St. Francis Seraph Service Outreach
Donation protected
"One Student's Courage Challenges All of Us to Make the World Better"
Destination Imagination is, at its simplest, a kid-driven approach to solving problems with team members. But in reality, it's a complex competition that involves months of grueling preparation by teams who are grappling not just with the problem they need to solve, but how to work with a team, how to manage time and how to juggle this intense activity with schoolwork and other extracurriculars.
Mariemont Schools are a stalwart of Destination Imagination. In total, the district sent 16 teams to the regional competition this year, and as ever, a handful of those teams are advancing to the State competition in April. From there, a couple are even likely to advance to the Global competition in May.
These teams have met for months to practice and prepare. It's not unusual for teams to meet for anywhere from two to ten hours a week with their two volunteer coaches. There is no shortage of focused support for these teams in Mariemont and Terrace Park.
So it was eye-opening and inspiring to hear the story of one team in particular at the regional tournament. St. Francis Seraph School in Over-the-Rhine doesn't have many of the resources and support we can sometimes take for granted. St. Francis Seraph Ministries provides community outreach in the form of a soup kitchen, bag lunches for day laborers who may make as little as $35/day for a 10 hour work day, and teaching cooking skills to families.
In the midst of this, one volunteer, Mr. Beumer, has organized Destination Imagination teams at St. Francis Seraph School. His own children - now grown - participated in DI and he saw the tremendous impact it could have on problem solving and creative thinking. In 2017, he coached four teams at St. Francis. The teams had just 40 minutes a week to meet - and this while also eating lunch. Anyone who has ever had any involvement in DI can testify to what a tremendous challenge this must have been.
One of his teams chose Service Outreach as their challenge. Service Outreach requires a team to identify a need in the community, garner support to meet that need and develop a performance (with props and costumes and sets) that creatively tells the story of what they did to meet that need. Teams in the past have done things like collect books for underserved schools, picked up trash and raised money for schoolchildren in Africa.
The St. Francis Seraph team chose their own school. They wanted to raise money to get their school a gaga pit and a basketball hoop, which are staples on playgrounds at many schools. But when the day of the competition arrived, only one student from the team showed up. And DI is nothing without the team.
His coach, Mr. Beumer, gave him "win one for the Gipper!" speech, and suggested he stand before the judges and explain the work the team had done, what the performance would have looked like with the whole team, and the progress they had made in raising money.
The student recruited a friend from another St. Francis Seraph team to assist him, and with very little time to prepare for this unexpected glitch, the two of them displayed poise and grace under fire in standing before the judges. For their actions, they were awarded a prestigious "Spirit of Destination Imagination" award at the tournament. The team didn't perform, and they weren't able to raise enough money for their playground, but there was tremendous display of character.
And here's where you come in: with our wealth of blessings, we can help. Let's support what this team set out to do: raise money for a gaga pit and a basketball hoop for their playground.
The goal is $6,000. Give a little or give a lot. It's up to you. But please give.
Destination Imagination is, at its simplest, a kid-driven approach to solving problems with team members. But in reality, it's a complex competition that involves months of grueling preparation by teams who are grappling not just with the problem they need to solve, but how to work with a team, how to manage time and how to juggle this intense activity with schoolwork and other extracurriculars.
Mariemont Schools are a stalwart of Destination Imagination. In total, the district sent 16 teams to the regional competition this year, and as ever, a handful of those teams are advancing to the State competition in April. From there, a couple are even likely to advance to the Global competition in May.
These teams have met for months to practice and prepare. It's not unusual for teams to meet for anywhere from two to ten hours a week with their two volunteer coaches. There is no shortage of focused support for these teams in Mariemont and Terrace Park.
So it was eye-opening and inspiring to hear the story of one team in particular at the regional tournament. St. Francis Seraph School in Over-the-Rhine doesn't have many of the resources and support we can sometimes take for granted. St. Francis Seraph Ministries provides community outreach in the form of a soup kitchen, bag lunches for day laborers who may make as little as $35/day for a 10 hour work day, and teaching cooking skills to families.
In the midst of this, one volunteer, Mr. Beumer, has organized Destination Imagination teams at St. Francis Seraph School. His own children - now grown - participated in DI and he saw the tremendous impact it could have on problem solving and creative thinking. In 2017, he coached four teams at St. Francis. The teams had just 40 minutes a week to meet - and this while also eating lunch. Anyone who has ever had any involvement in DI can testify to what a tremendous challenge this must have been.
One of his teams chose Service Outreach as their challenge. Service Outreach requires a team to identify a need in the community, garner support to meet that need and develop a performance (with props and costumes and sets) that creatively tells the story of what they did to meet that need. Teams in the past have done things like collect books for underserved schools, picked up trash and raised money for schoolchildren in Africa.
The St. Francis Seraph team chose their own school. They wanted to raise money to get their school a gaga pit and a basketball hoop, which are staples on playgrounds at many schools. But when the day of the competition arrived, only one student from the team showed up. And DI is nothing without the team.
His coach, Mr. Beumer, gave him "win one for the Gipper!" speech, and suggested he stand before the judges and explain the work the team had done, what the performance would have looked like with the whole team, and the progress they had made in raising money.
The student recruited a friend from another St. Francis Seraph team to assist him, and with very little time to prepare for this unexpected glitch, the two of them displayed poise and grace under fire in standing before the judges. For their actions, they were awarded a prestigious "Spirit of Destination Imagination" award at the tournament. The team didn't perform, and they weren't able to raise enough money for their playground, but there was tremendous display of character.
And here's where you come in: with our wealth of blessings, we can help. Let's support what this team set out to do: raise money for a gaga pit and a basketball hoop for their playground.
The goal is $6,000. Give a little or give a lot. It's up to you. But please give.
Organizer
Amanda Piburn Conners
Organizer
Cincinnati, OH