Cinda Weisgerber

If your son, daughter, grandchild or neighbor is creative and would like to be involved in DI, contact Cinda Weisgerber at 740-695-3128.

Cinda is the director for both Region 17 and the Ohio affiliate.

The Student Council for the school organized the collection under the guidance of teacher Cinda Weisgerber.

Besides Mehler, other teachers participating in the project included the following: Bruce Vannest, Bellaire First Ward Elementary School; Mary Ann Snyder, Bridgeport Junior High School; Jodee Verhovec, Buckeye Middle School; April Woods, New Covenant Academy; and Cinda Weisgerber, St. Clairsville Middle School.

Teacher Cinda Weisgerber commented that ,Mrs.

Cinda Weisgerber, teacher at St. Clairsville Elementary School, has also served as the school's DI coordinator and regional director over the past several years.She is also a past president of the state DI board.

Weisgerber said it is always a great achievement for teams in the district to make it to the global competition.

'We have a large geographic region,' said Weisgerber, noting that Region 17 includes areas from Wintersville to Zanesville to Athens, and places in between, 'but team-wise, we don't have a lot of teams compared to the larger metropolitan areas.'

The global competition is named appropriately.Championship-caliber DI teams from across the nation and around the globe will be traveling to Knoxville next month for this year's big event.

Over the past several years, the DI global competition has been held at the University of Tennessee, which Weisgerber said has been very accommodating to the many teams and a great location for the globals.
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Weisgerber noted that the competitors at the global event have a tradition of trading pins.Team members from Ohio can trade their pins with new friends they meet who represent other teams from across the country and around the world.

The pins usually are not plain old metal disks nowadays, she said.

Cinda Weisgerber has been involved with DI for many years.An elementary school teacher, Weisgerber has not only worked with the St. Clairsville DI teams, she also serves as director of Region 17, representing several counties in southeastern Ohio, but this year is president of Ohio Kids for Creativity, which sponsors the annual DI competitions.

The Global Finals in Knoxville promises to be a big event, Weisgerber noted.

"Last year, there were 40,000 visitors who got online to watch the opening and closing ceremonies," she said.That's in addition to the many teams that will be competing, parents, team managers and others who will be focusing their attention on the DI Global Finals.

There are three different age categories for DI teams, for those in grades two through five, six through eight and nine through 12.Teams in each of those age categories can compete in one of the five different challenges.

Because of the number of DI teams in Ohio, the top two teams in each age category and each challenge will advance to the Global Finals.In all, 30 teams from Ohio will be making the trip, according to Weisgerber.