Two of the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District’s Destination Imagination teams will be moving on to Global Finals May 22 to 25 in Kansas City after the Destination Imagination state affiliate finals Saturday at Bedford High School.

A total of 31 teams who competed Saturday will be moving to Globals, after showcasing a range of skills grounded in science, technology, engineering, arts, math or social learning. Teams selected a variety of challenges focusing on a particular skill, and the top two teams in each challenge qualified to compete with teams from almost every state in the United States, as well as teams from abroad.

The Killer Whales team from the Conant Middle High School took home the top prize for middle schools for their category, In Motion. In addition to taking first place in their category, the team was also awarded the Renaissance Award, given to teams for outstanding design, engineering, execution or performance.  

“The Conant Middle School team has worked extremely hard this year to reach the success they accomplished this past weekend,” said coach Zoe Sinay. “The team members learned how to communicate and that team work really does make the dream work. During the state competition this past weekend, the growth was noticeable even from a month before. The team listened to each other through all parts of the day and were patient with each other when challenges were faced.”

Also moving on to Globals will be the Jaffrey Grade School team The Lucky Pancake Chambions, who took second place in the In Motion fine arts challenge for the elementary level. 

JGS coach Madelyn Grierson said it was a close competition, with the Chambions having the higher performance score, but they were edged out of first place by the Bow School, whose team the Tongue Twisting Dust Bunnies had a higher score on the instant challenge portion of the competition.

“They had a first-place performance,” said Grierson. “And they had great sportsmanship. They are over the moon excited to be moving on to Globals.”

Grierson said the team took lessons from its regional performance into the state competition, making changes to their skit scripts, adding a new character and creating a new puppet. The refining process is not done yet, she assured, as just two days out from the state competition, her team is already discussing ways to take the judges comments and further polish their performance for Globals.

“I am incredibly proud. Their hard work is being acknowledged by high scores and amazing willingness to get out of their comfort zones, and I hope they are equally proud of themselves,” Grierson said.

The Rindge Memorial School also fielded a team at states, with team The 5 Super Pinball Eagles placing fifth in the Pinball Heroes challenge.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext.  244 or asaari@ledgertran script.com. She’s on X @Ash leySaariMLT.