A quartet of Sashabaw Middle School students is making waves in the Destination Imagination realm.
On March 4, two SMS teams competed in a regional Destination Imagination Challenge Experience meet and both came in first place.
Then on March 18 at Waterford Mott High School, both teams competed in the state finals, with the girls team, the Tick Tockers, comprised of Parker Hemsworth (seventh grade), Avery Jasper (eighth grade), Grace Jasper (seventh grade) and Giulia Mollo (sixth grade) finishing in second place, advancing to the global finals starting on May 20 in Kansas City, Mo.
The Destination Imagination Challenge Experience is a project-based learning program designed to complement K-12 education, offering new academic challenges in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), fine arts, service learning, and early learning.
In solving a challenge, students explore their passions, discover their unique talents and abilities, and learn new skills. Teams also participate in instant challenges, which are quick, creative and critical thinking exercises that build teamwork and problem-solving abilities.
The Tick Tockers competed in the Middle School Aged-Fine Arts Challenge, entitled “Flip The Script” at the March 18 event.
The challenge consisted of the following: helps students develop acting and creative skills through artistic media, theater arts, scriptwriting, and prop design; create and present a flipped tale that is inspired by a well-known story but focuses on a new main character; research literary devices and integrate one into the presentation; use theatrical techniques to move the audience’s focus from one portion of the presentation area to another; design and build a piece of scenery that goes through a scenery flip; and create and present two team choice elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
— Matt Mackinder

PHOTO: Sashabaw Middle School’s Tick Tockers team, from left, Avery Jasper, Grace Jasper, Parker Hemsworth, and Giulia Mollo, compete at the recent Destination Imagination state championship event. Photo: Allyson Hemsworth