BINGHAMTON - By day, Morgan Ward, Jayson Porter, Zach Slater, Chelsea Hagin, Samantha Smith and Melanie Doolittle attended school. By nights and weekends, for five months, the Moravia 13-year-olds shopped, sawed, painted, cut, glued and hammered away at props they designed and created for the state Odyssey of the Mind competition at Binghamton University.

It all came together early Saturday morning, when the Moravia seventh-graders matched heads with Division II teams from all over New York in the university's East Gym. It was the group's first shot at a state win in the educational competition.

Of the 14 schools from the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES school districts competing, only the State Street Elementary School Team A advanced the world championships to be held in May in Iowa. The team from that Skaneateles Central School District school finished second in the Technology Transfer Division I category.

All of the local schools competing Saturday had captured regional titles a week earlier in Auburn.

For the Moravia seventh-graders, the 15-minute presentation was the gang's take on this year's designated theme, “The Great Parade.” Teams had to design, build and drive a hand-operated vehicle to be used as three different floats in a parade, steering each around a designated perimeter in the gym. Judges mandated that one of the floats exhibit a technical feature, and that all presentations conclude with a “Spectacular Celebration,” showcasing another technical feature.

The group settled on a Chinese New Year theme.

“We just all started throwing around different kinds of parade (ideas), and that one stuck,” Slater said.

After the group settled on its theme, they met weekends, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. with Pat Kinney, their coach. Kinney, who teaches art at the Moravia Elementary School, recruited Morgan and his teammates - while they were in the third grade. Kinney sought out children in her classes with specific qualities that when combined, could create a strong team.

“I was looking for creativity, a strong work ethic and a cooperative ability,” she said.

Over the years, the youngsters bonded, and were overjoyed last year to win third place in the regional competition.

“You would have thought they'd won the Olympics,” Kinney said.

The state competition, though, seemed just a bit more nail-biting than events past. Odyssey of the Mind is a strictly “do-it-yourself” competition; teams can receive no input or hands-on help from outsiders.

There were budget worries (“We spent $35 on wheels alone,” Kinney said). Things fell apart (the lights broke, fabric ripped, the flaps holding up their backdrop began to fail).

“It made me so nervous. I'd freak out,” Smith said.

What held everybody together as a team?

“Food,” Porter said.

The team regrouped around Chinese takeout (“It helped us get into the mood,” Slater said).

The show went on, and at Saturday's event, the team trotted out a hand-painted cardboard gong, a sturdy, painted cloth city backdrop, colored Christmas lights to simulate fireworks, and facades for a wood frame with a basketball base (you'd have to see it to believe it) to create the pieces de la resistance: a Ms. Chinese New Year float, and two others that resembled a dragon and a lion with a working mouth.

Ward and Porter took turns operating the floats, while the others acted out scenes and ad-libbed when necessary.

“I think we did pretty good and we worked pretty hard,” Ward said.

Staff writer Olivia Goldberg can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 235 or olivia.goldberg@lee.net