MOUNT VERNON — Five teams of gifted and talented youngsters are representing Mount Vernon in the Destination Imagination regional competition being held today at River Valley High School. They are up against 169 other teams from Region 4, and only 18 teams will advance to the state tournament.
Team Weird, the sixth-grade team, will be participating in an improvisation challenge called “News to Me.” Starting with news stories from various sources in categories such as weather, entertainment and business, they will be given a headline by the judges. The challenge is to demonstrate, in a skit, cause and effect between the two. Since it is an improvisation, team members also employ what is called cooperative human scenery to help judges visualize the scenario. Team Weird’s Mary Harris, Aidan Clarkson, Ethan Buehrer, Ellie Broeren, Olivia Matulich, Sarah Powell and Conrad Stein are coached by Steve Stein.
One team, a combination of pupils from various Mount Vernon elementary schools, will be taking the “Coming Attractions’ challenge. That is a fine arts challenge related to cinema. The team will present a Movie Trailer involving characters from at least two nations and design a Cinematic Special Effect and feature it in the Movie Trailer along with an Original Soundtrack that complements the Movie Trailer. That team, managed by Holly Trask, is comprised of Isabel Hooley, Feliese Stephens, Amanda Foos, Kami Miller, Emily Jones, Hannah LaFure and Lydia Luna.
