Fauquier County Public Schools
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2016
Karen Parkinson, Coordinator of Information
Phone (540) 422-7031
[email protected]
SIX FCPS DESTINATION IMAGINATION TEAMS
ADVANCING TO STATE COMPETITION
Six Destination Imagination (DI) teams representing five Fauquier County Public Schools will advance to state
competition based on their performance at the DI Northwest Regional Tournament at John Handley High School in
Winchester on Saturday, March 4. Representing FCPS at the state tournament April 8 at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville
will be teams from Bradley Elementary, Coleman Elementary, Greenville Elementary, Pierce Elementary and Cedar Lee
Middle School. Two of the teams, Cedar Lee and Pierce, won first place in the region.
First Place Winners
Cedar Lee Middle School
The “Circle of DI” from Cedar Lee Middle School won first
place, in the Fine Arts: Vanished! Challenge, which required the team
to create a performance centered on the disappearance of a color from
the world and the consequences of the disappearance. The team had to
include a “colorful character” who caused the color to disappear as well
as a “vanishing act,” which caused something to disappear via a teamchosen technical theater method. Team members are Samara Brooks,
Emma Constanzo, Rachel Fernandes, Sage Laine, Savannah Mitchell,
Autumn Mullins and Alana Neidich.
Team manager Tara Neidich, band director at Cedar Lee, said
the team formed last year when it competed in the improvisational
challenge; this year they chose to go a different direction by selecting
the fine arts challenge.
“The team truly learned a lot about teamwork and time management through the process of researching and
writing their story along with imagining and designing props, costumes and backdrops, something they did not have to
deal with last year. I have loved watching the team learn and grow, especially in the areas of teamwork and confidence,”
Neidich said.
Pierce Elementary School
Team members of “The Prodigious Pickles Go Meow Meow”
from Pierce Elementary won first place in their category, Project
Outreach Challenge: Ready, Willing and Fable with their performance of
the “The Fox and the Bird.” Team members are McKenna Cupka, Alexa
Meriwhether, Josh Cooper, Drew Kolb, Ashley Brod and Lilli Ferguson. The
team manager is Karla Kolb, art teacher at Pierce, and the team parent
helper is Summer Sheng.
In this challenge students had to identify a community with a
need and figure out how to assist them in some way. Once that was
completed, they had to write a fable based on what they did. The team
identified a need with an organization called Mason’s Toy Box out of
Charlottesville that provides toys to children in NICU and PICU units in
area hospitals during the holidays. The Prodigious Pickles put together a
winter hop at Pierce for students in grades 3-5. In order to get into the
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winter hop, students had to donate a new, unwrapped toy. At the hop students enjoyed dancing, games, a photo booth
and treats. The team collected 211 toys to donate to Mason’s Toy Box.
Next the team wrote their story, “The Fox and the Bird,” about a tricky fox who learns all about being kind when he
meets a Mama Cardinal on her way to the winter hop to help collect toys. She convinces him to come along and see what
being kind is all about as everyone is helping out in some way at the hop. Through a series of events the fox becomes kind
and learns that “No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.”
Team manager Karla Kolb said a huge challenge for the team was being able to get together to do full rehearsals
due to sickness among team members.
“We wound up having very little rehearsal time together,” she said. “We had to rehearse at the event right up until
our time to go on, but in the end everyone came through.”
Student Drew Kolb said a challenge the team had to face at the event was “to remain calm and not be stressed!”
Team member Ashley Brod said, “We had to figure out how important is was to work as a team or we weren’t going
accomplish anything without it.”
Second Place Winners
Greenville Elementary School
Pierce Elementary School
Pierce Elementary School’s “Emoji Madness” team, led by co-team managers Christina Shaffer and Laura Wolfert,
consists of seven fifth-grade students: Shannon Cooper, Madison Einck, Amanda Johnson, Ashlyn Leatherwood, Harrison
Reber, Brianna Tarmon and Kathryn Wolfert. The students chose to compete in the main challenge “Top Secret” which
involved creating a technical gadget (they made a wooden desk with a “magic” drawer that sends messages through
time between 2017 and the Civil War), two forms of encryption (they chose grille encryption and the use of a cipher
wheel) and a disguised character (a girl who snuck into the Civil War disguised as a boy to avenge her mother’s accidental
death). Throughout the story students wove together the required elements to create a plot that involved the mystery
of two sisters discovering the father they had never known in the midst of the Civil War while communicating through
the “magic desk” with their future descendant. To prepare for the
challenge, the team worked with a parent, Stephanie Reber, to learn
various encryption techniques and styles and also took a trip to the
Spy Museum in Washington, DC.
“We were incredibly hard on the desk, and I was surprised at
how well it turned out. I think we did pretty well because we got no
mistakes; everyone just went with it and didn’t stop. I’m looking forward
to State because I hope to win and go to Global!” said Madison.
“I really liked our costumes because they were very creative,
but original in the same way. I thought we were going to do well before
we went to the tournament. When I found out the results, I was very,
very, very happy,” said Shannon.
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Third Place Winners
Bradley Elementary School
“The Nice Devils” from
Bradley Elementary School took
third place in the “Engineering: In It
Together Challenge,” which required
competitors to design, build and
test load-bearing structures out of
specific materials. Team members
are third graders Benjamin Swanwick,
Samantha Lowe, Graham Funkhouser
and Amanda Chow; first graders
Andrew Fuster and Natalie Richards;
and kindergartner Anna Swanwick.
Team manager is Dr. Catherine
Swanwick and assistant manager is Katie Fuster.
Coleman Elementary School
The “C-Tech 2” team from Coleman placed third
in the “Technical – Show and Tech Challenge.” Team
members are Grayson Murray, Adolfo Miramontes,
Andrew Brown, Parry Barger, Alana Henegar, Jordan
Buyna and Hailey Procaccini. Sandy and Jason Murray
are the team managers.
“DI is a lot of hard work, but in the end it is all
worth it,” Parry said.
“My experience with DI was great!” said Hailey.
“I had an amazing time taking on challenges with my
friends. DI really makes me think outside the box. I
was very proud of our team for what we created. We
worked really hard.”
Grayson added, “DI is fun and provides
challenges and an opportunity to work with a team. It builds many skills like acting, technical innovation, problem solving
and interviewing skills. It is an all-around great experience.”
Team manager Sandy Murray said she believes DI challenges students to think and learn in ways that encourage a
well-rounded approach to problem solving.
“Students need to think on their feet, work as a team, solve challenges in various subjects from engineering to
fine arts. We have enjoyed being team managers the most,” she said, “when we see the kids feeling so proud of what they
accomplish, to see their brainstorms turn from a sketch on the whiteboard to a finished product worthy of competition.
We build relationships with each team member and embrace them for all their talents and the things they are working
through.”
What is Destination Imagination?
Destination Imagination is designed to teach creativity, the creative process, and interpersonal and management
skills, and help students achieve their highest potential. At the start of the season teams choose one of seven challenges;
after weeks spent creating, developing and practicing their solutions, they compete in a regional tournament. Participants
are engaged in creative and critical thinking, project management, team building, conflict resolution, STEM, perseverance,
and a completion mindset.