Students’ creativity gets them to Destination Imagination competition

Students at Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School competed in the Destination Imagination state meet with a project funded by a mini grant their teacher won at the recent Celebration of Catholic Schools gala.

Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic
 

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Austin Frazier started making random things from everyday household items when he was in first grade.  The 13-year-old seventh grader at Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School now focuses his creativity toward higher endeavors, like representing his school and the Diocese of Corpus Christi at a state competition.

Three students from Bishop Garriga: Austin Frazier, Sophia Talbott and Nicolas Urbina advanced to state competition in Lubbock with Destination Imagination. 

Destination Imagination, is an educational non-profit specializing  in affordable, project-based learning opportunities that teach students 21st century skills. The local team advanced to the state meet after placing first in the regional tournament held in Corpus Christi in March. Although the Bishop Garriga team did not advance to the global competition, the team already has its sights on next year.
 

Bishop Garriga students Austin Frazier, Sophia Talbott and Nicolas Urbina reconstruct part of their Destination Imagination project, a replica of the Statue of Liberty.  Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

“It was awesome,” Austin said. “I was definitely nervous and as soon as it was over, it was a huge relief. I never expected us to get as far as we did in the competition.”

His mother, Nieves Frazier, who is also the Destination Imagination team manager for both Bishop Garriga and St. John Paul II High School, said the diocese’s focus on STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Math) is an excellent way to encourage students to expand their creative thinking skills.

“The children do everything for themselves,” she said. “They have a budget of $150 to build their project. They write their own scripts, build their projects. They even wrote a song with lyrics…Parents are even required to sign a ‘Declaration of Independence’ that states all research, ideas and solutions are the children’s own.”

Since 1999, the non-profit Destination Imagination has impacted more than 1.5 million participants. Today, more than 150,000 students participate in the program each year, with the support of more than 38,000 volunteers worldwide.

Christina Shaffer, the communications coordinator for New Jersey-based Destination Imagination, said although it is not common for a first-time team to advance to state, it does happen. 

“Some have even advanced to Global Finals, which is extremely difficult for teams in states such as Texas, where there are more than 3,500 Destination Imagination teams,” Shaffer said.

Each challenge has several components: engineering, fine arts, a service project, theatrical and technical aspect. They also have to solve an international problem between two countries. The presentation is limited to just eight minutes. 

The team had to build a structure that weighed less than 50 grams, was up to 9.5 inches and could hold weight. Finally, they had to incorporate this structure into the solving of an international issue. The team chose to create a bridge between Mexico and the United States, which each country would pay half, Nieves Frazier explained. 

“Our students represented both President Donald Trump in the White House and President Enrique Peña Nieto in Los Pinos. After a musical number, the two presidents came to a compromise,” she said
 

Austin Frazier and Nicolas Urbina work on an element of their Destination Imagination project, a mock television camera made from recycled materials. All students in the competition must build their projects using less than $150 in materials. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

“My goal is to have the students perform their projects for their peers at school, as well as other teachers. I hope to let other teachers throughout the diocese learn about Destination Imagination for their kids, so we have a bigger representation for the Diocese of Corpus Christi next year. That would be amazing,” the teacher said.

Global firms, such as 3M, IBM and Ford Motor Company, among others, all support Destination Imagination with donations for the competitions.

“They all see it as an investment for the future,” Nieves Frazier said. “They want to hire people willing to take risks and with high-level critical thinking skills. Destination Imagination encourages interdisciplinary skills. The jobs of tomorrow will require skilled workforce with more than one area of expertise.”

Nicholas, 12, a sixth grader at Bishop Garriga and part of the team that advanced to state competition, noted it was a bit nerve-racking performing in front of complete strangers. But it was well worth the effort and hard work.

“Just making it past regionals made me happy. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to next year,” he said.

Sophia, also a 12-year-old seventh grader at Bishop Garriga, added it was fun, from start to finish. 

“I don’t think any of us thought we would actually make it all the way up to state, but considering this is our first time, I think we did pretty well,” she said.
Sophia’s mother, Celina Garcia, said “It never occurred to me that Sophie would be interested in Destination Imagination.  However, once I realized how DI incorporates creativity with logic and hands-on application to solve problems I understood its appeal to her.  It’s been great to see her get so enthused about creating solutions to the issues they focused on.”

“When you are young, the possibilities are endless,” Nieves Frazier said. “These children don’t conform to the age old question of ‘What do you want to be when you grow up.’ We are raising children of today to be more well-rounded than ever before. We also want to raise them to think about doing things for their community, for others and for the Church. And of course, we want them to also follow their passion.”   
 

Several teams from St. John Paul II High School also competed in the Destination Imagination regionals in March, including (sitting) Hannah Chapa, Sarah LeeSang and Javier Castillo and (standing) Jonathan Ruiz, Jaz Garza, Jill Moore and Jackie Munoz. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic