MIDLAND, Texas — 14 Carver Center students will be traveling to Kansas City, Missouri to compete in the Destination Imagination Global Finals that will occur during the week of May 20.
It's a bittersweet year for Chrystal Anuszkiewicz, or Mrs. A-Z. She's been leading the Carver Center's Destination Imagination class for 15 years. This is her last year teaching the class at the elementary school.
"I love what it does for kids. I think it teaches them how to think, not what to think but how to think," Anuszkiewicz said. "I just love the whole part from the beginning to the end and seeing what they accomplish and learn through the whole process."
According to Anuszkiewicz, the DI class teaches students how to work together to quickly solve challenges and present their solutions through skits that integrate STEAM skills.
Mrs. A-Z has led the school's group of 6th grade students in DI to Globals for a third year in a row. They'll be competing in the Fine Arts challenge. It's also the first time the 5th graders will be attending. These students will take on the scientific challenge.
Mrs. A-Z said the students are preparing for the Global Finals by practicing all the different parts of the challenges.
"I just want the kids to feel successful. I just want them to get to experience things that maybe they have never experienced," Anuszkiewicz said. "So it gives them that and just to enjoy each other and to learn how to compete and work hard."
According to Anuszkiewicz, Midland ISD is currently in the process of searching for a teacher to take on the leadership of the Destination Imagination class at Carver Center.
"I just hope the new teacher has a love for it and knows that once you get involved in it, it just kind of becomes your life," Anuszkiewicz said. "I think about it all the time so I just hoped that they have a love for it like I have."
Students of all personalities and interests join Destination Imagination, Mrs. A-Z says.
The applications for next year's DI class at the Carver Center will go out after school starts next year.