On Feb. 24, seven Northampton Area School District teams competed in the northeast regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament.

Odyssey of the Mind is a team-based creativity competition incorporating many skills and talents. The program is an international educational program whose mission is to provide creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Through solving open-ended problems, students develop creative-thinking skills that can be applied to real-life situations. Teams from throughout the United States and more than 20 other countries participate in the program.

Students learn the real work-world skills of defining the problem, developing many possible solutions and establishing criteria to evaluate the process. They then decide, as a group, how to implement their solution in a creative way. Not only do they learn what is required, but they also learn to budget time, resources and materials.

Teams from Moore Elementary School, Northampton Area Middle School and Northampton Area High School will be advancing to the state level April 6 at Pocono Mountain East High School.