Local DI teams go Global
Creativity and skill proved to be the ticket for teams from Queen of Peace School and Cloquet High School as they recently earned their way to the Destination ImagiNation (DI) Global competition this spring.By: Wendy Johnson, Pine Journal
- Queen of Peace team with coach
- Queen of Peace team
- Cloquet High School DI team
Creativity and skill proved to be the ticket for teams from Queen of Peace School and Cloquet High School as they recently earned their way to the Destination ImagiNation (DI) Global competition this spring.
A Cloquet High School team of seniors known as “A. Sensation,” coached by 11-year veteran Nora Rosemore, scored their third trip to DI Globals by placing first in the state in the Improvisational Theater challenge. “Improv,” as it is often referred to, is a form of performance art in which actors perform spontaneously, sometimes utilizing suggestions from the audience to contribute to the content and direction of the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot in an “off the cuff” fashion.
The CHS team had to create a five-minute improvisational skit about the cause-and-effect relationship between two unrelated news stories, including having all their plans suddenly discombobulated by a last-minute One-Minute Glitch (known as an “OMG.”)
Team members include William Bauer, Tyler Goebel, Bethany Rosemore, Spencer Johnson, Christian Wood and Kyle Lau.
Most of the CHS team members have been participating in DI since sixth grade, tackling various challenges until they hit high school, when they decided to try “Improv” – which proved to be a perfect fit for them, since they have qualified for DI Global competition for three years in a row.
The team has participated at Globals for the past two years, but this year they have declined to attend, since they are all seniors and want to be able to participate in senior activities at Cloquet High School at that time.
Destination ImagiNation in the Cloquet Public Schools is sponsored in part by a grant from the Cloquet Educational Foundation.
A team of elementary students from Queen of Peace School in Cloquet also earned its way to DI Global competition. The team has been together since January 2012 and includes fourth-graders Eli Lah, Otto Cockburn, Caleb Swanson, and third-grader Emma Swanson. The team is coached by Loran Wappes.
Their challenge was called “Hold It,” where they build a structure of balsa wood. They have to put as much weight as they can on the structure and – at the same time – fill it with golf balls. While one is putting weights on the structure and another is dispensing the golf balls, the other two presented a performance, with one playing an alien from another planet that lands on “Planet 52” and the other explaining how the golf balls are “eggs” going into an incubator. The team’s structure is judged on a weight-to-pressure ratio, plus the performance and creativity of its actors.
The Queen of Peace team won second place in regionals held on March 10 at Proctor High School and moved on to state finals on April 14 at Champlain Middle School, where they won second out of 16 teams. The team will go to the DI Global competition, held in Knoxville, Tenn., May 23-26.
The educational goals of Destination ImagiNation are to foster creative and critical thinking, to develop teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills, and to nurture research and inquiry skills involving both creative exploration and attention to detail. The program is open to students from elementary school through college.
Tags: carlton county, news, cloquet
More from around the web
RSS Feeds