The people side of DI

My introduction to DI began last fall when my 6th grader called me after school to tell me he'd signed up for DI (for what?) and could I pick him up after school. I had no idea what we were in for at that time. It has been an incredible experience. I've enjoyed watching my son grow through the year, develop a new found self confidence, work through the challenges of being a team member, and develop a sense of humor ("I'm the top banana of the USDA, but you can call me Mr. Top Banana of the USDA" all while eating a banana and wearing a hat decorated with 3 plastic bananas during global competition). I'm really proud of the way the AMS Team A responded to glitches in their unidentified moving object competition. While they were very disappointed in their performance due to an equipment malfunction, they held it together in a very professional manner throughout their 8 minutes. The next day they came back for the instant challenge with very positive, can do attitudes rather than letting the previous day impact their next performance. They did a great job of representing themselves, AMS, and Iowa.

Words can't describe the global competition experience. Even with all the helpful hints from global experienced Moms, I wasn't prepared for 4 days of sensory overload and lack of sleep. You have to experience it yourself to really understand it. The eat, sleep, DI t-shirt posted on this site begins to touch on the experience. The best part of the event was the people side. We adopted the Maple Valley team when we learned their town of Mapleton had been hit by a tornado in April. We had the opportunity to meet the kids and watch them compete. They are an awesome group of kids and connected with our kids as if they'd been friends for a long time. I saw our own team members trade away prized pins to obtain a pin they knew was wanted by a teammate or parent. The joy of giving the pin to that person was more important than the pin they traded away. I saw adults in the pin trading tent give away a pin that they knew someone really wanted and didn't accept a pin in trade. Instead they asked that the person pay it forward by giving one of their pins to someone who didn't have very many pins. I had the opportunity to see huge smiles on a young boy and young girl who were recipients of those pay it forward pins. The kindness and generosity demonstrated will be remembered long after the global competition has concluded.

Thanks to everyone who supported these kids in their goal to participate in DI and to go to globals. These kids gained from the experience in many more ways than just competing at an international event.

Posted by Sabrina Swenson

Trip

The trip was awesome. I hope to do it again next year. I was thinking about doing D.I. next year but now I want to for sure. Although we took 37th we still did good because there was 69 teams. I had fun meeting the Maple Valley team. They had some really good ideas for the problem.


Posted by: Justin Swenson

DI By the Numbers

People ask, how big is DI, is it really a big deal to go to Globals? The answer is YES!  It's a big deal

• DI Headquarters state over 335,000 kids participated this past year globally in DI.  (That's over 47,500  - 7 person teams world-wide)
• Each team can have a minimum of 2 members and maximum of 7
• The four teams from Iowa that we knew about had 4, 4, 6 and 3 members each - so many teams do not have the full 7 members)
• 1101 teams competed at Globals -- that's it.  Out of over 47,500 teams, only 1101 moved on to Globals
• Number of participants at Globals would range from 2202 kids to 7707 kids depending on the number of kids on a team .  It's more like 5000-6000 kids total that participated.
• Attendence last week at Globals counting kids, parents, school coaches, appraisers, volunteers, grandparents, etc was around 12,000 to 13,000 people.

Other interesting notes:

• Average hours of sleep for adults during the week  - let me get back to you, I'm too sleep deprived to figure that out.
• Number of times kids ask to pin trade or go to the pool - too many to count
• Number of times we heard "I lost the back to one of my pins" - only about 100,000 times
• Number of times we heard "did you see what they were.... wearing, what color their hair was -- a couple times a day
• The smiles and saucersized eyes when the kids looked around  - priceless

Thanks for all your support for the Ames DI Teams.

Jeanne

Pin Trading was cool or hot or awesome

As mentioned previously in the blog, pin trading at Globals is a big deal.  We order our state pins (volcanos) and trade with other states and countries.  We also have a MuddiWaters set that is 8 states that border the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  We get eight of our MuddiWaters pin ( a pleisosaur is Iowa's pin this year) and trade for the remainder of the set with other states.  Other states that are part of the MuddiWaters include Nebraska (sabertooth tiger), Montana (triceratops), South Dakota (Wooly Mammoth), Illinois (T-Rex), Wisconsin (Stegasosaurus), North Dakota (Diplodacus), Missouri (igaunadon). 

They designate areas (and LARGE tents) for pin trading areas, trading also goes on in dorm and hotel lobbies, on the buses, and at the pools.  Dr. Frank is the pin trading guru and sets the rules and pin trading areas.  Dr. Frank is legendary and dyes his mustache rainbow colors for the week and wears knee pads so when he kneels down to trade he has some cushion. 

Here's a sample of pin trading...

Parents picking more pins!

One of several Pin Trading Tents - it's huge and
has large fans to keep things cool!

Jacob  (in blue baseball hat - not the cool cow hat)

Jacob and Dr. Frank, gotta love the mustache!

Justin checking out what he wants to trade

Look at all those pin traders! These type of crowds were
in tents all over the campus. 

AMS Team and their pin mats

Adults can also trade pins and a few of us did a little trading but left it mostly to the kids.  Pin backs are a hot commodity since dragging around a pin mat can cause "loss of pin back" and potential loss of pin, so most of us parents spent our time watching pin trading and collecting pin backs to replace those that our kids lost.  I had quite a few conversations with parents as we walked around picking up pin backs. 





It's not all work - it's fun and games too

We've decided that we are boring.  We had lovely green Iowa DI t-shirts with a volcano on them because our theme was "we are exploding with creativity"  - I offered to purchase the shirt seen below -- I really love this shirt and felt by Thursday it was a perfect fit for our days and nights at Globals

Yep, that about sums up the week!

Ok, we did feed them. 

And we did let them have some down time -
this is the big Univ of Tennessee pool

The Castle is a prop assembled on site by a group of high school girls from Delano, Minnesota
and the batman costumes were cool and costumes like this were very common around DI this week.

What we learned was we need to work more on backdrops and costumes.  We also decided that we need face paint and colored hair.  We saw hair dyed in almost any color, boys with DI cut into their hair, we saw an adult man with his beard dyed purple and green to support his team.  Hats and duct tape -- we didn't use enough!  Glow in the dark hats will be necessary for any future trip to DI Globals and if we can decorate those hat with duct tape, well that will be even better! 



Ames Middle School Challenge

The AMS team had some challenges to overcome at Globals, equipment that broke during the performance, difficulty with the recordings, but they perservered and completed the tasks.  They did extremely well on their Instant Challenge portion of the competition and finished 37th in the world.  We keep saying that we are proud of all of our kids (Meeker and the AMS teams) and we are.  They were poised, kept trying when things broke or things didn't go their way and thanked the appraisers.   In contrast we saw teams fall apart, throw things, blame each other and break down when things did not go perfect - even with our teams having problems, they never lost their cool, never showed they were upset and that's what Globals is all about!

Here's some photos of the AMS Challenge

Entering the Challenge Site

On the "launch line" - you have to wait behind the line for the 8 minute time limit to begin

The team working the challenge  - that is one tall tower -
|notice the appraiser with the purple octopus hat!

The final bow! 
Look at those smiles!

Meeker Team Challenge

I'm late in getting things posted, they really keep you busy!  The Meeker team was VERY early on Thursday morning.  Performance time was 8:54 AM.  We have to be ready with all equipment checked, all members present and all costumes and scenery assembled by 7:54 AM.  Our assigned housing is a Holiday Inn 25 minutes away.  Which meant a very early morning after a late night at Opening Ceremonies.  It helped that Jacob and Devin who arrived early went over to the Prop Storage on Wednesday and assembled the backdrop and checked the equipment, so we could save about an hour on Thursday morning.  Prop storage is crazy and we'll have more on that later.

The Challenge --- They did great!  Globals added more complexity and really (and I mean really) tightened the rules.  They were nervous but stepped up to the challenge.  They moved all their objects but had problems with touching the sides of the pool (a new rule at Globals - along with 2 ft more height and 6" of water).  The moved all their objects but only got credit for 5 of the 8 because of the "touching the sides" rule.  Many others were having the same problem.  We'll only really know how they did after Closing Ceremonies.    We are so proud of them and they represented Ames and Meeker with poise, creativity and politeness (the parents liked that last part!).   Here's some photos:

On the launch line - do they look nervous (you should have seen the parents!)

Putting it together

The Sales Promotion!

Moving the objects - such teamwork!

TIME!  - the Final Bow to an appreciative audience

 More and better photos later -

Jeanne

The final challenge

Today we had our instant challenge. I felt like we did great. This has been awesome. I've gone swimming, done a lot of pin trading and had a lot of fun. Although we didn't do as well I wished we did on our main challenge  I think with our instant challenge we did pretty well. I've also meet some new friends from Maple Valley, Iowa who we helped fund raise to get them here because of a devastating tornado that went through their town the night they won at the state competition.

Posted by: Justin Swenson

Meeker International Ambassadors!

After opening ceremonies, the Meeker team met up with the team we are hosting from China.  Thanks to Hannah's Dad, Mianliang, for translating for us.  We exchanged gifts (including Meeker water bottles and ISU stuff) and will be cheering them on Friday at their Fine Arts challenge, Triple Take Road Show.  Don't they make a great group! 

Just seeing the 244 teams matched up as International Ambassadors makes us all realize that a small and wonderful world we live in and how this competition is really more than a competition.   We were also happy to report that our friends from Mapleton, IA are here and enjoying the experience.  The DI community is also welcoming teams from Joplin, MO and Tuskaloosa, AL.  All towns that have experienced tornados in the past months and are still here celebrating the creative-problem solving experience.  It really doesn't matter what the competition score is in the end, all of these kids realize they need to help and support each other and learning how to solve problems together will serve all of us in the future.   You can be really proud of these Ames teams!

Opening Ceremonies

What fun  we had at Destination ImagiNation opening ceremonies.  Justin from the AMS Team A and Jacob from the Meeker team were selected to walk in the state parade into the arena.  They joined other Iowa representatives and representatives from around the globe in starting off our tournament.  The  ceremonies ended with  a cool laser light and sound show.

The Iowa representatives parading in (in lime green shirts)

Opening Ceremonies - you must have things that glow! 

The Great Smokies

Yesterday my brother Andrew and I went up to the smokies with Justin and Devin. We drove for about an hour and reached a stop where you could stand with one foot in Tennessee and the other foot in North Carolina. Then we drove up to Clingmans Dome(the tallest mountain in Tennessee) and walked up a very very steep mountain. When we reached the top we could see for miles in all directions thanks to a observation tower.

Jacob (with help from Andrew)

Mountain Climbing

Today me, Justin, Devin, and Jacob and our parents are going to go to the Smokey Mountains. We will either go to Clingmans Dome, which is the highest point in Tennessee, or we will go to Grotto Falls which is a waterfall that you can walk behind and climb above. We may do both if we have time. Were going to have a lot of fun

Andrew

AMS Team A and Maple Valley-Anthon-Otho Pin Mats

In contrast to the Meeker team, the AMS Team A worked with the Quilting Connection to have some embroidery done on their mats. In addition to a monatary donation to the Maple Valley team in Mapleton we asked if we could make and donate pin mats to them. They accepted and we will present them to the team on Wednesday. We are excited that Mapleton is able to compete at Globals while they are recovering from the April tornado. Our thanks to Justin's mom for coordinating and sewing the mats for both AMS Team A and Maple Valley-Anthon-Otho team and to the Ames Quilting Connection for their contribution!

Here's a peak of the mats connecting the Ames Little Cyclones and the Maple Valley team.

Notice the volcano pins on the lower left -- that is our state pin that we will trade for other states and countries.   So far today, we have ran into Red Rock, TX, a group from Indiana, Mexico, New Hampshire and New York -- and that was just at check-in.  

Pin Trading!

Pin Trading is a major event at DI Globals.  In order to effectively pin trade, you need to have state DI pins and a pin mat to put all your pins on.    Pin mats can be as simple as an old towel or you can more elaborate -- which is of course, what we did!   The Meeker team has mats in yellow with purple ribbon.  Thanks to Jacob's grandma for donating the material and to Devin's grandma for sewing the mats for us.  Then the fun begins -- you have to decorate your mat!   We have mats with a simple design with names, date and Global Finals --- or you can use the Iowa state DI team (We're exploding with Creativity) and go crazy and use the Iowa volcano theme and the Meeker mustang. 
. 

As you can tell, pin trading is BIG! 



We'd Love to Hear from You - Please Comment

The comment option is open on this blog, so please comment on any posts, ask questions - we'll keep checking back and answer any questions you have.   Just select the Comment option at the bottom of each post.

J. Wiebke

Fundraising Update

The teams are still working on fundraising for their global finals trip, we are still several thousand dollars short of our goal.   We would like to thank Holub's, Pizza Ranch, SUDSational Auto Wash, the American Legion, and Culver's for their help with our fundraising.  We still have more to do, but we appreciate the donations and contributions.   Hat Day's at both Ames Middle School and Meeker were also great and we appreciate the enthusiasm at the schools. 

One half of the proceeds from the Pizza Ranch fundraiser was donated to the Maple Valley-Anthon-Otho team that qualified for the Global Finals and drove home from the state tournament into a tornado at Mapleton.    Pin trading is big at the Global Finals and the participants all need pin trading mats to put their pins on.  The Ames teams decided to donate pin mats for the Maple Valley team and we want to thank the Quilting Connection for their help for a design for the pins mats and Justin's mom, Sabrina for sewing the pin mats for AMS and Mapleton.  We will present them to Maple Valley on Wednesday in Knoxville, TN.    More about pin trading and our excellent pin mats in another post.

Thanks for all your support.

J. Wiebke

Meeker Team Chosen as International Ambassadors

When we registered for Globals we submitted our name to be International Ambassadors to another elementary team from another country.  We found out today that we will be hosting an elementary team from Chongqing, China!  Our letter says they are a group of 7 team members, 3 girls, 4 boys and 2 coaches.  We are excited to meet our new friends and cheer them on!  We are working on gift bags for them and the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau is helping us out with some Ames items.  

We will meet them after the opening ceremonies on Wednesday night and give them our gifts.  We will also plan on going to their performance and hanging out with them. 

Meeker GPS Team

The Ames Middle School Team A

The Ames Middle School team consists of six members and includes two six-graders, one 7th grader and three 8th-graders. Members include:  Martin, Andrew, Aaron, Chase, Galen and Justin.  Only four of the team members will be able to make the trip to the Global Finals and the team will miss their fellow members during Globals.  This team has three members with previous Global Finals experience.  This will be the third Global Finals trip for Aaron Lewis, Andrew Wiebke and Chase Wingate.  Justin will be making his 1st appearance at Globals.  Look out Globals, here comes Ames!

Meet the Meeker Team

The Meeker team is made up of six members in grades third through fifth.   Members include Hannah, Devin, SeungHyun, Jacob, Roma and Jack.  They have been working together since late fall to solve their challenge.  The team speaks four languages and has various talents including acting, wiring, building and planning.  They are excited to be going to the Global Finals

The Challenge

Last fall, the Ames Middle School Team "A" and the Meeker Elementary Destination ImagiNation teams chose from 5 challenges for their competition this year.  Both chose Challenge A - Unidentified Moving Objects.  This challenge is an engineering-based challenge requiring the teams to:

• Design and build equipment to move various materials to and from towering heights
• They could not use AC electrical power
• Create equipment to be used that started and ended collapsed into a 20” square storage bo
• Create and present a sales promotion highlighting the features of their equipment
• Move the eight items and present their sales promotion within an eight minute time limit.