Upper-elementary and college students from across the country will be competing next week to see whose problem-solving abilities are the most creative.

Ames and Iowa State will play host to about 7,550 students participating in the Destination Imagination D2K Global Finals, May 24-27.

“It’s a national competition,” said Jan Williams, convention service manager for the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau. “People from all four points of the country will be here.”

Julie Weeks, conference coordinator, said this is the fourth time Iowa State has hosted the event, dating back to 1990 when it was called Odyssey of the Mind.

“[Destination Imagination] is a creative problem-solving competition that starts in elementary classes and goes up to college students,” Weeks said.

“In order to get to the finals, they first had to win at regional and then state levels.”

Also participating in D2K will be 2,100 to 2,200 officials, judges and spectators who will be visiting Ames, Weeks said.

Williams said the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau will play an active role in the competition.

“This is one of our largest groups that will visit Ames,” she said.

“We will try to make them feel right at home.”

Twenty-one different competition sites will be set up across the ISU campus for the event.

“[The sites] range from various auditoriums to Memorial Union to the Iowa State Center,” Weeks said. “Every night, different activities are planned.”

The competition will begin with opening ceremonies Wednesday night and will close with an awards ceremony Saturday at Hilton Coliseum, Weeks said.

Other nightly activities will be a concert by pop singer Christian Davis and a creative competition for the coaches and officials of the event.

Patricia Cotter, marketing and public relations coordinator for the Iowa State Center, also will be publishing a daily newspaper for participants.

“It’ll basically contain day-to-day information for the entire D2K community,” Cotter said. “It will also cover the results of the competitions.”