PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Two student-led teams from SAD 1 in Presque Isle will put their creativity, research and problem-solving skills to the test while participating in the upcoming global competition of Destination Imagination in late May.
On March 23, Destination Imagination teams from both Presque Isle High School and Presque Isle Middle School placed first in their respective categories, allowing them to advance to the global finals to be held from May 22-25 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Destination Imagination is a nonprofit organization that fosters creative thinking and leadership skills through challenges that focus on visual arts; science, technology, engineering and math; improvisation; service learning; and early learning.
This year, four teams from SAD 1 journeyed to the state competition in Bangor — an engineering team and a science team from Presque Isle High School and engineering team and improv teams from Presque Isle Middle School. Both engineering teams placed second while the other two teams earned 1st place in each of their categories.
In DI, only 1st-place teams advance to globals. The Presque Isle High School science team members chose “Medical Mystery” as their challenge for both the state and global competitions.
As part of “Medical Mystery,” the team of four students — known as the “Life Savers” — wrote a skit set in a futuristic world in which two girls come into contact with mysterious moths and display an array of real-life symptoms ranging from mood swings, lack of balance and rashes. The team then has to “diagnose” and “cure” the dangerous “disease” using a self-created model of the brain and relying on their own previous research of various diseases.
The students created their model of the brain using battery packs, connecting wires and LED lights that are lit when they press buttons that represent certain areas of the brain. They also built a set for their skit that portrays their futuristic world and a realistic-looking but fake “rash” out of gelatine and glycerine.
“We were allowed to make up the disease, but all the symptoms had to be ones that could actually happen,” said sophomore Bethany Baker. “Any symptoms we wanted to use we did research on to make sure everything was medically realistic.”
Valerie Black has advised Destination Imagination teams for Presque Isle High School for the past nine years. This year marks the 7th time that one of her teams will advance to the global finals. She appreciates that the program allows students to take on challenges without any adult interference, giving them a taste of what real-world situations might be like.
“Last year, the team had scientific elements to their challenge, but they didn’t really see themselves as scientific people. But this year, I’ve seen them do more research beforehand and show how serious they were about their approach to the challenge,” Black said.
Members of Presque Isle High School’s Destination Imagination science team (from left to right) Alaina Sperrey, 16, Krista Williams, 15, Kayla Williams, 15, and Bethany Baker, 16, pose next to the set of their skit “Medical Mystery” during their practice session on April 3. The DI team, along with a middle school improv team, will head to the DI global competition in Kansas City, Missouri, in late May.
(Melissa Lizotte | The Star-Herald)
From Presque Isle Middle School, the “Salty Spoons” improv team of five students won over DI judges with their challenge called “Heads Up.” Each student had to research historical or literary figures and then act as those people in an improv skit for which they made up dialogue and actions on the spot. Students would read a random sentence that they had to incorporate into their skit and then received a “flip,” an unexpected and just as random twist, that had to be part of their story.
Eighth-grader Megan Robinson said that being part of DI has allowed the team to improve their leadership and collaboration skills and learn how to think on their feet during challenging situations.
“At states, one of our sentences was ‘The figureheads open a hair salon,’ and our flip was, ‘The tea is cold,’” Robinson said. “I think the challenge has helped us learn more leadership skills, not just how to be leaders on our own but how to cooperate with each other as well.”
Middle school DI advisor Julie Stephenson has coached DI teams for the past three years and has brought students to the global competition twice. This year’s globals will feature around 1,400 teams from over 15 countries. Other activities will include pin trading, a graduation ceremony for high school seniors, interactive exhibits and skills workshops.
Stephenson said that from the beginning of this year’s DI practices her students devoted themselves to their research and worked hard to become more confident in their improv skills.
“None of them had been on an improv team before, so we were starting from scratch,” Stephenson said. “But they all jumped into their research and we’ve spent the last three months just learning different skills that they’ll need for improv.”
To raise the $28,000 necessary to attend globals, both DI teams have held fundraisers such as spaghetti dinners and stew nights, bottle drives and car washes. They also sold raffle tickets for prize packages, but still have about $6,000 to raise before heading to Kansas City.
The DI students noted that they’re looking forward to interacting with teams from other states and countries, learning more about each other’s cultures, and seeing the unique ways they respond to similar challenges during the competition.
“DI is a great community,” said 8th-grader Isabella Keegan. “It’s a great experience for anyone who gets the chance because of all the people you get to know.”
“It’s like having a second family,” Robinson said.
