After 3 months of hard work, Year 1 students – Charles Low and Josephine Chow are part of the team representing Temasek Polytechnic that emerged overall champion in the recent Odyssey of the Mind (OM) National Finals held at ACS (I) on 2 & 3 Apr 04 .

The team had to go through three rounds of competition, the first of which was the Spontaneous verbal problem requiring members to provide as many responses as possible within five minutes. One point was awarded for normal responses and five points for creative responses. For this round, the team emerged 2 nd runner-up (91.19/100) amidst keen competition from 23 other teams including JCs and SAP schools.

For the second round, the team had to build and test an asymmetrical structure made of balsa wood and glue within a maximum weight of 18g. The team also had to create a container that would transport the structure a maximum distance of 20 feet. The container and structure should not be touched by anyone while traveling. The team’s structure which weighed 17.4g held a total weight of 112kg, scoring full marks, i.e. 150/150 . The team also clinched full marks for the design of the container, the traveling method and how it fit into the overall plot of the skit, i.e. 50/50 .

For the third round, the team had to perform a skit in eight minutes based on the theme, "Balancing Act". The team’s skit revolved around the duality of mankind in which good and evil often tussle to win. The skit culminated with a dance signifying that there’s constant negotiation between the two sides of us. The judges were impressed with the performance and awarded the team full marks, i.e. 50/50 .

The total score amounts to 341.19/350 , making the team overall champion for Division III for the balsa structural problem:

1 st : Temasek Polytechnic
2 nd : St. Andrew’s Junior College
3 rd : Victoria Junior College

These six students were selected from among the top winning teams in the ENG-OM Competition held on 10 Oct 03.

The team represented Singapore in the OM World Finals which will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, from 19 May – 1 Jun 04.