Meeker teams excel at Destination Imagination

MEEKER I Eight teams from Meeker traveled to Rifle to participate in the Western Slope Destination Imagination Tournament on March 18.
This was their chance to showcase their solutions to different challenges that many have been working on since October. The Snack Attacks (Mason Holliday, Sophia Goedert, Dax Sheridan, Braydon Garcia, Ryan Phelan, Colby Clatterbaugh, Ashdon Siebert and team manager Shana Holliday) participated in the Rising Stars challenge, developing a newscast and making a structure out of newspaper and tape. In Challenge A, the Mighty Tigers (Gracie Bradfield, Kale Burke, Pake Burke, Kenzie Turner, Charlie Day, Lila Klinglesmith, team manager Marnell Bradfield and Travis Day) delivered objects over a 6-foot wall to specified targets with their crane and placed first in Direct Deposit.
Challenge B, DI-Bot, involved using robotic technology to perform a task. We had 2 teams participate in this challenge: MADTUWLs (Doak Mantle, Logan Hughes, Uri Goedert, Wyatt Pfau, Trevor Austin, Maddie Kummer, Avery Watt, team manager Brooke Mantle and Tasha Goedert), who placed fifth, and the Giant Thinking Brains (Addie Joy, Elijah Deming, Makenna Burke, Cole Rogers, Zach Chism, team manager Margie Joy), who placed third.
In Challenge C, You’re Gonna Flip, two teams developed a puppet and a skit with visual effects. At the elementary level, D.N.D. (Julia Eskelson, Kendra Nelson, Braydin Henderson, Reese Pertile, Keyla Trujillo, team manager Kristen Eskelson and Tim Nelson) placed second and, at the middle school level, RJ CABS (Anthony Watt, Cade Rowlett, Joe Newman, Sydney Hughes, Reagan Pearce, Brittney Smith, Jamie McLaughlin, team manager Alicia Watt) placed fourth. Hoboasauras (Kinzy Burke, Tell Blanke, Hunter Garcia, Maggie Phelan, Jenna Walsh, team manager Dessa Watson) took on the demanding improvisational challenge, Do or DI, and placed sixth.
The last challenge, Breaking DI News, involved making a structure that would hold weight out of newspaper and glue. 7 Newz at 4:00 (Casey Turner, Sheridan Harvey, Cody Nielsen, Lori Ann Klinglesmith, Madeline Amack, Meghan Smith, Delenn Mobley, team manager Kellie Turner and Jackie Klinglesmith) placed first with their structure that held 462 pounds. They also received a DaVinci Award for their homemade oatmeal canister camera that took black and white pictures. Four teams, the Mighty Tigers, the Giant Thinking Brains, D.N.D., and 7 Newz at 4:00, will travel to Denver on April 17 for the state tournament.