Competing with nearly 240 teams from across the state of Maryland, teams of students from Harford County Public Schools dominated the awards for creative problem solving at the Destination Imagination (DI) tournament held on April 14th at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Of the 37 top teams at the Maryland DI competition, 13 were from HCPS and one was from Harford Day School, together comprising nearly 40% of the championship teams that will represent Maryland at “Destination Imagination Global Finals”, an international competition that will be held in May at the University of Tennessee.
Two HCPS teams – Bel Air Middle School “United’ and North Harford Middle School “Coconut Bros.” – garnered special Da Vinci Awards for outstanding creativity.
Two out of the three scholarships awarded by DI to Maryland high school seniors went to students from HCPS this year: Kelly Manning of Patterson Mill High School received the Verizon/Eric Dahl Scholarship and Anthony Bunger of Edgewood High won the Rick Feutz Scholarship.
Destination Imagination is a creative problem-solving competition for teams of up to seven students who work together for months, after school and on weekends, solving one of six different “Team Challenges”. Each Team Challenge has an educational focus, designed to nurture student skills in various fields such as science, technology, improvisation, structural design, theater and community service.
While teams operate with adult supervision, team members do the research, brainstorming, construction, sewing, duct-taping, hot gluing, painting and playwriting necessary to solve their selected Team Challenge, all without adult “interference”.
Teams are grouped by elementary, middle and high school level, and present their solutions at competition in the form of a timed skit that is produced entirely by team members. Cost limits challenge the teams to use every day items in new ways and teams are awarded points for creativity, teamwork, and the effectiveness of their solutions. Also at competition, teams are given an on-the-spot “Instant Challenge” to solve, which factors into the teams’ final scores.
First and second place winners from the Maryland tournament in April will compete in Destination Imagination Global Finals 2012, which will include over 1,200 teams from most other U.S. states and 30 countries worldwide. The competition will be held May 23 – 26, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Last year, a team from Bel Air High School captured a first place trophy at Global Finals.
While HCPS supports DI in many ways, teams that earn a place at Global Finals must each raise thousands of dollars in a few weeks’ time to pay for travel, food and lodging; several HCPS schools have more than one team going to Global Finals this year. Those interested in donating to a school’s DI team(s) should contact that school for further information.
Below is a synopsis of the 2012 Destination Imagination Team Challenges, followed by the Harford County teams in each challenge that will be representing the state of Maryland at Global Finals. To learn more about Destination Imagination, please go to www.idodi.org.
• Design and build Equipment that retrieves Parts and delivers Products.
• Assemble Products from team-provided Parts to fill Orders, and use the Products in your team’s Presentation.
• Earn extra points by deciding how best to fill Orders with no Parts or Products left over in the Assembly Area.
• Present a team-created story about something that happens just in time.
Harford County Winners:
– Ring Factory Elementary School (2nd place)
– North Harford Middle School Coconut Bros. (2nd place, Da Vinci Award)
– Aberdeen High School This Side Up (2nd place)
• Create and present a theatrical performance that tells a Story about the use of solar energy.
• Integrate research about past and/or current uses of solar energy.
• Design and create a Solar Energy Prototype that demonstrates a new way to collect, capture and use solar energy.
• Design and provide Theatrical Lighting to illuminate the Presentation and to create special theatrical effects.
Harford County Winners:
– Norrisville Elementary School DIminators (2nd place)
– Patterson Mill Middle School Imagineers (1st place)
– North Harford Middle School The Oxymorons (2nd place)
• Present a Movie Trailer involving characters from at least two Nations.
• Design a Cinematic Special Effect and feature it in the Movie Trailer.
• Create an Original Soundtrack that complements the Movie Trailer.
Harford County Winners:
– North Harford Middle School M.N.M’s (1st place)
– Fallston High School (1st place)
• Learn about different types of News Stories.
• Learn about Cause-and-Effect relationships.
• Use Cooperative Human Scenery and Props to enhance your Skit.
• Create a 5-minute Improvisational Skit about the Cause-and-Effect relationship between two unrelated News Stories.
• Have all your plans suddenly become totally discombobulated by a One-Minute Glitch (OMG)!
Harford County Winner:
– Harford Day School (2nd place)
• 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.
Harford County Winners:
– Halls Cross Roads Elementary School Kropplets (2nd place)
– Bel Air Middle School United (1st place, Da Vinci Award)
– North Harford Middle School Good Ideas Gone Wrong (2nd place)
– Bel Air High School Soda Pop (1st place)
• Use creative problem solving tools to identify and select at least one real community need.
• Design and carry out a Project to address the need.
• Create an Advertisement and use it in your Project.
• Create a Marketing Brochure to describe your Project.
• Share your Project at the Tournament with an entertaining live Presentation.
Harford County Winners:
– Bel Air Middle School Bobcat Pride (2nd place)
(Please note: The author is a volunteer with Destination Imagination)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.