Week 1 Email

Week 1 email:

Hi parents and team members!

Welcome to Odyssey of the Mind 2014. I'm very excited to be coaching our team this year and I'm looking forward to having fun and learning new things along with our kids.

A little bit about me. I am one of those rare creatures, a Florida native!  Born in Orlando, moved around a lot as a military brat, then settled in Tallahassee when I started High School. I graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelors of Science in Library and Information Studies.  Our family moved to Wesley Chapel in 2004 and really love the area. 

I currently work full-time from 10a-3p (downtown) & 7p-11p (from home) M-F as a compliance specialist for Ultimate Medical Academy.  I create and verify that all student facing documents (catalog, website, learning system etc.) are all compliant with our state/federal regulations. In addition, I also handle all of the reporting of school data to the federal agencies. My husband and I are also starting an IT consulting business, and we have a few clients, so that takes up the majority of my "free" time. 

I spent two years as a Daisy Scout leader and one year as a co-leader to a brownie troop.  The only experience that I have with Odyssey of the Mind is my youngest daughters (Lauren) team last year. They did great and I really enjoyed watching the kids come up with such creative solutions to problems all on their own.

I know that we all have very  busy schedules but I'm counting on the parents to help me out.  I will be having surgery at some point in the next few months, and will be unable to walk for a week or two.  I'll be depending on you guys to help pick up the slack. I simply won't be able to do it all myself.  We have a lot of animals. To say that my girls are animal lovers, would be an understatement. Currently residing in our house are: Rocky the standard poodle, Coconut the cat, Skunk the mouse, Walnut the hamster and Spunky the rat. If you or your child are afraid of or allergic to animals, please let me know.  The cat resides outside for the most part, and the dog is friendly, but I'm happy to do what I can to make everyone comfortable. 

I would anticipate that most of our planning meetings will be one hour or so. When we get closer to the tournament, additional meetings may be necessary.  The best way to get in touch with me is by email at cary@carywright.com

Please read the information at the following link. It is an introduction to your responsibilities and goals as an OOTM parent.  http://www.vaodyssey.org/vao.cgim?template=parent_guidelines&menu_item=teams

The next link is the OOTM program guide and contains a lot of information. http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/downloads/programguide.pdf

For the first meeting, I will need at least one parent from each family to stay and participate during the meeting. After that, you are welcome to drop off your child unless you are assistant coaching or you just want to hang around to help out.

• I will need at least one, maybe two assistant coaches. Please volunteer to help!
• One parent will need to be an official on tournament day. Training in January or February is provided and I will give you those dates when I have them.
• One parent will need to be a volunteer on Tournament day. This is the position that I had last year. You never know where you will be. I ended up manning the bouncy house for three (very cold) hours in the morning.

∗ Odyssey of the Mind costs - how much the team may spend and how it will be funded? The Cost limit for our long term project is $125.00.   Please see the program guide for a more detailed explination of costs related to the long term problem.

Costs from the meetings are not included in the $125.00 limit. I expect each family to provide snacks and drinks for a few meetings. We will discuss how meeting related costs will be covered during our first meeting.  Our options are to either pay a set amount up front and the coach will stay within that budget for the meetings, or each family will be responsible for providing the materials needed for 3 meetings. I am currently planning the meetings out and should know exactly what will be needed by next week.  I plan to email out a list of everything that will be needed for spontanious problems, and am hoping that everyone has something laying around the house that they can contribute for free.  I would like to keep the costs down for each everyone, as much as possible.

∗ Date and location of regional meet - March 8, 2014 at TE Weighman Middle School. Mandatory attendance!

* The long term project is "Seeing is Believing" In this problem teams are to create and present an original performance about a community that feels threatened by something in a location it has never visited. The community townspeople will use a creative method to select one or more Travelers to visit and explore the location. While at the location, a Traveler will use a means of communication to send a message home to convince the community that there is nothing to fear. The performance will also include a narrator character, two rhymes about the travels, and a moving set piece.  More specific information about the long term project will be discussed upon receipt of the packet from OOTM.  We will not be discussing or working on our long term project for the first two weeks. We will be focusing on teamwork and creativity.

Week 1 Meeting Plan

• Ice Breaker Game
• Set goals, expectations & rules
• Spontaneous Problem
• Snack
• (kids) Come up with a team name & logo 
• (parents) Schedule meeting times, review snack/drink assignments, figure out meeting costs & collect contact and emergency contact information for each team member
• Hands on Spontaneous problem

I am looking forward to meeting you and having fun on our Odyssey.

Cary Wright

813-333-3056