Sometimes all you need is some imagination and a little know-how.
Oxford Elementary’s Destination Imagination Team recently took first place in regional competition at Mott High School in Waterford. The third grade team competed against five other schools in the GuessDImate! challenge.
This year’s GuessDImate! challenge was to create a structure based upon a specific set of parameters, and then guess how much weight it could hold. In addition to the structure, the OES team took “side trips” with their project that included an eight-minute skit, original recorded music with voice over and a handmade flag signed by all the team members.
At regionals, the OES Team’s structure held 105 pounds – the team had guessed it would hold 117. They built the project from balsa wood and tacky glue, and came to the final design after creating and testing several different variations.
The team’s eight-minute skit took place on their own Court TV. The case involved a dispute over a broken stool. Mrs. Richlady (Marina Ibarra) and her attorney (Tim Denninger) claim that a defective stool made by Mr. Frankenstein (Grant Heinrich) caused Mrs. Richlady to break her arm and her favorite china plate. Miss Perfect (Lauren Moloney), the defending attorney, proved to Judge (Jenna Nojaim) that the stool was not defective by estimating and proving how much weight a similar structure can hold.
On top of all this, the team also created a gavel and gavel box, and the voiced over music for the courtroom that used two keyboards, an electric guitar and drums.
“The scenario, the courtroom, everything came from the students,” said team leader Art Ibarra. “They did all of this. They created everything.”
The OES Team took first place with 395.23 points. In second was Lake Orion with 350, third was Oaktree Elementary with 273, fourth was Clarkston with 235 and fifth was Burt with 230. The teams were judged on their teamwork, side trips, presentation and research.
“The scariest part was talking – talking loudly during the presentation,” said “Judge” Jenna.
“The easiest part for me was coming up with the names for the presentation,” said “Miss Perfect” Lauren.
“I thought the easiest was breaking the structure,” laughed “Mr. Frankenstein” Grant.
In addition to their first place finish, the team also won the Spirit of Discover & Imagination Award, the “Spirit of DI,” for their teamwork on the Instant Challenge. According to the four judges, the OES team showed efficiency and creativeness while solving the problem. “They fulfilled the requirements of the challenge with exacting detail. Not to mention, they left us smiling for the remainder of the day (at least until 2:25 p.m. when this was written),” wrote the judges.
Oxford Elementary’s Destination Imagination Team will be competing at the state level on April 24 at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. Good luck team and enjoy the trip!