On pins and needles

[domestic goddess]

Today my 10 year old granddaughter's Destination Imagination team is competing in the State Championship. We don't have final scores yet, but their balsa wood structure held 545 lbs! It also held 20 golf balls, and they get 50 points/golf ball. Lotsa points! The kids have to design and build their structures themselves. There are parent advisors, but the work is all the kids'. I'm so proud of them; they have worked so hard. There are 103 teams today, 11 in their age group (3rd, 4th, and 5th grades). One team in their group didn't show, and one had their structure break. I don't think that disqualifies them, but I'm sure it will impact their score. Anyway, it looks like we may have some budding architects and engineers in this group! I'm sure Lana's grandfather (electrical engineer)and her great-grandfather (metallurgist) are smiling down at her today from heaven. Not to mention her grandfather on her dad's side (electrician). I'm so proud of this fine group of fourth graders! Two teams will go to the Global competition next month in Knoxville, TN.

[domestic goddess]

Well, our team didn't win today. But they worked together, they worked hard, they won the first round, and I'm so very proud of them!

[peggy]

Is this like Odyssey of the Mind? My son competed in that several years and yes, it is an exciting, tense time! Congratulations to your granddaughter for making the team! Whatever the outcome of the competition, she must be very special for getting that far!

[danna]

This sounds like hard work and a great learning experience...

[domestic goddess]

It is a great experience. And they are already talking about next year. They plan to stay together as a group and do it again. Destination Imagination was one answer to so many cuts in the arts departments in so many schools. The idea is to fuse science and the arts. The kids are offered several challenges, and they pick one on which to work. There are adult advisors, but their role is pretty limited, and all the planning and work is to be done by the kids. Then there is a regional competition, a State competition, and a Global competition, where the kids present their projects. In addition to the solution to the problem (a simple machine) they also perform a skit or write a song about it. The kids all came back home and went to dinner together, with their parents, too, and I think that really helped them recover from their disappointment and determined to do this next year. Some schools actually incorporate this into their Quest programs, I'm told, but these kids all did this as an extracurricular activity. They had fun and learned a lot, like about working as part of a team, and what your obligations are to your other team members. In this egocentric society of ours, I think those are valuable lessons to learn.

[redfox]

I love DI. It sows seeds, and good on her, and everyone, for getting where they did!

[domestic goddess]

Learning that you cando a very good job, and still you don't always win, is a good lesson to learn, and we all have to do that at some point in our lives.They're not letting it keep them down, and that's a very good thing. There were tears yesterday, as they were saying "we'll never see each other again." three of the team members live within 2 blocks of each other! And the others are close, as this is a small 'burb. Pretty funny, but I'm glad they feel so strongly about each other.