Houston Region specific Information

Updated 09/18/25

Welcome to the Houston Area Region Odyssey (“HARO”) page. You will find here additional details that are specific to Houston, in addition to all the general program information that is explained on this website. To renew old memberships, visit our membership page with new instructions here.

Quick links to Odyssey HQ

Bookmark the Members-Area for long-term problems, forms and all materials:

Member Area at HQ

Bookmark the Portal for team and competition related database:

Team and Competition Portal at HQ

Quick links to general information on our website:

Coordinator Resources

General Coach Resources

Special Resources for HARO

HARO Team Qualifications

Tournament Staff for HARO

HARO News

8/5/25 Promotional materials are updated on our Building Teams/Membership Resources webpage. OM Coordinators can use them for back-to-school events or to publish/distribute within their school. Fall events are scheduled: Orientation for new parents or teachers who have never been exposed to OM before. Also Coach Training for new and returning coaches. Check our calendar for sign-ups.

8/25/25 Reminder that if your previous year teams changed schools, remind the parents that we encourage and work with teams to stay together, even after the team members moved into different schools or the coach is unavailable. Coordinators newsletter provides tips to form teams and instructions to renew their annual membership. Also reminder for coaches to not start discussing the long-term problem for several weeks so that students can form a committed team first.

8/25/25 Due to changes to the entire administration team at Pershing Middle School, they have declined hosting our next regional competition. We are actively working on a replacement host site for next February and will post updates as soon as possible.

9/7/25 Full long-term problems are now available through the HQ Member Area.

9/7/25 New portal instructions for coordinators are updated on the website to renew memberships, grant coach access to the school membership. Note: School Coordinators cannot create the teams under their own acccount, because they will be automatically considered the Head Coach.

9/8/25 Reminder for all returning coaches to sign-up for the Coaches newsletters. Anyone who signs up for Coach Training or creates a team in the portal is automatically added to the Coaches Newsletters.

9/9/25 New portal instructions for coaches are updated on the website to create/reset their account, create a team and later add team members.

9/16/25 Updated Team Qualifications are posted. There is a positive change for Houston teams.

9/17/25 Our Coach Training session on 9/27/25 is now full. Please register for the next session on 10/25/25.

What’s Happening in September 2025:

OM Coordinators continue to socialize the program within their school, host their own awareness meetings or refer new parents and teachers to our virtual Orientation meetings. Coordinators renew/purchase their annual membership(s), match interested students to coaches and build teams, approve the team problem selections, grant protal access to their Head coaches. They also follow up with membership payments paid by P.O. or check to upload those to the website, so that everyone gets access to the full long-term problems timely from the portal.

Coaches start holding team meetings as wearly as they can. The first few meetings should focus on skills training, brainstorming skills and spontaneous. Coaches sign-up for Coach or Team events in the fall, create/reset their portal account and ask coordinators to grant them access to the active membership. Once their problem is approved, they create their team in the portal. When the team members are solidified and committed, they start discussing the long-term problem and create their team roster in the portal.

Key dates for Houston/South TX season

Link to our Google Calendar to add events to your personal calendar. Please note that rsvp is only accepted through the specific sign-up links below.

The list below includes all dates mentioned in newsletters:

Month	Date	Time	Type	Details
August/ September 2025			Key date	Annual membership renewal to access the current year full problems and program guide. Instructions to Purchase/renew your annual membership here.
September to February		Ongoing	Key date	Team meetings under the direction of their coach to determine their team solutions, build their own sets and costumes, write their scripts and practice presenting them in an 8-minute skit.
September	Wed 3^rd	7:30 pm - 8:30 pm	Event	Odyssey of the Mind Orientation* for New Parents and Teachers. Live webinar. Sign-up* HERE.
September		Ongoing	Key date	Coaches create their team in the Portal - after your OM Coordinator has confirmed that you are assigned a specific problem
September	Tue 16^th	4:00 pm – 5:00 pm	Event	Odyssey of the Mind Orientation for New Parents and Teachers. Live webinar. Sign-up HERE.
September	Sat 27^th	8:30 am – 1:30 pm	Event	Live Coach Training session on-site. Presbyterian School, Museum District. Sign-up HERE.
September to mid-October		Ongoing	Key date	Coaches enter their team roster in the Portal - as soon as you start discussing the long-term problem with the team
October	Sat 25^th	8:30 am – 1:30 pm	Event	Live Coach Training session on-site. Spring ISD Transportation Center, west of IAH. Sign-up HERE.
November	Sat 1^st	10:00 pm	Deadline	Last date for Annual Membership Renewal/ Purchase HERE. This date is for late starters. Recommended date is late September to give teams time to build their solution.
November	Sat 1^st	8:30 am – 1:30 pm	Event	Spontaneous Workshop: Track A for Coaches to get additional training and judge the teams (all morning). Sign-up HERE.
November	Sat 1^st	10 am OR 12 pm	Event	Spontaneous Workshop: Track B for Teams to practice and learn competition procedure (up to 90 minutes). Sign-up HERE.
February 2026	Sat 21^st	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	HARO Regional Competition, date and location to be confirmed.
March	Sat 28^th	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	TX State Competition, at San Jacinto College, South Campus, followed by the Awards ceremony on-site. (Advancing teams)
May	Wed 27^th evening to Sat 30th	three full days	Competition	World Finals, Iowa State University, in Ames, IA. (Advancing teams)