San Jose, April 18, 2018:  Moreland School District announced that one of Moreland Middle School’s Destination Imagination Teams, The Hungry Dinos, will advance to the 2018 Global Finals in Tennessee.  Having competed against over 150 other teams from throughout California at the State Destination Imagination Tournament in Clovis on April 7, 2018, in one of seven challenge categories, The Hungry Dinos is one of 64 teams that will advance in either the elementary, middle, or senior level.

The Hungry Dinos, a team of three 7th and 8th graders from Moreland Middle School, chose the Service Learning challenge: Inside Impact.  Their task was to identify, design and carry out a project that addresses a need in a real community, create a live presentation that highlights the project and its impact, create infographics that include information about the project, and create a storage device that transforms as the story of the project unfolds.  The Hungry Dinos collected toiletries from local schools and businesses and donated them to three local homeless shelters in San Jose.

Destination Imagination is a project-based program that builds participants’ creativity, problem-solving skills, and teamwork.  Student teams work outside the school day to practice solving open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments.  The Destination Imagination process includes 21st Century Skills, STEAM based challenges, leadership skills, and art appreciation.  From imagination to innovation, Destination Imagination is available to Kindergarten - College students in the United States and more than 40 countries.  In teams of 2-7 participants per challenge, Destination Imagination encourages imagination and innovation.

This year, Moreland had nine teams compete in the Silicon Valley Regional Tournament.  Three Moreland teams from Latimer and Moreland Middle Schools placed in the top 3 of their challenge category, moving on to compete in the State Tournament in Clovis, California earlier this month.

The 2018 Destination Imagination Global Finals, with students from 45 states in the US and 14 countries throughout the world, will take place at the University of Tennessee on May 23-26, 2018.