LEARN MORE

challenge? To build a structure as tall as possible that would hold a plastic cup of water. They had five minutes. Their collaboration skills immediately became apparent. All seven students spoke, offered ideas and participated. Each child had a predetermined job, such as timekeeper or point keeper. When they were running out of time, and one student told another to not touch the project, the faux-paus was the first thing analyzed.

“You succeeded in building the structure,” Graddy said. “But what went wrong?” The student who had snapped under pressure knew the answer: “I should have talked about that more respectfully.”

It was truly impressive how the students viewed and implemented their team-building skills. When analyzing their performance in the mini-challenge, the students backed up each other’s ideas, supported everyone’s voices, and encouraged out-of-the box thinking without sounding the least bit judgmental.

“That’s what Destination Imagination is about at its core,” Graddy said, “collaboration and problem-solving.”

Destination Imagination not only helps students to apply what they’ve learned in school, it also pushes past typical school activities and gives the participants real-world experience in areas such as public speaking and collaborative problem solving. “The kids even get scored on how they build up their teammates,” Graddy said. “For example, if someone comes up with an idea, and the other students think it is not a good one, do they say that? Or do they work on encouraging further collaboration until the idea is refined and becomes a good one?”

There were probably more than a few 5K runners in the Esko area in November who crossed the finish line with no lives remaining, and who think the zombie’s collaboration skills were more than sufficient. — MDT

Murphy is a freelance writer from Duluth who has never been chased by zombies.

For more information on Destination Imagination, visit: destinationimagination.org or mndi.org for Minnesota’s team information.

Marshall School students watch a screening of "Christmas Break-In," an independent family movie that was largely filmed at the school in April, in the school's Fregeau Auditorium on Dec. 12.