Figure it out yourself Destination Imagination empowers students to meet, compete and learn

while participants running the 5K had to avoid them.

It all started with a mild zombie outbreak in Esko. It only lasted a few hours, and all the victims recovered in full.

“Zombies in October just seemed like a great way to fundraise,” said Jessie Graddy, team manager for one of Esko’s Destination Imagination (DI) teams. Considering the crowd that turned out to spend an afternoon dodging zombies, she’s right. On Oct. 28, Esko High School was the site of a 5K Zombie Fun Run to raise money for the school district’s seven DI teams. Students from Esko elementary, middle and high schools played the part of the zombies,

“It’s an opportunity for our students to enjoy themselves while fundraising, and for area runners to compete in a race that is a little different,” Graddy said.

Destination Imagination is a global organization that provides a platform for schools to help students learn problem solving, team building and collaboration skills. The teams spend the season preparing for one big challenge at the end of the year, but also participate in smaller, “instant challenges” throughout the school year. Teams are usually capped at seven students, and are divided up by elementary, middle, and high school levels, with challenges appropriate for each grade level.

Each club across the country is given the same seven project-based challenges. The students in each individual group must work together to choose which of seven challenges they feel is best suited for their team. This year, Graddy’s team decided to participate in the scientific category. The challenge was for the kids to put on an eight-minute skit of a medical mystery. The students have to follow certain guidelines in creating the skit, such as giving their “victim” three visible symptoms.

With Graddy and other adults mentoring, the students must figure out on their own how to create and put on the skit.

Graddy can find a person to teach them how to sew, for example, but no adult can help with the actual sewing — the students must to it themselves. Each student, in fact, must sign a contract that their parents will not assist in the preparations. “It’s taken very seriously,” Graddy said. “I once walked up to a student during a tournament to tell her that her hair band was falling out, and the judge stopped me from telling her.”

The hair band might seem like a small thing, but Destination Imagination focuses on empowering students to problem solve on their own so that they learn to take risks and learn from failure. The goal is to reach beyond the act of learning a new subject matter, and to encourage participants to become lifelong, creative problem-solvers who aren’t afraid to not only collaborate, but also to build a team environment where everyone’s ideas are appreciated and encouraged.

At a practice this fall, Graddy’s team practiced for the upcoming challenge by participating in several mini-challenges. In one challenge, Graddy provided a handful of supplies including stir sticks, mailing labels, index cards and toothpicks. Their