Four teams from the St. Joseph School competed at the Destination Imagination state championships on April 27 at Central Michigan University, and two are headed to the world finals as a result of their performances.
The sixth-grade team of Keegan Collins, Alex Fontana, Lyndsey Hurford, Andy Kozyra and Katryna Powers won the state title in their competition, and will make a return trip to the world level.
The team placed 26th out of 50 teams at the world finals last year in Knoxville, TN, and are excited about going back.
The team, coached by John and Marie Powers, competed in the ‘Back at You!? challenge, and created a round trip delivery device and receiver that sent balls back and forth.
‘We have to shoot ping pong balls from one side of the gym to the other,? said Katryna Powers, who noted that their group used a leaf blower as their ‘shooting? device.
The team used PVC piping to return the balls back to their shooter, some 14 feet away.
Most of the team’s points come from successfully hitting their target with each ping pong ball in an eight-minute span. Teams scored three points for every successful shot.
At the state competition, the team scored 861 points, successfully converting 287 shots.
A skit that they incorporated into their performance accounted for the remainder of the points they earned.
What made the team’s accomplishment even more notable was the fact that they competed in the sixth, seventh and eighth-grade division, making them one of the youngest teams in competition.
The team agreed that one of the highlights from last year’s trip to the world finals was meeting teams from across the globe.
Teams are given pins to trade with their fellow competitors, and Powers recalled meeting one team from Korea.
The sixth-grade team will be joined in Tennessee this year by a team of eighth-graders coached by Tom and Nancy Wrobel.
That team consists of Sarah Connolly, Laura Hessen, Mike Moeller, Jenny Vyskocil and Nick Wrobel.
Their challenge, ‘How’d tHAT Happen?? was to create an original story and present it in a theatrical performance. It had to incorporate a bizarre happening, a hat that transforms the wearer, a specific genre, and was to take place in a country other than the team’s own.
Their skit focused on a banana farmer from Ottawa, Canada, played by Hessen, and was narrated by Wrobel, who played the piano.
‘It transforms a life and breaks a heart,? said Tom Wrobel, who has been coaching teams for 13 years.
‘We worked very hard and I got my line right at states,? joked Hessen, who had just one short line in the performance.
At the regional competition, the team was given the Da Vinci Award.
‘It’s the highest award you can get in DI,? said Connolly. ‘It’s for outstanding creativity.?
The team won their regional and placed third at states to qualify for the world finals.
‘We’re looking forward to going and meeting all of the new people,? added Connolly.
In addition to practicing for the worlds, the team will also spend their next few weeks fundraising to make the $15,000 needed to fund the trip.
The world finals take place at the University of Tennessee from May 24-27.
More information on the Destination Imagination world finals is available online at www.globalfinals.org
Two fourth-grade teams also placed in the top 10 at the state level.
Garrett Altenberger, Austin Krysmalski, Ryan Michalec, Keith Watza, Brenden Welper, Gabe Wrobel and Jacob Wysocki finished fifth in the ‘Back at You!? competition.
The team of Hayley Boggs, Rebecca Engler, Julia Grenier, Madison Hargraves, Alaina Richter, Megan Ward and Tara Wesolowski placed 10th in the ‘Inside Dimension!? category.