Greenbrier students to compete in national finals

Greenbrier students Sophia Ware, 13, from left, Immanuel Castro, 13, and Faith Palmer, 14, put some final touches on the mechanical dog Tempo as preparation for the Destination Imagination national competition.
Greenbrier students Sophia Ware, 13, from left, Immanuel Castro, 13, and Faith Palmer, 14, put some final touches on the mechanical dog Tempo as preparation for the Destination Imagination national competition.

GREENBRIER — Several students from the Greenbrier School District are sure to be taking care of last-minute details today for their upcoming road trip.

They are scheduled to leave Monday, along with teachers and parents, for Knoxville, Tennessee. The group will join thousands of others on the campus of the University of Tennessee for what is called the world’s largest celebration of student creativity — Destination Imagination’s Global Finals, set for Wednesday through Saturday.

According to the website destinationimagination.org, Destination Imagination Inc. is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-led nonprofit organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders. The most popular education offering is the challenge program, where student teams solve open-ended science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), arts and service learning challenges and present their solutions to trained appraisers.

After students complete their initial challenge, they receive an “instant challenge,” which requires the teams to engage in quick, creative and critical thinking. They receive the materials with which to solve the challenge and must quickly produce a solution in just five to eight minutes.

After achieving honors for creativity, teamwork and innovation in regional and state academic tournaments, five teams from Greenbrier have earned the right to compete in Destination Imagination’s Global Finals.

“We are very excited to have five teams from the Greenbrier School District participate in Destination Imagination’s Global Finals at the UT campus in Knoxville, Tennessee, this year,” said Angela Hartman, Wooster Elementary School gifted and talented education specialist and Destination Imagination coordinator for the district.

“Approximately 17,000 students, team managers and volunteers from 20 countries attend. It is a fun-packed week of competition, creativity, problem-solving and fun,” she said.

“Members of these five teams have all created their own presentations, costumes and props,” she said. “It is all created by our students.

“The Greenbrier School District has been very supportive of the DI program. The district hosted Creativity Day in January, which is a day packed with instant challenge, practice and learning for DI teams all across the state, and the North Region Tournament for all teams in this region of the state.”

The local teams, which all won in regional and state competitions, or received a wild card to attend the Global Finals, include the

following:

• An elementary-level team from Wooster Elementary School, with Renee Freeman and Jaree Fisher as team managers, includes team members Aubrey Freeman, James Fisher, Makenzie Hocott and Bella Massery, all third-graders; and Kamryn Allison, Devon Brannan and Addison Walton, all fourth-graders.

This team participated in the Fine Arts Challenge, “Get a Clue.”

Renee Freeman said the students “wrote a story about Gen. George Washington and his sympathetic ink, or invisible ink,” she said. “They researched it and made their own ink, which is the technical part of this challenge. In the story, they show the solution to the ink was stolen from Washington’s tent and they question the messengers who came to his tent to find out who stole it. They have three suspects.

“They’ve had a lot of fun with this. They are all making their first trip to the Global Finals. I am making my first trip, too, as is Jaree Fisher, my co-team leader. We are all really excited about going.”

• A middle-level team from Greenbrier Middle School, with Teresa Jackson and Natasha Raney as team managers, includes team members Asher Jackson, Whitley Raney, Abby Brackett, Austin Duvall and Hannah Stubbs, all seventh-graders; and Dustin Hall, a sixth-grader.

“Our team participated in the Project Outreach Challenge, The Meme Event, which involves addressing a community need,” Teresa Jackson said.

“We worked with The Call, which is a nonprofit organization that works with foster care. The students collected and made items and took them to the Department of Human Services for children entering the foster-care system,” she said.

“The students prepared a skit that highlighted the project and evaluated its impact on the community,” she said, adding that this is the third time this team has advanced to the Global Finals.

• A middle-level team from Greenbrier Junior High School, with Lynita Langley-Ware and Phil Ware as team managers, includes team members Sophia Ware and Faith Palmer, both eighth-graders; Drake Brannon, a sixth-grader; and Immanuel Casto and Kylie Youngblood, both seventh-graders.

This team participated in the Structural Challenge, the Musical Mashup.

“Our team had to design and build a structure that both supports weight and is a musical instrument,” Langley-Ware said. “They also had to create a story to present while they demonstrate the strength of the structure.”

As an added attraction, this team built a mechanical dog named Tempo that is supposed to help with the tempo of the music; it even barks during the performance.

• A senior-level team from Greenbrier High School, with Sonya Cato and Kim Stubbs as team managers, includes team members Destiny Cato, Bethany Stubbs, Johnny Moline and Michael Oluokun, all 11th-graders.

Kim Stubbs said this team participated in the Fine Arts Challenge, “Get a Clue.”

“It’s a 1940s rendition of a whodunit,” she said. “They present a mystery and have to discover which of the three suspects is responsible. Our team does it all in black and white — they are dressed in black and white, and all the props are black and white. They have ’40s theme music. It’s actually pretty cool.”

Stubbs said this team has been to the Global Finals four times.

“The competition is very stiff,” she said. “We usually place in the top half. There are usually about 150 teams.

“Destination Imagination is a great problem-solving program,” she said. “We always have a lot of participation from Greenbrier. Our superintendent, Scott Spainhour, is very supportive.”

• A senior-level team from Greenbrier High School, with Cindy Palmer and Shane Palmer as team managers. includes team members Makayla Palmer and Lacey Crosby, both 11th-graders; Connor Monton, a 10th-grader; Katie Symons, an eighth-grader; and Alexandra Trawick, a ninth-grader.

This team also participated in the Structural Challenge, Musical Mashup.

“Our team had to build a structure that weighed less than a tube of toothpaste that would hold weight and that was a playable musical instrument,” Cindy Palmer said. “The one we built at the state competition weighed 1.25 ounces and held 615 pounds.

“This calls for the team to work together, to do research and build the structure,” she said, adding it takes building many prototypes before succeeding. “This project teaches teamwork and project management, all life skills.”

Palmer said she took “a version of this team” to last year’s Global Finals.

“Our structure failed, but we finished 34th out of 58 teams,” she said, adding that teams are able to score points for other technical elements they included in their project.

“We added a mechanical illusion,” Palmer said. “We really love what these kids learn. They totally amaze you. And the Greenbrier School District stands behind us, helping with fundraising. We had to raise $26,000 in a very short time to be able to take these teams to the Global Finals.

“The Greenbrier community has always supported us. We have had many donations from Greenbrier businesses, as well as grandmas and grandpas.”

For more information on Destination Imagination, visit the website www.destinationimagination.org.

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