Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Destination Imagination


This is Team Never Stop.
I had heard of DI before but was not really too interested with the time commitment and another thing on our plate. Jessica called and said that they had a team and would like to invite Jackson to be on it. We accepted and it all began.
Logan, Brendon, Fischer, Erik, Sydney, Jack, Jackson

The team worked for 4 months together with the Wunschs as their coaches.
They have to learn to build with wood, glue under strict guidelines. The building team built a structure that held over 400 lbs. The 2nd place team came in at 200 lbs, half of our teams weight.
Another part of this team is learning how to work together and very quickly. There is no adult input whatsoever. 100% kids all the way.
They are given a bag with a prop and guidelines to put together a skit. The skit must have all of the elements given to them. They have 2 minutes to put it together and 4 minutes to perform.
Think about 7 kids with 7 individual brains. This was a skill that took them 4 months to master.

Here is a small picture of them at the actual competition. Jackson was the mad chemist standing behind Logan. He loved acting this out and even did a small explosion.
It was a very long day for the team and coaches. At the end they made the decision to not hang around for a couple more hours to see the awards ceremony.
You see, I dont think that anyone assumed much more than a good job done team, we are very proud of you.
The next morning, we found out that Team Never Stop won 1st place out of 81 teams. We were all so very excited and maybe a little (surprised- but we wont tell Jackson that)

So DI took on a whole other level. First things first, they got their medals and team meeting to get organized for the state competition.
Jackson was such a lucky boy that Jessica thought to call and ask him to be on the team. He has loved everything about this DI team. Loved all the meetings and competition day, he said it was the best day ever.
They were the heroes at school on Monday when they announced the results. Everyone congratulating them. The 1st trophy and plaque in the case for River Ridge Elementary.
Now it is back to practices. They leave for the state competition on April 1st in Lubbock, Texas. The school is paying for everything: charter bus, hotel, and food. This is so crazy!!! So Jackson will be leaving school that Friday and going to Lubbock on his own (I mean without Mom and Dad). He is so excited and can not wait.
We are so proud of Jackson and what an amazing experience for him.
GOOD LUCK TEAM NEVER STOP!
(Jackson was the one to come up with the team name)