BOURBON – Triton Destination ImagiNation teams invite the community to come to thier “Triton DI Showcase” Feb. 23 at Triton High School Performing Arts Center. This event will take place at 6 p.m. and is free to the public. Destination ImagiNation is a creative problem solving program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, university and military. Destination Imagination is an educational program where student teams of up to seven members solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments. In working to solve challenges, teams learn life skills like time management, collaboration, conflict resolution and creative and critical thinking. DI teaches the creative process by allowing teams to solve challenges together as a team. A big part of the program is the interference policy: in short, kids have to imagine, create and develop solutions on their own. Parents, team managers, family and friends can’t suggest ideas or force teams in certain directions. Outsiders can only facilitate the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Triton DI will be fielding nine teams to its regional tournament, which will be March 9 at Hamilton Southeastern Freshman Campus. Triton has 50 kids involved from kindergarten through 12th grade. Many of its former team members also appraise at tournaments all over the U.S. Triton’s Destination ImagiNation Rising Stars Team, The Rainbow Connection, is a non-competitive team comprised of students in kindergarten through second grade. They will be showcasing their solution to their challenge called “Roy G Biv”. Triton’s competitive elementary teams, the Falcons and the Lucky 7, consist of kids in second through fourth grade. The Falcons chose the challenge “In Disguise” and in their challenge, they have to create a story that contains a person in disguise, a morphing mask that will change before the audience’s eyes and a decreative mask. This is Triton’s youngest competitive team this year. Triton’s Lucky 7’s have undertaken the “Twist-o-Rama” challenge and must build a structure within certain guidelines, and place it in a “structure crusher” and apply weight to see how much the structure will hold. The structure can only be made of specific items and can only weigh 175 grams. For every 45 pounds of weight, the team must hit the structure tester with a “ram” causing it to twist. And they must create a story that has a “twist”. The junior high teams are also in the same challenges just at a different level. The 6 Mysterious Mimes will show audiences how their “magically cheesy” story is “In Disguise” and will be presented at the regional tournament. The Twisted 7 are in the “Twist-0-Rama” challenge. At the high school level Triton has four teams. Two teams will go head to head in the improv challenge, “Change in Real-a-TEE”. These two teams, #GB and Brittney, 5Guys, Burgers and Fries, have been researching different types of communications and will have five minutes to create a story and make all props and costumes from white T-shirts. Also at the high school level, Triton has another building team called Zombie Apocalypse Awareness Group, who believes they will have the strongest structure at regional tournament. They will take you on a fantastic journey on the way to surviving those silly zombies while trying to keep their structure solid. Triton’s final high school group has chosen a challenge new to DI and new to the Triton DI program. It is called “Project Outreach,” and while at this moment you will not see their “competitive” presentation, they will have a presentation to show you about how their group, Bourbon Community Awareness Group, INc has begun to take steps for getting a mural painted in Bourbon. According to Triton DI Coordinator Lisa Eiser, “Our First Triton DI Showcase should be a very entertaining night. Our teams will use this as a practice for what might, could and probably will go wrong, as well as a forum for taking questions and answers from the audience which will give them practice for their tournament. Everything may not be perfect, but they will have two weeks to tweak before regionals. For all the years that Triton has been part of DI, this year we have the largest team base we have ever had. With nine teams and 50 kids involved, this program is growing by leaps and bounds. Please come and enjoy our showcase.”
