Durango students received some accolades this week.
A team of Animas Valley Elementary fifth-graders advanced to the Global Finals of the Destination Imagination competition by finishing second in the state tournament held in Denver on Saturday.
Also, Durango High School’s SkillsUSA chapter was recognized for achieving Gold Level status in the Chapter Excellence Program – Models of Excellence. This is the highest level a SkillsUSA chapter can achieve.
And DHS’s Concert Band competed in the Colorado Bandmasters Association State Concert Band Festival in Fort Collins on Monday and Tuesday, receiving a “superior” rating.
The Destination Imagination Global Finals, which will feature 1,400 teams from 45 U.S. states and 14 countries, takes place in Knoxville, Tennessee, in May. It is designed to foster creativity, curiosity and courage among students through open-ended academic challenges in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, fine arts and service learning.
“I thought our performance went well,” said fifth-grader Zach Oliver of the state tournament. “Our team is a great problem-solving team and we have a lot of good ideas.”
Besides Oliver, other team members are Holden Bronson, Dane England, Jack England, Alyxx Ford, Myla Glaser and Peri Wright.
Now, the team from Animas Valley Elementary, which calls itself DI-DI-OH, has a new problem to solve: It will take roughly $12,000 for the seven Durango students and their coach to travel, stay and compete at the Global Finals.
Part of the Destination Imagination experience is fundraising; the team did bake sales and received grants for supplies and competition entry fees for regional and state events.
Now, the fifth-graders are coming together to raise money. The community is invited to follow them on Instagram @di_globals_ to donate, learn about their progress in raising funds and watch them prepare for the Global Finals.
Last year, Durango High’s SkillsUSA chapter received Silver in Models of Excellence.
The chapter is one of eight chapters nationwide recognized in the category of personal skills, which judges students on integrity, work ethic, professionalism, responsibility, adaptability-flexibility and self-motivation.
Personal skills is one of three elements of the SkillsUSA competition framework, which also includes technical skills and workplace skills.
The DHS chapter will be recognized next week at the State SkillsUSA Conference as a Gold Level chapter. The chapter will receive, after it commits to attend and compete, a $2,000 scholarship for travel to the National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be held the last week of June.
The team’s sponsor is Shaun Smith.
The DHS SkillsUSA team is composed of John Awe, Quinten Berridge, Zach Dunlop, Brian Elvidge, Chief-Manuelito Garbiso, Heraldo Gonzales, Mazzy Goodwin-Fortier, Julian McAteer, Savanna McIntyre, Jose Rodriquez, Iz Tenorio, Seth Thornburg, Luke Wilkens, Ashland Wood and Dakota Wood.
Katherine Reed, director of bands at DHS, said this is the first time the Concert Band has competed at the state tournament, and a superior rating, the second highest, is the best she could possibly expect for the band’s first appearance at the state level.
Some 80 students are in the band, which qualified for the state competition in March in a regional competition in Palisade. DHS was one of three Western Slope bands competing.
“The band is like a big family atmosphere, and this is a huge legacy for the seniors to leave behind,” Reed said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
