Four Wylie Destination Imagination team’s qualified for the DI Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn., and represented Texas at the worldwide competition at the end of May.
A record 1,470 DI teams from 17 countries participated in the Global Finals. The Wylie teams had to qualify by finishing among the top at their Regional and State competitions.
Seven Wylie team’s advanced to State and four of those advanced to Globals. Here’s a look at Wylie’s advancing teams.
Galvanized Steel
Galvanized Steel had the best showing of the Wylie contingent, finishing 11th in the world. Only the top 10 teams are recognized at the closing ceremonies, so the group just missed out.
Galvanized Steel had a creative challenge in which it had to move a team member from one stage to another. The team built a space ship and a craine that actually moved the spaceship onto the moon. The team’s presentation focused on the US/Russia space race in the 60s and featured a rap battle between JFK and then Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev. (See a video of the presentation on our website, WylieGrowl.com.)
Galvanized Steel won 1st place and a Renaissance Award for Outstanding Creativity in Engineering at Regionals, and the team finished 2nd at State. Members are Declan Sauley, Eden Sauley, Sadie Okerstrom, Wes Horn, Brian Turner and Dalton Vasquez. Coaches are Nole Hadaway, David Sauley and Kim Cheek.
View their presentation video here.
The Pickled Leprechauns
The Pickled Leprechauns, a group of students from Wylie Middle and Intermediate schools, finished 13th in the world. Teams from China finished in seven of the top 10 places in the Leprechauns’ division.
The Leprechauns won 1st place at Regionals and finished 2nd in the State to qualify for Gobals. They tackled the engineering challenge, which required them to build a structure (as small as possible) that would hold as much weight as possible.
In their presentation, they were tapeworms inside a dragon.
“We learned more than we ever wanted to know about tapeworms,” Wylie director Kim Cheek said of the presentation.
Members of the team are Jacob Brouse, Emily McBride, Parker Blair, Reid Messer, Sadie Mae Todd, Aubrie Hammond and Ryan Ross. Coaches are Tiffany Keasler and Matthew Bonner.
View their presentation video here.
Illegally Blind
Illegally Blind, a group of Wylie High School students, did the project outreach challenge and finished 17th in the world. As part of their challenge, team members worked with the Wylie Lions Club and the Cactus Lions Club to collect 220 used eyeglasses.
As part of their presentation, they created elaborate two-man puppets – an ostrich and a rhino. A lion helped the rhino correct his vision thanks to a program that provided cheap glasses (a tie-in to their outreach project).
The team won 1st place and a Renaissance Award at Regionals and finished 2nd at State. Team members are Jannae Delacot, Maddie Cole, Bailey Buck, Christian Barbian, Zach Binkley, Joseph Rubio and Colton McClellan. Coaches are Cecilia Delacot, Valerie Anderson, and Renee McClellan.
View their presentation video here.
The Undecided
The Undecided finished 2nd at Regionals, but grabbed a wildcard bid to State, where they finished 4th to nab one of the final berths to the Global Finals. They finished 34th in the world.
The Undecided had to tell a story about what the world would be like if one color disappeared. Team members used their amazing singing skills to tell the story of a girl whose parents were killed in a Salem witch hunt.
Team members are Katie Garcia, Izzy Garcia, Chris Garcia, Coltyn Cook, Christian Ramirez and Tara Bachran. Most of the members are from Wylie High School, however, Chris is an Intermediate student. Coaches are Dyan Garcia and Stephanie Brown.
View their presentation video here.
Congratulations to all the Wylie Destination Imagination teams who qualified for Globals. What an amazing accomplishment!