Neill Elementary DI Team Places 6th in Global Finals

Students in the Destination ImagiNation (DI) team at in the Robbinsdale Area School District did not have their heads in the sand at all as they wrapped up a sixth place finish at the DI Global Finals this past week in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Because nearly one hundred teams were competing in the elementary level competition, “The Triple Take Road Show”, the challenge was divided into two similar competitions:  the Destination and the Imagination.  The all-girl Neill Ostriches were one of only two teams from Minnesota to place at the elementary level, and one of only four Minnesota teams to place at any level.

 Teams from all over the world – from across the U.S., Canada, China, South Korea, England, Turkey, Poland, Guatemala and more -  earned their spot at the Global Finals from May 25 - 28, and the students at Neill Elementary worked hard to get there. 

After their impressive results at the state level, they, along with families and others from Neill, organized fund-raisers to help the students with costs for the trip, which were about $1000 for each member of the team.    The Neill Parent Teacher Student Association was also instrumental in helping out financially, providing funds to cover the cost of airfare for the students and providing full financial support for Ken Strand, fifth grade teacher and team manager of the Ostriches.

 For the “Triple Take Road Show”, students had to use three different storytelling methods to tell the same story to three team-chosen pretend audiences.  “Preparation was similar to the other tournaments in that we were performing the same thing; we just worked to polish and refine our solution,” explained Strand of the work that the seven-member team did to prepare.  “We actually had the 7th best score out of the two divisions.  It really sunk in when they [the students] realized they were 6th in the world!”

Destination ImagiNation, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides outstanding educational opportunities for students across the United States and in more than thirty countries to learn and experience creativity, teamwork and problem-solving – all skills critical to twenty-first century learning. 

The organization reaches over 100,000 students with more than 1.3 million alumni and a global network of 35,000 volunteers and seven new members of the DI record books from Crystal, Minnesota.