When I was younger, I was simply unconfident. I didn’t know how to stand up for myself or my ideas, and I never even felt confident in my own thoughts…
Now I choose to live assertively, being polite but firm with who I am and what I believe. This change didn’t happen overnight, and it was hard to let go of being a pushover. I’m still not completely where I want to be, and I will keep working towards my goals.
There were a couple of activities that sculpted my confidence and showed me how my ideas had merit, but the most prominent one was OOTM.
Oddysey of the Mind is a program all about confidence, creativity, and critical thinking skills. I had the opportunity to participate in it throughout middle school and even made it to the world finals. Sadly, that was the year COVID hit, and the event was canceled. Regardless, OOTM allowed me to conquer my fear of public speaking and taught me how to communicate my ideas to a group without fear of criticism.
This past year, as a junior in highschool who has experienced the vast impacts of OOTM, I wanted to give back to the same community that nurtured my growth. I signed up to mentor for a team at my old middle school, and their problem was all about… technology. I first guided them to join a fun robotics challenge in the fall, and they loved it. As they worked together to build their robot from scratch and eventually defeated many teams in the final matches, they saw a vision for their skit. A robot that can disassemble a sculpture and put it back together in a different way…
Using the skills from the robotics challenge (MiniFRC), they drafted a plan and went on to build the robot. Whenever they were stuck, I was there to provide a hint. Something I learned from teaching these motivated kids was never to give the answer to the problem, but rather give a pointer instead. This way they can learn for themselves how to solve the issue, and do it again next time by themselves.
As they won first place at regionals and states, they qualified for the OOTM World Finals in Des Moines, Iowa! As their mentor I joined them on the journey, and here are some photos:
the team dancing to the YMCA!
Additionally, Sarika Bansal invited the team in to congratulate them on the wins and encourage them to keep learning and never give up. I’m so glad our government representatives are so involved in their community, it is truly awe-inspiring! 🙂
At world finals, I saw the beauty of gracious professionalism once more. From teams selflessly helping competitors fix their props before the skit, to pin trading 24/7 at the convention center, it was amazing. I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of this team’s journey, and help them each grow in their own way.
They placed 14th in their division, and I couldn’t be more proud.