Libertyville Dist. 70 teams rank in global problem solving competition

One of three Libertyville Elementary District 70 teams involved in an international problem-solving program on the global level ranked as one of the top ten teams in the world.

Destination Imagination challenges students in problem solving techniques. This year, students from Adler Park, Butterfield, and Highland had teams competing in the state, regional and global competitions. Recently three of the four teams made it to the global competition held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.

The following teams will compete on the global level.

• Ranking sixth in the world out of 58 teams competing on the Global level was the Butterfield School “1, 2, 3 Not It” team that performed the challenge “Assembly Required.” In the category, the team designed and built equipment that retrieved parts and delivered assembled products made to order, all to a special story. Team members of the all female group included Emma Chandler, Jillian Cote, Hannah Hartshorne, Alyssa Kline and Erin Leese. Team managers were Elizabeth and Doug Chandler. This is the highest any District 70 team has placed in the Global competition according to recent records.

o Ranking 13th in the world out of 70 teams was the Highland Middle School “That Team Over There” team, which competed in the “Assembly Required” challenge. Highland team members were Elias Anderson, Mitry Anderson, Alex Dikelsky, Jacob Dikelsky, Andy Liu, Annika McDermott-Hinman and Adam Sparks. The manager was Greg Sparks. Mitry said the team made a minor mistake at the beginning of the competition, which took it out of winning but ended up with the highest score for the equipment the team built. “We found out that our machine was the best in the world (in our level), getting the number one score for technical design and innovation,” Mitry said.

o Tying for 47th place in the world out of 71 teams was the Adler Park School team “Gator Warriors” that performed the challenge “News to Me” where students performed a skit about the cause-and-effect relationship between two unrelated news stories, then have all the plans suddenly become discombobulated by a one-minute glitch. Members included Annika Bjorklund, Abigail Cima, Maddy Jacobs and Ellie Seyl. The team manager was Eric Cima.

The sponsors for all the District 70 teams this year were teachers Karen McLean and Ashley Zeinz.