Local students advance to Global Finals

A team of elementary students from San Ramon and Castro Valley, known as the Dragons International, is set to travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for the 2015 Destination Imagination Global Finals — one of the largest creative-thinking and problem-solving competitions in the world.

“Our goal through Destination Imagination and Global Finals is to teach kids how to think, not what to think,” said Dr. Chuck Cadle, CEO of Destination Imagination, Inc. “We are in the imagination business, and we are teaching kids to open their eyes to the world and learn how to compete using their creativity and other 21st century skills.”

The Dragons International are among the 1,400 teams attending the Global Finals at the University of Tennessee from May 20-23.

Team members from San Ramon’s Coyote Creek and Hidden Hills elementary schools include Ryan Hing, Annia McCormick, Felix Peukert, Sachi Rao, Tanvi Rao and Rithika Senthilkumar. From Castro Valley’s Marshall Elementary is Karina Fabian.

The Dragons International advanced to the global finals by ranking second in the California State Tournament on March 28 and coming in third at the Best of the Bay Regional Tournament on Feb. 14.

The seven-member team competed in Destination Imagination’s “Feary Tales” challenge in the Fine Arts category where they had to create a fairy tale about a character that faces and deals with a phobia.

The Fine Arts category is one of seven open-ended challenges that require teams to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), in addition to improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork and community service.

Dragons International and their supporters have set up a “Go Fund Me” page to help raise money to offset trip expenses. To date, they’ve raised $595 toward their goal of $16,000.