Local Students Wow Judges, Qualify for Global Competition

and Lincoln Akerman School students took home lofty honors over the weekend in the Destination ImagiNation State Finals, a competition that puts elementary, middle and high school students' creative-thinking and problem-solving minds to the test.

The WHS team placed in the "projectOUTREACH: The World Canvas" challenge, a team of elementary schoolers from Hampton Falls' Lincoln Akerman School placed in the "Coming Attractions" challenge, and a middle school team from Lincoln Akerman won a prestigious Renaissance Award for their work.

The Renaissance Award, awarded to a team showing outstanding design, engineering, execution or performance, was given to Lincoln Akerman because the team's wooden, made-to-scale and "effectively lighted" Eiffel Tower "wowed" appraisers during the Coming Attractions challenge, according to the Destination ImagiNation website.

DI officials also said the team's "cinematic effect simulating a burning house using electrical wizardry was truly impressive" and contributed to the award.

The DI State Finals competition — where qualifying teams competed in judged challenges that incorporated core school subjects with a focus that is technical, scientific, arts-based, improvisational, structural or social-learning — was held Saturday at WHS, and also included a team from .

Thirty-nine teams competed Saturday after , and now WHS and Lincoln Akerman School students will represent New Hampshire in their respective categories at the Global Finals in May. The Global Finals will feature 1,200 teams representing almost all 50 states, every Canadian province, and over 13 other countries, according to the DI website.