Destination Imagination

For as long as I can remember, Tyson has hold us that he wanted to be a doctor.  With his brain, that boy could be anything.

Last week he was invited to an after-school STEAM program called {Destination Imagination}, because he's in the Hi-Cap program.  (There are five Hi-Cap kids in his class- two got invitations.)  We sat down to watch a few {videos} explaining each of the challenges that are offered from a variety of career fields.  The teams will consist of no more than 7 children, where they will work together to design, strategize, and construct a presentation for judges, to be judged against other teams in their "field."  If they win first prize at Regionals (every team will compete) on March 2nd in Richland, then they move on to State on March 30th in Kennewick.  If they win State, they'll have a chance to compete in the Global Finals May 21-25 in Kansas City.  It's a pretty neat program to challenge the minds of kids just like Tyson.

As I sat down to watch the first video, I thought, "Oh, this is going to be so fun!"  And then I watched the second, and thought, " That's the one he'll choose!"  But then I watched the third, and thought, "Oh my gosh, he'd love that one too!"  It was like that for ALL SEVEN!  I didn't say a single word to him, just waited for him to give his opinions on all so that he was absolutely the one that chose which he'd like best without my opinion tainting his, or him wanting to please me.  It was good practice, because I cannot suggest anything to him about his challenge, I can only ask questions.  All ideas have to come from the kids.

Technical--

• Design and build an aircraft that takes off, flies, and lands.
• Design the aircraft to deliver a team-created payload.
• Create and present a story about one or more characters exploring a remote place.

Scientific--

• Research the human body and medical conditions that affect the human body.
• Create and present a story about a medical mystery that affects a human character.
• Design and build a representation that shows the medical mystery and at least one symptom.
• Present an action or scene that is shown from two or more perspectives at the same time.

Engineering--

• Test the structure by placing weights and then removing them.
• Create and present a story in which the sudden appearance of a monster has surprising results.
• Design and create a special effect to enhance the sudden appearance of the monster and/or the events surrounding the monster in the story.

Fine Arts--

• Create and present a story that integrates research of a team-selected game.
• Create and present a game gizmo that causes an action or event to occur.
• Design and create a container that goes through a transformation.
• Design either the game gizmo or the container to be a technical element.

Improvisational--

• Research historical figures found on coins from around the world.
• Create and present an improvisational skit that includes the historical figures in a tale.
• Integrate an event that has an impact on the tale.
• Present the skit in two parts, changing between comedy and tragedy.

Service Learning--

• Identify, design, and carry out a project that addresses a need in a real community.
• Create and theatrically present a story that builds suspense about characters who attempt an escape.
• Integrate information about the project through clues that help the characters attempt to escape.
• Integrate information about the future of the project.

Early Learning/Rising Stars--

• Explore fiction and nonfiction stories.
• Create and present a story that combines elements of both fiction and nonfiction.
• Design and build a technical device.
• Create an interactive, life-size pop-up book to help tell the story.
• Integrate a randomly selected item into the story.

As he was telling me his favorite ones, I was stunned.  I had been so certain about two of them and could not believe that they were actually his last two picks.  Funny enough, when I told Randy about each challenge, he choose the exact two I had.  Here are Tyson's favorites:

1- Engineering
2- Early Learning/ Rising Stars
3- Fine Arts
4- Service Learning
5- Improvisational
6- Technical
7- Scientific

After asking him why he put them in that order and talking about what he loved about each one, Tyson and I googled, "What does an Engineer do?" and watched a 10-minute video.  Tyson is now thinking he wants to be an Engineer.  I cannot wait to see what he can do in Destination Imagination, throughout his school career, and in life.  He's going to go far with his brain, his determination, and his magnetic personality.

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I just remembered that I didn't post about something that happened a few weeks ago.

Before school, Tyson was doing a math program called Xtra Math.  He loves this program, because it has a "beat the teacher" portion that he's won more times than not.  If he can type the answer within 3 seconds, he wins.  His record is 97% wins.  He complained that "he'd have 100% if he could only say the answer instead of type it, because his fingers press the wrong key."  I believe him.

When he was finished with the daily assignment, he mentioned to me that "everyone else in his class was able to do Multiplication and Division at school, but I can only do Addition and Subtraction."  I sat down with him right then and sent an email to his teacher, asking if she could help him access additional resources in Math.  She wrote me back a few hours later, telling me that she had helped him access it, that he was the first in her class to be able to do that, that she wasn't sure why he thought the rest of the class could when he could not, and laughed that he was her first student ever to ask for more access to harder math.

Where other kids want to get out of extra work, my Tyson yearns for more.  I have the whole spectrum in my home right now: Kids that struggle, kids that don't, and one that cannot get enough.  I hope I can do enough for all of them, because each is a struggle all its own.