The Dr. Harold Kurtz Memorial Scholarship is for students who have participated in the NJ Odyssey of the Mind program. Harold’s dedication and leadership were instrumental in helping not only NJ grow – as a former Association Director – but the entire international Odyssey of the Mind program. He was a fixture on the Problem 5 judging team at World Finals and led the World Finals Graduation Ceremony for many years with the passion and heart of a lifelong educator and OMer. His love of the Odyssey of the Mind program was boundless; He was always there to lend advice or a helping hand.
Our first scholarship winner plans to major in political science at Rutgers New Brunswick. She wrote, in her scholarship application, “The question was how did OM impact my life, and my answer to you is how did not?” A participant at Sayreville Middle School and Sayreville War Memorial High School, Congratulations to Muteeba Rizvi.
Our next winner most likely plans to attend Delaware Valley University majoring in Zoo Sciences. When I joined “Odyssey of the Mind,” he wrote, “I felt that I had finally found a place where students like me could participate and be their true selves.” Please congratulate this OMer, who competed with Collingswood Rec Program – Michael Diaz.
This next winner has participated in Odyssey of the Mind for 10 years. “Odyssey has helped me develop both technical and problem solving skills that will follow me through my life,” he wrote,” while letting me have a heck of a lot of fun.” He plans to major in computer science ]next year. From Collingswood Rec program, congratulations Jacob Hwang.
Our next scholarship winner wrote in her application, regarding an experience competing, “From this experience, I internalized one of the most important lessons I’ll probably ever learn: I cannot ease a mistake and pretend it doesn’t exist. Rather, I need to confront and deal with it head on.” She will be attending Princeton University next year majoring in English or Political Science. Please congratulate Sayreville War Memorial High School’s valedictorian Doris Lee.
“I fell in love with building vehicles,” said this next winner, “and one day I hope to inspire other little girls to chase their dreams with the OotM program.” She plans to major in Mechanical Engineering next year at Charleston Southern University. A participant at both Carteret Middle School and Carteret High School, congratulations Paulina Dzierzanowska
Our last scholarship winner plans to major in communication sciences and disorders/ Linguistics/ Psychology next year. No longer competing, she has been an assistant coach for two years. The Coach of her team said that she is “just the kind of driven, engaging and curious individual that helped make our OM practices a fun environment and safe place for our kids to take creative/intellectual risks.” Congratulations Sarah Hewitt, from Collingswood Rec Program.
