North Dakota teams advance to Destination Imagination’s Global Finals, the largest creativity celebration in the world.
KNOXVILLE, TN — After winning honors for creativity, teamwork and problem solving at the State Tournament, teams from Casselton, Fargo and Rugby earned the right to travel to Destination Imagination’s Global Finals, the largest creative thinking and problem solving competition in the world, held May 22-26 in Knoxville, TN.
They competed in one of seven, open-ended challenges that require young people to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), in addition to improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork and community service.
“They represented some of the brightest young minds North Dakota has to offer and showed that North Dakota can compete with anyone in the world,” said State Director Max Kringen.
North Dakota’s 14 teams placed as follows:
Service Learning – Real to Reel
Secondary Level: 12th Place – Panda Rarr, Casselton
Scientific Challenge – Wind Visible
Elementary Level: 25th Place – The Freaky Five, Rugby
Middle Level: 26th Place – Classy with a Twist, Fargo
Theatrical Challenge – In Disguise
Elementary Level: 39th Place – Little Big-Eyed Monsters, Fargo
Middle Level: 22nd Place – Where’s Aaron?, Casselton
Secondary Level: 20th Place – Two Webbed Feet, Casselton
Engineering Challenge – In the Zone
Elementary Level: 42nd Place – The Cheetahs, Fargo
Middle Level: 32nd Place – D.I.nosaurs, Casselton
Structural Challenge – Twist-O-Rama
Elementary Level: 29th Place – The Royal Aces, Rugby
Middle Level: 50th Place – By the Way, Casselton
Secondary: 33rd Place – Square Root of -1, Casselton
Improv Challenge – Change in Realitee
Elementary Level: 44th Place – The Texting Mustache Monkeys, Fargo
Middle Level: 50th Place – 4 Minnies and a Max, Fargo
Secondary Level: 40th Place – The 5 Deadly Candies, Casselton
North Dakota’s 70 students were among more than 8,000 students representing more than 1,250 teams that advanced to Global Finals, held at the University of Tennessee.
“The Destination Imagination Program allows students K-College to learn and experience the creative process. Quantitative reasoning, problem solving, risk taking, collaboration, presentations and thinking on your feet are some of the important skills learned in the program,” said Chuck Cadle, CEO.
Destination Imagination is an educational program where student teams are immersed in the creative process needed to solve open-ended challenges, and then present their solutions at regional and state tournaments. If they win at those levels, they may receive an invitation to Global Finals.
“The DI competition requires students to work through some very demanding critical thinking and problem solving assignments that strengthen our educational systems by enhancing the learning processes taking place in the classroom,” declared Cadle. “We’ve seen the development of superior aptitudes in analytical thinking, leadership, project management, teamwork, communication, research and innovation in hundreds of thousands of youth since our organization’s inception almost three decades ago, and we believe Destination Imagination has the potential to bridge the gap between what is taught in our schools and the thinking skills our youth will need to succeed in the world of the future.”
Destination Imagination and its sponsor Create North Dakota dedicates itself to enriching the state community by providing opportunities for learners of all ages to explore and discover using the creative process from imagination to innovation.