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Destination Imagination: BASD students attend globals

By BREANNA HANLEY bhanley@lockhaven.com 5 min read

BELLEFONTE -- Can you imagine having to build your very own working rollercoaster or take a well known story and twist it to have a different main character? Two teams from the Bellefonte Area School District have done just that.

These teams were part of a program called Destination Imagination, and spent months creating and practicing their solutions.

Destination Imagination is a non-profit kid-driven program that teaches students to be innovative problem solvers; teams of 2-7 students must collaborate and create unique solutions to a STEAM challenge for this project-based competition.

Each season there are seven new STEAM challenges to choose from. Students select one of these challenges and create a solution for it over the course of the school year. Each of the challenges require teams to use science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

One of Bellefonte's teams, Team "[Insert Name Here]," competed in a "Flip the Script" fine arts challenge which required them to think on their feet to create and present a tale inspired by a well-known story, but with a new main character.

Not only did the team have to have knowledge of literary devices in order to be able to integrate one into the presentation, but they also had to use theatrical techniques to move the audience's focus across the presentation area.

The students also designed and built a piece of scenery that goes through a scenery flip.

"[Insert Name Here]," composed of 7th and 8th graders Isaac Rainey, Madison Smith, Zach McCamley, Mac McKean, Ryan Smith, Kaitlyn Gutierrez and Megan Campbell, placed first in the state in Instant Challenge, and second in the state in Central Challenge.

The other team, Team "SOUP," competed in a "Thrill Ride" engineering challenge which required them to design and build a roller coaster that was to be assembled and then tested during the presentation.

Team SOUP, composed of 8th, 9th and 11th graders Brady Wynkoop, Hunter Peter, Addison Frazier, Gavin St. Clair, Eric Young, Reese Houser and Brenda St. Clair, had to also design and create a launching mechanism that starts the golf ball's trek along the track; testing how far and fast the golf ball can travel through their build.

The students also had to create a presentation that shows what riders would experience when riding their roller coaster.

They came in first place in the state in Central Challenge, which enabled them to move on to Global finals with teams from across the world.

Thanks to their sponsors; Arize Federal Credit Union, Bellefonte Education Foundation, Fullington Trailways, PennTerra Engineering, Inc., Reliance Bank, Sitelogiq, Stuckey Mitsubishi, The McClure Company, Walmart and Herbert, Rowland and Grubic, Inc. (HRG), the team was able to attend the Global finals in Kansas City, Missouri.

Team SOUP ran into a couple of snags during their competition; the first issue involved the design for the turns of their rollercoaster.

"They designed the turns of their coaster using flexible plastic tubing, which was an allowable coaster material," said Advisor Jackie Wynkoop, "The challenge rules stated that the outside diameter of the tubing be 3/8 of an inch smaller. When the students went shopping for materials, they purchased tubing labeled with that measurement. However, they did not realize that in stores, tubing is labeled using the measurement of its inside diameter."

At the state-level competition, the sizing of the tube was not questioned. At Globals, however, the challenge masters used a special caliper to measure the material and deemed it too big. The judges told them they could have 5 minutes to try and replicate the turns using any allowable materials they had on hand.

"Before they went out to present their solution, they had to rip off all of the materials. All they had was duct tape -- which worked! Though it was stressful for them, it was a perfect example of being quick to think on your feet," said Wynkoop.

The second challenge the team faced was during the testing phase of the coaster.

Their rollercoaster was made up of multiple pieces that, when put together, originally formed one smooth track. During their travels from Pennsylvania to Missouri, however, things went awry.

"Some of the wood must have shifted. During the presentation one of the wooden tracks was slightly off, resulting in the golf ball 'leaving the track' for a fraction of a centimeter. Based on challenge rules, this was not permitted. They kept readjusting and retesting but ultimately, their entire coaster test was deemed unsuccessful," said Wynkoop.

"I'm incredibly proud of their ability to think under pressure and to continue pushing on when they faced challenges.They were all super disappointed that their coaster test was not able to be scored, but right after their presentation they moved on to the instant challenge portion of the competition and rocked it," said Wynkoop.

Team SOUP represented the state of Pennsylvania in the "Parade of Nations" at the Opening Ceremony. They had many experiences during their time in Missouri, including a Duct Tape Fashion Show and taking some time to visit the National World War I Memorial during their travels.

From start to finish with this program, students are the ones doing everything; giving them a chance to think outside the box and learn valuable skills such as teamwork, creativity and more.

Students choose their challenge, generate ideas together, design the required components for their challenge, create props, use tools, budget and shop for materials, write a script and overall manage the project.

Wynkoop was beyond proud of her students on both teams, stating, "I am very proud of their hard work throughout the year. It’s not easy to manage such a large project and their creative thinking and teamwork was astounding. Working with these kids truly brings me so much joy!"

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