Destination Imagination teams perform well at state
Posted 4/5/15
By Jeremy Robertson Record Staff Writer Two Destination Imagination teams in Wright City can celebrate with being the best in the state. During a state competition held April 11 in Joplin, two teams …
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Destination Imagination teams perform well at state
Posted
By Jeremy RobertsonRecord Staff WriterTwo Destination Imagination teams in Wright City can celebrate with being the best in the state.During a state competition held April 11 in Joplin, two teams representing Wright City West Elementary and Wright City Middle School captured top honors. Three other teams from the district — one other from the elementary school and two from the middle school — also participated in the state event.Destination Imagination is a project-based educational program that focuses on problem solving, critical thinking and the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.The program consists of seven different challenges. Students choose one of the challenges and take action at their own pace, without any input from their coach.Shane Johnson, a Wright City teacher and coordinator for the elementary program, said there also is a performance aspect.The students are expected to put together a skit to demonstrate their project’s impact and how they put it into practice.“Working with people with limited time and resources is a very real-life skill,” said Johnson, referring to the teams that had chosen the improvisational challenge. Those students had to create three skits in one minute, using limited props and critical-thinking skills.The challenges in the Destination Imagination program come from eight different focus areas — technical, scientific, structural, fine arts, improvisational, service learning/project outreach, early learning/rising stars and instant challenge.The two teams that placed first were “P.A.M.E.E.M.A Does DI,” an elementary group, and “Tie Fighters,” from the middle school.Both teams had placed first at a regional competition held March 7 at St. Charles Community College.Students in the middle school program are not recruited by a teacher. They have to take the initiative and create their own teams, find their own adult coach and choose their own challenge.Both of the first-place teams qualified for the global finals, scheduled for May 20-23 in Knoxville, Tenn., but are not expected to attend due to the high cost.“Funding for state and regionals is provided by the school district. The teams that have attended globals (in the past) did so by fundraising,” said Johnson. Johnson is proud of his students’ performance. They faced “instant challenges with obscure materials” and they still managed to come out on top.
Pictured above are Wright City West Elementary students who were part of the Destination Imaginateam team, called “P.A.M.E.E.M.A Does DI,” that placed first at the state competition April 11 in Joplin. Submitted photo.
