ROBBINSVILLE — The sixth-grade “Shooting Starz” Destination ImagiNation team from Pond Road Middle School took first place in the New Jersey Destination ImagiNation state competition Saturday at Robbinsville High School.
By doing so, the team earned an invitation to compete at the DI global competition in Knoxville, Tennessee, in late May. This is the second year in a row that this team has placed and been invited to go to the global finals. The girls also won the DaVinci Award, which is given to a team that has exceptional creativity and a unique approach to the problem.
Members of the team are Kaeleigh Sturgeon, Casey Hopkins, Melissa DeShaw, Catherine Stephens and Rachna Sridhar. Team manager is Jackie Stephens.
Destination ImagiNation is a creative problem-solving program for participants from elementary school through college levels. The Destination ImagiNation program provides teams with a fresh and exciting choice of five different team challenges to pick from and an “instant challenge” each academic year. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the challenges.
The girls chose to compete in the “Mythology Mission” challenge. In a five-minute preparation time period at the tournament, the team had to create a five-minute improvisational skit about a mission involving a mythical creature. They had to incorporate research about a culture from a country, incorporate three souvenirs randomly selected from a list of items and combine them into one master prop. Lastly, they had to integrate an unexpected problem that is discovered during the performance.
Because they are judged on teamwork, they have to plan their skit right in front of the judges. Depending on what was drawn, the kids deciphered previously who was going to step in and perform.
The second part of the competition is an instant challenge where the teams are given a task they need to solve. They are judged on their teamwork, communication and ability to come up with a solution. The girls “aced” this part of the competition by scoring the highest among all the teams they competed against.
They now are in the process of preparing to go to the global competition by working on teamwork, instant challenges and improvisation. In order to get there, they also are fundraising to make the trip possible. Anyone interested in donating to their cause or helping with their fundraising efforts is asked to e-mail Kathleen Sturgeon at [email protected].

