by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — Seven students at Cobden District Public School began practising in November for a Destination Imagination Eastern Ontario competition in Stittsville in March.
They placed first and went on to the provincial championship for DI (Destination Imagination), which was in Toronto last weekend. And that’s where it stopped.
But, that’s only for the first year. These same students are looking forward to competing again next year in DI.
Teacher Lorraine Hamilton said the Destination Imagination program is a fun, hands-on system of learning that fosters students’ creativity, courage and curiosity through open-ended academic challenges in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), fine arts and service learning. The participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem solving process.
DI participants experience these components of the creative process while solving challenges, she added.
This was the first year CDPS students participated in DI, she said. They practised three times a week during lunch until February, then added one after-school practice as well, she said.
“There was a lot of commitment and dedication,” Ms. Hamilton said.
Looking back to the start of the early part of the school year, she said principal Mary Ann Mullen sent out information regarding DI.
“I researched it and went to the website,” she recalled.
Ms. Hamilton contacted teachers from other schools who had participated in DI and finally decided it was something she wanted to have students experience.
But, she had one more thing to do and that was participate in an online conference call with other team managers for a training session.
Following that, it was full steam ahead. She let the students know she was willing to lead them in DI.
Seven Grade 6 students decided to take the plunge with Ms. Hamilton and they would all learn about DI together. The students are Scotia Davidson, Riley Lariviere, Bromwyn Howarth, Jasmine Roy, Rachel Ready, Dakota Quade and Michaela Piggin.
Ms. Hamilton said, “They performed extremely well in Toronto. They did their best.”
However, they were going up against teams who have gained more experience in previous DI competitions.
The students had to prepare an eight minute play, create two original songs and build their own set, she said.
Ms. Hamilton could not help them. This is an opportunity for students to learn team work, leadership and collaboration, she explained.
“I’m not allowed to be involved in this,” she said. “Parents have to sign a commitment form that they will not help the students at home.”
Along with working on their own performance, another component of the DI program is to do an instant challenge, Ms. Hamilton said. The students do not know what it will be until it is time to perform it at the competition, she said. But, they did practice instant challenges provided to them, she added.
“They nailed the instant challenge in Stittsville,” she said.
When they finished the competition in Stittsville, they took a first place finish. However, at the provincial championship, it was a much different story, she said.
But, none of the students were discouraged, Ms. Hamilton said. They are ready to participate again next year.
While it is a challenge for the students, Ms. Hamilton also hoped the students would learn valuable life-skills throughout the process. She wanted them to build confidence and learn to collaborate as a team.
“Lots of kids want to take charge, so it’s a huge learning curve to learn how to co-operate,” Ms. Hamilton said.
Jasmine Roy said she enjoyed the instant challenge, building the set and agreeing on a script.
Bromwyn Howarth took leadership in the instant challenge to organize everyone and in the musical area, she played guitar while singing.
Rachel Ready co-wrote the song for their performance, which was on bullying.
“It’s about what you experience and what you should do,” she said.
Riley Lariviere was the only boy in the DI program.
“It sounded cool,” he said explaining why he decided to participate. “I enjoy doing school activities.”
Dakota Quade said it sounded like fun when she heard about the program. While she was nervous on stage in Stittsville, by the time they went to Toronto, the nervousness had worn off.
Michaela Priggin recalled they made a few mistakes in Toronto, but for a first-time experience, it was great.
Scotia Davidson said it was nice to see how everyone got along.
“We communicated and listened to each other,” she recalled. “In the instant challenge, we did amazing. Bromwyn told us what to do.”
But, while each student did enjoy the challenges and had different experiences, there is one thing they all agree on – keeping a secret is very difficult.
They are not allowed to talk about the instant challenge – not to anyone.
Laughing, Riley admitted friends even tried to bribe him with candy to tell them what the instant challenge was, making it more difficult to keep it a secret.
The seven students and team manager are all looking forward to next year when they get to participate again.
“It has been a fun and valuable learning experience for everyone involved and the members are already looking forward to participating again next year,” Ms. Hamilton said.
