Wylie’s Destination Imagination program continued its dominance at the regional level with eight teams qualifying to advance to state.
Wylie sent 14 teams to the Greater Fort Worth Regional Competition at the end of February – almost 100 students – and once again, the Wylie students saw the results of their hard work rewarded. Six teams won regional championships, eight teams advanced to state and 12 out of the 14 teams placed in the top 3 in their divisions.
In addition, Wylie had one team, The Mane Event, that won the Renaissance Award for Outstanding Design and Engineering.
“Those special awards for outstanding design and engineering are extremely rare,” said Wylie DI Director Kim Cheek.
And Wylie student Kiersten Cooper won both of the two scholarships given out at the competition – the first time ever that one student has won both awards.
The results only added to Wylie’s growing reputation as one of the premier DI programs in the state.
“Our kids have a good work ethic,” Cheek said of the students. “We have high expectations, and they meet those expectations.”
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The Greater Fort Worth Region includes schools from all over the Fort Worth area as well as all the AISD campuses and places in between. Some of the divisions had as many as 17 teams competing for only two state berths. Smaller divisions were only granted one state berth.
The state competition will be April 1-2 in Ana, Texas.
In DI, students pick from one of that year’s challenges and spend the year creating solutions to the challenge. They present their solution in various ways, depending upon the category. Some require them to build machines that solve problems, others require them to write scripts, build sets and design costumes.
The students work weekly on their presentations all year long, and in January and February, they also work on the weekends.
Cheek said this year, team managers tried to be more efficient with their work hours so students did not spend quite as much time working.
“We tried to teach better time management,” she said. “The kids handled it beautifully.”
One of the reason’s Wylie’s DI program does so well year after year is Cheek.
“She is the backbone of the program,” said volunteer Trisha Eichler. “She’s what makes it work. It’s her personality that brings so much life to the program.”
Here’s a look at how all the teams did at the competition.
1st Place At Regionals and Advancing to State:
Simply Platonic (High School) – Jannae Delacot, Kiersten Cooper, Parker Alford, Close McCurdy, Nick Tindol and Jose Pacheco. Managers: Cecilia Delacot and Kim Cheek.
Total Harmonic Distortion (High School) – Alex Garcia, Katie Garcia, Izzy Garcia, Eric Evans, Addison Branch, Mychelle McClellan and Megan Jones. Managers: Dyan Garcia, Renee McClellan and Angie Jones.
Breaking DI (High School) – Hannah Flanagan, August Zett, Marissa Anderson, MyKenzie Gilmore, Zachary Johnson, Isaac Olson and Richard Moorehouse. Manager: Courtney Gilmore.
Hyperactive Hipsters (Middle School & Junior High) – Dayra Figueroa, Ava Granier, Jordan Western, Joshua Fenton, Colton McClellan, Jacob Larum and Joshua Larum. Managers: Kim Fenton and Renee McClellan.
Chasing Squirrels (Middle School & Junior High) – Wes Horn, Rache Buter, Maddi Cole, Bailey Buck, David Mason, Jackson Turner and Sadie Okerstrom. Managers: Valerie Anderson and Andy Searcy.
Banana-ramas (Middle School) – Luke Frazee, Wyatt Edminston, Caden Sauley, Sarah Frazee, Cooper Mascorro and Ryan Blake. Manager: Amanda Frazee.
2nd Place at Regionals and Advancing to State:
The Random Ducks (Intermediate School) – Carson Wells, Berkley Britten, Audrey Brown, Conner Krake, Tanner Jones, Garrett Jones and Will Fenton. Manager: Nancy Morgan and Kim Fenton
The 7 Amigos (Middle School) – Coey Stickney, Meg Siewert, Ali Cole, Mark Fakhoury, Conner Sauve, Timothy Varghese and Grace Rhodes. Managers: Sean and Margie Siewert.
Other Teams That Placed:
The Mane Event (Middle School & Junior High) placed 2nd and won the Renaissance Award for Outstanding Design and Engineering. Team members are Christian Barbian, Maddie Cole, Noelle Cousins, Ella Kate Siewert, Eden Sauley, Lexi Bayouth and Trinity Alcorn. Managers: Valerie Anderson and William Alcorn.
DI of the Tiger (Middle School & Junior High) placed 2nd place. Team members are Carly Buck, Christian White, Brycen Potts, Coltyn Cook, Andrew Pruitt, Maddi Mergl and Bailey Buck. Managers: Kathryn Burnitt and Angel Buck.
The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies (Middle School & Junior High) placed 2nd. Team members are Savannah Alvarez, Avery Cousins, Chrissy Prince, Zoie Voz, Makayla Oakes, Reagan Turner and Chloe Ferguson. Managers: Jennifer Ferguson and Diana Correau-Cousins.
The JeDI’s (High School) placed 3rd place – Kristen Kilpartrick, Daton Vasquez, Cheyenne Nottingham, Luke Tippit and Eric Sanchez. Managers:: Robert Harvey.
The Screaming Frappuccinos (Middle School & Junior High) placed 4th – Grayson Britton, Kyla Flanagan, Carly Hale, Abba Connally, Nicole Luckie, Preston McClure and Zion Burton. Managers: Cherisse Flanagan and Dawnel Luckie.
Nerd Squad (Intermediate) placed 12th – Grace Alcorn, Lucian Ferguson, Kyle Page, Nalyssa Shirley, Riley Brooks, Payton Hall and Avery Nelson. Managers: Kayla Brashears.