By Nick Sestanovich
As part of the Odyssey of the Mind competition, seven Benicia Middle Schoolers have been working to think outside the box. That type of thinking will take them outside the state when they participate in the World Finals in May.
Odyssey of the Mind is an internationally sponsored competition for students ranging from kindergarteners to college pupils that blends academic education with creative, out-of-the-box thinking. The goal is to bring students together through teamwork as they solve problems.This year, two teams from Benicia participated but only one from BMS— consisting of seventh-grader Aidan Schultz and eighth-graders Aidan Torres, Aly Diaw, Blake Harris, Michael Cerna, Jacob Knott and Jonah Tillotson and coached by Amy Cerna and Carrie Todd— will be advancing to the World Finals at Michigan State University. It all began with the Regional Competition, which was held March 4 at Concord High School and El Dorado Middle School in Concord. From there, they were able to advance to the State Competition at Heritage High School in Brentwood on March 25 and then finally to the World Finals, which Todd said had never happened before.