For the last two years, Trevor has participated in an extracurricular activity called Destination Imagination (DI). On March 31, the team participated in the Affiliate (Regional) Finals at Plattsmouth HS where they took 3rd place and qualified for the State Finals. On April 14th, Trevor and his DI team participated in the state finals at the University of Nebraska at Kearney where they took 2nd and qualified for Globals. The team will travel to Knoxville, TN on May 23-26 to compete in the Global Finals. The Global Finals brings teams from all over the world to compete head to head in their respective challenges. This is an amazing accomplishment. The team is thrilled to have this opportunity. Trevor’s DI team consists of seven 4th and 5th grade students from Wheeler Elementary. Destination ImagiNation (DI) is an educational program in which student teams solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at Tournaments. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Participants gain more than just basic knowledge and skills—they learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem solving. It is widely recognized that creativity, innovation, and the ability to manage change are essential competencies for today’s students – who live in, and are preparing to enter the workplace in, a world of rapid and accelerating change. A survey of more than 400 employers found their biggest concerns were that youth lacked 21st-century skills that will make them competitive in the job market. Three-fourths of those employers viewed creativity and innovation to be among the top-five skills most important in the current climate (eSchool News, October 2006). Based on more than five decades of research and development of Creative Problem Solving (CPS), we know that individuals and groups from the primary grades through adulthood can learn and apply creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. Destination ImagiNation is a program that builds participants' creativity, teamwork and problem solving in enjoyable and meaningful ways. The goals of Destination ImagiNation are for participants to: • Foster creative and critical thinking. • Learn and apply creative problem solving tools and method. • Develop teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills. • Nurture research and inquiry skills, involving both creative exploration and attention to detail. • Apply and enhance written and verbal communication and presentation skills (both impromptu and sustained). • Promote the recognition, use and development of many and varied strengths and talents. • Encourage competence in, enthusiasm for and commitment to real-life problem solving. A Destination ImagiNation Challenge is an open-ended exercise that prompts students to use creativity and teamwork to solve a problem. Every season, teams of up to seven members focus on designing and creating solutions to two separate types of Challenges: Team Challenges and Instant Challenges. Team Challenges are designed to be open-ended and multidisciplinary. Teams spend several weeks or months working on the Team Challenge of their choice, and they present their solutions at Tournaments. Each of the six competitive Team Challenges has a different educational and creative focus: • • projectOUTREACH®: Community Service • • Challenge A: Technical/Mechanical Design • • Challenge B: Scientific Exploration and Theater Arts • • Challenge C: Theater, Literature, and Fine Arts • • Challenge D: Improvisation • • Challenge E: Structural/Architectural Design Instant Challenges require teams to engage in quick critical thinking. At a Tournament, a team will receive an Instant Challenge and the materials with which to solve it. The participants must think on their feet by applying appropriate skills to produce a solution in a period of just five to eight minutes. While Team Challenges build long-term problem solving and teamwork skills, Instant Challenges provide an exciting, impromptu creative experience for competing teams. By practicing Instant Challenges during the course of the season, students can increase their improvisational skills and train their minds to work quickly! The team challenge that Trevor is participating in this year is called Hold It: A Structural Challenge. For this challenge the team must: • Design, build and test a Structure made entirely out of wood and glue to hold weight and contain Tournament-provided golf balls. • Design and build a Delivery Device that will deposit the golf balls, one at a time, into the Structure. • Create and present an original Story about a “Captivator.” • Integrate the Weight Placement and Golf Ball Delivery into the Story.