Four Grosse Pointe Teams Advance to Destination ImagiNation Global Finals
Teams Seek Donations to Make Trip Possible
April 24, 2008, Grosse Pointe, Mich. - History was made this past weekend at the State Championship for Destination ImagiNation (DI) in Mt. Pleasant as four teams from Grosse Pointe swept the competition and earned bids to represent Michigan at the Global Finals next month. A Brownell Middle School team and a combined team of Parcells and Brownell students each took first place in their respective divisions. Pierce Middle School took second and a group of Grosse Pointe South freshmen took third place. Never before in DI history have four teams from Grosse Pointe placed so highly and earned advancement to the Global Finals. With this success fueling their motivation they now embark on a time-crunched fund raising effort to reach the over $20,000 necessary for all four teams to compete.
Destination ImagiNation is the world’s largest non-athletic team competition and offers kindergarten through university level students the unique opportunity to participate in challenging and motivating activities both inside and outside their regular curriculum. DI requires countless hours of after-school practice and challenges kids to problem solve on a major scale by using team building and creative thinking skills and presenting their solutions in a theatrical performance, all without any adult interference.
The Brownell team, whose members are Brian Abud, Colin Anderson, Lottie Ash, Kimmi Batchelor, Cameron Davies, Holly Brinker, and Megan McCuen (coached by Sally McCuen and Karen Batchelor), chose to compete in the DI challenge “DI’ve Got a Secret” which requires them to create a skit that includes an optical illusion, three set pieces that come together to make a new one, and a character that is not who he/she seems. The skit they created takes place in the DIA, where at night the paintings come to life. The skit is set to original music, and incorporates lively dances, handcrafted costumes, beautiful hand painted landscapes, unique set pieces, and a special “Box of Wonder and Illusion”, their illusion magic trick box, that makes a little ball disappear, all created completely by the team members without any outside help.
The three other Grosse Pointe teams selected to compete in the DI Improvisational challenge titled “Chorific”. This challenge requires the teams to perform a theatrical skit portraying a randomly selected chore and two obstacles to that chore while incorporating research of a randomly selected historical figure, chosen one minute before the actual performance. The team also was required to demonstrate an improvisational theater technique, create five sound stories to enhance the skit, stage the skit creating costumes, props and scenery, all within 30 minutes of their performance.
The Grosse Pointe South Team is comprised of six freshmen: Richard Altovilla, Annie Gough, Karl Juergens, Savannah Melcher, Taylor Wizner and Alison Zoltowski. (Coaches Lynda Altovilla and Liz Bielski). Their performance at the State Competition involved playing a virtual reality game that transported the players to meet Genghis Khan (the randomly selected famous person) and to chop wood without the use of an axe. They creatively solved their problem on the spot with super bionic chickens.
The Pierce Team consisting of 6th graders Neal Troscinski, Jack McCoy, Rachel Griffin, Grace Henning and Ben Schneider, and Trombly 5th grader Kelly Beardslee, (Coaches Bonnie McCoy and Renee Troscinski) transported the audience to the clouds where they were joined by Crazy Horse (the randomly selected famous person). They were instructed by a grumpy, old angel to perform a chore and overcome several obstacles before they could enter the Eternal Gates.
A talk show was hosted by the joint Parcells/Brownell team where Qaurky Conner, host of the team created show “America’s Quirkiest Questions” interviewed Montezuma I and the Chorebusters as to what was the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Chorebuster’s with the help of Montezuma’s aqueduct system completed the chore and all of the obstacles in order to accomplish a “bread slicing” solution. Team members are Parcells students : Jordan Radke, Courtney Veneri, and Rhys Williams, and Brownell students: Kaitlyn LaMagno and Casey Wizner (Coach Leslie Wizner).
The Global Finals will be held on May 21 - 25 in Knoxville, Tennessee and will include teams from over 38 states, all provinces of Canada, Mexico, and at least 13 other countries. The cost of the competition is $5000 per team and donations for the Grosse Pointe teams are being gratefully accepted to fund the Global Finals and to ensure the future of this valuable educational program.
Tax-deductible donations will be gratefully accepted by writing a check to:
Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education/Destination Imagination
389 St. Clair St.
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
For more information about Destination ImagiNation please visit www.destinationimagination.org or contact any of the team managers below.
Parcells/Brownell: Leslie Wizner
313-530-0288
wizners@yahoo.com
Pierce: Bonnie McCoy
313-822-4758
blmccoy@yahoo.com
Grosse Pointe South: Lynda Altovilla
313-530-1867
altovilla@comcast.net |
