Los Fresnos News

Three District Teams Qualify for Destination Imagination Global

160403-LFE-DI-Team

by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

Three Los Fresnos CISD schools – Los Fresnos United, Los Cuates Middle School and Los Fresnos Elementary – qualified for the DI Global Finals May 25-28 in Knoxville, Tenn.

More than 60 schools from across Texas who place first in their respective regional tournaments qualified for the state event.

The three schools were the only entries from Los Fresnos CISD. LFU placed fifth in the high school division in the Pace of Change Division, LCMS placed sixth in the middle school division in the Pace of Change Challenge, and LFE placed fourth in the elementary division in the In Plain Sight Challenge. Six schools from each division qualify for the Global Finals.

LCMS was also awarded individual award for highest instant challenge score in the competition.

The Destination Imagination program is a fun, hands-on system of learning that fosters students’ creativity, courage and curiosity through open-ended academic Challenges in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), fine arts and service learning. Our participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem-solving process. Teams may showcase their solutions at a tournament.

Members of the LFHS/LFU team were pictured (left to right) sophomore Caroline Reyes-Jimenez and freshmen Zoe Arriaga, Niomi Gamez, Audrey Solis and Ann Solis. Sponsor is Daniel Cranick.

Members of the LCMS team were pictured (left to right) Nicolas Sanchez, William Ortiz, J.J Atkinson, Devean Garcia, Adathamy Villarreal, Samantha Jones and Brianna Atkinson. Sponsor is Kristina Cranick.

Members of the LFE team are (bottom row, from left) Hailey Martin, Victoria Ortiz, Tyler Martin, (top row) Sebastian Grimaldo, Daniel Nava, Alexander Duran and Francisco Quintero. Sponsors are Jessica Alaniz and Elaine Rodriguez.

Global Finals for Destination Imagination, which will be held at The University of Tennessee is the single largest competition of creativity that focuses on STEMS in the world. More 18,000 students from 45 states are expected. Students are able to get a real-life college experience as every team stays on campus in the university dormitories.