PIERRE - Hundreds of students from across South Dakota have converged in the state capital city of Pierre for the state DestiNation Imagination competition. The top two teams from each region advance to the state with the winner of each division advancing to the Global Finals to be held in Nashville, Tenn., May 22-25.  Destination Imagination is an educational program where student teams solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at tournaments. In working to solve our Challenges, our teams learn important life skills like time management, collaboration, conflict resolution, and creative and critical thinking.

• Good morning from the state capital city of Pierre. But it doesn't feel like we've left home. When we arrived here last night, there were lots of other Groton people here at the motel. As a matter of fact, when we got here, we were greeted by our neighbors.
• The state DestiNation Imagination event is quite an event.

Groton has seven teams here. In the past, the two teams in the state would advance to the Global Finals. They have not limited that to the top team in each division, so only the best of the best get to advance to Nashville, Tenn., for the Global Finals.
• Meanwhile back home, I have Darlene Sass, Joel Guthmiller and Leo Kersting filling in for me in doing the paper routes. My thanks to them for filling in. I just checked the radar and it looks like a few showers moved through the area, but nothing has yet to register in the my rain gauge.