Odyssey of the Mind teams from Cullowhee Valley School and Smokey Mountain Elementary School will be participating in a regional development conference to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., April 13, at Western Carolina University.

The conference will feature guest speakers and panel discussions about how different groups, or “strands,” may get involved in the Millennium Campus initiative.

“My task is to take a look at the educational strand and how we might play a role in regional development,” said Robert Houghton, WCU associate professor of birth, kindergarten, elementary and middle grades education. “I’m using Odyssey of the Mind to represent those areas of the curriculum we have in place but have not thought of in context of ideas critical for development of a region.”

The CVS and SMES teams will perform their OM competition skits to illustrate the area’s creative talents, which Houghton said are the same skills that are used in entrepreneurial business development.

For more information about the conference, contact the Center for Regional Development at 828.227.7492.