Odyssey Alumni around the world have continued solving problems using the creativity and divergent thinking skills learned during their time in Odyssey of the Mind. Below, enjoy reading a few success stories, and let us know of other alumni accomplishments using the form provided! We would love to feature more successful alumni around the world!
ODYSSEY STORIES
#ODYSSEYSTORIES
Odyssey Alum: Dr. Mary Killackey
Profession: Chair of the Department of Surgery, Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery and Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Tulane University Medical center
Dr. Killackey always knew she wanted to become a doctor, and to her, "medicine is problem solving all the time, and I am an obsessed problem solver." After many years competing and several trips to world finals, Dr. Killackey attended Columbia College were she obtained her undergraduate and doctorate degrees. Since then, she has applied her skills to become an accomplished surgeon, professor, and department leader, currently working at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Check out the videos below for how Odyssey of the Mind has impacted Dr. Killackey's career, her thoughts on creativity in the field of medicine, and much more!
Odyssey Alum: Dr. Eric Corndorf
Profession: VP of Research and Development - Mechanical Circulatory Support and Heart Failure, Medtronic
Eric grew up tinkering, and Odyssey of the Mind was a perfect outlet for his inventing. He with his team members built elaborate and technical solutions to Odyssey of the Mind problems, earning Ranatra Fuscas and World Finals medals. He attended the University of Michigan where he majored in electrical engineering and then obtained his PhD from Northwestern University in electrical engineering, studying quantum optics and quantum cryptography (he's a smart guy!)
Eric has spent his career at Medtronic, on of the world's largest medical device manufactures. In his roles he has developed numerous medical devices which save lives and provide crucial diagnostic information to doctors. He has worked on and submitted numerous patents and enjoys leading teams to solve complex problems.
Odyssey Alum: Vanessa Richards
Profession: Broadcast Meteorologist
Association: New York
From a small town in the heart of central New York, Vanessa Richards was a young girl with a big problem when she first joined Odyssey: she was painfully shy. Vanessa found her voice and came out of her shell and was hooked on the program ever since! She participated in mainly the technical problems, and her passion for technology, public speaking, and entertaining was soon born. She stayed in the program from 5th grade until she graduated high school then went on to judge at the New York State Finals the follow year. Vanessa has been a broadcast meteorologist at Spectrum News for 7 years forecasting for CNY, but she can also be seen in New York City and Los Angeles. Odyssey gave Vanessa the confidence to find her voice, and she hasn't been quiet since!
Odyssey Alum: Lyndsey Wheeler
Profession: Entrepreneur / CEO-Founder
Lyndsey Wheeler loved problem solving from an early age and during COVID applied her skillset to found Supernow, a platform for live, interactive learning adventures for kids (think Sesame Street where kids at home can interact with Elmo). Just like solving a long-term problem, Lyndsey and her co-founder have adapted and iterated with their business as different challenges arose.
Her journey shows how Odyssey of the Mind can shape a skillset used by entrepreneurs and businesspeople as they tackle challenges like product-market fit, pricing, and team management.
Odyssey Alum: Sydney Skybetter
Profession: Deputy Dean of the College for Curriculum and Co-Curriculum at Brown University, Senior Affiliate of metaLAB at Harvard University, Regular contributor to WIRED and Dance Magazine
"I make robots dance." Now that's not something you hear often when you ask someone what they do for a living! Sydney Skybetter is a professor, choreographer, and one of the leading thinkers on the intersection of dance and emerging technologies. Sydney credits the start of his interdisciplinary work to Odyssey of the Mind long term problems where he and his team built robots that danced, moved, and sang.
In our interview, he also speaks of finding a community on his Odyssey team of like-minded individuals, yet each person had very different talents and skillsets. Feeling encouraged to specialize in what he was good at - choreography and dance - on a team of very technical people set the stage for the rest of his career.
Odyssey Alum: Dave Suffern
Profession: Senior Engineering Manager, Sierra Space
Dave learned to weld on his middle school Odyssey of the Mind team while building a Problem 1 vehicle, and the following Christmas, he received his first welding set as a gift. A few years later, Dave was one of the lead engineers working with NASA to design and build the Curiosity Mars Rover. Dave credits his love of tinkering and building originating with Odyssey of the Mind.
In his career as an engineer with Caterpillar, Boeing, and Sierra Space, Dave has utilized the skills he developed in Odyssey of the Mind. While the budgets might differ slightly between the P1 vehicle problem and NASA, the themes of creativity, problem solving, and prototyping still apply.
Odyssey Alum: Sarah Krasley
Profession: Entrepreneur / CEO-Founder
Sarah is an internationally recognized expert in digital transformation in manufacturing and use technology to make manufacturing systems better. She is the founder and CEO of Shimmy where she team and her team build digital, game-based trainings to help machine operators work more efficiently and upskill to keep pace with the rate of change in automation.
Odyssey of the Mind had a transformative impact on Sarah's life, providing her an opportunity in middle school to shine and build confidence in an environment that appreciated creative problem-solving and teamwork. This experience allowed her to realize her potential for generating innovative ideas and effectively collaborating with others, which was a significant departure from the experiences she faced with standardized testing and classroom performance.
Odyssey Alum: Stefan Hübner
Profession: Senior Advisor, German Federal Ministry of Food & Agriculture
Association: Germany
After finishing his education as a lawyer at the University of Potsdam and the Higher Regional Court of the State of Brandenburg, Stefan Hübner was hired by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Berlin. After working at the consumer department for 4 years, he currently holds the position of a Senior Advisor within the international department of the ministry. There, he is responsible for bilateral contacts Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The experience he gained at countless Odyssey of the Mind Eurofests and World Finals as a participant, organizer and judge helps him dealing with international relations. He is still involved with Odyssey of the Mind as the Association Director for Germany and as a World Finals judge.
Odyssey Alum: Betsy Schow
Profession: Author
Association: West Virginia
Betsy Schow, who lived for "Odyssey time" in her gifted and talented program in elementary school, used her talent in Spontaneous to become a internationally published author. Her work and story have been featured on the TODAY Show, Wall St. Journal and news radio. Her latest book, Spelled, is being hailed for it's creativity and clever twists. With her Odyssey training, it's no surprise she learned to see characters, plots, and settings in a fresh way that no one else would. Now she visits schools in between projects and she passes on those skills to next generation of writers--by bringing a Spontaneous verbal problem or two to get the ball rolling.
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Odyssey Alum: [Your Name Here]
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Help us populate this page by providing Odyssey Alumni success stories using the form below. We are interested in hearing our alumni's accomplishments from all walks of life -- from neuroscience to non-profits, athletics to architecture, healthcare to helping -- successful Omers are everywhere and we want to hear each and every story!