Press release from Destination Imagination:
After achieving honors for creativity, teamwork and innovation in regional and state academic tournaments, The Magical Mummies, one of Haw Creek’s Destination Imagination teams this year has earned the right to compete in Destination Imagination’s Global Finals, the world’s largest celebration of student creativity, to be held May 22-25 in Kansas City, Missouri. Team members include Mary-Hudson Harrelson (5th grade), Hadley Davis (5th grade), Lily Aho (5th grade), Charlie Day (4th grade), Skyler Lewis (3rd grade), Dashiell Griffin (3rd grade) and Laura Cooper Harrelson (3rd grade). Team is managed by Anna Quinn Harrelson and Jamie Davis.
This team will compete with other teams in the Service Learning challenge, one of seven, open-ended Challenges that require students to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, in addition to their talents in improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork, community service and social entrepreneurship.
“Am I biased parent, yes, but I am also a proud citizen of this community who is amazed by the power of our children’s resolve. Their work was awe-inspiring as they were delegated the task of finding a need in their community and coming up with a solution to meet that need. Through their own discourse they devised a way to help fellow students pay the fees for extra-curricular activities that students may not have been able to afford prior. These amazing kids created a scholarship fund to pay for piano lessons, soccer balls, basketball fees, rides to and from practices etc. They took it a step farther and have created a Lending Locker for gear and uniforms to be given away free of charge to those in the community that need them. In January they created a fund-raiser at Haw Creek Elementary where they held an amazing adventure race, “The Great Escape Race” and generated over $2000 to start the fund. Asheville, let us let the children lead!,” said Matt Aho, parent of one of the team members.
This team won not only first place in their challenge division for the state, but also were honored with a Torchbearer Award for their community service project and a DaVinci Award for a complex team created hermit crab costume made from recycled materials. They were deemed the “most decorated team in NC Destination Imagination history with their 3 medals all work proudly by the team.
Destination Imagination (DI) has had a positive impact on more than one million students who have taken part in its acclaimed academic program. This year, over 150,000 students have participated in tournaments throughout the U.S., as well as 30 countries, in hopes of earning a spot at the Global Finals competition in May.
Haw Creek’s Magical Mummies team is among the 8,000 students representing more than 1,400 teams that have advanced to participate in Global Finals 2019.
Destination Imagination is a leader in project-based learning opportunities that blends STEM education with the arts and social entrepreneurship. Its academic Challenges are student-directed and are designed to teach kids how to think, not what to think. Teams who participate have the opportunity to present their solutions at regional and state tournaments.
Each year, DI competitions begin with a Regional Tournament, where team solutions are assessed by a panel of trained Appraisers, ranging from educators to artists to engineers. Each team solution is scored on a variety of elements, including originality, workmanship, presentation and teamwork. Teams with the highest scores advance to the Affiliate (state or country) Tournaments. The top-tiered teams from the Affiliate Tournaments advance to Global Finals.
Destination Imagination dedicates itself to enriching the global community by providing opportunities for learners of all ages to explore and discover using the creative process from imagination to innovation.
For more information about Global Finals, visit globalfinals.org/
To donate to our fundraising efforts to get the team to Global Finals, contribute to Chances for Children Scholarship fund or donate used uniforms or gear, please contact chancesforchildrencarolinas@gmail.com
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.