Hopkins Team Advances to Destination ImagiNation Global Finals

(The following article was submitted by Hopkins resident Fawzia Khan. Do you have an article you’d like to submit? E-mail Editor James Warden at james.warden@patch.com.)

E.D.U.C.A.T.E.D. is a Destination ImagiNation team of 11th graders from . Ian Anderson, Graham Giesting, Rachel Gorlin, Rebecca Gorlin and Natalie Polinsky have been participating in the program since the 3rd grade. This year, as a senior level team, they advanced to the State Competition held April 14 at Jackson Middle School in Champlin, MN, and took first place in the competition. In addition, they won a Renaissance Award for demonstrating outstanding skill in the areas of engineering, design, or performance.

Their challenge was to present a 4 minute skit in the form of a movie preview about characters from two nations. They were also asked to create an original soundtrack for the trailer and incorporate a cinematic special effect as part of the presentation. In addition, they had to have two Team Choice Elements, extra elements that are scored separately from the required elements. The second part of the competition involved an Instant Challenge. These are short challenges presented to the team on the day of competition. Teams are usually given approximately five to seven minutes to devise and present their solution to the Instant Challenge appraisers.

The team will be travelling to Knoxville, Tennessee, the week of May 22, 2012 to represent Minnesota at the Destination Imagination Global Finals.