Seventeen Mount Pleasant Independent School District Destination Imagination (DI) teams competed against over 100 teams from the East Texas Region of DI at Mesquite Poteet High school on Saturday, February 8. Eleven MPISD teams brought home medals for their efforts and five of those are advancing to the state tournament, the Lone Star Finals, at the end of March.

A Destination Imagination Team Challenge is an open-ended project that teams work on over an extended period of time, usually 2-4 months. There are seven new Team Challenges each year: Engineering, Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Service Learning, and Early Learning Challenge (Rising Stars!).

Watch Out You Need to Duck! from Mount Pleasant Junior High placed 1st in the Improvisational Challenge, and had the highest Instant Challenge score, and have advanced to state. Known as The Unquackable Pduckadactyls in 2024 and as the Comeback Rubber Duckies in 2023, they are back-to-back Regional Champions, the 2023 State Champions, and 2023 Global Finalists. Advancing team members are Lily Henry, Jannahi Castro, Caleb Townson, Aldo Orona, Ivan Flores, and Jonathan Williams.

The Rockstar Penguins from Brice Elementary and Wallace Middle School placed 1st in the Improvisational Challenge and have advanced to state. Known as the Mystical Penguins in 2024 and as the Smart Penguins Going Bananas in 2023, they are the 2023 State Champions, and 2023 and 2024 Global Finalists. Advancing team members are Kaylyn Andrade, Callie Dimon, Avalyn Netro, Anna Henry, and Judah Deal.

Six Spectacular Sandwiches from Wallace Middle School placed 1st in the Engineering Challenge and earned two Renaissance awards, rare honors given by the appraisers to teams that demonstrate extraordinary amounts of effort and preparation in their solutions or outstanding skill in engineering, design or performance. They have advanced to the State competition after creating a story about a Contemporary Circus that included a magic trick that earned them one of their two Renaissance Awards. The second Renaissance award was for their transportation device which was created to be very light but carry a great deal of weight. Team members include Jake Jones, Annalee Mata, Mailin Tapia, Kinlee Castro, Kate Cluley, and Lane Richardson.

The Explosive Capybobas from Wallace Middle School placed 2nd in the Improvisational Challenge and have advanced to state. This team researched locations and transportation methods. They did not know what they would perform until 2 minutes before the performance. Team members include Allison Blackburn, Dannen Carroll, Shane Dimon, Ivania Jimenez, Nayeli Pulquero, Jedi Tatman, and Emmalyn Thurman.

The Terrifying Tigers from Annie Sims Elementary placed 1st in the Engineering Challenge as well and earned the highest Instant Challenge score in the region in their category and have advanced to state. The team wrote a story about a contemporary circus in Australia and created a device that was self-propelled, weighing no more than 500 grams, that could carry as much weight as possible. Team members include Alexa Cano, Camila Cates, Laura Ethridge, Sam Jones, and Zuleymi Mendoza.

Other MPISD medalists were The Spiderbunnies from E.C. Brice, earning a 4th place medal in the Improvisational Challenge. Team members were Shirley Chen, Ezra Evans, Miranda Martinez, Karim Valdez, and Ava Waldrep. Also from Brice, the Teleporting Panda Blobs medaled in 3rd place in the Engineering Challenge. Team members included Jakeb Aguilar, Giovannie Contreras, Alan Perez, Gian Gutierrez, Jacob Hernandez, Sophia Robertson, and Beckett Barkley. We Da People, also from Brice, earned 4th place medals in the Technical Challenge. Team members were Austin Bedolla, Ian Rosewell, and Twister Taylor. The Golden Stars from Wallace Middle School just missed advancing to state by 2 points, earning 3rd place medals in the Technical Challenge with an emotional story about two brothers and a single father trying to navigate their way through a family crisis. Team members included Joseph Adame, Liam Boyd, Kolten Heeren, and Jamari Meeks.

MPISD also had two teams that medaled in the Rising Star division, an early learners’ challenge that offers simple experiences with the creative process and gives young kids preschool through 2nd grade experience with working together. From Sims, the Six Sideline Spaghettis included team members Inake Bello-Silva, Elijah Cates, MJ Cluley, McKenzie Fogle, Aaron Ferriera, and Aaron Ramirez. And from Brice, the Scary Gold Nacho Dogs included Marleigh Davis, Sebastian Godoy, Josie Hawkins, Tinley Heeren, Itzayana Rodriguez, Logan Rundles, and Jewel Simpson.

Also competing for MPISD were the Silly Sims Crew (Caleb Crabb, Madilyn Howard, Beau Malone, and Lucas Mata), from Corprew the Creative Fish Attack (Jonathan Barboza, Cecilia Sanchez, Cristobal Tapia, and Gunnar Webber) and the Greenhill Twins without the Green (Jackson Bailiff, Melani Bautista, Kenley Collier, Angel Paco, Madden Watkins), from Fowler the Purple Paper People (Alexi Ayala, Landon Blackburn, and Shedrick Brown) and the Spiderbirds Bailor’s Version (Diva Desai, Hayzlie Gonzalez, Messiah Lewis, Ezequiel Martinez, Ariana Ramirez, Jacob Sanchez), and from Wallace, the Big Brain Bricks (Benjamin Baker and Bruno DeLaHoya).

Advancing teams will compete again at the Lone Star Finals at the University of Texas at Arlington on March 28 and 29. The MPISD Destination Imagination Teams are coached by Jamie King with assistance from Gina Landrum, Adrianna Mata, and Maria Cates (Sims), Sisi Aguilar, Cendy Zuniga, and Ritchell DeLaHoya (Fowler), Jack Jones, Ritchell De La Hoya, Kaylene Dimon, and Tommie Castro (Wallace), Candice Watkins and Kylie Collier (Corprew), Carrie Henry (MPJH), and Elda Hernandez, Sayra Netro, Maggie Martinez, Candace Heeren, Candy Taylor, and Christi Thurman (Brice).

Photos:

1. Watch Out You Need to Duck! from Mount Pleasant Junior High

2. The Rockstar Penguins from E.C. Brice Elementary and Wallace Middle School

3. Six Spectacular Sandwiches from Wallace Middle School

4. The Explosive Capybobas from Wallace Middle School

5. The Terrifying Tigers from Annie Sims Elementary