Bullard Elementary School's Odyssey of the Mind team is heading to the World Finals where the students will match their wit and creativity against teams from other states and countries.

The team has been working all year to prepare for the competition, a creative thinking program which serves kids from kindergarten through college in the United States and in 25 other countries.

The students are required to develop their own theme, script, characters and props to solve one of six problems in eight minutes or less. Bullard's team chose to compete in the Ooh-Motional Vehicle category, which requires students to design, build and drive a vehicle that must travel a course and encounter three different situations. The vehicle must display a different human emotion for each encounter, with one causing it to travel in reverse. Emphasis is placed on the technical risk-taking and creativity of the vehicle's engineering for travel and its change of emotional appearance.

Bullard's team consists of 5th graders Ashley Jais, Carlie Wilson, Nick Watson, Gerry Parkinson, Hannah Forehand and Reese Shipman. They are coached by Lyn and Shawn Shipman. The team placed 2nd at the Regional Competition held in Flowery Branch on March 3, then went on to win the state competition in Columbus on April 14. 

Now, the students are preparing for World, where they will represent the state of Georgia in Ames, IA at the end of May.

For more information about Odyssey of the Mind, visit www.georgiaodyssey.org.