Imagination, improvisation help pupils hone creativity

One young team had to perform earlier than planned and improvise with a newspaper, but the youngsters still made their coach proud.
By ROGER G. SMITH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Last we knew, a year ago, Seaweed was headed toward Mars.
Naturally, his 8- and 9-year-old animallike friends were excited Saturday when they saw in the newspaper that he might be back in the area.
Then, a voice called out. "Follow the clues and you'll find Seaweed," the voice said.
Blabby the Parrot tried to tell the rest of the gang she just knew it was Seaweed, but they didn't listen.
They did follow the clues, however. An erupting volcano, water, floating. Then they figured it out: Get across the water to the volcano.
Tada! Blabby was right, there was Seaweed, encased in the lava. A makeshift blow-dryer frees their friend from his mess.
Then came a song about friendship and a curtain call.
The End.
It takes a child's imagination -- or in this case, seven of them -- to conjure up such a tale.
And that's what the Destination Imagination tournament is all about.
Joining in event: About 1,100 pupils ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade, plus their parents and teachers, took over Youngstown State University on Saturday. The 155 seven-member teams came from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Portage, Lake and Geauga counties.
The program's goal is to spark creativity, and teach teamwork and how to solve problems.
Seaweed and company, better known as third-graders at Youngstown's Mary Haddow Elementary, have no problem with any of those skills.
The creativity speaks for itself.
You see, this same group told Seaweed's story last year. That was about how the froglike creature got too close to a volcano and was purportedly launched into space.
This year, for their mystery category performance, came "Seaweed: The Sequel."
Wrote the story: The Mary Haddow group wrote the story about Seaweed being trapped in the lava instead of being propelled into space. They made the parrot and other costumes, built cardboard trees and even a miniature volcano, complete with eruption.
The wild card was the newspaper handed to the group a moment before they put on their show. Improvisation is a key in Destination Imagination.
The group deftly transitioned from the start of their performance into their "Seaweed returns" segment with the line "Look at this, in the newspaper, it says ... ."
Not limiting themselves to storytelling, there was a "Where's Seaweed?" song and dance. Then, a drop of humor. One character moaned about how getting across the river would mess up his hair.
"They're really, really creative," said Kate Good, principal at Mary Haddow.
Proud of group: Linda Mansfield, the team's coach and a kindergarten teacher at Mary Haddow, was proud of her group for not losing its composure.
Another team didn't show up on time, so the Mary Haddow team hit the stage before they thought. Spectators couldn't tell the difference.
"We weren't supposed to be next, but that's OK," Mansfield said.
The team members are Shanice-Rae Figueroa, Bralyn Lee, Matthew Benton, Bryan Lincoln, Adriana Copeland, Niya Darden-Duncan and Docylyn Shelton.
Saturday's winners will go to the state competition in Hilliard in April. State winners go to the world competition in Knoxville, Tenn., in May.