By Renee Larr
A small group of fifth-graders at Fishers Intermediate Junior High will participate in the Destination Imagination Global Finals May 24-27 in Knoxville, Tenn. DI is a nonprofit organization that promotes hands-on learning through challenges that test kids’ creativity, problem-solving and project-management skills.
The Chicken Sinks was formed at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year. Members are Owen Maass, Vaugh Ehrgott, Madison Sheldon and Trenton Hatch. The team recently competed in the regional and state academic tournaments and advanced to the Global Finals.
“Every year the program offers several different challenges in which the kids can participate,” team manager Stephen Sheldon said. “They all chose improv as the challenge they wanted to pursue. Every year they’re given a different challenge, and based on the challenge they have to use their improv skills to solve the challenge or present a presentation to a series of judges.”
This year’s challenge is called 3-peat.
“There is a 12-by-12 box the kids can fill with props. Then they have a series of characters and genres they have to research,” Sheldon said. “At the competition, the judge will pull three characters and three genres randomly. Then they will give them some sort of surprise element. They then have three minutes to use their props and improv skills to develop stories based on the information they were given.”
The team has advanced through the tournaments quickly.
“This program is unlike anything else I’ve experienced, which is why I support it. They’re really smart kids. It’s really unique for a first-time team to get to the global level,” Sheldon said.
The team name was coined at the very first team meeting.
“We were sitting in my kitchen, and they were brainstorming ideas for a team name. Someone suggested the Kitchen Sinks,” Sheldon said. “There happened to be some chicken sitting on my stove thawing out, so someone else suggested the Chicken Sinks. They all seemed to like that name, so it stuck.”
For more, visit globalfinals.org.
