Plymouth senior addresses DI finals
5-27-03
Pilot Staff Report
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. � Plymouth senior Sarah Benczik has a double honor: having her team, M7, represent Indiana at Destination ImagiNation Global Finals, and being chosen to deliver the valedictorian address to graduating high school seniors competing in the international creativity competition.
Benczik delievered the address lest weekend at the finals in Knoxville.
As part of Global Finals, Destination ImagiNation holds a ceremony for students graduating from high school or college. Mortarboards are frequently made of duct tape, as were several gowns � another show of creativity from some of the brightest minds in the world.
�This group is amazing�, Benczik said in her address to the 65 high school and college graduates from around the world, and several hundred spectators. �Think about it: No where else in the world could you find yourself surrounded by a more diverse group of exceptional people than those around you right now�.
Destination ImagiNation, or �DI�, builds creative problem solving skills through yearlong challenges for students from kindergarten through college. Students learn teamwork, technology, engineering, various arts and presentation skills in developing their solutions.
Benczik, a nine-year member of the program, a team manager, and a member of six-time Indiana state championship teams reminded the graduates about the common bond they share.
�You are surrounded by the leaders of tomorrow � by people who have earned their way here through hours of hard work, people who know the meaning of teamwork and the power of unbridled imagination, and who have been trained to think differently and aren�t afraid to admit it,� she said.
�Tomorrow, many of us will participate in our last DI Global Finals Award Ceremony. The real question is, what are we going to do after that? What are we going to do with what we have learned? This is the opportunity we have been waiting for. We are ready to unleash the power of creativity on the world.�
The students are in Knoxville, Tennessee this week, part of 8,000 participants competing at the three-day creativity competition.
Destination ImagiNation� is the world�s largest creativity and problem solving competition for kids, with more than 200,000 students in 47 US states, 15 countries and Canadian provinces participating annually.
Teams of up to seven students choose topical challenges in September, which must be totally team-solved topical challenges in technology, engineering, theatre, the arts, and improvisation. The key is creativity, teamwork, risk-taking and the ability to innovate.
Team Challenge options this year include creating a multifunction, multipurpose vehicle that they have conceived using robotics, computers and other forms of technology; A 3D, life-size video game; feather light, weight-bearing structures made without adhesives; improvise the reinvention of classic story tales while creating props from only tape and paper; or a how to reach consensus in a story within a story using technology and arts to provide moving scenery.
|
|
Interactive Calendar
|
