Harrington Middle School teacher Carolyn Adragna was advising her Odyssey of the Mind team when her leg shattered in Ames, Iowa
Walking off a shuttle bus in Ames, Iowa for the World Finals with her Odyssey of the Mind team shortly before they were to compete, teacher Carolyn Adragna lost her footing and shattered her lower leg.
In the next few days, Adragna would witness the power of human kindness firsthand over and over again.
The team flew out to Ames, Iowa on May 23.
Once arriving, they met up with a team from Woodstown High School whom had transported the seven members’ sets and props.
“There were over 800 teams participating at the Worlds,” she said, with an upwards of 10,000 people in attendance at the University of Iowa.
Teams were from all over the world, from Poland to China to Singapore.
“It was enormous,” she said.
The team had to rebuild their set after it arrived since it was in pieces to make the trip and they had two days in which to prepare.
Adragna attended the event’s opening ceremonies.
Preparation continued.
After the students had their set built, they headed out to lunch taking a university shuttle bus.
The bus had two exits, one in the front and one in the back, and the team took the back exit.
As she stepped out with her right foot onto a curb, she lost her footing and shattered her fibula.
The break turned out to be even more painful due to a torn ligament from last fall.
The chaperones with her jumped into duty and called 9–1–1.
“They rushed me to the hospital,” she said. “It stopped traffic in the middle of the road.”
“It was embarrassing,” she added, laughing.
During the fiasco, Adragna was first and foremost worried about her team and wanted to make sure they were OK.
One of the moms chaperoning the trip rode in the ambulance with her.
Tight rope surgery was performed that night to install a plate and seven screws. Doctors had to drill through bones and her ankle to knot them all together.
The next day, she was discharged to her hotel. The Odyssey competition provided a van for the venture.
“I was pretty much stuck in my hotel room for that afternoon and evening,” she said.
All the while, her team was still competing in the spontaneous section.
One of the chaperoning dads took over her role and a coach from Sayreville Middle School in Sayreville, N.J. and his team sat with the Mt. Laurel team to run through practice sessions.
“Everybody came together to make sure that the girls made it to every single one of their events,” she said. “It was true teamwork. Everybody just pitched in.”
In her hotel room, Adragna sat in pain.
“It is what it is,” she said.
Saturday afternoon came, and with it, the team’s long-term competition that they had been preparing for all year.
Again, the Odyssey committee provided a van and a chaperoning mom went with her to the competition site.
Adragna had a wheelchair and walker at this point.
“They wheeled me in and found me a corner in the auditorium,” she said.
She was able to see her team minutes before they competed.
“They were so sweet,” she said. “They were really worried.”
In their category, the team tied for the 27th spot out of 66 teams.
It was the first time that the girls had ever competed on that level.
“They were perfect,” she said. “It was just cool for them to be there. They weren’t disappointed at all (with their placement.)”
As the competition winded down, Adragna was able to watch the closing ceremonies over a webcast from her hotel room.
And then the team headed home, which was a task in and of itself.
One of the chaperones had been in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board to assist in her travels.
“Now I had all this hardware in me,” she explained. “I wasn’t real comfortable.”
On Sunday, they were picked up by shuttle.
“I got myself up the steps,” she said.
A three-hour bus ride to Omaha, Nebraska followed.
From there, they took a three-hour commuter flight to Chicago.
Upon arrival in Chicago, she was left on the plane while waiting for airport personnel to help her reach her gate.
“That was a little tense, but I caught up with them (her team),” she said. “They got me a nice, comfy bulkhead seat.”
At 12:30 a.m., she arrived home.
“I was done,” she admitted.
“It’s really too bad that all of this silliness has overshadowed the girls’ accomplishments,” she expressed. “They were spectacular. They did us so proud.”
She wasn’t able to go back to her job of teaching language arts and special education at Harrington after the Iowa adventure.
As of June 20, she had been on total bed rest for nearly two weeks with another two weeks scheduled before being able to be fit for a walking cast and begin physical therapy.
“I ran into a couple of complications,” she said.
Her surgeon was upset with her for embarking in so much activity after the break.
As the school adviser, it never occurred to her to leave the competition early.
“How could I leave them?” she asked.
Yes, the trip home was awful, she said.
“It was very, very uncomfortable,” she said, but would have been the same journey with or without the kids, and she preferred to be with them.
Adragna will not be coaching the team in the future. She had resigned from her position before they qualified.
She began the club in 2009.
Her primary job, she explained, is as a teacher.
“It’s a lot of work (being the adviser) and I loved every minute of it,” she said.
She did, however, agree to be a judge.
“I’m not walking away from it,” she said.
As she sits at home becoming acquainted with her Netflix account and immersing herself in books that she had put off reading, she feels overwhelmed by the kindness she has felt.
“Those parents didn’t have to stay with me in the hotel,” she said. “Everybody just stepped right up.”
It is clear how the seven students on her team turned out so well, she said, with such caring parents.
“I’m so honored to have the opportunity to work with them,” she said.
“We could not be prouder of this team and everyone involved with it,” said Mt. Laurel Schools superintendent Dr. Antoinette Rath in a statement. “Odyssey of the Mind is about creative solutions and overcoming obstacles. This team has surely epitomized success in those areas.”
