Creative Problem-Solving Through Odyssey of the Mind
At Publicis Health, public service and supporting the people and communities where we live and work are essential tenets of what we believe. April is National Volunteer Month, an opportunity for each of us to give back in ways big and small. Throughout April, we’re happy to share volunteer stories of team members from across Publicis Health.
Nicholas Pankiewicz, Vice President, Group Director Technology & PH Veeva Center of Excellence Lead at Digitas Health, shares his experiences volunteering with Odyssey of the Mind.
Tell us a bit about your volunteering work …
My volunteer day (and several other vacation days) are spent volunteering for Odyssey of the Mind, an international creative problem-solving competition for kindergarten through 12th grade students. I am lucky to serve as the New Jersey chapter’s Association Director, where I lead the state organization and its board of directors. In New Jersey, Odyssey of the Mind has four tournaments a year—three regional competitions and a State Finals—where teams of up to seven kids craft an eight-minute presentation that satisfies the criteria of one of six problems. These problems span the gamut from “build a vehicle for two students to ride on, using two different propulsion systems and resembles a pirate boat to collect a ‘team-created treasure’ ” to “create an original musical that’s a short biography of a ‘lesser-known historical figure’ and features several team-created musical numbers, costumes, and set pieces” to my favorite, “build an eight-inch structure out of 15 grams of balsa wood and glue that we’ll pile weights on top of during competition to see how many hundreds of pounds of weight it can hold.” The teams are mostly scored on how creatively they can interpret and present their solution. I’ve been volunteering for Odyssey of the Mind for more than 15 years because I am constantly amazed by what these kids come up with.
Where did you spend your volunteer day?
In 2022, I spent my volunteer day preparing for the NJ State Finals at Princeton High School. It was our first full-blown, all-day competition since the pandemic (we did several virtual ones in 2021, and heavily modified ones for the regionals in 2022), so we had a lot to prepare for the 70 teams to show up at Princeton High School on that Saturday in April.
How did you initially get involved with your volunteer organization?
When I was in high school, I competed in Odyssey of the Mind for four years and fell in love with the program as a competitor. Each team is required to provide a volunteer to be trained as a judge, so I was able to get my father to volunteer, where he started judging the structure problem. As a civil engineer himself, he greatly enjoyed being able to chat and interact with incipient engineers of all ages. So, when I graduated college, he convinced me to come and volunteer judge with him, and I did so. Shortly thereafter, having landed a job as a website developer, I offered to take over developing the New Jersey Odyssey of the Mind website, which was sorely in need of help. This eventually landed me on a spot on the New Jersey state board, and nearly 20 years later, I’m still doing it and enjoying every minute!
What have you learned from your volunteering experience?
Volunteering for Odyssey of the Mind has been an amazing experience. Every year, I am surprised by at least one thing that a team comes up with to solve their problems, and I have learned to always expect the unexpected! But beyond that, Odyssey of the Mind has really helped me with my creative problem-solving skills—being able to look outside of the box to find “a third way” to solve any given problem. Which has been a huge help both personally and professionally as almost every day we’re presented with a problem of some sort!
How can others get involved with your volunteer organization?
I’ve been volunteering for Odyssey of the Mind at the state level every year for almost 20 years now and have been volunteering at the annual World Finals for 15 years. To join me in volunteering, I recommend visiting the New Jersey website at www.njootm.org or e-mailing our general inquiries address at [email protected].
Odyssey of the Mind also has chapters across the United States that are also always looking for volunteers as well—from just a day or two as a volunteer judge at a tournament to more involved stints on their state organizations. Information for those state chapters can be found on the international website. Odyssey Alumni can also register with the international alumni organization to be put in contact with their former or current state chapters. Hope to see you at a tournament soon!