Woodward students put their imagination to the test in state competition

My Southborough reader Michelle sent in this great report about a group of Woodward students using creativity and teamwork in challenging situations.

A team of third grade students from Woodward won second place for the Elementary Level (kindergarten through fifth grade) at the Destination ImagiNation state finals last Saturday (March 26). Destination ImagiNation is a nationwide competition that encourages students to experience creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. Teams of up to seven children are tested to think on their feet, work together, and devise solutions that satisfy the requirements of the challenges. Every aspect of a team’s solution is determined and constructed by the children on the team, without adult interference.

The team won at the regional competition held at Douglas High School on March 19 to qualify for the state finals. The specific challenge the team competed in was called “Unidentified Moving Objects”, which required the team to design and build a device to move various objects to and from a 6-ft tower and to put on a sales presentation to advertise the solution they created. The team encountered some glitches in the regional compeition, but were unfazed and reacted very well to the problems. Their composure drew kudos from the appraisers, who said:

“All seven boys were composed, organized, and had planned their strategy to move objects and performed the commercial very well. When things did not go as planned, they did not get upset, but continued to have a healthy discussion to solve the problem while performing in real time.” The state competition went more smoothly for the team, and the appraisers remarked on the students’ excellent teamwork. The team was also judged on their ability to produce a solution to an unrehearsed instant challenge in a period of just five to eight minutes.

The students will now move on to the Global Finals, to be held from May 25-28 at the University of Tennesee in Knoxville. The team will compete and celebrate with more than 1000 teams from more than 50 countries. Their team is called “Object Abductors” and comprised of the following third grade children:

Connor Flaherty
Justin Foun
Colin Kerrigan
Tejas Maraliga
Nicket Mauskar
Aditya Mynampaty
Connor Whitney

The team was led by Rupali Sharma and Anne Ripley, of Imagination Unbound in Framingham. Imagination Unbound sent six teams to regional competitions, and five of those teams advanced to the state competition. One of the other Imagination Unbound teams placed third in the state competition.

(Photo used with permission of Sullivan’s Studio – view larger)