Eleven Mount Pleasant Independent School District Destination Imagination (DI) teams competed virtually against over 100 teams from the East Texas region of DI. Six MPISD teams brought home medals for their efforts and are advancing to the virtual state tournament, the Lone Star Finals, in April. This will be the second consecutive year that MPISD has been represented by the elementary level teams at the state tournament.

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!).

Placing 2nd and advancing to state in the Technical Challenge category are the Techno Penguins from Annie Sims Elementary. Team members Drason McDaniel, Yoseline Nava, and Sebastian Otero researched the art and skill of creating video games.

Placing 2nd and advancing to state in Engineering are the Brainy Bunnies from E.C. Brice Elementary. This team also earned the distinguished award of Highest Instant Challenge score in the region. Team Members Sage Jordan, Katie Snyder, and Abby Wooten researched multiple types of architecture and visual art styles and created a structure that combined the two.

Placing 3rd and advancing to state in Engineering are the Unstoppable Last Brain Cell from Corprew Elementary. Team Members Bently Basey, Jamie Douglas, Nathan Martinez, Ulisses Mata, and Jassy Pena Petaton created and presented a story about how opposites can compliment one another and included a structure that combined one architectural style and one visual art style.

Placing 3rd and advancing to state in Improvosational are the Rubber Ducky Detectives from E.C. Brice Elementary. Team Members Jannahi Castro, Kaylee DeLaCruz, Ivan Flores, Lily Henry, Adrianna Martinez, Aldo Orona, and Caleb Townson created and presented an improvisational skit about a detective who uses a forensic technique to solve a mystery with a red herring and a real clue.

Placing 5th and advancing to state in Engineering are the Generation Gamers from Vivian Fowler Elementary. Team Members Aaron Klump, Anthony Macareno, Jax Olivares, Siya Patel, Heymar Rivera, and Melissa Rivera researched the art and skill of creating video games.

Placing 5th and advancing to state in the Scientific Challenge are The Missing Chickon from Annie Sims Elementary. Team Members Piper Hearron, Karli Lowry, Hudson Rider, Josiah Segovia, and Abigail Tolentino created a documentary to share the day in the life of a farmer whose world turns a little strange when a scientific law is broken and his chicken goes missing.

In 7th place in the Technical Challenge were The Three Eyes from E.C. Brice Elementary. Team members were Aiden Hendricks, Tristan Kirkland, and Jonathan Williams. Also placing 7th were The Mysterious Huskies from Vivian Fowler Elementary. Team members were Joahn Balderas, Julian Hererra , Jonathon Jimenez, Cristal Leyva, Anahi Martinez, Adriana Perez, and Zoe Zuniga.

MPISD also had three 2nd grade teams participate in the non-competitive Rising Stars category. The Fowler Tigers included team members Bryson Havard, Melody Hernandez, and Giavanni Williams. The Dino Trio from E.C. Brice Elementary included team members Kolten Heeren, Braxton Lesher, and Natalia Portales. And The Think A Lots from Annie Sims Elementary included team members Chaney Bell, Sebastian Cates, Ava Claire Hageman, and Analie Mata. All three teams were tasked with creating a video that included an animal that went on an unexpected adventure.

“Destination Imagination is a wonderful adventure in challenging creativity,” said MPISD GT teacher and DI Coordinator, Jamie King. “The solutions our teams create are simply amazing. This year was particularly challenging because every event had to be recorded and sent in to a virtual tournament. Teams were required to create and edit their own solutions as well as their video submissions. Our instant challenges required our students to record separately and edit their video to show teamwork and completion of the challenge. Though very challenging, our teams had fun and learned so much along the way about audio/video techniques. I am so proud of their hard work!”

The MPISD Destination Imagination Teams are coached by Jamie King, Sheila Eddy, and Gina Landrum.