SAN ANTONIO – A group of seven Northwest Crossing Elementary School students, ages 6 to 10, decided to improve their community as part of an educational competition.
The students rose through the levels and ended up placing seventh in the global level of the competition, which featured 1,400 teams from 19 countries.
Fast Facts on the Destination Imagination Contest:
Creative, problem solving and critical thinking organization/competition
Requires teams to innovate ideas in one of seven competition areas
Asks teams to create an eight-minute skit with a self-designed set to demonstrate their project
Mandates students do all of the work
Fast Facts about the team:
Comprised of seven 6-10 year olds
Team chose the service learning category to better the community
Team decided to research how visitation and interaction affects senior citizens, and found people who visited more often have 26 percent higher rate of recover and longevity.
Visited nursing homes and performed a variety show
Collected before and after data on happiness, health and overall well-being of the seniors
Showed success in an original skit, performed for competition
Placed first at regionals, fourth at state, and seventh at the global competition
What the team had to say:
“We actually did help others by giving them support so we can give them more happiness in their life. It makes the whole team feel really wonderful,” said Julia Jimenez, a fourth-grade team member.
“They were dead set on service learning. We went through all the challenges and they said, ‘Those are great, but I don't know what they do for the world.’ They just want to change the world,” said Mary Cedio, team manager.