Destination IMAGINATION

LITTLE ROCK — Jessica Allbritton has been writing questions on slips of paper and pinning them to a tree in her backyard. Every day when she gets home from school, Jessica checks the tree for tangible evidence that her questions have been answered.

To most, it might sound like a game of make-believe. But for Jessica and her four Destination Imagination team members, this exercise lies far from the imaginary: They're conducting an experiment on a commonly held belief in the African country of Djibouti.

"We have to prove whether or not trees have sacred powers," said Jessica, 11.

And from Wednesday to Saturday, this team of fifth-graders from Angie Grant Elementary in Benton will take what they've learned since December to the Destination Imagination Global Championship in Knoxville, Tenn.

"We're pretty excited about it," said team manager and parent Shaun McFarland, who oversees and manages the team's project. "I have really high hopes of placing very, very high this year."

McFarland, whose son Dalton has been involved in Destination Imagination for three years, said that the program is "an opportunity for kids to let loose their creative juices." Each year, elementary school to post-college students choose a challenge from a list provided by Destination Imagination. Over the course of several months the teams, which usually comprise five to seven members, conduct a number of experiments and prepare a skit and presentation on their subject. If they do well at the regional- and state-level competitions, McFarland said the next step is the Global Championship, which draws teams from as far as China and Brazil.

This year, the team from Angie Grant Elementary chose the "Hit or Myth" challenge.

"They had to choose a nation other than the one they live in, and then they had to find a myth related to that country," McFarland said.

In addition to the questions Allbritton has been pinning to the tree in her backyard, 11-year-oldDalton McFarland said he's been looking at samples from plants and trees to see how their cells differ.

"We compared them to see if there was anything in the tree that would make them sacred," Dalton said.

One of the largest parts of their presentation is a skit in which presidential candidates in Djibouti seek out two supposedly sacred trees to foretell who will win the election - only to find out that the trees aren't the most reliable fortune tellers.

"There's a lot of comedy to it," McFarland said.

The Global Championship will also include an instant challenge, in which team members are presented a problem that they have to solve in a matter of minutes.

Jessica said more than half their point s at the Global Championship will be determined by their performance in the instant challenge, which is why getting acquainted with another country's culture isn't the only important thing she's discovered during the pro - cess.

"I've learned that we need to use a lot of teamwork to be able to get a lot of things done," she said.

Jessica's mother, Julie Allbritton, said that this is the third year her daughter has been involved in Destination Imagination, and she's seen how it has cultivated Jessica's intellect.

"She has to think of something quickly and intelligently, and she's had to learn to think for herself and just go with it," she said.

"It's a great experience. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun."