Hemco Industries Volunteers at Odyssey of the Mind

CEO Richard Bevis and Senior Design Engineer Efrem Sepulveda volunteer to encourage students’ participation in engineering and creative problem solving.

Houston, Texas, February 16, 2011—Hemco Industries recently announced that CEO Richard Bevis and Senior Design Engineer Efrem Sepulveda would be returning in 2011 to volunteer to assist students in Odyssey of the Mind, an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students. This marks the second year in a row that Hemco Industries’ employees are lending their engineering expertise to facilitate students in developing feasible and practical solutions to a range of challenges.

This year, Bevis and Sepulveda will be working with at least five different student teams, ranging from third graders to seventh graders. As volunteers, the Hemco members will be offering a “Materials and Tools Workshop” to help the teams identify the best materials and tools needed for each of the various projects.

For 2011, Odyssey of the Mind has five different problems that teams can tackle. One of the most intriguing problems this year requires teams to design, build, and run vehicles that use mousetraps as their only source of energy.

The teams come up with unique and innovative ways of solving given problems using a combination of science, art, math, and theater. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and world level. It’s all about encouraging and celebrating creativity and originality in today’s youth.

"Children have some of the most innovative and original ideas, and they see the world in a way that we as adults have long forgotten,” says Sepulveda. “I enjoy helping them convert these ideas into tangible objects which I'm sure will help them preserve these memories for a very long time"

For more information on this year’s competition, visit www.OdysseyoftheMind.com. To learn more about Hemco Industries, please visit www.HemcoInd.com.