Laguna students advance in Destination Imagination contest
For the first time, Laguna Beach Unified School District will be represented at the Global Finals of the Destination Imagination tournament.
Two teams from Thurston Middle School placed second and one team from Laguna Beach High finished third in their respective divisions at the state competition April 1 in Sacramento County, according to a news release. The competition featured 250 teams from seven regions throughout the state.
Destination Imagination is a project-based educational program in which teams compete in various timed scientific, technical and structural challenges that test their creativity and problem-solving skills. The activities are meant to align with STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — disciplines.
For example, Thurston eighth-grade students Evan Henry, Joseph Hovanesian, Jared Moy and Miles Riehle, led by team manager Tanya Hovanesian, finished second in the engineering category. They built a structure of wood and glue that weighed 22 grams but held nearly 500 pounds, the release said.
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For the Record: The original version of this story stated incorrectly that the wooden structure weighed 22 pounds.
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Thurston seventh-grade students Kai Arellano, Finley Flanagan, Jeff Herkins, Sherwin Riahi, Eliott Schaffer and Christian Yates, led by team managers Cameron Flanagan and Kevin Mullican, placed second in the scientific category. For the challenge, they created a story about a secret mission while applying methods of cryptography and steganography to reveal a secret message, according to the release.
Laguna Beach High ninth-grade students Kenneth Chu, Isabel Duong, Andrew Duong and Kyle Herkins, led by team manager Lisa Herkins, finished third in the scientific category with their story of two astronauts on a secret mission to investigate where all of Earth’s trash is going in space, according to the release.
The Global Finals will be held May 24 to 27 in Knoxville, Tenn.
All three teams are seeking financial contributions to cover registration, travel and the shipping of props. Donations can be made at bit.ly/2o2oRon.
Twitter: @AldertonBryce
