Destination Imagination team headed to nation competition

Madelyn Simpson and Michael Ginther paint a backdrop for a Destination Imagination project. The local team will compete at the national competition this weekend.
Madelyn Simpson and Michael Ginther paint a backdrop for a Destination Imagination project. The local team will compete at the national competition this weekend.

It's a blend of teamwork, tapping into individual strengths and taking chances.

The Project Purple Pickles creative problem-solving team has tackled the engineering challenge "Verses! Foiled Again!" throughout the year.

Their tower of balsa sticks, their tree of aluminum foil and their eight-minute skit, complete with a colorful backdrop and an optical illusion time-travel device, improved with each Destination Imagination competition.

This weekend, the Project Purple Pickles will see how they stack up - literally, at one point - to other high school-level, problem-solving teams at the Destination Imagination Global Finals 2011 at the University of Tennessee.

"It's been neat watching how much they've come along from the beginning to the end of the year," Coach Rick Hirst said. "It's nice not one person is responsible for one thing, but the kids learn alongside each other."