Eleven Mercer Island Destination Imagination (DI) teams shone at the recent Global Finals tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. DI involves students solving challenges in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math and the arts.
HIGH SCHOOL
RatDItouille won two Renaissance Awards, the High Instant Challenge Award and first place for their fine arts solution. Team members include: Eliot Geer, Tyler Langley, Lucas Lessard, Sidh Shroff, Julius Perez, Sol Park and Daniel Marcus. The team manager is David Baxter.
Tortellini in Tutus took first place and a Renaissance Award for their service learning project combating period poverty, both locally and globally. Team members include: Adelaide Swenson, Amelia Han, Stella Chen, Isabella Sullivan, Sophia Loiselle, Ale Selden and Vivian Gan. The team manager is Julie Langley.
The Mean Green Beans took home first place and the High Instant Challenge Award for their scientific challenge solution. Team members include: Aadyaa Singhal, Blakeley Bourke, Jasmine Bandrio, Sadie Kim, Steffi Kim and Rilke Dalton. The team managers are Susan Kim and Mei Ying.
Frankintime notched second place for their technical challenge solution. Team members include: Aditi Mannby, Keegan Wang, Nandini Damodaran, Bobby Selden, Jonathan Aggar, Alex Lemus and Melissa Woo. The team manager is Julie Langley.
Heroic Villains earned sixth place for their comedic story about how Loud Larry and Digging Doug broke out of jail using just the power of Larry’s voice. Team members include: Alex Millman, Lexi Liu, Naomi Do, Anna Koskinen, Ryan Kinder, Ben Lamperti and Connor Wood. The team manager is David Baxter.
You Have Food on Your Shirt earned eighth place for creating an improvisational skit about an underdog preparing for and participating in a marching band competition. The team members include: Brenden Sung, Trisha Choudhary, Maxwell Linke, Graham Lucas, Tristan Chan, Sidd Siravara and Vibhu Shinde. The team manager is Julie Langley.
Not So Average Joes earned 14th place for their engineering challenge. Team members include: Gareth Tatum, Molly Dudley, Simone Shenoi, Ashwin Krishnaswamy, Ted Matheson, Anahita Najafian and Steven Gao. The team manager is Julie Langley.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Cat-a-strophic Cookies earned fourth place for their story of a “cat” CEO running a yarn company. Team members include: Hadrian Finch, Sahaj Shah, Matthew Strong, Guillem Sullivan, Jay Mehta, Esha Shroff and Clare Capasso. The team manager is David Baxter.
The Fluffy DI.nasaurs tied for sixth place with their “Flip the Script” story that retold “Jack and the Beanstalk” from the point of view of the goose. Team members include: Nolan Kim, Lucas Pae, Andrew Wang, Lillian Wu, Rhadika Jhavei, and Ashwin Krishnamoorthy and Auderpop Ardillo. The team managers are Susan Kim, Justin Pae and Winky Lai.
Counter Theory earned 12th place with their touching story of a man whose heart was so big and full of compassion that it actually led to his demise. The team members include: Tessa Baumgarten, Adele Ross, Isaac Reimer, Evie Pyeun, Aidin Azeem and Nikhil Kini. The team managers are Tiffin Goodman, Melinda Reimer and Ruby Azeem.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Drama Dragons earned 14th place out of 50 teams for their take on “The Lion King” that focuses on Kiara, the daughter of Simba, as the new ruler of the land. Team members include: Taylor Hua, Isabelle Loiselle, Amina Harper, Sophia Wang, Clementine Masada, Kaira Reddy and Mira Prakasam. The team managers are Elizabeth Loiselle and Christina Hua.
