Alta-Dutch Flat students heading to state contest

By Marci Seither

Colfax Record Correspondent

Four teams from Alta-Dutch Flat Elementary School participated in the Destination Imagination competition held last Saturday in Rocklin.

Shana Brown, the parent volunteer who heads up the school’s program, coordinated the school’s participation.

“All four teams did their best performance,” she said. “The kids worked really hard and they had good time,” said Brown.

Not only did each of the teams do their personal best, but also the fourth/fifth-grade team known as 3000 I.Q. claimed a spot at the state competition in April in San Jose.

“There are six different challenges that students can pick from,” Brown said. “They need to come up with a solution and problem solving completely on their own as a team.”

The challenges vary from an improvisational skit where three different elements must be included.

The elements can range from researching ten different endangered species and character traits to building a robot and presenting a skit demonstrating how our lives would be different without it, to creating an art project.

While the team can do research and preparation in advance, the emphasis is on working without the support of an adult.

Judges’ scores are based on the team’s ability to work together as well as the final project.

“I wasn’t sure how we did,” said Alyse Sibley, a member of the 3000 I.Q. improvisation group. “When we found out we were in second place, we were so excited.”

Teamwork was the most rewarding part of the experience, claimed 12-year-old Emily Zentner.

“It was good to be in a different setting other than the classroom,” explained the seventh-grader. “I really learned to work and be able to cooperate as part of a team.”