Amber Thurnau, coach of a small-town Midwestern team in this year’s Odyssey of the Mind, has a pretty normal life. She went to Fontbonne University, a small Catholic college and “a school no one’s ever heard of,” by her own admission, located outside of St. Louis.

Thurnau is married with two kids and works as a high school English teacher in Belleville, Ill. But one of her oldest friends lived a very different life.

Thomas Off is an enthusiastic coach at Odyssey’s Creativity Festival with a wide smile to match his wide steps. Off was born in 1975 in Potsdam, Germany, then on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. When he finally got his first glimpse of the free world, the first friend he made was Thurnau.

Odyssey of the Mind is problem-solving and knowledge competition for students of all ages around the world. The event challenges them to conjure up the most creative solutions they can muster. This year’s Odyssey of the Mind World Finals were on Iowa State’s campus last week.

One of the problems tasked the students with supporting as much weight as possible using a balsa wood structure, while others asked them to build machines that performed specific functions, such as moving tennis balls from place to place.

When Off and Thurnau first met at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in 1991, their problem was Pompeii.

Specifically, they had to act out a scene from the Roman town that had a bad run-in with a powerful volcano two millennia ago. They had to build believable artifacts, such as a vase, that could have come from Pompeii. Their performance included a poem and various pieces of artwork.

Thurnau said Odyssey of the Mind is not a simple matter of following directions; the competition is much more challenging than that.

“Kids have to build machines, but they also have to create a script for a skit or presentation,” Thurnau said.

In other words, it is not enough just to build something at Odyssey of the Mind. Competitors have to know why they’re building it, what it means and be able to articulate that to the judges. They essentially need to be able to tell a story on multiple levels.

For a few years, Thurnau and Off met at Odyssey of the Mind, making it to the finals in 1992, 1994 and 1995. In 1994, at the Odyssey of the Mind finals at Iowa State, Off also met a woman named Juliane.

Eventually, Off and Juliane got married, he became a self-employed software developer and they had children.

Life took over for Thurnau and Off. The two friends exchanged sporadic emails for a few years, but over time they simply followed their own paths. Nearly two decades after the last time they saw each other, Thurnau and Off reconnected on Facebook.

Among the many things offered by Odyssey of the Mind, there is a Buddy Team program. This program is a way for teams in North America to meet and support their international counterparts.

It was the perfect opportunity: two creative thinkers who once competed together would now coach the next generation together. There is no longer a Berlin Wall, but a unique event is still giving people the chance to break down barriers. Many of Off’s German students have never been to America before the Odyssey competition.

Now Off said the kids are not only learning new things, but they are also making new friends halfway across the world.

“The first thing the kids ask in the morning is when they will see Amber’s team,” Off said.

They’ll get to see even more of Thurnau’s team after the competition, thanks to Odyssey’s Homestay program. Off and his team will be going to stay in Belleville for a week. It’s all part of exactly what the founders of Odyssey intended: new things, new places, new ideas and new people.

Thurnau’s 10-year-old son, Ayden, is on the team this year, tackling the Not-So-Haunted-House problem. Her 5-year-old daughter, Bryleygh, wants to get in on it when she’s older as well. Off’s team includes his 10-year-old son, Jakob, and his 8-year-old daughter, Pauline.

When asked what they like best about Odyssey of the Mind, Ayden said he likes working together with other kids to solve problems. Jakob said he likes having contact with other cultures.

Pauline is a little less picky. Standing a few feet away from her father, shyly looking down at the ground with her hands folded behind her yellow dress, she smiles when spoken to and, when asked what her favorite part is, she answers her father in German. 

“I love everything,” Pauline said and Off translated.