Ledyard Students Excel in Problem-Solving Competition

Ledyard Center School's Destination ImagiNation team, coached by Christine Krupansky, took first place in its division, and the Middle School’s team, the "Extend-O-Nators," took second place honors at the Destination ImagiNation State Tournament, held March 26 at Connecticut College.

Destination ImagiNation is an international program in which teams of students solve challenges. The program promotes teamwork, creativity and problem-solving skills. Click here for photos of the recent tournament.

This year's challenge involved an eight-foot tower within a five-foot wading pool. Using its specially designed equipment, each team was required to transfer four items in the pool to the top of the tower, and transfer four items on the tower down to the pool.  

The Middle School team's members include Tyler Allen, Avery Davies, Christian Fogg, Christopher Hughes, Gianni Jannke-DeMuzzio, Ryan Krupansky and Aaron Norcia. The team has been coached by LHS Spanish teacher Kurt Jannke for five years. 

“Ledyard always makes a good showing at the Destination ImagiNation tournament, and Kurt's team has made it to the Global Finals twice in the past four years,” said Robin Lipman, interim assistant principal at LMS.

The team actually qualified three times, and made the trip to the University of Tennessee twice. Krupansky's team at the elementary school is in its second year.

Every year, some 100,000 students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries participate in the program, in which student teams solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments, according to the Destination ImagiNation website. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the challenges.

Participants gain more than just basic knowledge and skills—they learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem solving.

The program builds personal confidence by fostering research and presentation skills, project management, time management, critical thinking, improvisation, budgeting, theater arts, technical design and community service.