STATEWIDE SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENT AT CUYAMACA COLLEGE

March 25, 2013 (El Cajon) – Nearly 3,000 volunteers and students statewide from elementary grades through high school converged on Cuyamaca College all day Saturday for the 2013 California Destination Imagination State Tournament, a precursor to a global competition designed to help children develop critical thinking skills in a fun, creative way.

The students worked since last fall on the Team Challenge portion of the competition, choosing from among seven technical, scientific, fine arts, structural engineering and community service projects created by the non-profit organization, Destination Imagination, based in Cherry Hill, N.J.  The 200 teams that competed Saturday already won a top spot in one of California’s seven regional competitions held in February. Local schools represented included Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Flora Vista Elementary School in Encinitas, and multiple schools from Cardiff and Encinitas.

With an aim to build students’ creativity, problem-solving and teamwork skills, the Destination Imagination program started in 1999 and is designed to align with national educational standards in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as common-core standards in English language arts. Each year about 125,000 children participate in the tournaments organized with the help of some 40,000 volunteers worldwide.

Teams with names like “The Mega Magnetic Mishaps,” “NFL: Nerds for Life,” and “The Dancing Neurons” were at the state tournament at Cuyamaca College, vying for a spot to compete in the global finals May 22-25 in Knoxville, Tenn. Teams finishing in the top three of their division went on to this final competition, expected to draw more than 1,000 teams from 20 countries.

The competitions consisted of students presenting their Team Challenge solutions and also, taking part in Instant Challenges, in which they’re faced with solving a problem on the spot.

The event took place at various sites on the Cuyamaca College campus, including the science and mathematics center and the communications arts center. The competition concluded with an awards ceremony inside the gym.