They were about to announce the names of the winners. I sat passively with my team among hundreds of students. Of course I hoped they would win, but competition was so strong, I didn’t know if we stood a chance.
Our Odyssey of the Mind team worked hard all year with their two coaches. I brought them into the cafeteria for a thirty or forty minute work on a portion of their challenge. The part I worked with and their seven minute play would compete with schools from all over the region. It would be tough.
In the vast auditorium which was filled to capacity, we waited. One of our team members, a small, bright, boy asked me if he could sit in the aisle. “Well,” I answered hesitantly, “You can, but be careful you don’t get run over.” The child nodded.
“Why do you want to sit there?” I asked him.
“So I can be closer to run up to the stage when they call our school’s name,” he answered.
I sighed thinking…I hope he won’t be disappointed.
They called out the winners at the high school level, then the winners at the middle school level and finally the winners at the elementary level. “Schanen Elementary, Number One!”
The student sitting in the aisle ran fast and reached the stage before any of the rest of us. We screamed and jumped up and down and accepted the award. Our students yelled and clapped and the student who had been sitting in the aisle smiling confidently said to me, “I knew we would win.”
I should have known, also. Cheers for confidence and faith.
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