Teams from Fargo and Moorhead competed at the Destination ImagiNation finals in Knoxville, Tenn. - an action-packed standoff that drew contestants from as far away as Turkey, Korea and Guatemala.
Destination ImagiNation calls on students to solve mind-bending problems using their engineering knowledge and present their solutions in creative skits. More than 1,030 teams, included almost 150 from other countries, faced off at the finals.
The Moorhead team, the Pie-Thagoreans from Horizon Middle School, tied for 15th place out of 59 teams in its category.
"They pretty much nailed it," said Michelle Harlicker. "They did the best we've seen them do."
The team upgraded the skit that won at the state level, about a pie-serving robot in ancient Greece. For the finals, their robot served two instead of one pie and dropped off business cards, too.
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"We were very nervous, but once we got on stage, I think we did really well," said Harlicker's son, Matthew.
A highlight of the week in Knoxville was an ongoing exchange of country, state and team pins. "Do you want to trade pins?" became an international ice breaker, said Laurie Johnson, whose son, Anthony, brought back 30 or 40 pins, now displayed on a bedroom wall.
A group of Fargo students from Centennial Elementary School also competed. They placed 32 out of 51 teams. Coordinator and parent Jennifer Andreachi said the six students, though, took home much more - meeting and learning from hundreds of peers from all over the world.
"The whole experience with that many kids was pretty cool," she said. "They learned a lot."
The fifth-graders are gearing up to start a Destination team when they move on to Discovery Middle School next fall.
Losing 'Community'
Woodrow Wilson Community High School in Fargo will shorten its name starting July 1, dropping the word "Community."
The School Board is expected to approve the change on Tuesday due to the request of the alternative high school's staff.
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Principal Deb Dillon said they're dropping the word simply for ease. The downtown program will move to Agassiz School next year for more space.
Woodrow Wilson Community High School at Agassiz School "just gets to be so long," Dillon said.
Award of merit
A Fargo school's PTA is the only in North Dakota to recently receive a National PTA award.
Kennedy Elementary School's PTA was awarded the Family School Partnership Award of Merit.
"It just shows that we are really promoting family-school partnerships," PTA President Kristi Crawford said. "We have great communication between our families and school."
No Minnesota schools' PTA received the award.
More kindergarten
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The Moorhead School District is registering for Kinder Plus, an extended-day program for kindergarten students offered through Moorhead Community Education.
The program is an all-day option that includes the traditional half-day kindergarten curriculum and a half day of enrichment activities. The enrichment half of the day is fee based.
Parents can save $25 by registering by June 30. Call Moorhead Community Education at (218) 284-3400 for more information or to register.
K12 notebook hiatus
The notebook will return in the fall.
Readers can reach Forum reporters Kelly Smith at (701) 241-5515 and Mila Koumpilova at (701) 241-5524
