Competition winners Knoxville-bound

Correspondent

Portales students who competed in the Destination Imagination competition in Albuquerque on March 12 have qualified to go to the finals in Knoxville, Tennessee in May.

Lindsey-Steiner students Lee Neighbours, Adam Ables, Andrea Weems, Zoe Roy, Emma Mitchell and Rae Ruiz were all members of the team LAZER Squared.

Teacher of the Gifted and Talented Program Katrina Prince said that students from the district have been competing in Destination Imagination for at least the past 11 years. For a team to qualify for the global finals, they have to win a first place at the regional level, according to Prince.

“One of the things I like most about Destination Imagination is that it provides students with confidence. They have to learn to work outside of their comfort zones and stretch their creativity. It helps the students apply things they are learning in class, so they can understand why it is so important to learn them,” said Prince.

Mitchell, 11, and Ables, 12, members of LAZER Squared, participated in the Musical Mashup portion of the event. The criteria for the event required that the performance be creative, unique, have a musical instrument that the students created which weighed less than 175 grams and was integrated into the storyline, according to Ables and Mitchell.

“We took our better to state, but we want to take our best to global finals,” said Mitchell.

“We could change our storyline and props, but we want to keep it and just make it better,” said Ables.

Jolie Griffith, 11, participated in the fine arts portion of the competition on the team Get A Clue. It was Griffith’s second time competing at Destination Imagination.

“Fine arts is more fun (than the scientific challenge), because I am more of a fine arts person and also it is much more creative,” said Griffith.

Get a Clue did a performance about a stolen golden boa that took place in the 1920s, according to Griffith.

“We had three criminal suspects, and we did not know who was guilty until we opened the envelope at the end,” said Griffith.

Emily Crawford, 10, participated in the "Hiding in Plain Sight" portion of the competition.

“My favorite part was the instant challenge,” said Crawford.

The instant challenge was kept a secret by Crawford and her other teammates, but Crawford did say that it is part of the competition.

“They call you in a room, and you do not know what is going to happen. I really like that it is going to be a surprise,” said Crawford.

Portales Junior High students Ruben Granados, 12, and Nichole Washburn, 14, won second place in the scientific challenge portion of the event.

“We were supposed to design a skit up to eight minutes long that used camouflage. We made a snow leopard that was hidden in a cave; we used over 3000 cotton balls,” said Washburn.

Washburn and Granados discussed their skit, which centered around an art major student who got lost and ended up on an expedition to retrieve the last male snow leopard, according to Washburn.

“Having fun with our teams is the best part. We have all known each other for four or five years. It’s almost like a family,” said Washburn.

“I agree with Nichole; we have so much fun everyday, but we have our serious moments too,” said Granados.

Both Granados and Washburn agreed that Destination Imagination helped them grow as people and that it was effective in helping them prepare for life.

LAZER Squared has begun raising the $10,728 needed to cover their expenses to attend the global finals competition. The fund raising deadline is May 6, and if the team does not meet the deadline, the donations will be used to help next year’s winning teams reach global finals, according to Prince.