By PAUL BALCERAK
Staff writer
It’s an improv skit! No, wait, it’s a science fair project! Uh, or maybe it’s some kind of team-building exercise?
As a matter of fact, Destination Imagination (DI) is all those things and a little bit more and Central Kitsap students were in the thick of it March 15.
The nationwide, student contest came to Klahowya Secondary School last Saturday and transformed classrooms and hallways to look like something out of a science fiction film.
Students darted around dressed in tu-tus, or as astronauts or in whatever their unique situations called for.
“It’s mostly just a lot of fun,” said Marcia Rubenstein, DI marketing master and co-manager of Team Tu-Tu.
The annual event calls on students to use improvisational acting and technical know-how to come up with creative solutions to seemingly simple problems. A variety of activities and challenges make up the event and put students in some oddball — and often times embarrassing — situations.
“It’s a lot of fun; it’s the only time you can really get away with it,” said Ali Gingery, a ninth-grader at Central Kitsap Junior High and member of Team Tu-Tu.
Gingery and her teammates are now seasoned pros at the ins and outs of DI. Last year, they knocked off 71 other teams to take home top honors in the DI global competition.
Saturday, they were back to defend their prize.
One of Tu-Tu’s challenges this year was entitled, “Choreiffic,” and pit them against two other teams. Tu-Tu team members had a half hour to create a skit based around a basic chore — going to buy a dress — with a randomly selected obstacle — all the dresses available were too small.
One minute before the competition, Team Tu-Tu was given a famous person — Erasmus Darwin — that had to be worked into the skit and a second obstacle — all the dresses were mud brown.
“You’re kind of like, ‘we just got this — what are we supposed to do?’” said Tu-Tu ninth-grader Shannon Lubetich.
If it sounds arbitrary, it is. That’s part of the idea.
“Sometimes it’s so random,” Gingery said.
Kids are required to produce all their materials, ideas and themes on their own without any help from parents or managers.
Rubenstein and fellow co-manager Kathy Lubetich said most of their work consisted of making snacks to keep the kids’ energy up and coming up with mock chores and obstacles for their team to practice.
“Most of them are so experienced now that they know what they’re doing,” Rubenstein said.
Team Tu-Tu, along with several other Central Kitsap and area schools who finished tops in their fields, will now head to the state competition in Wentatchee on March 29.
