News briefs from throughout the county

WINDSOR

Six student teams in the Windsor Unified School District are heading for the “Odyssey of the Mind” state championship competition at UC Riverside this month.

The international OM program provides students from kindergarten through college with creative problem solving challenges that range from building mechanical devices to interpreting literary classics.

Seventy teams competed in the region that includes Windsor. Six of the seven Windsor teams, each comprised of seven students, finished first or second and advanced in the regional round to the state championship competition.

In the “Pandora’s Box” division 3 challenge, a Windsor High School team placed first for putting a video game spin on the story of Pandora’s Box, the Greek myth that explains how curiosity caused all the illness and hardships of the world except hope to escape a box.

Two Cali Calmecac teams won first place for “Runaway Train” and “Lose Your Marbles” in division 2, and a third team won second place. Windsor Middle School’s team won second place for “Lose Your Marbles.”

In the “Runaway Train” challenge, students design, build and operate one or more vehicles that overcome hills and other obstacles as they travel on tracks and stop at stations without touching the floor.

In “Lose Your Marbles,” students design, build and test a structure of balsa wood and glue that will balance and support the weight of five marbles.

Another Windsor Middle School team placed second in division 2 for “Experiencing Technical Difficulties,” in which teams created a theme and technical failures were resolved by completing tasks.

Windsor High School’s Odyssey team coach Mark Kuklinski said there are many costs involved in sending 42 students to Riverside on March 28, including travel, lodging and transportation of the sets.

Heather Cullen, Odyssey of the Mind coach for the three schools, said other teams from throughout the state are buying up the hotel rooms in the Riverside area, and the Windsor teams must make reservations quickly.

Cullen is arranging two bake sales in front of Wal-Mart on March 14 and 21, and she is hoping the Windsor school district can provide a donation or a bus for the trip. Three adults, including a coach, will accompany the students to Riverside.

“I am thrilled for these children. They come from every economic situation and learning ability possible, and they are so excited,” Cullen said.

“This will be an awesome opportunity to have the students on a UC campus, mingling with some of the brightest and creative minds in California.”

James Lanaras

CLOVERDALE

Award-winning author Roy Parvin will teach a 10-week Fiction Writers’ Workshop beginning Monday at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Blvd. Modeled on graduate-level workshops at the famed Iowa Writers’ Workshop, classes will focus on the presentation and critique of each student’s work.

Discussions and writing exercises will explore various aspects of the craft, including plot, voice, description, character development and dialogue. Students should have at least one complete story or freestanding piece of a longer work up to 20 pages long, ready for critique.

Classes meet from 7-9:30 p.m. Mondays through May 4. Cost is $300. Info: rpwritersworkshop@gmail.com, 894-4410. Apply at cloverdaleartsalliance.org.

Mary Jo Winter

ROHNERT PARK

Preview the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s spring courses and meet the instructors at free open houses being offered in Rohnert Park, Oakmont and Healdsburg. The Institute, based on the Sonoma State University campus.

Classes are for adults 50 or older, about topics that will include Russian Music, the Antebellum South, the Grateful Dead and Sex and Gender. More info: sonoma.edu/exed/olli.

Rohnert Park courses: 9:30-11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Person Theater, SSU campus.

Healdsburg courses: 3-5 p.m. March 10 at Villa Chanticleer.

Oakmont courses: 3-5 p.m. March 11, Berger Center.

GEYSERVILLE

“Bring Art to the Table,” a luncheon and silent auction to raise money for the Geyserville Educational Foundation, is planned for May 2. Now organizers are looking for the tables.

Local school children and their parents will make, decorate or restructure “found” tables for the auction. Exceptional Wood Products is restructuring a 20-foot redwood table found in the Silver Oak Winery, and custom-made tables are being crafted by Todd Petersen and Country Industrial.

Contact Alina Vanoni Collin, 857-3592, for more info. Tickets are $100 at Bosworth’s General Store, 857-3463.

Deborah Rust