We just returned from a delightful few days at the Destination Imagination Globals competition in Knoxville, TN.   The story begins several months ago when a talented young 8th grade student from South Carolina wrote asking me about pendulums.  Sarah had found a link to my Pendulums page while researching their skit topic:  "The Plot and the Pendulum".     Over the past six months she  has kept me abreast of their progress ending with their appearance at the Globals last week as state champs for their problem and grade level!. 

The Destination Imagination organization sponsors annual competitions in creative problem solving at several levels (elementary, middle school, high school, university and a few other adult categories).  Teams of up to 7 members choose from a list of  theme topics and develop a solution and an accompanying skit to solve the problem.   At the school levels, adult roles are limited to logistical support - the design and implementation of the solutions are entirely up to the kids.  One of the mother/managers told me, "That's not my department" became her mantra when the team asked how to do something or which choice would be better.      

The global finals represent state and country winners determined by a series of school, regional, and state competitions.  There were a total of 829 teams at this year's competition, probably well over 5,000 students representing the most creative young problem solvers in the country.   I does renew one's hope for the future. 

I had told Sarah that if they won the state competition we would come see their presentation at the Globals.  They did, and we did.  

The guidelines for the chosen  problem required the pendulum be used to determine two alternate outcomes to their story.  The girls chose pollution and its effect on mankind as their theme.   My wife and I were accepted into the group as if we had been involved all along and it didn't take long to be impressed by their attitudes and  willingness to work hard to achieve a goal.    They ended up in the middle of the pack when scores were totaled, but no one seemed too devastated.    It seems that, while winning would have been great, the journey to Globals was  reward enough.    

Here are a few pictures that might motivate viewers to investigate the DI program for their own school. 

Click a thumbnail to view a larger image: 

A pre-performance toast

Engineering secrets revealed! (As long suspected, duct tape holds ManKind together. Note the jump rope that supports the pendulum shaft.  I love it!)

Performance over, we can smile again!

Mother Nature and the elements. (Sulfur is Stinky!)

Dad disassembles ManKind.  (While Mom and the girls were sorry to see him go, I think Dad will be happy to have his garage back!)

The trading floor - so many pins, so little time.

 
 

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