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Local softballer looks to impress in debut season leading Wells College By Steve Lawrence W ell those 10 years sure went by fast…

Back in the summer 2010, I was traipsing around the state watching travel softball, and my daughter had a teammate named Taylor Policay. I had been friends with Taylor’s dad, Tom (who played football at Ithaca College, taught in the Ithaca City Schools and has coached extensively), and given Tom’s gregarious nature, I assumed Taylor would have a lot to say. I was wrong. She smiled a lot, listened a lot, and she used that stored up energy to just smash the holy hell out of the ball.

I saw Taylor play high school ball at Lansing (class of 2012) where she was All-IAC in softball and basketball, and I was pleased that she would play at TC3. I love covering local athletes in collegiate sports, and it wasn’t long before Policay got her bearings at the next level. She starting cranking home runs on a regular basis, and she hit nine out of the park as a freshman. She set a record with two bombs in a playoff game, and she would finish with 14 homers in her two years as a Panther.

After TC3, Taylor went to SUNY Cortland and played club softball, choosing to focus instead on academics. As a senior, she did an internship at Wells College (during which time the college was putting the pieces in place to restart their softball program), and as a first-year graduate student at Cortland, she served as an assistant at Wells. She served in that capacity until head coach Erin Walstenholme took an assistant coaching job at Shenedoah University in Virginia. When Walstenholme made that move, Mike Lindberg, Wells College’s Athletic Director elevated Policay to the head coaching position, saying in a press release, “Her commitment to the players and dedication to teaching makes Coach Policay an excellent fit with the Wells College community."

I caught up with Coach Policay at Instant Replay Sports (where she has worked part-time for several years) and I asked her about the program’s goals for the 2020 season. “Our goal for this year,” Taylor replied, “is to be better than we were last year.”

To be sure, college programs live and die with their pitching staff, and Policay said, “Getting pitchers and catchers is always a big recruiting challenge,” and she said she has turned many of her initial efforts toward that end.

When asked about the team’s spring trip, Policay said, “We’re leaving for Myrtle Beach on March 7, and we’ll play eight games there.” She added, “I’ll be working on determining what our best lineup will be, and while I already know for the most part, I’m expecting there will some switches when we get a look at what we have.”

When the Express returns home, they will open up one day before the first day of spring, and play on March 19 and 20. There are two local players on the roster, as Southern Cayuga’s Brittany Meade returns and freshman Hannah Harmon—a former Spencer-Van Etten Panther—will be battling for playing time.

For scheduling information, visit www. wells-express.com.much

(Given my desire to stay alive, I would like to add that much of Taylor’s success can also be attributed to her mom, Barb.) ● ● ● It was a proud night for Ithaca High Athletics, as two recently-retired coaches, Frank Welch and Rich Bernstein, were inducted into the Section IV Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020.

Welch graduated from Ithaca High in 1971 and went on to coach for 42 years (he was Section IV Coach of the Year six times). His teams won 411 games, 19 Section IV Class A titles and he sent dozens of players on to play at the collegiate level. Bernstein’s boy’s and girl’s track and field teams won 29 STAC titles, and were chosen by the NYS Sportswriters Association as the eighth best team for the 1990s. Rich also sent many athletes to the next level, and he was honored to be chosen as a coach for the Maccabiah Games.

I had the pleasure of interviewing both of these stellar coaches many times, and I recall very clearly asking several college coaches about the Little Red athletes that came up through Welch and Bernstein’s programs. Every college coach said the same thing: That those players came in with the physical skills and mental toughness to make valuable contributions to their teams. • Taylor Policay receives the ball during her time as a TC3 Panther. (Photo provided) Brad Yentzer, MD, FAAD Dermatologist Finger Lakes Dermatology 607-708-1330 fingerlakesderm.com 2141 Dryden Road Freeville, NY 13068 Our Services: Medical Acne Rashes Excessive sweating Infections Itching Moles Rosacea Skin cancer, including Melanoma Urticaria (hives) Comprehensive Patch testing for contact allergy Surgical: Skin biopsies and cancer surgery Cyst removal Mole removal Now open in our new location! Route 13 between Ithaca and Dryden. Accepting new patients. All ages. Most insurance.

BusinessTimes

Pastimes moves down the hall, but better. Gemm Shop continues its charitable run. Business Index - Local Economy looking up

Bigger and Better

LEGENDARY PASTIMES MORE THAN DOUBLES ITS SIZE By Matt Butler A longtime DeWitt Mall staple has changed its location over the last few weeks, as Pastimes Antiques Store has moved down the hallway to a larger space in the main corridor of the Cayuga Street shopping center.

Owner Rebecca Stocking said Pastimes completed the move during February, taking over the space formerly occupied by the Bookery before the bookstore closed down. The new space is about two and a half times as large as the old spot, she estimated.

Stocking bought the store from longtime owner Adam Perl in June 2018. At the time, she didn’t plan on expansion. Laughing, she calls the recent change a bit of an “impulse move,” but that it’s gone well so far.

“I was just always feeling really cramped in there,” she said. “I just decided I would take the chance. I like it, I feel a little bit uneasy about not being fully settled yet, but it’s good. It’s definitely more spacious.”

The old location, which was in a small space down a side hallway off the north entrance of DeWitt Mall, limited the business, she said. If someone wanted to come in with a stroller or a wheelchair, they’d almost inevitably end up getting wedged in the entrance of the store. In the new space, much of the store’s inventory is familiar: finely-aged china lines the walls in shelves, cases of rare buttons, a box of decades-old records sits near the cash register, and the rest of the store is a menagerie of different

With the expanded area to operate, Stocking said some new aspects might be coming to the business, even beyond having substantially more room to accommodate customers. The store only closed for one day, and during that time the Pastimes staff was able to complete the majority of the move that was necessary to the new space.

“We have a lot more room for the clothes, which were very cramped,” she said. “.We have a much better dressing room, we have a back room. I have a friend who’s going to have his own space back there, that will have a bunch of different stuff. Eventually, we might get more furniture, larger things.”

At its core, though, Pastimes will remain the same. Patrons come in with trinkets they want to sell, or an interest in perusing, and Stocking sees if she can help. Even during this interview, Stocking bought a small decorative rock from a woman for $5. Small transactions like that, she said, are the bread and butter of Pastimes’ business, likely more than larger priced items ever would be.

“Pastimes has been in the DeWitt Mall for 40 years, so there’s a lot of people who come in selling the things they bought here 40 years ago,” she said. “Some people come in more because they need the money than that they have anything in particular to sell. All kinds of people come in and sell, but I also go to estate auctions, go to people’s houses for a house call, etc.” • Rebecca Stocking, owner of Pastimes, behind the counter at the new location. She

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Gemm Shop TRUMANSBURG’S FAVE MAKES A BUSINESS OUT OF GIVING BACK By Jaime Cone H ow does a store as unique as the Gemm Shop, with its 50-year history and reliance on a volunteer staff, adopt its model for the 21st Century and not only survive but continue to thrive? The key lies in the volunteers. Members of the store’s board of directors said the tireless community members who donate their time are dedicated to the store, believe in its mission, and make the Gemm Shop possible.

The Gemm Shop, now a local fixture of Trumnsburg’s downtown, was established five decades ago by creative local mothers as a temporary way to raise money for new high school band uniforms. It has now grown into a full-fledged secondhand goods enterprise selling clothes, shoes, jewelry, knick-knacks, books, linens, blankets and other gently used donated and consigned items. The nonprofit still gives all of the proceeds back to local causes. On Feb. 27, the store held a ribbon cutting to celebrate a successful 50 years.

Though the volunteers are the Gemm Shop’s biggest asset, there have been times when attracting enough of them has been the store’s biggest challenge. Currently, though, volunteer energy is at a high. “We now have a new, really vibrant crew of people,” said Karen Powers, chair of the Gemm Shop Board of Directors. That could be due in part to the shop’s inviting policies around volunteering. “I think it does help if people feel like they can drop by for half an hour or 40 minutes if they have some time,” Powers said. In order to accommodate people’s schedules, in recent years the store went from doing all of its price marking of items on Monday to allowing volunteers to come in on any day of the week to help out.

Located at 17 W. Main St. in Trumansburg, Gemm Shop is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. In July and August the shop is usually open until 3 p.m. on Saturdays, depending on volunteer availability. The Gemm Shop gives between 30 and 40 different monetary donations per year to local organizations, Powers said, and donates goods to about 20 different organizations. “We get some items into the shop that we can’t carry, so there’s a lot of movement of items,” Powers explained, saying that the local animal shelter, for example, receives donations of old blankets that the Gemm Shop cannot sell but the animals are more than happy to snuggle with.

“We don’t let anything go to waste,” said Powers. “We live in such a throwaway society…it’s great to see these things go to a place where they can be used.”

A publicity push over the last few years has helped to draw in more business, too, Powers said. That combined with a slight tweak to some of the store’s tactics has raised awareness of the shop, with many of the store’s efforts headed up by the Gemm Shop Board of Director’s treasurer for the last five years, Gail Zabawsky.

People come from all over the region to consign their items and browse the Gemm Shop shelves. Gemm Shop fans come from as far as Ithaca, Elmira, Alpine, Corning, Lodi, Seneca Falls and Canandaigua.

Local high school and college students have also been getting in on the thrift shop action at Gemm Shop as of late, Zabawsky has observed. All the attention may be a factor in the shop’s growing number of clientele.

“We’ve doubled our number of cosigners in the last five years, which has certainly contributed to the income of the shop,” said Powers. The Gemm Shop sends out about 150 consignment checks per quarter and currently has between 300 and 350 active consigners, said Powers. The shop receives 50 to 400 used items every day it is open.

Under Zabawsky and Powers’ leadership, the store is looking cleaner than ever these days, which Powers said makes a real difference.

“Not that the shop was ever dirty, but we’ve made a real effort in recent years to keep the store smelling good, which is important, especially when you’re dealing with consignment stuff,” Powers said. “You want to make it as appealing as possible so people enjoy shopping there.”

The store is also fortunate enough to have a landlord who keeps the Main Street rent down to a reasonable cost, Zabawsky added. “He very much believes in our mission, and as soon as we have a problem with maintenance he’s right on it,” she said. “It wouldn’t work if we had to pay the same rent as some other people.” The location is ideal because it is right across the street from a bank, so although the store does not take debit and credit cards, cash is available at the nearby ATM.

The downtown locale is also right in the center of most of Trumansburg’s largest yearly events, such as WinterFest, Porchfest and the Trumansburg Crit cycling event. The store lengthens its hours on those days and during the Grassroots music festival, which takes place just down the road every summer. Newspaper: Ithaca Times/Fingerlakes News Client: Georgia@ithacatimes.com 607-277-7000 x220

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Going antique shopping with friends is a terrific way to have some fun. You can share memories of how things used to be done. The outdated aspects of the items you see—for example, an old wringer washing machine, or hand mixer, or even a toaster that burned the toast—may cause you to marvel at how you ever lived that way. If you’re a collector, this can be a golden opportunity to add to your collection or talk to store owners about it. Sweet items, like dolls or old toys you forgot existed, will appear and make for a good story to share over lunch. Others will have stories of their own recollections that you can enjoy. There’s something to be said about the craftsmanship of an older generation when it comes to furniture, automobiles, and just about anything else that would be considered antique. By knowing what to look for in an antique, and by knowing the right people to ask, you put yourself in a position that will protect you from making a poor purchase choice. Call the marketing team at (607) 266-5300 to schedule a tour to see our facilities and learn more about lifecare at Kendal at Ithaca. Find us on the web at http://kai. kendal.org/

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ITHACA BUSINESS INDEX The Numbers Are In

A slight uptick in December ends a successful 2019

By Elia Kacapyr T he Ithaca Business Index improved 0.5 percent in December to a level of 178.22 from a revised mark of 177.29 in November. Moderate increases in employment, the labor force, retail sales, and help wanted advertising pushed the index higher. Home sales and average hours worked held back the gains. Compared to December 2018 the index was up 3.2 percent.

The number of jobs in the Ithaca metropolitan area increased by 200 to a level of 67,400 in December. All the figures in this report are seasonally adjusted so that any month can be compared with any other without regard to seasonal factors. Ithaca’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, unchanged from a month earlier. The comparable unemployment rates for New York State and the nation were 4.0 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. The size of Ithaca’s labor force increased by 100 persons to a level of 51,500. Anyone residing in Ithaca with a part-time or full-time job is in the labor force. In addition, anyone residing in Ithaca without a job, but actively seeking employment, is also included in the labor force. A larger labor force means more economic potential.

Ithaca’s retail sector improved modestly in December. Sales volume rose 1.3 percent to $161 million. Compared to December 2018 sales volume was up 1.5 percent. Add 2 percent inflation to that and holiday retail sales were up 3.5 percent in December – about what was expected. Ithaca’s retailers hired 200 seasonal workers in December.

The average work week in Ithaca shortened slightly to 33.0 hours from 33.1 hours in November. This figure is indeed an average that includes both full and part-time employees in the private sector. Compared to December 2018, the average work week was about 12 minutes longer. A longer work week is a sign of increased economic activity.

Home sales in Ithaca slipped 7.7 percent in November. This is a minor change for this volatile indicator. Comparing December 2019 to December 2018, home sales were down 22.9 percent. The median home’s price climbed over the course of the year to $231,750 from $217,000. Help wanted advertising was 19.2 percent higher in December than the previous month. Compared to December 2018, help-wanted advertising was up 57.4 percent. These are not unusual changes for this volatile indicator. The number of job postings for several online sites for Ithaca are considered.

After climbing nicely for the first half of 2019, the Ithaca Business Index has merely held steady the past six months. Still, it was a very good year for the local economy. The Ithaca Business Index shows economic growth of 3.6 percent over the course of the year.

Aside from 2017 when the economy expanded by 3.8 percent, the last year to show more than 3.0 percent growth was 1999. Let’s buy the Champagne but not uncork it just yet. Annual data revisions occur every year at this time and in the past those revisions have sometimes changed the previous perception.

In January 1985 the Ithaca Business Index stood at 100.00. In December 2019 the Index reads 178.22. This means that the Tompkins County economy has grown 78.22 percent in those 420 months. From 1985 until 1988, the Ithaca metro region grew at a rapid clip. The average annual growth rate was 5.4 percent. The Ithaca Business Index reached a peak of 130.34 in March 1989. A recession brought the Index down to a level of 110.98 in May 1992. This 36-month slide was much longer and more severe than the national recession which lasted only 8 months. Since then, the County economy has recovered, but annual growth rates of 1.5 percent are more typical these days. There was a less severe version of the Great Recession here in Ithaca that started in May 2008 and ended in July 2009. The most recent recession began in March 2014 and ended in March 2015. There was no national recession during this time, but economic activity in Ithaca fell 0.2 percent in 2014 and 1.4 percent in 2015. The Ithaca economy has been expanding since the summer of 2015. The Ithaca economy grew 2.2 percent in 2016, 3.8 percent in 2017, and 0.3 percent in 2018. The all-time high for the Ithaca Business Index is 179.58, its reading in May 2019. Shown here, Ithaca’s economy retained a rosy outlook going into 2020. Celebrate Winter with us! Serving the best Indian food in Ithaca since 1993. Dinner menu 7 days 5-10pm Beer&Wine • Catering • 106W.GreenSt. • 272-4508 • open7days New Delhi Diamond’s Thanks for choosing

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Biz Briefs Tioga State Bank’s Robert M. Fisher Nominated as Chairman-elect of Independent Community Bankers of America

Robert M. Fisher

Tioga State Bank announced that President and CEO Robert M. Fisher was nominated for the national position of Chairman-elect for the 2020-2021 Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) board of directors. ICBA’s board of directors will vote on the nominations during the 2020 ICBA national convention which will be held March 8-12 in Orlando. Fisher has been involved in ICBA for more than 11 years.

“I am pleased to continue my service to ICBA and advocate for community banking in our nation. As community bankers we are dedicated to serving our local communities, and the support of ICBA is critical to that mission,” Fisher said in an announcement. A rundown of Tompkins County’s $13.8 million in REDC awards

• Transonic Systems – global competitiveness/automated manufacturing ($220,000)

• YMCA of Ithaca – renovation to support increased childcare and community space ($1,184,000)

• Coddington Road Community Center – childcare and afterschool care expansion and modernization ($700,000)

• Enclose Cass Park Rink – ($523,269)

• Downtown Ithaca Community Conference Center – ($5,000,000)

The REDC initiative, established in 2011, is part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s strategy for economic development that is community-based and performancedriven with a goal of jumpstarting the economy and creating jobs. The initiative empowers communities, business and academic leaders, as well as members of the public in each region of the state, to develop strategic plans specifically tailored to their region’s unique strengths and resources to create jobs, improve quality of life and grow the economy. Tompkins Trust Company Promotes Michelle Hallock to Assistant Vice President, Senior Learning & Development Business Partner

responsibilities include partnering with Tompkins affiliates for hands-on training, coaching, career development, team building, and problem solving. She will continue to help individuals maximize their potential, and support Tompkins Financial’s business initiatives.

“We are thrilled for Michelle,” said Laura Geary, Vice President, Learning & Development Manager. “She has grown into a superlative mentor, leader, and growth manager for Tompkins and our employees.”

Hallock holds her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of North Carolina and is a certified VitalSmarts trainer. She enjoys spending time with her husband and children and working as a board member for the Registrar for Tompkins Girls Hockey Association. Tompkins Trust Company Promotes Nancy Bussieres to Assistant Vice President, Employee Relations Manager

Nancy Bussieres

Tompkins Trust Company has promoted Nancy Bussieres to Assistant Vice President, Employee Relations Manager. She will continue to report to Scott Pronti, Vice President, Human Resources.

New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul announced in December the ninth round of Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative awards for each of the 10 economic development regions in the state.

The Southern Tier, an eight-county region including Tompkins County, was one of five top performers, receiving $88.9 million to support economic development projects.

Tompkins County was awarded approximately $13.8 million for 31 projects. Projects awarded funding in Tompkins County include: Michelle Hallock

Tompkins Trust Company has promoted Michelle Hallock to Assistant Vice President, Senior Learning & Development Business Partner. Hallock will continue to report to Laura Geary, Vice President, Learning & Development Manager.

Hallock has been with Tompkins Trust Company for 10 years and was previously employed with Denby USA Limited. Her Bussieres was previously with Cayuga Medical Center and has nine years of experience in Human Resources. In her role she will be responsible for fostering an environment that enhances the team member experience throughout the lifecycle of one’s career at Tompkins. She will identify and execute programs that enrich the culture, promote inclusion, and foster team member engagement.

“We are thrilled for Nancy’s promotion,” Pronti said. “Her experience in human resources, employee engagement, and culture management continues to enrich both our employees and our community.” According to a press release, Bussieres

is active in her community and serves as a board member with the Alcohol & Drug Council, and is a board member with SHRMTC (Society for Human Resource Management of Tompkins County). She is also a member of SHRM nationally. She holds her Master Degree in Psychology and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

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Paleontological Research Institution Announces Enhanced New Websites

The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) has a long history of serving a wide and diverse audience, from scientists to school children, and its two public educational venues—the Museum of the Earth and Cayuga Nature Center—each have their own unique audiences. With the goals of improving ease of access and enhancing visitors’ experience, PRI has launched a new suite of integrated websites.

To meet the needs of the amazing diversity of audiences for our services, PRI has been engaged in a multi-year review and overhaul of their Internet-based services. They are continuing that effort by providing the three new and enhanced websites: https://www.priweb.org/, https:// MuseumOfTheEarth.org, and https:// CayugaNatureCenter.org. They encourage you to explore each and provide feedback through their “Contact Us” link on their websites or to marketing@priweb.org. An exciting feature on PRI’s main site (priweb.org) is their new science blog, which consists of short essays on a diversity of top ics—ranging from paleontology to evolution to climate change—that are written by PRI staff. Several posts are already available and can be read at https://www.priweb.org/blog. New posts will be added regularly and are announced on PRI’s social media accounts (Twitter: @prinstitution; Facebook: @mu seumoftheearth).

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him to seek the help of law enforcement. He described the experience as “devastating” and that he stopped taking them by November 2001 because they weren’t helping; all along his grades were spiraling and he was on the brink of being kicked out. Contacted by the Ithaca Times, a former acquaintance of Reed who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that though he hadn’t told her many of the details, years ago Reed had mentioned being the victim of sexual misconduct by someone while at Cornell University. She said he also had briefly published a Medium post about the incidents, though he later deleted it.

As Reed tells it, his life since the incident has been fairly turbulent. There have been high points, like obtaining his Master’s in public management from the University of Maryland, which came after he was kicked out of Cornell briefly before being re-admitted and steadying himself enough to graduate. He’s bounced from job to job, frequently losing them due to either motivation or attendance problems, and grappled with financial struggles and homelessness. One of his proudest moments, he said, was when he was appointed as deputy director of the Workforce Development Board by the governor of Maryland. But, Reed said, he was fired shortly after for poor attendance.

“Any of my bosses will tell you, ‘When Elliott was there, he was great,’” Reed said. “But that’s always ‘If he was there,’ or ‘when he was there.’” Professional struggles have been accompanied by questions about his own sexuality that have confused him internally since the incident occurred, and Reed still believes he is struggling with depression as a result of his college days.

“I’m confused, I’m the first to admit that now,” Reed said in January. “But before that, I wasn’t confused. [...] Because I wasn’t gay, right? To this day, I’m pretty convinced that I’m going to hell. But that’s just my trauma and my neurosis. I say that now, but I promise, before midnight I’ll be obsessing over it.”

Reed decided to come forward with his story, both in the courts and to the Ithaca Times, partially as a way to help himself. He insists that he’s more interested in rectifying whatever cultural problem might still exist at Cornell than in whatever financial gain he might see—and he wants an apology for how his situation was handled by them as well. Plus, he thinks telling his story in a more open forum will be a healthier way for him to move forward than what he’s tried over the last two decades.

“I struggle with alcohol, not dependence, I’ve never done rehab,” Reed said, though he acknowledged one DUI charge. “God has gifted me a very resilient mind. But I have had some struggles with just trying to kill these demons. And when I read some stories, and I have read tons of them [...] It kind of helped me say, ‘Okay, you're not going to be better all at once. But until you tell what happened, it's not going to get better.’”

Matt Butler

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directors and coaches and open it up to all athletes and see who’s interested,” Hamilton said. “We’ll hold a pro-day-style combine and evaluate each of the athletes, and from there those that are selected will come to a national combine and will compete for one of six spots within the program to go on and continue to train.”

The program also offers internships to work on the business side of the sport and general opportunities for minority individuals interested in becoming drivers or other positions. Hamilton specifically oversees diversity-improvement efforts in eNASCAR, a branch of NASCAR that, according to its website, develops and promotes “esports’ competitions, leagues and officially sanctioned series.”

In his opinion, Hamilton believes that the main reason for the lack of diversity in the sport is because of the lack of accessibility to the sport. Growing up, Hamilton dreamt of becoming a professional racecar driver. He raced in go-karts, 600c mini sprint cars and sportsman modified cars for more than a decade.

“It’s not easy to do that,” he said of becoming a professional racecar driver. “It obviously takes a lot of funding to be able to do that, and the pathway you have to take in racing is not always as clearly as defined … the big part of that program is making a pathway that’s easier to define and that will actually help more kids like myself find a pathway into the sport at a higher level.”

Affordability is another reason for a dearth of diversity.

“Racing is definitely not a cheap sport,” he said. “It’s a sport that requires a lot of different equipment, and not just equipment to go and compete on the field, but equipment to make it to the race track when it comes to a truck and trailer to get to the track, equipment that you need to work on the vehicle.”

So far, Hamilton’s efforts as a leader in the program have helped make strides in the diversity of professional motorsports. According to Hamilton, 50 members from the program have gone on to work in pit crews. The program has also produced three drivers: Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola.

Enhancing the sport’s diversity, along with mastering his primary duties as Director of Racing Opportunities and Event Management, are items Hamilton plans on continuing to work on while in the industry.

“My goal is simply to do the best that I can do in the role that I’m in right now,” he said. “There’s still a lot to [learn] in the race control tower that I want to grow and continue to get better with. I want to be able to continue to contribute as much as I can to the sport’s future.”

By Andrew Sullivan

Problem Acting Cayuga Heights team prepares for first official test By Libby Cook A re you ready, team?” Cayuga Heights School Age Program assistant director Gina Cusano-McLaughlin asks her team of students who wait in the stage wings during an Odyssey of the Mind team rehearsal.

“Ready!” They chorus and take the stage as McLaughlin starts a stopwatch.

With precision and urgency prompted by

Leo Desjardins, Oren Milder, Mariko Pleiss, Elsa Leijonhufvud-Ault, Nia Lewis, Livia Avgar, Gina Cusano-McLaughlin (Photo Casey Martin)

their coach’s timekeeping, the team begins setting up their first scene for rehearsal––two curtains hand-painted to resemble walls and windows which they hold up with music stands.

Team member Livia Avgar paces the stage with the practiced suspicious glance of her character, a detective named “Ella.” She

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wears a trenchcoat and cap traditional of Sherlock Holmes and delivers her lines between puffs from a fake pipe with red pipe cleaners poking out to resemble flames. Oren Milder ducks beneath a hand-painted cardboard box with knobs, antennae, and a speaker as he slips into character as “The Radio.” Leo Desjardins crouches quietly, acting as “Oddy” the raccoon, a clever nod to the Odyssey of the Mind raccoon mascot. Mariko Pleiss appears as “Rosemary,” the detective’s assistant, Elsa Leijonhufvud-Ault, acts as “Leona,” the good twin of “Lucille,” the evil twin played by Nia Lewis who tries to sabotage the detective’s case.

The team breezes through their skit they’ve been meticulously perfecting since October. They developed the script which must be performed in under eight minutes entirely from their own creative ideas. The team also provided or made all of their own props and costumes which must fit in a single box and cost a maximum of 125 dollars, as Odyssey rules require. the Odyssey of the Mind Regional Competition hosted by Broome-Tioga BOCES in Binghamton on Saturday, beginning at 7 a.m. They will be the only team from Ithaca competing, but the group prefers to be the sole representation of the city.

“I don’t actually want any other friends to do [Odyssey] because I have always hated competing against my friends,” Leijonhufvud-Ault said. “I don’t like the feeling of having to compete against my friends in something I really care about.” Leijonhufvud-Ault’s teammates are just as passionate about acting, problemsolving and competing.

“I loved that [Odyssey] would be an acting thing where I actually got judged, unlike other things where I was going and performing and then everybody got an award,” Avgar said. “I wanted to be judged for my skills.”

“I like being in front of judges and an audience,” Desjardins added. “I also compete in dance.”

Oren Milder and Mariko Pleiss agreed Odyssey would be a great way to break into play-acting.

“The way Odyssey was first described

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T h e I t h a c a T i m e s / M a r c h 1 1 – 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 Nia Lewis during a recent Odyssey of the Mind practice at Cayuga Heights. (Photo: Casey Martin)

“It’s our skit,” Avgar said. “We got some outside ideas from [Cusano-McLaughlin] but we had the choice to go with them.”

The team will be solving problem three for the competition, titled, “The Effective Detective” and will compete in the Division I competition, a section which hosts teams from Kindergarten to the fifth grade. This skit, according to Odyssey of the Mind problem description, demands a detective uncover clues, including a red herring clue, to solve historical real-world mysteries and defeat a supervillain.

The team, who is competing in Odyssey of the Mind for the first time, chose to uncover the mystery of a mystical beast, specifically the existence of the Loch Ness monster for their skit.

“The only two problems that had a mystical beast were the Yeti and the Loch Ness monster,” Lewis said. “We picked the Loch Ness monster because one of our former teammates liked saying ‘Hugga hugga’ which is the Loch Ness monster’s sound.” The team will act out this mystery at to me was it was a combination of art, building creativity, and acting and all of it sounded fun to me,” Milder said. “My mom and I love going to plays so I thought it would be fun to be in one.”

“I’d always gotten nervous when it came to performing plays but I thought I would try [Odyssey],” Pleiss said. “I thought it would be a lot of fun because I knew my friends were doing it and I really like to do plays.”

Depending on their performance at the regional competition on Saturday, the Cayuga Heights School Age Program team has the chance to compete at the state, national and world levels. The group is hopeful for the outcome of their first competition and aims to qualify for the national competition in Iowa.

“I’m excited about the fact that if we win this competition, we’ll go to another one and if we win that one we get to go to the world finals,” Lewis said. “I just really hope we get that far.”