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BOURBON - Using their creativity skills and sense of humor, two Triton Jr.-Sr. High School Destination Imagination teams placed first and second at regional competition.
Regional competition is broken into three regions. Northern regionals, in which Triton competes, were held at Triton. The two teams will compete at state competition April 16 in Noblesville.
Triton had four teams compete, but only the two high school teams advanced while the two elementary school teams did not.
Destination Imagination teaches creative problem-solving to students in kindergarten through college. Based on the idea that there are multiple solutions to the same problem, DI presents teams with five challenges each season. Teams of up to seven members each use their skills to compete without adult assistance. A portion of the competition also includes the teams taking on instant challenges that have to be solved quickly and on the spot.
Winning first at regionals in their category was the RaDIo team that competed in the "Live" challenge. Members include sophomore Cole Eiser, sixth-grader Tom Eiser, eighth-graders Jennifer Strycker and Logan Chapman, freshman Barry Sponseller and senior Tim Harvey. Team manager is Lisa Eiser and assistant team manager is Linda Kissinger.
Cole Eiser also won his first-ever individual award - the Spirit of Discovery award - after seven years of participating for the portrayal of his character Sir Fredrick Von Porpsington De La Binius the Third.
"When I wrote the script," said Cole Eiser, "I wrote that character more as myself. No inhibitions. He thinks himself a knight and walks with chain mail on. He harasses both of the coffee shop owners. He's psycho. There's no way around it. He's crazy."
In the Live challenge, Lisa Eiser said the team had to create a performance depicting an old-time radio show. Their performance revolves around two brothers who each own a coffee shop. They had to include an eccentric and memorable character ("Fred") and have a technical effect that made sounds.
For the technical effect, the team created a walk box that produces different noises. "Going into the project, we didn't realize how many sounds go into a radio broadcast," said Cole Eiser.
Also, the challenge requires the team to have a commercial jingle and they have to incorporate an improvisational element.
The Improving Along team placed second in their category and won the team Renaissance award in a short-term competition. All team members are sophomores and include Dane Sahlhoff, Christie Beldon, Candace Gabhart, Abbie Price and Nick Harrell. Their team manager is Lorri Gabhart.
Their challenge, according to the Web site www.destinationimagination.org, included one of the 12 modes of transportation the team has selected to study. They had to create their own IMPROVmobile and create a skit on the spot that includes an Improv Travel Game and shows what happens along the way. They are only allowed 30 minutes to plan their entire trip, and they had to have an "invisible prop."
"Everything between regionals and state ... they just tweak it and try to make it better," said Lisa Eiser.
