Beaverton third-graders among youngest in statewide Destination Imagination competition
By Melissa Navas, The Oregonian
April 09, 2010, 3:45PM
View full sizeStudents from McKay Elementary School in Beaverton practice a skit during a team meeting for their upcoming Destination Imagination state tournament in Corvallis Saturday. The third-graders are among the youngest to compete this year. Kelton Paul, 9, right, plays Medusa while teammates improvise a scene. From right to left, Katie Truong, 9; Rowan Fox, 9 (on floor); Dominik Vlasak, 9; Jon Bynum, 8, (sitting); and Julian Dukes, 9. Jonathan Lim, 8, is not pictured.BEAVERTON -- Before the seven third-graders entered a world of make believe, they had to hash out the details: Who would be the heroine? Who would be the narrator? Who would travel back in time? Their conversation on a recent afternoon sounded more like executives duking it out around a conference table than children playing. But in the end, the flickers of squabbling, frustration and stage fright subsided. And the kids at McKay Elementary School in Beaverton got back to being, well, kids.
Destination Imagination
What: A creative problem-solving competition for elementary, middle and high school students. Teams will compete for a chance to advance to the Global Finals in Tennessee in May. When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Crescent Valley High School,4444 N.W. Highland Dr., Corvallis
Information:oregondi.org oridodi.org
About 600 students from 75 teams will participate in the day-long competition in various challenges, including tasks with homemade robots or skits using homemade puppets or props made of recycled newspaper.
State finals winners will be invited to compete at the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn. in May.
McKay's Team T3G will be among the youngest in the tournament with participants ranging from third grade to high school.
Team T3G chose the "DIrect DIposit" challenge, which asked them to deliver objects to targets they could not see. This project requires them to focus on engineering, technical design and construction, math and theater arts.
Team manager Blanka Vlasak, who formed the team this year because the program sounded interesting, said she was skeptical of her students'