Starbucks Now Open, In Heaven!

April 4, 2008 - PRLog -- PORTLAND, OR

Heavenly Starbucks is now open in heaven, and a talented team of local youngsters convene there secretly to plan and propagate a “Child to Child” movement to educate homeless children to help them get more productive & successful, all while the “Evil Eye” keeps trying to defeat their noble cause.  This “pay it forward” movement ensures that those educated and helped, do the same for others, and the world gets to be an even better place.

So goes the plot line for the young AFOOFA team’s entry in the State level tournament for Destination ImagiNation® on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at the Oregon State University, Corvallis OR.  It's been a fun, tough, exciting and rewarding time for these kids as they earned their way winning their category at the Oregon Metro East+West Regional tournament in Milwaukee in March, where the team not only secured their place in the next round, but also won the "Spirit of Discovery and Imagination" award.  The award states, “The theme of this team's performance centered around one individual helping another then the other passing it on. The appraisal team was touched by the sincere, positive portrayal of these acts of kindness. The true spirit of DI -- Pass it on!”

AFOOFA stands for “All For One, One For All”, and is comprised six talented children from Jacob Wismer Elementary School, in the NW Portland.  Team AFOOFA chose the DI Challenge "DI’ve Got a Secret", and came up with a creative performance about educating homeless children to help them become productive, on a “pay it forward” basis to make the cycle self sustaining.  Team AFOOFA members, 2nd and 3rd Graders, are Aparna S Jayakumar, Debbie Wong, Prathyoosha Chaya, Rashmi Anil, Rea Kapur, & Vamsee Padala.  The team is ably coached by parent volunteers Venkatesh D Chaya, Chandra Padal, & Sreedevi Chaya.

The Destination ImagiNation program runs annually, and presents students’ working in teams the opportunity to choose from several mind-bending Team Challenges. While each Team Challenge integrates a variety of chances to learn by doing, Challenges usually feature one prominent task, such as building a load-bearing structure, creating a vehicle, writing a performance piece or exploring history. The program also provides Instant Challenges in which the team works together to solve shorter Challenges within minutes; encouraging and teaching critical thinking and teamwork, & promoting the development of improv and quick-thinking skills.

For more information about Team AFOOFA and their winning entry, call Venkatesh Chaya at 503-724-2106, or email at c_d_venkatesh@yahoo.com
For more information about Destination ImagiNation® visit: www.destinationimagination.org