Brownsville’s Destination Imagination Team Wins Globals

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By Rebecca Schmitz

The Brownsville DI Team gets psyched to go into the Instant Challenge at Globals! L-R: Jackson Douvas, Grace Boitnott, Sophie Lanahan, Elke Beaumont, Lucas Farmer, Ellie Boitnott, Rachel Walker (Photo courtesy Mindy Beaumont)
The Brownsville DI Team gets psyched to go into the Instant Challenge at Globals!
L-R: Jackson Douvas, Grace Boitnott, Sophie Lanahan, Elke Beaumont, Lucas Farmer, Ellie Boitnott, Rachel Walker (Photo courtesy Mindy Beaumont)

Brownsville Elementary’s fifth grade “Cymatics Fanatics” Destination Imagination team—Rachel Walker, Elke Beaumont, Jackson Duvas, Ellie Boitnott, Grace Boitnott, Lucas Farmer, and Sophie Lanahan—returned home from the global competition in Nashville in May with a first place trophy, beating out 85 other teams from 17 countries in the scientific challenge portion of the competition.  They are the only team from Albemarle County ever to win the global competition. Although they competed at the elementary school level, their score was higher than the scores of the 70 teams competing at the middle school level and higher than many high school team scores as well.

Mary Dettman, gifted resource teacher at Brownsville, says the months of hard work the team put into their challenge showed. “While many students were using snow days to rest, sled, or make snow forts, these team members were trying to write choreography and lyrics for their songs. Others were trying to figure out how to make sound waves move grains of sand and sticky substances. Their hard work has paid off.” The team practiced 1-2 times per week for 2-3 hours at a time for nine months.

The students and their parents, led by team managers Rich Boitnott, Sue Brown, and Holly Walker, worked throughout April and May to raise money for their trip to Tennessee. They hosted several successful fundraisers, including a pasta dinner and pancake breakfast. Brownsville’s PTO also chipped in for some of the cost.

The team had worked together before. “All but one child returned from last year and for two of the team members it was their third year on a DI team,” Boitnott said. “But from the beginning it was obvious to me that these kids knew how to do DI and they had the juice to go all the way!”

The Cymatics Fanatics were challenged to create and build a sound machine that could make two different sounds and make sound waves (cymatics) visible. They presented their work as part of a skit called “You’ve Been Spooked,” based on an imaginary game show whose hosts try to scare an unsuspecting family out of a house as quickly as possible. With enthusiasm, creativity, and humor, the team demonstrated that their scriptwriting and acting skills were just as strong as their scientific knowledge. They not only wrote and acted in the skit, but also designed the set pieces and props entirely by themselves. They wrote new lyrics for popular songs like “Thriller” and The Munsters’ theme sound, and performed the songs throughout the skit.

Brownsville's fifth grade DI team and parent team managers at the global competition in Nashville. Front, L-R: Rachel Walker, Sophie Lanahan, Elke Beaumont, Lucas Farmer, and Jackson Douvas. Back, L-R: Holly Walker, Grace Boitnott, Rich Boitnott, Ellie Boitnott, and Sue Miller.
Brownsville’s fifth grade DI team and parent team managers at the global competition in Nashville. Front, L-R: Rachel Walker, Sophie Lanahan, Elke Beaumont, Lucas Farmer, and Jackson Douvas. Back, L-R: Holly Walker, Grace Boitnott, Rich Boitnott, Ellie Boitnott, and Sue Miller.

The rules of the competition required them to speed up or slow down the narrative pace of the skit, which the team accomplished by acting out a scene in slow motion. “I watched dozens of these challenges performed between regionals, states, and globals, and their story of the game show that scared families with sound was unlike any other team that we saw,” said Mindy Beaumont, whose daughter Elke was on the Brownsville team. “Most of the teams that I saw went into outer space. It was a smart way to ‘slow down’ their narrative in zero gravity. But our team showing TV clips as a means of ‘replaying’ a portion of their performance in slow motion was so unique!”

The team demonstrated how their sound machine worked during a kitchen scene. Colored sand moved in a pattern when one of the actors squeezed a ketchup bottle; and the “soup” jumped when another actor used a knife to cut berries.

Team member Lucas Farmer said, “I was pretty nervous because most of us are taking a break from DI next year and we all wanted to do well.”  However, he enjoyed the atmosphere at globals, which he described as “…very fun and not too serious.  I liked getting to meet people from China and all over the world.”  His teammate Ellie Boitnott felt the same way: she appreciated “meeting people” and believes their team’s “imagination and ability to work together” propelled them to the top.

Destination Imagination is a volunteer-led, non-profit organization that fosters creativity and innovation in problem solving. Students who participate in the DI program form teams and compete in challenges from one of six categories: technical, scientific, structural, fine arts, and service learning. They compete locally to qualify for the state competition, where they have the possibility of qualifying for globals.

The global competition was hosted by Disney and featured more than 1,400 teams from elementary school through high school.  Eighty percent of participants were from the United States and twenty percent were international, from countries such as China, Turkey, South Korea, and Mexico. Boitnott found his role as team manager to be a rewarding learning experience. “The one thing I really learned was that no matter how outrageous their ideas might seem, do not get in their way. Their ideas seemed so far-fetched at times, but when it all came together it was better than I ever could have imagined.”

Dettman has seen the positive effect the DI program has had on the students who participate.  “From the many years we have supported this program at Brownsville I have learned a few things about what students take away from the experience. Learning from others’ ideas can only make better solutions for the team and being self-reflective and looking at themselves objectively help the students see how their strengths and hard work can help the team. The best fit for an individual child on the “chosen challenge” might not be the best fit for the team. However, there is always something the student can add to the challenge, and their contributions are appreciated by fellow team members. The students learn how to give and receive constructive criticism. They walk away with a willingness to really put themselves ‘out there’ to solve a problem and rely on others to help them get the best solution in the time given. They learn when to speak up and when to listen. Friendships that develop on the team last. In a nutshell, they learn how to truly collaborate.”

Lucas Farmer echoes her appreciation for the DI experience. When asked what he thought made his team so successful, he replied, “Teamwork and cooperation.”  His greatest lesson learned from the experience was, “Always try to do your best, even if someone is on your nerves!”

The team performed a skit based on an imaginary game show called “You’ve Been Spooked.”  L-R: Lucas Farmer, Ellie Boitnott, Rachel Walker, Sophie Lanahan, Grace Boitnott, and Jackson Douvas. (photo credit: Mindy Beaumont)
The team performed a skit based on an imaginary game show called “You’ve Been Spooked.” L-R: Lucas Farmer, Ellie Boitnott, Rachel Walker, Sophie Lanahan, Grace Boitnott, and Jackson Douvas. (photo credit: Mindy Beaumont)

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