Thurston, LBHS Students Win Big At California Destination Imagination Tournament

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Laguna Beach Unified School District announced kids that won big at the California Destination Imagination tournament, held April 1, 2017 in Sacramento, California.

Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School students won second and third place titles at the California Destination Imagination tournament, the first time teams from Laguna Beach have qualified for the Global Finals, which will be held May 24 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Destination Imagination is a project-based educational program in which student teams solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments. Challenges focus on 21st century skills, science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM), and leadership skills.

Thurston’s Brilliant Boom Bam Bananas eighth-grade team won second place in the engineering category. The team was challenged to develop and present a collaborative solution to an international issue and build two or more structures that work together to support weight.

The team built a structure of wood and glue that weighed only 22 grams and held almost 500 pounds of weight.

Thurston’s The Magnificent Sevens seventh-grade team achieved second place in the scientific category. The team was challenged to create and present a story about a secret mission, research, and apply methods of cryptography and stenography to reveal a secret message, and design and create a gadget that appears to be an everyday item with a disguised character integrated into the story.

LBHS’ Laguna Code Breakers took third place in the senior level scientific category.

Three other Laguna Beach teams, Catnip and Aquatechs from Thurston, and The Duck Tape Destroyers from Top of the World, also competed at the State Finals after having placed at the Waves to Dunes Regional Tournament on February 11.

“Our students have learned and demonstrated creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration by working together to plan and implement a project, all of which are crucial skills to prepare them for college and careers,” said Jenny Salberg, Thurston principal. “We are so proud of all of our teams for their dedication and hard work.”

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 California State Finals Tournament featured the top 242 teams in six categories from seven regions throughout California.

Photos, courtesy Laguna Beach Unified School District