlotte Latin’s Division III team, Community House Middle, Lake Norman Charter, Lake Norman High, Mount Mourne IB, Sharon Elementary, Trinity Episcopal and Torrence Creek Elementary.

Best of luck to the teams as they travel to Iowa to represent their schools and Charlotte!

Photo: Fifth grade students from Trinity Episcopla, Heath Byrd, Amelia Faison, Shap McCoy, Malik McRae, Tate Pollock, Davis Ryan and Olivia Te Kolste, will represent Trinity in the tournament.The team, known as the "Odyssey Angels," is led by teacher and OM coach Monica Charlton.