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Knoxville, Tenn. – After months of preparation and three days of competition, the winning teams from Destination ImagiNation’s 2009 Global Finals were announced Saturday night. The students on the elementary, middle and high school teams are among the most creative, innovative problem-solvers in the world. The results were broadcast live via www.globalfinals.org from the University of Tennessee.

 

In the spring, the students advanced from regional and statewide tournaments to qualify to compete with 10,000 other students from all 50 states and 8 other countries during DI’s Global Finals. The competition offers an emerging view of 21 st century education—one that has creativity, teamwork and innovation at its core.

 

As part of Destination ImagiNation, students apply the math, science, engineering, art, writing, research, reading, geography and more that they learn in classrooms to solve real problems. Subjects that may have only been experienced through worksheets, lectures and tests come to life during DI Challenges. For more than 25 years, teachers, parents and business leaders around the country have given their time year after year to make the organization work to fill gaps they see in the education system.

 

Every year, DI creates at least six Challenges to develop and test student skills and talents in many areas, including scientific understanding, theatrical performance, technical prowess, improvisation, and structural engineering. DI teams have spent months perfecting the solution to the one Challenge they selected, and their presentations were bursting with distinctive creativity and innovation.

 

“Destination ImagiNation plays an important role in the education and character development of thousands of young people every year,” said Rusty McCarty, president of DI. “It’s amazing to watch as students discover that they are best-in-the-world at specific skills and talents. Every DIer is a winner.”

 

“We know from our alumni that what they learn during DI – teamwork, creativity and problem solving – sticks with them for life,” added McCarty. “We look forward to all the amazing things this year’s teams will accomplish in the coming years.”

 

The first place teams in each category are listed below. Complete Global Finals 2009 results are posted online: http://www.globalfinals.org/results.htm.

 

Students competed in the following Challenges:

 

Challenge A: Operation Cooperation: Teams designed and built two machines that completed tasks during a theatrical presentation.

1 st Place Teams

Elementary - Bang Elementary School, Houston, TX

Middle - Delano Middle School, Delano, MN

Secondary - Tahoma Learning Community, Maple Valley, WA

 

Challenge B: Instinct Messaging: Teams created and presented a theatrical performance about an animal they had researched.

1 st Place Teams

Elementary - Voyager Elementary School, Gig Harbor, WA

Middle - Hudson Schools, Hudson, WI

Secondary - Andover High School, Andover, MA

 

Challenge C: ViDIo Lit Hits: Teams created a live music video presentation that retold the story from a novel of their choice, with original song lyrics.

1 st Place Teams

Elementary (tie) - Whittier Elementary School, Downers Grove, IL

Elementary (tie) - Aldridge Elementary School, Dallas, TX

Middle - Red Oak ISD, Red Oak, TX

Secondary - John Handley High School, Winchester , VA

 

Challenge D: Private DI: Teams researched film genres, superstitions and famous detectives to incorporate into an improvised skit.

1 st Place Teams

Elementary - Sampson Elementary School, Houston, TX

Middle (tie) - West Ridge Middle School, Austin, TX

Middle (tie) - Jose 12, American School of Guatemala, Guatemala

Secondary - Plano Senior High School, Plano, TX

 

Challenge E: A New Angle!: Teams merged two art forms into one new art form as part of a performance, and built a weight-bearing structure out of wood and glue.

1 st Place Teams

Elementary - Grapevine Colleyville ISD, Colleyville, TX

Middle - Parkway Middle School, San Diego, CA

Secondary (tie) - Coon Rapids High School, Coon Rapids, MN

Secondary (tie) - Foothill High School, Pleasanton, CA

 

About Destination ImagiNation

Destination ImagiNation, the world’s leading creativity, teamwork and problem solving experience for young people from kindergarten through college, serves more than 12,000 student teams in 50 states and 40 countries. Every season, teams of up to seven participants compete regionally with the goal of advancing to the Global Finals. Teams work together for several months to create their solutions to Team Challenges, which can have theatrical, structural, improvisational, scientific or technical focuses. Teams also learn and practice creative quick-thinking skills for the Instant Challenge portion of the program. To learn more, visit www.destinationimagination.org.

 

Destination ImagiNation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Glassboro, NJ. It provides numerous programs to developing people’s creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork and ability to innovate. It serves people of all ages, and its programs reach pre-school, elementary school, middle school, and high school youth to college-level students and corporate executives participating in DI creative problem solving workshops. For more information, please visit www.idodi.org.

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