Seldens Landing Elementary students had a blast Saturday playing tour guide to several famous people, and some imaginary ones.

While competing in the Odyssey of the Mind Region 15 State Finals, they participated in “Le Tour Guide,” a creative problem in which the team had to give an imaginary tour, during which “an inanimate object will show signs of life, the Tour Guide will give the wrong explanation about something, and will give a creative explanation about why it is important to guard and secure a worthless item.”

Seven-year-old Meera Jindal took on the role of Amelia Bedelia, and took her team, Anisha Kumar, 9, Grace Copperthite, 9, Claire Price, 9, Julian Rocha, 8, and Mikaela Haast, 9 on a tour of various imaginary places, during which they encountered a trash can that sang the songs of Katy Perry and Ke$ha, she said.

They took eighth place in their division, but students agreed that the opportunity to spend time together using their imaginations to solve problems was a worthwhile activity, and said they would continue next year.

Odyssey of the Mind is a problem-solving competition that gives teams of students a chance to be creative and think critically while having a good time, according to the official website.

Local teams from Leesburg and Ashburn did well in the competition. Out of a total of 19 competing schools, Leesburg and Ashburn students captured first place in nine divisions.

From Leesburg, winners were:

• Harper Park Middle’s team A took first place in “Extreme Mousemobiles” division II, and “Full Circle” division II.
• John W. Tolbert Elementary School's Team B took first place in the

“As Good as Gold...berg” event in division IB.

• Seldens Landing Elementary Team A took first in Full Circle division IA.
• Heritage High took first place in Full Circle division III.

The final scores are available here.