Bay Middle School Destination Imagination team is first in the world

The Crew team from Bay Middle School won first place in their Destination Imagination category at the Global Finals. Pictured left-to-right, front row: James Chilton, Iain Ray, Annie Davenport, Patrick Lehane; back row: team manager Julie Meadows, Maeve Ransom, Finn Meadows, James Fowles, team manager Kim Ray. Photo courtesy Destination Imagination

Bay Village Schools Destination Imagination advisor, Marian Harmount, reported from the Destination Imagination Global Finals, held May 25-28 in Knoxville, Tennessee, that out of 1,464 teams, from 21 countries, totaling more than 8,000 students, there was a first-place team from Bay Village, Ohio.

The Crew, a team of fifth-graders from Bay Middle School, placed first in the world at the elementary level in their challenge, The Meme Event. Members of The Crew are Iain Ray, Finn Meadows, Maeve Ransom, Annie Davenport, James Chilton, James Fowles and Patrick Lehane. The students were required to complete a service project and then make a presentation about it. First, the team raised money to donate to refugee families living in Lakewood. Then, they arrived at the Destination Imagination Global Finals and made their presentation. One reason their presentation was memorable was because the students rhymed the entire script.

A total of four teams from the Bay Village Schools qualified at district and state level competitions to complete at Destination Imagination's Global Finals.

Team Blank, all sixth-graders from Bay Middle School, also had a great performance and tied for ninth-place in their challenge, Get a Clue. As one of the top 10 teams in their challenge, they saw their names posted on the scoreboard in the arena for all 17,000 attendees to see. Members of Team Blank are Holly Mack, Michael Muccio, Simon Miedza, Gus Priemer, Hayden Atzberger, Josh Dwyer and Celia Feiszli.

Two other Bay Village Schools teams competed at the Global Level. Team Lane Violation was made up of Bay High students Olivia Risch and Jessica Bohannon. The Aqua Girls, who drove directly from their Bay Middle School eighth-grade Washington, D.C. field trip, competed for their fifth time at the Global Finals. Team members are Audrey Ray, Patty Yuhas, Ava Ransom, Olivia Reed, Eliza Aleksandrovic, Caroline Fowles and Grace Chilton.

Lisa Priemer, a parent and school board member, was thoroughly impressed with the experience the event provided students. "As someone who attended the event, I can tell you it will be something these kids will never forget," she said. "They met kids from as far away as China and Poland, and they had educational interactions with people from Google, NASA, National Geographic and Microsoft. In between, they got to hang out with over 8,000 other kids who think eating graham crackers soaked in liquid nitrogen, researching camouflage and building a toothpick bridge that can hold 200 pounds and play music is more fun than anything else."

Destination Imagination provides open-ended challenges that require students to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, in addition to their talents in improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork, community service and social entrepreneurship.

Karen Derby

Director of Communications for the Bay Village City School District

Read More on Schools
Volume 8, Issue 11, Posted 9:41 AM, 06.07.2016