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BOURBON - Two teams from Triton Junior-Senior High School will head to the Destination Imagination national competition in Knoxville, Tenn., at the University of Tennessee May 22-25.
Destination Imagination is an international program for young people from kindergarten to college age that challenges them to solve problems creatively.
The two Triton teams won first place at state competition in Noblesville April 13. This is the fourth time out of the last seven years Triton has had a team make it to the national competition.
Seven students are on each team. Members of the "dual dilemma" team include juniors Sarah Benczik, Kylie Edmonds, Tim Speicher, Andrea Zentz; sophomore Todd Bolt; and freshmen David Gabhart and Ben Speicher. Benczik is a student from Trinity at Greenlawn, South Bend, competing with the Triton team.
Members of the "on holiday" team include freshmen Kayla Hollingsworth, Jana Sell, Anna Smith, Megan Weissert; eighth-grader Alyssa Bolt; and seventh-grader Cole Eiser.
For the "dual dilemma," the team has to build a lightweight structure of balsa wood, glue and paper that can hold as much weight as possible. No diagonal bracings are allowed and can be prepared ahead of time. During competition, another structure must be made with only balsa wood and duct tape in 30 minutes. The theme for the competition is contrast.
In addition, the team has to write and perform a play showing a contrast between the two structures. Triton's team for this competition decided to show the contrast of a gangster who becomes a comedian. The first half of the play is all in black and white; the second half is very colorful.
Andrea Zentz said they chose the gangster and comedian contrast because "they're so different."
Tim Speicher said the structure competition was one of the better competitions because they had more freedom and fewer guidelines. They simply had to write a play with contrast in it and use the balsa wood structures.
For the national competition, Tim said, they plan to "focus a lot more on the short-term challenge." That part of the competition, said Ben, is always "super hard."
As for goals for nationals, Tim said, "My goal is to get a shirt from a different country's team."
Ben said, "My goal is just to get there."
Zentz said her goal is to go and have fun and "I want to go there to compete. I'm in it to do well. It's very hard to win."
"You have to be good and lucky to win," said Tim. "Just to place would be amazing."
For the "on holiday" competition, the Triton team had to write a story about people who travel to another country. Triton's team chose Burma and they have to depict and interpret the country.
According to Audrey Speicher, "It's about Burma. That's a country by India. It's about a granddaughter who visits there with her family." After they return, the granddaughter tries to tell her grandfather about the trip but he is partially deaf and misinterpets what she says. The problem is then making the grandfather understand what the granddaughter actually said.
The group chose Burma, Anna Smith said, because, "Burma has a lot of history and not too many people know about it."
Smith said their goal for national competition, besides winning, is, "We just want to have the experience and place."
The teams are still trying to raise money to compete in the Destination Imagination national competition. Anyone wanting to donate can send their donations to Triton Elementary School, attention: Triton Destination Imagination, 200 Triton Drive, Bourbon, IN 46504.
