When the 2026 Florida Odyssey of the Mind State Competition opened its doors in Orlando this April, Plato Academy was ready. Teams from the Clearwater, Pinellas Park, and St. Petersburg campuses had earned their spots at the state level after a competitive regional showing back in February, and they arrived prepared to prove it.
Odyssey of the Mind is no ordinary academic competition. Students are challenged to solve complex, open-ended problems that demand original thinking, collaborative strategy, and the kind of disciplined creativity that cannot be coached into a student overnight. It has to be earned, practiced, and genuinely believed in.
A Standout Finish from Clearwater
Among the highlights of the day, the Problem 4 Structure Team from Plato Academy Clearwater, accompanied by the teacher Ms. Taylor Donze who prepared them for the program, delivered a performance that drew particular recognition. Composed entirely of third and fourth grade students, the team earned a 5th place overall finish in a field of competitors representing top schools from across Florida. That result placed them just outside the top three spots that qualify teams for advancement to the World Finals in Iowa City, Iowa, making their achievement all the more remarkable given the caliber of competition around them.
Representing Plato Academy with Distinction
All three competing campuses approached the event with the spirit of arete, the classical Greek pursuit of excellence in all its forms, that sits at the core of Plato Academy’s educational philosophy. Whether students placed on the podium or not, every team demonstrated the critical thinking, cooperative problem-solving, and creative confidence that define a Plato Academy education at its best.
The 2026 state competition shows what students can accomplish when they are given the space to think boldly, the structure to work as a team, and the encouragement to compete at the highest level available to them.
Congratulations to every Odyssey of the Mind scholar who took the floor in Orlando this spring. The Plato Academy community is proud of every one of you.
State competition results: https://www.floridaodysseyofthemind.com/tournamentresults
