Destination Imagination

Colson has been so lucky to be a part of the Destination Imagination team at his school this year.  These kids worked so hard for months to prepare for the tournament.  The tournament was on March 17.  (As per my usual these days, I am very late in blogging about it.)  For their challenge, Colson's team decided to build a structure and golf ball delivery device. 

 Colson's team were called the "Destination Dominators".  (Colson with the golf ball delivery device (GBDD).)

 For the requirements, the kids had to come up with a skit, and in the skit they had to incorporate their structure and GBDD.

 In the skit, Colson was the moon, and he was tired of having to share the night time sky with the stars, so he came up with a device (the GBDD) to get rid of the stars.  Part of the challenge is to see how strong their structure is.  In between putting golf balls into the structure using the GBDD, (there was a taped line that if Colson had crossed while using the GBDD, they would have been disqualified.  No pressure!) two of the kids would add weights to the structure.  Their structure ended up being one of the strongest.  It ended up holding over 175 lbs.!  The kids decided on the design of the structure and built it on their own.  And came up with the skit on their own.  Actually, as parents, we had to sign a contract that we would not interfere in any way or tell the kids what should be done.  If they asked a question, we could guide them, but the idea was for the kids to come up with everything on their own.

 In my opinion, their skit was the best.  They met all of the requirements in incorporating all they were supposed to, and there was tons of humor in it!  Colson is such a ham.  They all did amazing!  After their skit, they went up to the instant challenge room.  The parents weren't allowed to watch the instant challenge.  They did great though!  Colson's team got first place in the instant challenge in their category.  Basically, for the instant challenge, the kids are presented with a problem, and as a team, they have to figure out how to solve it using the materials that are given them.  And all in just a few minutes!

 Later that night, we went to the awards ceremony.  Colson's team got 3rd place in their category out of 14 teams!  Amazing!  Which means they are going to the state tournament, and if they make it in the top 3 or 4 (I can't remember which) they will go to the Global tournament in Tennessee.  They had one little hiccup during the skit, and if they get that fixed, their chances of going to Global are really high since they placed so high in all of their other categories.

Here is Colson with the rest of his team (minus 1) after the awards ceremony.  So excited!  The next tournament is this Saturday.  Can't wait!