Hard at work since October, Lehighton High School's Odyssey of the Mind team saw all the hours pay off recently as it qualified for the state tournament to be held April 1 at Moon Area High School near Pittsburgh.

The team qualified by placing third at the Northeast Regional competition on March 11 at Pocono Mountain West High School.The Northeast region includes Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties."I am so proud of this team," said adviser Beth Hudlow."Every member is very vested in the success of the team. They have been working since October on the solution to their problem. The time and energy the kids contribute is incredible. The opportunity to compete at the state level is something this team has dreamed about so moving on is an exciting and emotional experience."Students participating in Odyssey of the Mind have to apply science, art, drama and creativity to the solution of a long-term and spontaneous problem. This year's long-term problem involved building a balsa wood structure that would support weight. In addition, the students designed a skit, complete with sets and costumes, that would incorporate the placing of weights on the structure and included a story about precision.Team members include Lindsey Bowman, Grace Obert, Ashton George, Samantha Smalley, Victor McCandless, Mary Wilhelm and Joshua Pickerin.Members of the team said teamwork and patience are the key to success.Smalley and McCandless built the balsa structure."We had two pieces that were too long at weigh-in," they said. "We had to make last-minute changes to the structure to meet the set standards."A portion of the competition included spontaneous problems. These are challenges the team must complete in a very short amount of time without having seen the problem first. The team is scored on the creativity of their solution.Students are preparing for the state competition by eating a lot of cheese puffs."We need the containers for one of our props," they added. "We're also fixing our set and practicing our skit."The team is made up of mostly underclassmen, meaning this year's successes could translate well for the future."Many of the students on this team are juniors and the state experience will be a positive influence when they are back at the regional competition next year," Hudlow said.