The sixth grade Destination Imagination team from Irving Middle School has a tradition — every time the members win the state competition and qualify for nationals, they have a sleepover to celebrate.
So far, they’ve made it four times in a row, and part of their success could be owed to the fact that they’re all best friends and work well together, which is a big reason why the six girls love participating in it so much. It’s brought them closer together.
“We're besties,†said Neve Killeen, a member of the team.
But, it has also become a creative outlet for them, and since joining the team, they each said they’ve learned a lot, not only about the material they cover, but about teamwork and problem-solving.
“DI is really fun because like there's not really a lot of boundaries that you have to follow,†said Evie Shelstad, another team member. “You get to be really creative.â€
Destination Imagination is a storytelling, team-based international competition that challenges students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Students are tasked with writing scripts, building sets and creating costumes to put on a skit pertaining to the topic and category of their choosing.
This year, four teams from Lincoln competed — three from Sheridan Elementary School and one from Irving — and three qualified for nationals. Both the sixth grade team, named the Imagineers, and the fourth grade team, Team Tiny Feet, qualified in the scientific category, which focused on archeology. The third grade team qualified in the engineering challenge, which required students to build a contraption that could throw a bean bag.
The Imagineers told the story of two tourists who discover an artifact from an ancient game played by women hundreds of years ago right under the noses of archeologists who had been searching for that specific artifact for years.
The members of Team Tiny Feet based their project around the mystery of bigfoot. In their story, a scientist discovers what he believes to be a bigfoot tooth, but it’s stolen before he can ever prove it. The fourth graders were even able to present their skit at the Nebraska Bigfoot Conference last month.
And the third grade team, the Cotton Candy Clouds, built a catapult that launched Brussels sprouts at candy monsters.
“Everything’s really fun,†said Violet Quiring, a third grader.
Sheridan and Irving are the only Lincoln schools with students who participate in DI. The extracurricular is not school-sponsored and is run entirely by parent volunteers and the students themselves.
The projects are completed entirely by the students, and parents are there only to facilitate meetings and keep the kids on track.
Since her son joined DI several years ago, Heather Kully said she has seen him learn the value of public speaking, patience, compromise and out-of-the-box thinking.
“It has so many skills,†she said. “Even as a manager, I'm constantly learning.â€
Global Finals, which takes place May 22-25, costs $5,500 per team to participate, so Kully said the kids have been working hard to fundraise as much as they can before they leave for Kansas City later this month.
So far, the teams have posted a bake sale, started a  and have sold donuts and handmade bigfoot figurines to raise the funds.
The teams have also worked closely with local resources throughout the community to help them promote their projects and learn more about their topics, like Platte Basin Timelapse, a local puppet designer and the Bigfoot Museum in Hastings.
“There's just a lot of generosity in the Lincoln community, which has been awesome,†Kully said.
Sheridan Elementary's third grade Destination Imagination team members are (from left) Violet Quiring, Andrew Killeen, Bodee Lester, Mariah Cranford, Amelia Quiring.
Sheridan Elementary's fourth grade Destination Imagination team members are (from left), Oliver Shelstad, Elliot Shelstad, Oliver Kully, Winston D'Amour, Asher Cranford, Marlowe Kluver, Luna Kim.
Irving Middle School's sixth grade Destination Imagination team members are: Front row from left, Charlotte Cline and Evie Shelstad. Back row from left, Grace Quiring, Lucia Mues, Neve Killeen, Blake Lester.