Kirkland's Nature Vision team won a bronze medal at the 2005 Destination ImagiNation Global Finals held May 28 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The four eighth-graders, Emily Andrews, Hallie O'Brien, Ryan Flanagan and Russell Yamamoto, competed in the "IMPROVing Along" middle-school division against 59 teams representing other states and foreign countries.
Coached by Leslie Andrews, the team had previously won the Seattle Metro Regional and the Washington State competition to reach the Global Finals.
Global Finals is the annual culmination of months of preparation, bringing team winners representing their state, their province, or their country to compete against one another at the international creative problem solving tournament held at the University of Tennessee.
More than 850 teams, with more than 8,000 competitors, showcased their teamwork, creativity and problem-solving abilities in one of five competition categories and three age groups.
The Destination ImagiNation program helps kids build important, lifelong skills, like problem solving, teamwork and divergent thinking.
Teams solve two types of challenges within the program year. The team challenge involves structural, technical or theatrically oriented challenges and takes several months to solve. Throughout that time the teams also practice improvisational instant challenges, which stimulate the team's ability to think quickly and creatively with only minutes to prepare solutions.
The Nature Vision teammates attend Environmental Adventure School (Emily Andrews and Hallie O'Brien), Evergreen Junior High (Ryan Flanagan), and Northstar Junior High (Russell Yamamoto).
For more information, visit www.destinationimagination.org.[[In-content Ad]]
