Letter to the Editor

Dear Marshfield Community Businesses and Members,

Hello! We are the 7th and 8th grade Gifted Education students

from Marshfield Junior High. We attend a class called ARC which

stands for Academic Resource Classroom. This program differs

from others in that it focuses on individualized education and presents challenging lessons for the academically gifted students.

This year we entered into a competition called Destination Imagination. In this competition, students work together in teams to solve open-ended STEM challenges designed to teach the creative process and present their solutions at tournaments. Teams are responsible for designing and creating 100% of their Team Challenge Solution. Absolutely no assistance from non-team members is allowed.

The 7th grade team, Archer, Micah, and Shelby, are called the Thunder Jays and they chose the Engineering Challenge “Thrill Ride”. They were challenged to design and build a roller coaster track as well as a launching mechanism that starts moving a golf ball along the roller coaster track. In addition, they had to create a presentation that shows what the riders would experience when riding the roller coaster.

The 8th grade team, Alton, Hayden, Jariel, and Lillian, are called the Contwistadors and they chose the Fine Arts Challenge “Flip the Script”. Their challenge was to create and present a flipped tale that is inspired by a well-known story, integrate a literary device into the presentation, use theatrical techniques to move the audience’s focus, and design and build a piece of scenery that goes through a scenery flip.

The Regional competition took place on February 25 in West Platte, MO. We are excited to share that the Thunder Jays took first place in their division and the Contwistadors took second place in their division. This qualifies both teams for the State competition on April 1 in Carl Junction, MO.

Our goal is to make it to Global Finals which take place in Kansas City, MO from May 20-23. Students from 48 states and 30 countries participate in the Destination Imagination Global Finals! The registration fee for Global Finals is $5,500 per team. We have two teams so we need $11,000 to go to Global Finals. We have been fundraising like crazy this year and have already raised $6,600. We have raised a lot, but not nearly enough! With such a small group of students, raising a large amount of money has not been easy. This is where we need your help. Can you please help support our class with a monetary donation? Whether you are able to donate $10, $100, or even $1,000, we would greatly appreciate your support in any amount. Please reach out to us with questions or for more information at angela.hoefer@mjays.us. We are so excited about making it to Global Finals and we can’t do it without you!

Thank you, Marshfield, for your support!