Levelland Destination Imagination excelled at the Regional DI Competition on Saturday, February 24, at Estacado High School. Sixteen teams competed with more than 100 creative team members, ages 5 to 18. Three teams are advancing to the state competition, at UT Arlington on March 26. "Levelland ISD Destination Imagination provides students the opportunity to think outside of the box thinkers. Our DI kids will be the future leaders in our community, state, and country. I am very proud of our district for avidly supporting this great program for more than sixteen years. All team members and their coaches have been working on solutions to their challenges for more than three months and performed exceptionally on their challenges," explained Merribeth Gregory, LISD DI Coordinator.
"Improv is a challenging skill to learn, and we have worked to establish depth to our program by having the competition available for each age group," explained Debra Burnett. "The challenge this year required the students to learn about obscure festivals around the world, use boxes as props, and change their skit halfway through the play."
LHS's Improv team, Amazingly Astonishing Astrophysist's Assistant, is coached by Merribeth Gregory and Debra Burnett placed 1st in high school level and will advance to State. "Layce White, Laynee Newberry, and Georgia McMahan have been competing in the improv competition for the past five years and are seasoned veterans to the challenge, while Max Chapa and Cecelia Berumen have only competed once in this challenge prior to this year. This dynamic team has witty humor that makes the skits enjoyable for all ages," said Merribeth Gregory.
LIS's Improv team, Gucci Gorillas, coached by Diane Deluna, placed 1st in the elementary level and will advance to State. Team members are Racheal Demel, Karsyn Gaona, Allegra Gavina, Jonathan Feddes, and Colton Buxkemper. "The LIS improv team had a slap-stick funny performance, which wowed the judges," explained Debra Burnett.
The high school engineering team, coached by Merribeth Gregory and Debra Burnett, created a skit about a legendary ant who saved her ecosystem from a profit-driven lumberjack and engineered a 29-gram balsa wood structure that held 285 lbs and rolled down a ramp. The team placed first and will advance to state. Team members are Grason Edens, Zachary Swain, Olivia Palermo, Austin Ellis, Brody Johnson, Michelle Bustillos, and Yaira Acevedo. "The engineering team enjoys each other company, and you can witness it during every practice and in their performance," said Debra Burnett. "This team engineered dozens of balsa structures and tested them before settling on one design. This team will miss its seniors, Olivia Palermo and Brody Johnson, when they graduate this year as their creative minds are expert prop designers."
The fine arts teams from Capitol Elementary's Gold Getters, coached by Gracie Ruiz placed fifth in the competition. The team members are Kason Birdwell, Roxie Hall, Grayson Gibbs, Cannon Zepeda, Sophia Garza, Hattie Niederhausers, and Ella Torres. The LIS fine arts team coached by Samantha Lopez placed first in instant challenge. Team members are MJ Niederhauser, Paulina Chavira, Isabel Canales, Jessi Slape, Uriah Martinez, Nahla Settles, and Eli Luna,
The high school science project, Mini Micro-Minions, was coached by Lorena Sanchez, and their project explored the microscopic world with the use of fluorescent microscopy and water bears. The team placed second in the regional competition, and members are MaciJo Baker, Jadyn Gamez, David Torres-Naja, and Richelle Riege.
Five Rising Star teams from South, ABC, and Capitol competed and were coached by Alexis Gavina, Barbara Utley, Pam Alexander, Latova Ewings, and Sarah Gomez with students from kindergarten to second grade. They created skits about monsters who use manners to fix a problem and different styles of houses. Each team's solution was completely unique. "Rising Stars provides our younger participants to try their hands at various engineering, researching, and acting skills and explore the DI program," explained Merribeth Gregory. "We love to see the unique skills that these kids learn." South Elementary's third-grade Micro Sharks, coached by Mikenzi Johnson, earned the Spirit Award, meaning they took more risks, went above and beyond, and had the best teamwork! Congratulations to all these hard-working kids, and we will watch later this month when you are at State! You're in the right place!
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