Eight Mount Pleasant Independent School District Destination Imagination (DI) teams competed on Saturday, February 23rd at Poteet High School in Mesquite, Texas. There were 297 teams from the East Texas region of DI. At the end of the day, five MPISD teams brought home medals for their efforts.
A Destination Imagination Team Challenge is an open-ended project that teams work on over an extended period of time, usually 2-4 months. There are seven new Team Challenges each year: Engineering, Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Service Learning (Project Outreach) and Early Learning Challenge (Rising Stars!).
The Sims Medical Mystery Team researched and created a play about rabies with a healthy and an unhealthy brain model. They earned the Spirit of DI award which celebrates teams that express creativity, teamwork and sportsmanship to the highest degree. “The Medical Mystery team from Annie Sims earned this award for their amazing positivity and overcoming ability!” said MPISD DI Coordinator, Jamie King. “This team earned the hearts and respect of all who watched their performance on Saturday! They were missing things they had planned on having that day but instead of giving up, they created what they could with supplies they had and put on a great performance regardless of the obstacle. I am so proud of them! Their wonderful teamwork and overcoming spirits are a credit to parents and teachers who model that positivity, supported them and encouraged them throughout the season! The entire awards assembly cheered for them as they were announced for the Spirit of DI award. They deserved every bit of that adoration!”
The Sims 2nd grade team and the Fowler 2nd grade team both earned Rising Star medals which are awarded to Early Learning participants, Kindergarten through 2nd grade, who successfully meet the parameters of their challenge and present it at the regional tournament. The Sims 2nd grade team created a life size pop-up book and a play about a Space Farm. The Fowler 2nd grade team also created a life size pop-up book and a play titled “Lionel Messi and the Seven Dwarfs”. The Fowler team was led by Mrs. Sheila Eddy.
The Brice Improv team earned 4th place medals for their research on figureheads on coins. They created a skit using their research.
The Corprew Technical team earned 5th place medals for creating a flying device that took off and landed in five different areas and dropped five payloads on a target area for a varied amount of points.
Also competing for MPISD were Sims 3rd grade that created a life size mouse trap from the game Mouse Trap, Fowler 3rd grade that built a wooden structure that held hundreds of pounds and created a special effect to introduce a special character, and Fowler 4th grade that researched and created a play about heart disease and created a model of a healthy and unhealthy heart.
“Destination Imagination has something for almost all students,” said King. “Though we are centered around creative problem solving, students build teamwork and communication skills that last a lifetime. It is a joy and an honor to serve our MPISD GT students as they work together to create unique solutions for their challenges in technical, engineering, science, fine arts, improvisational, and rising stars. Our teams dedicated many hours of researching, planning, developing and building ideas, skills, props, sets, costumes and skits. Our East Region tournament is the opportunity to show their solutions to a panel of appraisers and a large audience.”
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