Laguna Beach Students Show Their Imagination At Global Finals

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — For the first time in school history, three teams of students from Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School students participated in the Destination Imagination Global Finals tournament held May 24 to 27 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“It was exciting for our students to be able to represent Laguna Beach schools for the first time at the DI global competition,” said Dr. Jason Viloria, Superintendent of Schools. “Our students were tasked with using real world problem-solving strategies and to think outside the box to solve complex challenges and we could not be prouder of their hard work and dedication. LBUSD is proud of them!”

Challenges focus on 21st century skills, science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM), and leadership skills. Global Finals is the culminating event of the Destination Imagination season. Teams that advance past regional and state or country tournaments are invited to participate in Global Finals.

“The trip to Destination Imagination Global Final Tournament in Tennessee certainly is an eye-opening experience and very educational for our students. Even though we did not bring home any trophies, students met teams from all over the states and other countries and were inspired by their creativities,” said Ermei Fan, teacher sponsor of the LBHS team. “I feel our students absorbed and grew a lot just in this past week by socializing and competing with so many teams around the world. We would like to thank our school district and community who helped us make this trip possible and hope to pass our experiences to future teams representing our schools.”

"There were so many awesome things at Global Finals! From pin trading, where I met kids my age from other countries, to the advanced chemistry class session, building and racing a hovercraft, and learning about the NASA projects for kids my age, DI Global Finals was an amazing experience," said seventh grade team member Finn Flanagan.

Thurston’s The Magnificent Sevens seventh-grade team participated in the scientific category, for which they created and presented a story about a secret mission, researched, and applied methods of cryptography and steganography to reveal a secret message, and designed and created a gadget that appears to be an everyday item with a disguised character integrated into the story.

"I really enjoyed the experience. The entire competition was on a much larger scale than I expected, and I had lots of fun," said team member Sherwin Riahi. "I really enjoyed going to DI global finals, especially meeting, interacting, and talking to people from around the globe. The environment was gorgeous and there were lots of activities, all within a walking distance," said Eliott Schaffer, seventh grade team member.

Thurston’s Brilliant Boom Bam Bananas eighth-grade team designed a structure weighing 21 grams that held up nearly 500 pounds, and they performed a story set 65 million years ago about fictional dinosaurs using their inventions to prevent the meteor from destroying their world. Team member Joseph Hovanesian said, “It was a truly amazing experience to be at Global Finals! I was astounded by the creativity of the performances to the same challenges and truly inspired as I walked through the prop rooms and saw the amazing things kids had made, like a seven-foot dragon made from M&M wrappers, and a 20-foot wooden cog and wheel system that played a student-made piano, xylophone and drum along with a light show. There is no limit to imagination.”

"DI Global Finals was a great experience for the whole team. One of the best parts was getting to meet other students from all over the world. I also enjoyed looking at all the new technology in the convention center,” said Kai Arellano, seventh grade team member.

LBHS’ Laguna Code Breakers competed in the Scientific Challenge, called Top Secret, against teams from nine countries and 27 U.S. States. They performed a Team Challenge regarding astronauts on a secret mission trying to find out where Earth’s trash was going in space. During their performance, they used two forms of Cryptography: a Scytale Cipher and a Polybius Square to solve codes to help them solve problems on their mission. For the second part of the competition, teams were given an Instant Challenge which is a complex task-based challenge that is completed in a certain number of minutes.

“The Global Finals was a great experience. I got to meet kids and people from all over the world,” said Kyle Herkins, LBHS team member.

"Being a part of this year's Global Finals opened my eyes to the competitive and exhilarating spirit of Destination Imagination. Getting to meet people from all parts of the world like Qatar and China going through the same challenges as I am was a profound experience that I will remember forever,” said LBHS team member Kenneth Chu.

Each Destination Imagination team spends hours outside the school day in preparation for the tournaments. Each team has at least one Team Manager, often a parent volunteer, who help keep the team on track, but does not assist or interfere with the team’s project. The challenge solutions are entirely developed by students.

Elementary, middle, and high school students participate in Destination Imagination across 15 countries and all 50 states. Each season takes place from September through May. Depending on the challenge, teams typically spend two to four months developing and practicing challenge solutions, which are showcased at the regional and state tournaments. When a team places in the top three of one of six categories at the state level, they are invited to compete at Global Finals.

The Global Finals Tournament featured the more than 1,400 teams from over 20 countries. "The Destination Imagination Global Finals was such an eye opening, once in a lifetime experience. I met people from all over the world, and even made friends from places like Qatar and British Columbia," said LBHS team member Isabel Duong.

The competition also featured activities where students utilized problem-solving skills, such as programming robots, creating a seat-restraint system in a model car to protect an egg in a downhill crash, and performing various scientific challenges, including a duct tape costume ball. “Kids and adults alike wore self-made costumes designed from duct tape and other materials. My favorite costumes were the twirling human fidget spinners. The creativity was amazing,” said Brilliant Boom Bam Bananas team manager Tanya Hovanesian.

The Laguna Beach teams’ participation was supported by PTAs, SchoolPower, Wahoo’s and generous support from families. “Thank you to all the people who supported us and helped us get to the Global Finals. It was an experience we will never forget,” said Lisa Herkins, Team Manager for Laguna Beach Code Breakers. For more information about the teams see www.LagunaBeachDI.com.

"Being part of DI and getting into Global Finals was one of the best experiences I have had at Laguna Beach High School," said Andrew Duong, LBHS team member.

All student participants, parent team managers and teacher sponsors will be recognized for their participation and achievements as part of the Destination Imagination program at the Board meeting onJune 13, 2017, beginning at 6 p.m.

Photos, courtesy Laguna Beach Unified School District