Three Westwood Elementary teams are practicing for competition February 20 at Cinco Ranch High School. The tournament is for Destination Imagination, a creative problem solving competition very much like Odyssey of the Mind, according to sponsor Stacy Mueller, Differentiation Specialist at Westwood.

           Within the three teams, members consist of 19 Westwood and 1 Cline student. One team has all second graders, one team with Kindergarten students, first and second graders, and one team of all third graders.
           The K-2 teams are in the "Rising Star" division of DI. They compete at the tournament but are not eligible to advance to the state level. The third grade team will compete and can advance.
           At the tournament each team will present their "Central Challenge." This is something they have been working on since October.
           Rising Stars must create a newscast that reports on a structure that has been discovered. The structure is made only of newspaper and tape and must hold weight.
           They also have to include a commercial that promotes keeping one’s body healthy.
           Third grade and older students can choose from five challenges. The Westwood team chose to do the improvisation challenge. They had to research several "threatened things" such as the giant panda, great barrier reef, Yiddish Language, California condor, etc.
           They will create and present a 5-minute skit that incorporates the research, a chosen character and a randomly selected "unimpressive superpower."
           All teams also participate in an "Instant Challenge" at the tournament. Appraisers look for creative thinking and teamwork. More information can be found as the DI website:  www.idodi.org   or    www.texasdi.org