Essence Hughes’ head sticks out of a lily pad. Her body has disappeared beneath the surface of the water. That’s what it looks like, at least.
Hughes is actually inside a box, surrounded by walls painted blue, green and silver. The box is bordered with mirrors at a 45 degree angle, which reflects the surrounding wall and makes the eye believe Hughes body is beneath the green cardboard circle, which mimics a lily pad.
Hughes is part of the fine arts challenge for the Destination Imagination team at Columbus Middle School. The team was challenged to create a fairy tale that incorporated the 2015 theme: phobias.
The idea is the old frog and the princess story with a twist — the princess suffers from ranidaphobia, fear of frogs. During their 8-minute performance, the team of seventh graders was also challenged to include optical illusions, hence the frog’s body disappearing beneath the lily-pad.
The performance was good enough to give the fine arts challenge team from CMS the state championship, and a ticket to the global finals in Knoxville May 20-23.
Team Manager Sylvia Collins, a gifted students teacher at CMS, is used to bringing her students to the global finals. This year, the fine arts challenge team, technology challenge team and structure challenge team are all heading to Knoxville. They will be the 28th, 29th and 30th teams Collins has brought to the global competition since 2004.
“We’ve had multiple teams every year,” Collins said.
‘We want to win’
Destination Imagination is a global academic competition, pitting children against their own wits and each other. The teams perform an 8-minute skit that must include certain elements, in the case of this year’s fine arts challenge: phobias and illusions. There is also an instant challenge, which the students are not prepared for and must solve, worth 30 percent of their score.
“In DI, the kids have to control everything themselves,” Collins said. “When you have eight minutes to get your point across, every line counts.”
The fine arts team is confident going into the global competition, and with a roster of talented seventh graders, it should be. The team consists of Sebastian Rojas-Rincon, Zachary Wilson, Genesa Williams, Katelyn Lowe, Krishuana Jethrow, Tierah Macon and Hughes. Each brings something to the table. They are happy just to be going to Knoxville, but they also want to place high.
“We’re very excited, but we want to win,” Lowe said.
They have three pieces of original art, including an illusion drawing of a horse that doubles as a frog, drawn by Macon. The idea is, the princess has to kiss the frog to lose her ranidaphobia, so they trick her into kissing what she sees as a horse.
“Make them think for themselves, that’s what this program does,” Collins said.
The technology challenge team did quite a bit of thinking for themselves, too.
The tech team — made up of Sam Yarborough, Darrell Montes Johnson, Tijah McCrary, Coen Velek, Sophia Oswalt, Kerrigan Clark and Maya Rush — is all eighth graders, many of whom have been to the global competition before.
Their performance takes you to the future and back again. A brother and sister who are arguing put an iPhone in a time capsule from 2015 away for 50 years. To represent this, the students created a display featuring pop culture, sports and politics from present day. They also created a house that doubled as a time machine that brings the squabbling siblings from 2065 back to present day.
The most impressive part of the technology challenge team’s project was the creation of a machine that did three things: move, communicate and eat. The team cut a toy jeep in had, re-worked the wiring and attached a wooden frame. A laundry basket was morphed into a retractable head with a face and mouth. If you touch the pedal to the Jeep’s gas on the back, the creature lurches forward. All these materials must cost less that $175.
Clark is the team’s main engineer. She has made the trip to Knoxville before.
“It’s a lot of fun to be there and there are a lot of different people,” she said.
‘A life memory’
According to Collins, her teams have met students from Korea, Canada, Mexico and China at Destination Imagination competitions.
“Listening to all the different accents is fun,” said Tijah McCrary.
Getting to the global competition is fun, but it’s also expensive. It will cost $25,000 to transport, lodge, feed and register the three teams; $715 per student, according to Collins. The district has long supported Collins’ teams. Each year, CMSD provides about $15,000 for Destination Imagination. Currently, Collins said they have $18,000 for globals, but remain about $7,000 short. Anyone interested in donating to the team can contact the CMSD central office, or the non-profit organization Mississippi Advanced Problem Solving.
When Collins and her students arrive in Knoxville, they expect to contend. She said almost all their teams have placed in the top 20. She said this experience sticks with kids; her own son, now 29, and a Destination Imagination judge, remembers his trip to globals fondly.
“It’s not a life changing experience, in that it alters your life, but it is a life memory,” Collins said.
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