DI teams place in state competition

Three Laura Irwin Elementary Destination Imagination teams headed to State and all three placed. 

Coach Cassie Russell said “All of our teams performed great again this year. There was some stiff competition, but all three teams placed. The Space Jammers, who had to research a planet and recreate a phenomena from that planet, took first in their category as well as first in the instant challenge portion of the event. This group of third and fifth graders put in countless hours making their project perfect. The older girls knew how to meet all the requirements and helped the third graders learn how to do the same. This was a dream team of cooperative kids. They were all about helping each other and using everyone’s ideas to create their final project.” 

The Community Helpers on the Job team did a service project to help stock the shelves at the Basin Area Food Pantry. Their project took first place in their division. Russell explained, “They chose to help the Basin Food Pantry raise funds to stock their shelves. To do this, they did concessions at a basketball game and took donations. They were able to raise over $400 to donate. At state they did an outstanding job presenting their project through a humorous skit. This was a creative, silly group that used their talents to come up with a skit that depicted their service project through fantasy characters. I am so proud of this team because they realized there was a need in our community and decided to try to help. It was quite an eye-opening experience for them.” 

The third team was Big Builders. Russell stated, “This group of third and fourth graders took on an incredibly difficult project. They had to build a machine that stacked blocks and another one that knocked them down. These guys worked until the last minute trying to make the machines work; however, they were only able to get the destroyer to perform. Several of the boys learned how to block code and built a crane out of LEGO Mindstorm pieces. Unfortunately, the code did not end up working, but they learned a tremendous amount along the way. I could not have been prouder of them getting up and performing even though they knew their machine wouldn’t work. They were able to walk the judges through their process, which increased their overall score, landing them a second-place medal.

“This season was a crazy whirlwind of learning and creativity. Every person grew as an individual and also as a team member. Destination Imagination is not about being perfect; it’s about struggling through and finding better ways to be an innovator.” 

Russell expressed her thanks to all who helped, saying “I want to thank our amazing parent chaperones who were my helping hands at state. The schedule was very tight, and they were able to help teams get set up and ready to perform. I never would have made it through the weekend without them. Also, a big thank you to the community who supported these kids whether it was donating food, buying concessions, or being a resource for information we needed. Destination Imagination is a truly unique opportunity for our elementary kids to use their creativity and engineering skills, while creating future leaders.”