Bear River arrives at winning destination
Local teams shine at brainy competition
By Kirsten Waters
» More from Kirsten Waters
12:01 a.m. PT May 28, 2007
A team of Bear River High School students won first place at the global finals of Destination ImagiNation, a competition that tests creativity, resourcefulness and applied knowledge of the teams in solving problems.
In addition, the Bear River team received a special award at the closing ceremony at Neyland Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., Saturday to honor the members' exceptional creativity.
Two other south-county teams also won high honors in related brain-power competitions over the weekend.
A team of students from Magnolia Intermediate School took third place in the world finals of the similar competition system, Odyssey of the Mind. A second Bear River team won 10th place at Odyssey of the Mind in its division. Both teams competed at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.
Bear River's first-place team members for Destination ImagiNation are Dan Nicholls, Jocelyn Bayne, Jacque Nat, Katie deLaveaga, Alex Hendriksen and Vincent Sherman. They could not be reached for comment Sunday afternoon because they were traveling back to California.
In competition, the teams are given a problem to solve. Points are awarded for teamwork, the creativity of the solution or presentation, the use of improvisation and creative use of materials, according to the Destination ImagiNation Web site, www.idodi.org.
"Destination ImagiNation is a place where kids take what they know and what they are good at and learn to apply it to solve challenges, working together and cooperatively with a team and pushing the limits of imagination to best, not their competition, but themselves," according to the program's Web site.
Odyssey of the Mind has a similar focus on creative problem-solving through teamwork.
They all competed against more than 50 teams from across the nation and around the world that had already won their own regional and state or national competitions.
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Kirsten Waters is a sophomore at Bear River High School who competed with the school's team that won the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals in 2006. Messages for her can be left at trinak@theunion.com or 477-4230.
