Spider, girl, pig help propel Mt. Lebanon students to Odyssey finals
This particular Odyssey involves neither Cyclops nor Sirens, just a spider and a girl and a pig.
In a love triangle.
Remember Fern Arable, the farmer’s daughter who saves Wilbur the Pig in E.B. White’s children’s book “Charlotte’s Web”?
Helen Reynolds
Melody Reynolds rides atop a team-constructed pig to open the performance at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, with assistance from Chloe McGee, Ruby Siefken and Natalie McGee.
“We had her fall in love with Wilbur, in a very romantic connection,” Melody Reynolds explained. “And then we also had Charlotte fall in love with Wilbur. And then Fern kills Charlotte so that Charlotte can’t be involved with Wilbur.”
And that’s the truth, according to the ghost of Charlotte the Spider.
Melody and four of her 2017-18 classmates at Mellon Middle School in Mt. Lebanon, plus one who is ready to start sixth grade there, teamed up to create the slanted scenario for their project in the Odyssey of the Mind creative problem-solving program.
Their efforts, which started even before last school year began, earned them a trip to the program’s World Finals, where they finished 12th among 60 teams overall in their age division and second for style points.
“The problem is basically that you have to take this classic book, and then you have one of the characters who is saying, ‘Well, this is written in the book, but that’s not actually how it happened,'” Mellon team member Natalie McGee said.
That’s the premise of a skit they developed completely on their own, as per Odyssey of the Mind rules, and it took them through state and regional competitions prior to meeting the to teams from around the globe.
Spending a few last moments with their props are, front from left, Chloe McGee and Ruby Siefken; back, Nikki LaSota, Leah Vuillemot, coach Kerry McGee, Natalie McGee and Melody Reynolds. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)
“They had to build the set, the costumes, the props,” their coach and Natalie’s mother, Dr. Kerry McGee, said. “And within the skit, they had to have scenes from the book, and they had to have scenes that were behind the scenes of the book.”
Her daughter Chloe, who was attending Stephen Foster Elementary School at the time, also was on the team, as were Nikki LaSota, Ruby Siefken and Leah Vuillemot. They will attend Mt. Lebanon High School this coming year, along with Natalie and Melody.
Their project started in the summer of 2017, when they had only a vague notion of the types of Odyssey of the Mind problems that would be assigned to solve. An early idea – it came from “The Iliad,” but close enough to “The Odyssey” – was to construct a Trojan horse.
From left, Melody Reynolds, Chloe McGee and Nikki LaSota get ready for the skit. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)
When the girls received the five pages containing 40 criteria outlining “Problem 3: Classics … Mockumentary! Seriously?”, they selected “Charlotte’s Web” from among other children’s literature choices primarily because they all were familiar with the story. And so the Trojan horse became a giant pig, to serve as the focal point of their skit.
Along the way, they decided not only to employ original music, but after Bart Hopkins’ book “Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making,” to be original in that regard, as well. The concept they incorporated involved using metal pipes for a xylophone-type contraption.
And so they went to a home-improvement store.
“We walked around the gas pipe aisle with a bunch of mallets,” Melody said. “We had rubber ones. We had soft ones. We had wooden ones. And we banged around on these pipes. We were so loud.”
From left, Nikki LaSota, Melody Reynolds and Ruby Siefken put a new spin on “Charlotte’s Web.” (Photo by Helen Reynolds)
After making a purchase, Melody worked on cutting pipes to lengths of various pitches, and the instrument eventually was fashioned to look like a carnival wheel. Because their “Charlotte’s Web” adaptation was set at a state fair, Ruby also fashioned a popcorn machine that made corn-popping sounds without any kernels.
Unfortunately, all the props promptly went into a Dumpster following the World Finals. It was one thing to rent a truck to drive the materials 12 hours to the finals’ site at the University of Iowa. It would have been quite another to haul them back to Mt. Lebanon.
The end of an era (Photo by Helen Reynolds)
The girls, though, retain their pride in doing so well – they also won the Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award at the Pennsylvania competition – and they’re paying their Odyssey of the Mind experience forward by conducting an instructional camp July 23-26 for youngsters who are looking to give the program a try.
“They say that nobody can really understand Odyssey of the Mind until you go to a tournament,” said McGee, a pediatrician. “You hear the girls talking about it, and it’s all these pieces that seem so disconnected. But you see it all come together at the tournament, and it makes sense.”
For more information about Odyssey of the Mind, visit www.odysseyofthemind.com.
Enjoying their visit to Ames, Iowa, are, from left, Ruby Siefken, Nikki LaSota, Nataie McGree, Leah Vuillemot, Chloe McGee and Melody Reynolds. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)