Teams tap imaginations for competition in LR
Elementary, middle and high school students in about 80 teams put their critical thinking skills to the test Saturday during the northern region of Arkansas’ Destination Imagination tournament in Little Rock.
Each challenge in the competition, held Saturday at Don R. Roberts Elementary School, combined data-related work with dramatic presentations in areas of engineering, science, improvisation, fine arts and service learning.
Destination Imagination’s Arkansas affiliate director Christine Symons said the program, which has been in use in Arkansas for 30 years, seeks to spark creativity among participants and develop skills that will benefit them in the future.
“Our goal is to teach students the creative process all the way from innovation to implementation,” Symons said.
Symons said that will help students to think on their own, a skill they can use as they move into higher education and into the workforce.
“They learn team management,” Symons said. “They learn project management. They learn all kinds of things that prepare them for future jobs that don’t even exist in the world today.”
“Critical thinking is the key to Destination Imagination. They learn how to think out of the box. They learn how to solve problems. And the important thing is they learn how to do it all on their own,” she said.
As an example, students who participated in the “Big Fix” technical challenge SaturVAN
day invented a device to solve a problem of their choosing and then presented a story that accompanied that invention.
Students who participated in the “To the Rescue” improvisational challenge presented a skit about a superhero who uses his powers to foil a villain’s evil plans.
Presentations are part of even the technical and engineering challenges. Those presentations don’t necessarily earn the students points in the competition, but they help the students practice communication skills, Symons said.
“Communication is key in any job you do in the 21st century,” Symons said. “People are always working with teams … and they’re always communicating with different people. And being able to communicate and get your point across is critical for them to be able to succeed in any career that they take on.”
Teams like Melting Iceberg Lettuce from Little Rock Central High School practiced those skills in the “It’s About Time” service learning challenge, telling judges how they helped their community.
Team member Emma Jackson, 17, worked with Tree Streets to grow and preserve trees in Little Rock.
“We had to organize an event,” Jackson said. “So we worked with the people, and our entire team organized a separate event where we went and planted trees downtown.”
The presentation by Jackson’s team included a skit about Tree Streets members who allied with woodland creatures to stop eastern European lumberjacks from chopping down trees to build a nightclub.
“We knew that it had to be something that was nature-related. And we kind of went in a fantasy direction,” Jackson said.
All of the Melting Iceberg Lettuce team members have participated in the event for at least four years, according to the team’s manager.
Many alumni of the program have gone on to successful careers, Symons said. Among them are Wondermile CEO and co-founder Anna Palmer, and actor Chris Colfer, who made a name for himself playing Kurt Hummel on the television show Glee.
“We’ve got people that are in very prestigious jobs either in entertainment, or there’s people that work at Disney as ‘imagineers’ or at science institutes that are developing the curriculum for students,” Symons said.
All groups that participated Saturday will be invited to the state competition at Bryant Middle School on April 4. From there, the top entrants will be invited to the global finals on May 20-23 in Kansas City, Mo.