Two Springbank students have world champion bragging rights after they won a medal at an international competition focused on creative and 21st century learning.
Two Springbank students have world champion bragging rights after they won a medal at an international competition focused on creative and 21st century learning.
Springbank Middle School Grade 6 student Megan Berkshire and Grade 5 student Mikia Whitehead won first place in an Instant Challenge at the Global Finals of Destination Imagination held in Knoxville, Tennessee from May 21 to 26.
According to their website, Destination Imagination (DI) is a non-profit organization whose programs teach students to use creativity and 21st century skills to solve problems.
At Global Finals, the culminating event of the DI season, 1,247 teams from the United States, Canada and 13 other countries, gathered at the University of Tennessee to present their school year-long challenges and participate in instant challenges incorporating science, technology, engineering, mathematics, the arts and service learning.
Redwood Meadows resident Berkshire, 11, and Whitehead were tops among 70 teams for their instant challenge, choosing from a variety of materials to build a boat that was weighted down and could not sink for at least 15 seconds.
“When we got first place we were so excited that we were screaming, ” said Berkshire. “I’m so happy and it’s pretty cool.
“They give you a problem you have to solve and you have to try to figure out a way to solve it. We used little bars of soap and pipe cleaners to construct our boat for the instant challenge. ”
Berkshire and Whitehead, under the team name, The Pretty Purple Pandas, also placed 17th overall with the combined score of their school year-long and instant challenges.
They competed at the finals with an elementary school level science challenge based on wind energy.
They built a model with kinetic art, made costumes, and wrote a script describing how to use wind energy to power their design.
“We had to use wind energy and incorporate it into a play, ” said Berkshire. “Our kinetic art had to spin for 15 seconds. ”
The 16,000 participants and volunteers attended Global Finals 2013 to celebrate creativity and have fun according to Karen Shepherd, Destination Imagination director for Alberta, who brought the program to the province three years ago.
Shepherd attended Global Finals and said she was overjoyed a team from Alberta won.
“I was stunned and excited, ” said Shepherd. “Megan and Mikia were the only team from Canada to be on the podium. ”
Shepherd said their win shows students can have incredible success very quickly once they use teamwork and skills to think in different and creative ways.
Berkshire said she and her mother never expected her team would win a medal.
“We were not even listening as they were calling out winners, ” she said. “We were not expecting it at all. ”
Berkshire’s mother Trish compared the feel of Global Finals to the Olympics and said the competition was like nothing she had ever experienced.
“There were 40,000 people there including spectators, ” she said. “It was amazing, incredible, awesome, and unreal. ”
Berkshire did have an Olympic experience as the young Albertan carried the Alberta sign during the opening ceremonies.
Berkshire said one of the best things about participating in Destination Imagination was that she made it to Global Finals where she met people from around the world.
“I loved meeting new people from different countries, ” she said. “Everyone was really nice and wanted to talk to you. ”
Berkshire participated in Destination Imagination for the last two years and said the program has helped develop her creative and problem solving skills.
Her increased confidence and independence has also resulted in her being asked to participate in her school’s leadership program next year.
The road to Global Finals required much dedication and many hours of hard work as Berkshire and Whitehead met every Friday and also practiced for their challenge presentation outside of school hours.
The students also had to place first at a local Calgary tournament to qualify for Global Finals.
