Clubs, Teams, Leagues

The International School of Minnesota has a variety of clubs, teams and leagues for students, staff and parents can participate in. Currently available: Math League, Ski and Board Club, Eden Prairie Foxjets Club Swimming, Debate, Robotics and Destination Imagination.

Middle School Math League is a great way for students to learn additional math topics and apply problem solving skills.  The team competes in five meets with other area Middle School students both as individuals and as a team. 

For more information,  click HERE

One of ISM’s largest and most popular clubs, The Ski and Snowboard Club organizes several trips to surrounding ski areas each year. Last year we had just over 100 members and went to Afton Alps, Wild Mountain, Trollhaugen, Welch Village and Spirit Mountain. The Ski and Snowboard Club’s goal is to improve the ISM experience by promoting skiing and snowboarding within the community. We bring together students and parents with diverse backgrounds, interests and levels of ski and snowboard experience in a fun and relaxed environment. All ISM students and families are invited to join.

Team Foxjet, an elite swim club in Eden Prairie, runs practices after school in the ISM pool.

Team Foxjet’s mission is to provide a fun, progressive, family-based team swimming experience for all swimmers, novice to national.

The team’s philosophy is to treat all swimmers equally and strive to help each one reach his or her goals, whether it’s to achieve that first C time, win a state title, or go to the Olympics.

Team Foxjet promotes the sport of competitive swimming’s core values of healthy lifestyle, self-discipline, and goal setting. In addition, swimmers learn life lessons of hard work and organization, develop strong friendships with their teammates, and have fun.

To learn more about Team Foxjet, click HERE 

Participating in debate offers students a wide range of benefits. The opportunity to compete and win using intellectual skills, rather than athletic prowess, appeals to many. Students must prepare cases both for and against the resolution, so they learn to look at an issue from all angles. Debate hones the faculties of logic, reasoning, analysis, and critical thinking, preparing students to succeed in school, college, leadership, and life. Debaters practice both written and oral communication, learning how to persuade and convince through evidence and reason. Students who are applying to college among a large group of high-achieving peers can distinguish themselves from the crowd by putting debate on their applications; this demonstrates to admissions officials that they have gone the extra mile to develop their communication and critical thinking skills, areas which are always high on the list of college recruiters.

         High school debate is a competitive intermural speaking activity. Several debate formats exist, but Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Debate, modeled after the famous Illinois senatorial debates of 1858, is the most widely practiced and accessible. The original Lincoln-Douglas debates focused mostly on slavery, and LD debate maintains this tradition by engaging students with the most salient and thorny ethical and moral questions of our time. Some examples of recent past resolutions:

• Resolved: The actions of corporations ought to be held to the same moral standards as the actions of individuals.
• Resolved: A just government should provide health care to its citizens.
• Resolved: Democracy is best served by strict separation of church and state.
• Resolved: Laws which protect citizens from themselves are justified.
• Resolved: Oppressive government is more desirable than no government.

One of the newest and most exciting activities at ISM is the high school robotics team – named WE ROBOT. Started in the fall of 2008 by a few neophyte students and parent mentors, today the team boasts an active roster of 35 students who fill various rolls from marketing and communications, to engineering, design/build, and programming of the robot. The team is supported by more than a dozen professional mentors who volunteer their time each year teaching team members skills not learned in the classroom.

The Team is part of a national organization called FIRST Robotics, founded by über engineer Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway). The goal of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is to not only teach students the technical and professional aspects of engineering, but to build self esteem and leadership skills in a team environment. The underlying philosophy of FIRST is “gracious professionalism.”  This year, the high school competition is fielding 2,343 teams and 58,000 students worldwide, and competing in 100 regional competitions. WE ROBOT will compete against 62 other high school teams in Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota, before heading to St. Louis to compete in the National Competition.        

The Team’s objective is to enhance each member’s high school experience beyond what is taught in the classroom by implementing the values and goals of FIRST.  In this way, each student is able to leave the team enriched with vital science, engineering, design, project management and real-life professional skills. Run like a company with multiple departments, the daunting task of building a functioning, competitive robot in six weeks challenges the Design/Build Group.  The Marketing Group handles newsletters and communications.  The Social Media Group designs and builds the Team’s award-winning website.  The Finance Group works actively with existing and new sponsors to keep the team fiscally sound, and the Outreach Group holds robot demonstrations and participates with outside groups in multiple charitable activities.

To visit the WE ROBOT website, click HERE

Jan H. Was crowned Prom King of RoboProm on April 26, 2012 FIRST Tobotics Championship, St. Louis, MO. 

Destination ImagiNation (DI) is an exhilarating after-school activity in which students work in teams to solve mind-bending Challenges and present their solutions at Tournaments. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Participants gain more than just basic knowledge and skills—they learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem solving.

Destination ImagiNation teams from ISM have taken top honors at Regional, State and Global Finals Tournaments.  However, learning the cornerstone 21st-century skills of Creativity, Teamwork and Problem Solving is the true reward of the DI program.

Any ISM student in kindergarten through 12th grade is welcome to join a team and tackle one of 7 extraordinary team challenges. DI offers six competitive challenges annually, which are designed to stretch participants in many areas, and range in focus from Structure and Engineering to Theatrical to Community Service.  The non-competitive Rising Stars Challenge is open to students in kindergarten through 2nd grade.
 

What does a team do?

Starting in November, teams meet once a week to work together to solve their choice of one of six competitive challenges. Only the students on the team may work on their team challenge, giving them total ownership of their solution. The team then presents their rehearsed or improvisational solution in a 5 to 8 minute performance and solves an Instant Challenge (on-the-spot problem) at the Southwest Metro Regional Tournament at the end of February. Advancing teams compete at the Minnesota State Tournament in mid-April. First and second place teams are invited to Global Finals.