Two Medfield DI Teams Fundraising To Compete

Two Medfield Destination Imagination Teams Fundraising to Compete!

Medfield Destination Imagination had great representation at the state wide

Destination Imagination (DI) competition held on March 12th/13th at Grafton High-School. Two teams of Medfield students finished in first place and will now compete in the Global Finals May 21-24 in Kansas City, Missouri, while a third team placed with a top score in its division.

Destination Imagination (DI) helps prepare students for the future as they work together to solve open-ended STEAM challenges designed to teach the creative process. This creative process is a step-by-step approach that helps students better understand problems and ask better questions, come up with solutions, learn from failure, and celebrate their achievements.In going through this process, kids learn vital life and career skills—creative thinking,critical thinking, public speaking, and collaborative problem-solving—that help them feel empowered and set them up for success in their future.

The DI program is a fun hands-on system of learning that fosters students' creativity and curiosity through open-ended academic challenges.Each level of the DI competition is 2-fold: 1) Each team competes in an instant challenge, where the the students get the chance to demonstrate their creative problem solving skills and teamwork in a short, pressure-filled unrehearsed presentation and 2) Each team competes in a team challenge where students research,design and execute a solution to a problem over the span of multiple months.

Both components are equally important and determine the scores and placement in the results.
The Medfield DI program successfully navigated the challenges of the last two years in thanks to Paul Dewey and Michelle Barrett. At a recent board meeting, plans were laid out to re-energize the program this fall as Medfield has a great history in leading Massachusetts in the DI program. For more information, visit destinationimagination.org or madikids.org.

Competing in the Elementary Fine Arts division are 5th graders Kameli Annigeri,Madison Crocker, Tess Healey, Tess Henebry, Charlotte Keefe, Lia Kenworthy, and Tenley Rogers, managed by Karyn Healey and Randal Kenworthy.

The fifth grade team chose the Fine Arts challenge where they had to write and perform a tricky tale. They wrote a story about two girls in the present day, who found a time machine that brought them back in time to the Gettysburg Address where they visited with Abraham Lincoln, and then to Pakistan to meet Malala Yousafzai. Throughout the story, the girls overcome challenges and learn valuable lessons. In addition to writing the tricky tale, the girls created props and painted multiple backdrops in preparation for their performance.

Competing in the Middle level Service Learning challenge are 7th graders Naya Annigeri, Molly Cragan, Hannah Crocker, Sidney Heavey, Paige Henebry, Kate Kenworthy, and Keira Oliveto, managed by Mike Crocker and Randal Kenworthy. The seventh grade service learning challenge focused on how trees will impact the Earth in 50 years. The group worked with Speak for the Trees in Boston, where they planted 40 trees in the fall of 2021. They also raised $325 for the organization through a gofundme. After planting the trees in Boston, they continued their mission by planting trees at several Medfield homes. Finally, throughout the fall and winter they worked together crafting a skit and a set that represented their project and the importance of trees on the environment.

In addition to these two teams, a 3rd grade team placed third in the State in the Elementary Engineering challenge. Team members Logan Bergiel, Dean Childers,Nolan Herman, Josh MacLean, Sean Peters, Deke Pingpank, and Colin Reitz were managed by Lauren Bergiel and Beth Peters. With the wins under their belts, two teams will head to Kansas City for the May 21 national tournament.

The group has now embarked on an $11,000 fundraising mission to address the cost of entry to compete. Both teams are up for this challenge and have started gofundme pages.

7th: https://gofund.me/61dd7e32 and 5th: https://gofund.me/7aad195b

The seventh grade girls held a bake sale on Sunday April 10th at the Wheelock Soccer Fields and are planning a flower arrangement sale outside of Blue Moon Bagel Cafe for Mother’s Day.