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Haldane Team Wins Their Division's Destination Imagination State Championship
 | | Pictured, left to right: Tess Foster, Grace Carroll, Claire Carroll, Julia Olsen, Michelle McEwen and Megan Scali glow after completing Destination Imagination NY State competition. |
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Haldane's Elementary Orange Team won the Destination Imagination New York State Championship in Binghamton on Saturday, April 21. The team comprised of Julia Olsen, Tess Foster, Michelle McEwen, Claire Carroll, Grace Carroll, all of Cold Spring, and Megan Scali of Garrison competed in the creative problem solving competition.
The students were given a complicated problem called "Direct Flight" in October and worked for 5 - 10 hours per week for almost seven months to develop and execute a solution to the complex challenge. Team managers Terese Olsen and Seamus Carroll were extremely pleased with the exceptional results. The team is now looking ahead to the world championships, called Global Finals, to be held in Knoxville, TN at the end of May.
In the Direct Flight challenge undertaken by the team, the students were required to design and build aircraft and launching devices. The aircraft had to be elevated and launched with minimal human intervention from randomly selected launching points, complete a stunt while airborne and land in a 2.5 x 2.5 foot landing area to achieve the maximum score. Additional points were awarded for keeping the aircraft aloft for over five seconds and using a paper plane built during the 8-minute competition. The team was also required to perform a skit during the flight competition. The Destination Imagination organizers commented repeatedly that this was the most difficult challenge ever offered in the annual competition.
In addition to their first place finish, the Haldane Orange Team also received a special Renaissance Award for one of the props used in their skit. The students created a story book including printing, illustration, making marbled endpapers, sewing the pages together, binding the book in leather and embossing the cover. This award was given to only two of the 66 teams in the state competition and recognizes extraordinary amounts of effort and preparation.
Destination Imagination is the world's largest non-profit, volunteer-driven organization devoted to helping kids gain practical life skills through interesting, entertaining and mind-boggling challenges. The community and school-based program begins in August/September when the year's Challenges are issued. Teams of five to seven students organize; choose their challenge and work for months honing their solution.
Volunteer team managers (parents, teachers or community volunteers) facilitate the group, but cannot give technical or other assistance. Teams compete locally in regional competitions, with winners advancing to the State Championships. Winners at the state level advance to the Global Finals in Knoxville, TN where they compete against teams from all 50 states and 30 countries. The Global Finals are attended by over 800 teams and 17,000 spectators, making this by far the largest event of its kind.
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