Wilmot Students Teach Neighbors

Earth Day may not have been on the minds of the Little Misses Destination Imagination team from , but its message about protecting the planet is not only clear, but earned a state championship April 14.

Destination Imagination is a global competition for elementary and middle school students where students select an issue, create a dramatic presentation and create a marketing campaign. They are judged on an objective point system, according to Coach Nicolle Gardiner.

The team, which competes against groups from around the world May 23 through 26 in Knoxville, TN, has chosen recycling as its project and educating people about knowing what to toss in the recycling bin and what goes in the garbage as its message.

“They have to pick a cause, create a marketing brochure and create a program to address the need,” Gardiner said. “The project is about giving back to the community.” The fifth graders also went door to door explaining the issue to their neighbors.

Oscar Jumps Out of a Can

The presentation begins with four of the girls approaching a trash can with a used pizza container when Oscar the Grouch, played by Charlee Levin, pops out admonishing the youngsters who are about to send recyclable material to a landfill.

“You can recycle that,” Levin said. “No not that part,” she added referring to the greasy portions of the cardboard. “Cut that off, put it in the garbage and recycle the rest.”

The Little Misses had to do a good bit of research to gather their information and create the brochure and skit. They conferred with the Village of Deerfield and the Solid Waste Management Agency of Lake County.

“I knew my parents recycled and it seemed like a really cool idea to do that,” Stella Thornton said. “I knew it could make a difference.”

The idea may have been cool, but before anything could take shape the team had to do its research to create its brochure, one of its first steps. “We took a field trip to Waste Management and took a tour of the recycling center,” Samantha Udoni said.

The found out some items could be recycled only after they were separated. They also learned how to sew reusable trash bags from containers which could not easily be recycled. “We learned what to throw out,” Leah Whiteman said.

Team Goes Door to Door

After they created their brochure and designed the skit, the Little Misses got some adult education in community organizing as they ventured into their neighborhood to educate adults about the issue.

“It was good to be able to talk to them,” Whiteman said. “Some people didn’t know about recycling glass,” she added having learned how careful one has to be to make sure no one is injured.

When the Little Misses get to the global competition, the experience will be about more than winning, which they all want to do. “If we can win there it will feel so cool,” Katherine Price said.

They will also be meeting peers from around the world and have the opportunity to interact. There is a room just for the competitors where they can exchange pins. Not just anyone can get one. They are exclusive, according to Gardiner. They will have to communicate on their own.

“In Tennessee we’ll be in the pin room where we can trade pins with each other,” Price said referring to the opportunity to interact with students from around the world.

With a potential language barrier—some of the girls no Spanish but no other foreign languages—they have vowed to communicate. “We’ll point and use hand signals,” Thornton said.