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Two Haldane Teams Win Destination Imagination State Competition and Advance to World Championship
 | | Left Photo: Middle School Team members (from left) Weronika Bajsicka, Grace Carroll, Julia Olsen, Claire Carroll, Kieran Austin, Wylie McDonald and Michele McEwen after completing their performance at the State Championships. |
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Two Haldane Destination Imagination (DI) Teams won the New York State Championship on Saturday, April 5 in Endicott, New York. The Middle School team, calling themselves "Seven DIers in Search of a Challenge", won first place. The Elementary School team, named "The Tie DI Devils" also won at the State Tournament with a 3rd place wildcard win. Team members were thrilled to be acknowledged. Both teams' victories at the state level advance them to the world championships, called Global Finals, in Knoxville Tennessee on May 21-24. They will compete there against dozens of teams from around the world.
This year's DI program began last October when the teams were formed and they selected one of five team challenges to solve over the next six months. The Seven DI'ers in Search of a Challenge selected a problem called "Obstacles, Of Course" to solve. In this challenge, the team had to build a vehicle that could overcome ten obstacles, without adult assistance of any kind. The vehicle had strict size limitations and had to overcome obstacles such as ascending stairs, climbing a rope and scaling a vertical wall. The team presented their solution to the DI Appraisers as part of an eight-minute presentation that including costumes, props and live music. As an added wrinkle to this year's challenge, the teams had to present their solutions non-verbally.
 | | Right Photo: Elementary School Team members (from left) Aurora Strauss, Nicholas Chiera, Eric Rizzi and Josh Jesek at the State Championships. |
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The other portion of the competition, called Instant Challenge, has the teams solve a problem they had never seen before. Teams are handed a problem, given four minutes to solve it and two minutes to present their solutions to the appraisers. The Haldane Middle School team was up to the challenge. Their tank-like vehicle easily maneuvered the obstacles and was the only machine at the State Tournament to complete the rope climb - considered to be the most difficult obstacle to overcome. They also posted an excellent score on their Instant Challenge. Team managers Seamus Carroll and Terese Olsen were thrilled with the hard work and spirit shown by the team.
The Elementary Team chose a challenge called "Chorific," which required the team to create a six-minute skit about completing a chore by overcoming obstacles in unusual and creative ways. The team learned improvisational acting techniques, on-the-spot problem solving, and, of course, team work and lots of out of the box thinking. They researched 12 different historical figures and developed a sound design to enhance their skit. In 30 minutes, with only 12 different "raw materials," (such as cardboard, pipe cleaners, fabric, tape, plastic pipes, and socks) the four Tie D-I Devils created a skit along with scenery and props, and incorporated a chore (this time, feeding a squirrel) and obstacle (the squirrel kept eating from the bird feeder, instead of eating its own food) drawn from a hat on the spot. They managed to cover all aspects of this challenge by creating a puppet theatre and puppets. This allowed the small team to perform all of the necessary elements of the challenge, at times switching puppets and taking turns with the various sounds.
After the 30 minutes of planning time, one of the famous people whom the team researched was chosen. They had one minute to incorporate this person (this time Golda Meir) into the skit. During the skit another obstacle (the squirrel started throwing the food at them) was revealed, which the team had to overcome the spot. The team's sound design included an original song and sounds representing the famous person, the chore, and other parts of the skit. The team also included the "question only" improvisational technique. During a portion of the skit, characters spoke to each other only in questions. Team Managers, Cindy Chiera and Mindy Needelman say "It's fun and inspiring to see young people rise to these challenges!" The team hopes to continue this in Tennessee!
The upcoming Global Finals competition is like a small scale Olympics. Roughly 5,000 competitors will compete at elementary, middle school, high school and university level in each of the five team challenges. The opening and closing ceremonies will include nearly 20,000 spectators, competitors and officials and even a parade of nations. The students will have a chance to meet kids from all over the country and the world. The opportunity to participate in such an event is a life-changing experience for the students involved, and surely one they will remember for the rest of their lives.
The teams have one month to raise enough funds to cover the costs of room, board and transportation for the team members. There will be several fund raising events to watch out for. If you are interested in helping these kids make their way to the Global Competition to represent Haldane, please send checks made out to the Haldane PTA at 15 Craigside Drive to the attention of Destination Imagination. For any additional information about the teams or the DI program, please contact Debbi Milner at dmilner@milnerhome.com or call 265-4806.
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