The first-ever HSPS Odyssey of the Mind team performed spectacularly in Savannah yesterday. 

To give you a little background on scoring:  each team is scored independently, then after all performances have completed, the judges reconvene and scale each score to ensure that teams are truly ranked according to skill and creativity. 

After scaling, the HSP team scored as follows:

In the long-term problem, the team scored a perfect 200 out of 200 possible points, which is very rare.   The next closest competitor scored a 176/200.  The team also scored a perfect 50/50 for creative style points.  In the second area of competition, the Spontaneous problem (which is a timed improvisational exercise), the team scored 94.55 points out of 100 possible (it is worth noting that the original score assigned was 104/100, but since two teams scored over the 100 point limit, the scores were then scaled down instead of up).  The final point total was 324.55 out of 350 possible, after a 20 point penalty was assessed - the team was 34 seconds over time, and thus penalized.  This penalty dropped them to second place in the high school division, with the 1st place winner a mere two points ahead.  This 2nd place score was enough to propel our team into the State Finals in Columbus, GA, in early April.

HOWEVER.....

That's not even the best part!   In Odyssey of the Mind competition, there is a very special award given to only the most spectacular performances.  It is called the Ranatra Fusca award, and is described as Odyssey of the Mind's most prestigious award.  The award is so rare that any team earning it may advance directly to state finals, regardless of how they placed the rest of the day.

Holy Spirit won it.

The participants were:

Amy Dixon

Emily Dixon

Janie Janeczko

Marilyn Lapu

Catherine Lennon

Charlie Martin

Sam Rodriguez

Parent Coach:  Patti Janeczko
Long-Term Problem Coach:  Tommy Curtin

Spontaneous Coach:  Claudette LeBlanc

CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS IMPRESSIVE 1^ST SHOWING!