Jason Arndt, jarndt@shawanoleader.com
Nine students from Shawano Community High School are in Knoxville, Tenn., this week to compete in the Destination Imagination Global Finals.
The two teams — McFly’s DIvergent Thinkers and Above and Beyond — left on Monday for the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Team members are Hannah Busch, Quincy Burr, Holly Schwecke, Namara Panzer, Ailysh Tetting, Cassandra Whitehouse, Rachel Marquette, Caitlin Drews and Emily Jones.
The teams are coached by two Shawano Community Middle School teachers: Emily Schwartz, family and consumer education, and Tracy Laude, seventh-grade math and science.
The DI vision is to teach students the creative process from imagination to innovation. The challenges incorporate science, technology, engineering, mathematics, the arts and service learning.
Nearly 8,000 students from around the world will compete in the Global Finals. The Shawano students will compete in the Pandemonium and Project Outreach challenges.
Preliminary competition begins Thursday. An awards ceremony Sunday concludes the event. The Shawano students are expected to be back at school on Tuesday.
“They are all fantastic individuals. They are hard working and very motivated,” SCHS Principal Scott Zwirschitz said. “They are very dedicated to Destination Imagination.”
Zwirschitz noted the students raised $10,000 through fundraisers to get to Knoxville.
“That right there shows you how hard they have worked,” he said. “They got it together through bake sales and fundraisers.”
Daniel Labby, principal of Shawano Community Middle School, recalls the team members coming together during middle school.
“They have been together for four or five years and have been together for a long time with these same coaches,” Labby said.