Lehigh’s spring photos are scheduled for March 10.

On March 16, George Wolf students will have their pictures taken.

All students will be photographed, but purchase is optional.

***

Six teams representing Siegfried, Moore and Lehigh elementary schools and Northampton Area High School will put their creativity to the test at the Northeast Pennsylvania Odyssey of the Mind regional tournament. More than 100 teams - 700 students - from 40 area K-12 schools will go head to head March 11.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem-solving program. Teams of up to seven students receive a long-term problem at the beginning of the school year that they must solve in an eight-minute performance within a small budget.

This year’s long-term problems range from creating a robot that learns from others to imagining how time traveling could have inspired important works of art.

Teams also receive a secret spontaneous problem the day of competition, which they must solve on the spot.

The NEPA regional tournament will be held at Pocono Mountain West High School in Pocono Summit for the ninth year in a row.

“We wish all the teams competing the best of luck, and we’re indebted to the Pocono Mountain School District and the hundreds of volunteers who make our program possible,” Balton said.

Winners at the regional tournament will advance to state finals in Moon, just outside of Pittsburgh, in April. Those state finalists will compete to advance to World Finals at Michigan State University in May. Eight teams from northeast Pennsylvania advanced to World Finals last year.

“Our area has some of the best OMERs in the world every year,” Balton, a former student participant, said. “The competition is more impressive than ever.”

The Northeast region includes Northampton, Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

***

On March 14, the middle school PTA group meets 6 p.m. at the school.

The PTA invites and encourages parents to come to meetings and join the group to help make a difference for many school activities.

***

Do you have any school news? This column is a compilation of upcoming school events in the Northampton Area School District. Teachers, administrators, parents, students, coaches, PTAs, club advisers and any other community members are invited to share their upcoming activities. Email me at jamb87@hotmail.com with “Northampton School News” in the subject line at least a week or two before an event.