"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17
Since 1998, St. Matthew Lutheran School has participated in an after school problem-solving program entitled “Destination Imagination”, whose mission statement reads, “We inspire young people to imagine and innovate today so that they become the creative and collaborative leaders of tomorrow.” Through this program, students work together in teams to solve open-ended STEAM challenges intended to teach the creative learning process. Designed to be totally student driven, children develop and test their own solutions, learn from their failures, and celebrate achievements and accomplishments.
Throughout our 25 years of DI history, we have experienced tremendous blessings from this program. However, COVID initiated a temporary pause on the DI program, and for two years, our involvement in Destination Imagination was dearly missed. Last fall, we were thrilled to have the ability to offer this program once again to our students in grades 1 - 8 as an extra-curricular activity.
On March 18, 2023, St. Matthew had four teams represent our school during the Destination Imagination State Tournament. Listed below are the results:
Fifth grade: 4th place in the State of Michigan for the Elementary level of the Fine Arts Challenge
Sixth grade: 4th place in the State of Michigan for the Middle School level of Fine Arts Challenge
Seventh grade: 5th place in the State of Michigan for the Middle School level of the Technical Challenge
Eighth grade: 2nd place in the State of Michigan for the Middle School level of the Service Challenge – AND GLOBAL FINALISTS!!!
As Global Finalists, our 8th graders will now have the ability to participate in the Global Finals, where the top two teams in each level from 39 states and 23 countries will have the ability to compete. This event will be held in Kansas City, Missouri during May 20 - 23, 2023. The ability to compete at the Global level is a tremendous achievement. We praise God that our 8th grade team will have the ability to represent our school, our State, and our Savior during this Global event.
However, to participate at this extreme level comes an extreme price tag. Please stay tuned for details regarding how our school families can support this team’s Global journey.
We thank and praise God for this incre-DI-ble opportunity!
In Jesus’ Love,
Mrs. Palka