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// 2016 |
ERIN DICKEY - On Saturday, March 5th, one monkey, a pilot and three United States Olympians crash landed into the tropical jungles of Ghana, Africa. Didn’t hear about this on the world news? Waiting for a punch line? Well, the crash landing actually happened in the band room of Cross County schools and the monkey, pilot and the plane full of Olympians were 8 and 9 year old girls from Cross County’s Rising Stars DI team. This group of six budding innovators began their compelling performance with an energetic proclamation, “We’re shooting, we’re shining, we’re the Shooting Shining Stars!” On Saturday, March 5th, the Twin Rivers Regional Destination Imagination Tournament was hosted at Cross County School. The halls of Cross County were filled with students from the Twin Rivers Region which covers over 30 counties in Nebraska. Cross County had teams represented from elementary to high school divisions as well as the Early Learners Division-Rising Stars (non-competitive) which the Shooting Shining Stars are classified. The imagination-heavy halls were filled with costumes, props and energetic conversations of many DI teams. Destination Imagination (DI), is a non-profit, volunteer-led, cause-driven organization. With a purpose to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders, DI helps students learn to be creative, solve problems, establish teamwork skills all while having fun. The DI programs offered are developed annually to ensure they are relevant and align to the National Education Standard, STEM standard, ELA Common Core Standards and Mathematics Common Core Standards. With these alignments, students are given challenges that require them to collaboratively work together as a team to imagine, create and develop solutions to which they will present to a panel of appraisers. DI is in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces and 18 international areas from Qatar, Poland, Jordan, China and Brazil to name a few. Facilitated by volunteers, these students are required to do everything themselves. From writing scripts, designing and building props, assigning jobs, creating costumes and everything else in between, the students on each team must work together to form a common solution and present a riveting performance to showcase their solution to the challenge they have chosen. There are seven areas where the challenges are focused and each team can choose what challenge they will work on for that year. The focus areas include, Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Structural and Service Learning. These areas have their own unique set of challenges and problems that must be solved by the team. On Saturday, the Cross County’s Rising Stars Team, the Shooting Shining Stars participated at the Regional Tournament. Due to the students being Early Learners-Rising Stars, they were given the opportunity to participate but did not compete against other teams. This group of girls spent most Friday afternoons after school this past year working together to develop a solid understanding of what it takes to work as a team, develop a solution and then create an imaginative and intriguing pitch as to why their solution was the best. Complete with two scenes, one being on a airplane and the other in the jungles of Ghana - these girls took their audience through a short story of a mischievous monkey, a group of high-strung athletes, a directionally challenged tour guide and helpful Ghana local as they made their way out of the foreign land and back on their journey to the Olympics. With costumes, props, large cardboard trees, a detailed map and enthusiasm of professional actresses, this entourage of young girls pushed their imaginations, learned to compromise and sparked a new confidence in completing a task that most adults would shudder about. While to most, the initial understanding of DI is clouded by the organized chaos of a child’s mind, it also offers a rare glimpse into the boundless mind that has yet to be tainted by the judgment-filled society of today. Kids of all races, ages, sizes and abilities more-often-than-not, breech the boring confines of a predictable idea and shed light into the wonderful, cluttered corners of a child’s imagination. These corners hold the plans of tomorrow’s innovations, cures to medical enigmas, plot-lines for the next New York Best Seller and future voices behind important movements. To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. - Thomas Edison Written on the back of the Cross County DI’s shirts, this statement by Edison couldn’t be truer and the Shooting Shining Stars are proof of rewarding imagination and a pile of junk. Cross County’s other teams did compete in the elementary through high-school divisions coming away with awards and advancements to the Affiliate Tournament being held on April 2, 2016 at the University of Nebraska - Kearney. Depending on results from the Affiliate Tournament, Cross County teams may earn a trip to Global Finals which will be May 25-30, 2016 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. At Globals, teams will rub elbows with like-minded students from all over the world as they share ideas, goals and their imaginations.
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