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Pike Lake DI Teams do well at State
By Carissa Beckwith
Three Destination Imagination teams from Pike Lake Elementary School, the “V Seven’s”, the “Saga Seekers”, and the “Amazing Woodchucks”, competed at the State Tournament in Chaska before school ended.
The “V Seven’s” team of Ben Nicolson, Garret Mullvain, Dakota Ellis-Ciaccio, Jordan Tribby, Sam Anderson, Chiara DeLuca, and Ramsey VanValkenburg were only points away from moving on to the Global DI Tournament. Their main challenge, “Obstacles of Course!” required them to construct a motorized vehicle that could navigate through an obstacle course. They finished sixth out of fifteen teams.
The “Saga Seekers”—comprised of Tiffany Isaacson, Emily Wallgren, Mac Palokangas, Lucas Grell, Melanie Marchetti, Caylee McRae, and Sydney Worth—competed in their main challenge “Hit or Myth”. They were praised by the judges for their research on electromagnets and were also close to moving on to the Global DI Tournament.
The “Amazing Woodchucks” competed in their main challenge “Switch” against nine other teams and placed fourth. Together, Tyler Pedersen, Jonathan Simmonds, Brian Tracey, Presley Eldien, and Kiara Westendorf built a 22-gram structure that held 430 pounds.
In addition to competing in their main challenges, the three teams also competed in Instant Challenges. In these challenges, each DI team was given a problem to solve in less than five minutes. All three teams placed in the top six in their divisions.
DI is the world’s largest creative problem solving program for kindergarten through college-aged learners.
“Our ultimate goal is to teach participants that through their creativity, teamwork, and perseverance, they can develop creative solutions to complex problems completely on their own,” said Allison Nicolson, the DI Coordinator.
Although DI has only been offered to third through fifth graders, there are hopes that this fall teams may be created at Jedlicka Middle School.
“I especially appreciate the support of the many parent volunteers. The Pike Lake DI program was a success because of your dedication,” stated Nicolson.
If you would like to have a child involved in DI this fall, have any questions, or would like to volunteer as a coach, please call Allison Nicolson at 729-1083.
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