Five Destination Imagination teams from the Jaffrey-Rindge School District took top 10 spots in the state competition, with four teams completing in the top three.

Destination Imagination is a team challenge where children have to creatively work out a problem within certain bounds, using a variety of techniques that strengthen STEAM – science, technology, engineering, art and math – skills. Jaffrey-Rindge has four elementary teams and one middle school team that competed this year.

Jaffrey-Rindge teams that placed second were The Anonymous Penguins in the technical challenge and The Drama Girls in the fine arts challenge, both at the elementary level. The Pretzel Hedgehogs took third place in the engineering challenge, and The Girl Group took sixth place in the scientific challenge. The middle school team, The Un-Dwarfed Planet, took second place in the scientific challenge.

Though no teams qualified for Destination Imagination’s global finals this year, district coordinator Zoe Sinay said some of the teams are just starting out, and it has been a great experience for them to compete at the state level.

“Destination Imagination is a club where technology, engineering, improv and art comes together, and students work to solve a challenge,” Sinay said. “It’s learner-led, and it empowers them to take their problem-solving and critical thinking skills to the next level.”

Jaffrey-Rindge has worked to incorporate science, technology, engineering and math into multiple aspects of its curriculum, and Sinay said that Destination Imagination allows students to bring those skills into their club and flex those muscles.

“We want to extend this to a wider range of learners, and build on their STEM skills, and allow them to apply their learning in a new way,” Sinay said.

For example, Sinay coaches The Un-Dwarfed Planet. As part of the scientific challenge, the team had to build a communication device to relay “technobabble,” and write a skit that included information about research they did on a planet – or in this case, the dwarf planet Pluto. In their skit, explorers run into aliens on Pluto that tell them about Pluto’s icy conditions and cryovolcanoes.

“It’s amazing to see them think outside the box, and solve the problem with very little help or guidance,” Sinay said.

The teams competed at the state level at Souhegan High School in Amherst on March 29, and Sinay said it was great experience for teams, some of which are only in their second year of existence. She said she looks forward to next season, taking on new club members and watching as more-experienced members get the opportunity to teach newer ones.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.