Katy ISD Sends 23 Top Teams to Destination Imagination State Tournament
Katy ISD is set to showcase some of the region’s most innovative young minds as 23 teams head to the 2025 Lone Star Finals, the Destination Imagination state competition, held at the University of Texas at Arlington beginning March 29, 2025. These teams earned their spots after excelling at the Gulf Coast Regional Destination Imagination Tournament and will now compete against the state’s best for a chance to advance to the Global Finals in Kansas City, Missouri, from May 22-25.
A Growing Legacy of Creativity and Innovation
“We had more than 100 teams compete at the regional competition across all challenges, as district participation continues to grow,” said Kristi Sides, district sponsor for Destination Imagination and GT/Advanced Academics instructional officer for Katy ISD. “Our advancing teams are all ranked among the region’s top students, and we wish them the best in the state finals.”
New to this year’s competition, the Gulf Coast Region Destination Imagination awarded the Imagination Perseverance Award to Seven Lakes High School’s Simar Kalra, Anita Kumar, Julia Mathews, and Alonso Ramosfor their exceptional dedication to the program, having participated for 12 years.
Mobile Sidebar Ad
Destination Imagination: Where Creativity Meets Competition
Destination Imagination provides students with an opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills across a variety of disciplines. Among the competition’s diverse challenges, the Technical Challenge inspires participants to apply engineering, research, and design principles to craft innovative solutions. In contrast, the Engineering Challenge tasks teams with building functional solutions for real-world applications. Creativity takes center stage in the Scientific Challenge, where students combine scientific inquiry with artistic expression to present research in a unique format.
Those with a passion for the arts can showcase their talents in the Fine Arts Challenge, which emphasizes acting, scriptwriting, and artistic creativity through theatrical performances. Quick thinking and adaptability are tested in the Improvisational Challenge, as students must create spontaneous storytelling performances on the spot. The Service Learning Challenge shifts the focus to community impact, engaging participants in projects that identify, design, and implement solutions for societal needs.
Rounding out the competition, the Extreme Challenge pushes secondary students to display exceptional innovation and flexibility in tackling same-day challenges.
The DI Diamonds team from Kilpatrick Elementary. (Source: Katy ISD)Recognizing Outstanding Achievements
Several Katy ISD teams received special awards for their excellence in creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving, including:
-
Spirit of DI Award – Recognizing outstanding teamwork, sportsmanship, and volunteerism.
-
Renaissance Award – Awarded for exceptional skill in design, engineering, execution, or performance.
-
DaVinci Award – Celebrating risk-taking and outstanding creativity in problem-solving.
-
High IC Award – Given to teams that achieve the highest score in the Instant Challenge, a fast-paced problem-solving task.
Katy ISD Teams Advancing to the Lone Star Finals
Katy ISD’s 23 advancing teams represent elementary, junior high, and high school campuses across the district. Their impressive performances in science, engineering, fine arts, improvisation, and service learning have earned them a place in the state finals:
|
Campus
|
Team Name
|
Challenge
|
Special Award
|
|
Alexander Elementary
|
Bright Lights
|
Fine Arts (Elementary)
|
High IC and DaVinci awards
|
|
Alexander Elementary
|
The Kindness Crew
|
Service (Elementary)
|
High IC and Renaissance awards
|
|
Alexander Elementary
|
Houston We Don’t Have a Problem
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
High IC Award
|
|
Katy Elementary
|
Planet Pals
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
High IC Award
|
|
Kilpatrick Elementary
|
Koala Warriors
|
Fine Arts (Elementary)
|
High IC Award
|
|
Kilpatrick Elementary
|
The Magnificent and Outstanding Koalas
|
Fine Arts (Elementary)
|
|
|
Kilpatrick Elementary
|
DI Diamonds
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
|
|
Nottingham Country Elementary
|
Chocolate Fudge Cookies
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
Spirit of DI Award
|
|
Pattison Elementary
|
Purple Popsicles
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
High IC Award
|
|
Pattison Elementary
|
Out of this Universe
|
Scientific (Elementary)
|
|
|
Randolph Elementary
|
The Froggies
|
Technical (Elementary)
|
Renaissance Award
|
|
Stanley Elementary
|
Destructive Llamas
|
Technical (Elementary)
|
|
|
Adams Junior High
|
Galaxy Girls
|
Scientific (Middle)
|
|
|
Beck Junior High
|
Fly Like a Beagle
|
Improvisational (Middle)
|
|
|
Beck, McMeans and WoodCreek junior highs
|
Team DInoMite!
|
Scientific (Middle)
|
|
|
McMeans Junior High
|
Industrialists
|
Technical (Middle)
|
|
|
Tays Junior High
|
CIA: Creative Imagination Agency
|
Technical (Middle)
|
|
|
Cinco Ranch High School
|
Two-Toed Dinos
|
Engineering (Secondary)
|
|
|
Morton Ranch High School
|
The Nerd Herd
|
Improvisational (Secondary)
|
|
|
Seven Lakes High School
|
Houston We Have a Problem
|
Extreme (Secondary)
|
|
|
Seven Lakes, Jordan and Tompkins high schools
|
We Are There
|
Improvisational (Secondary)
|
High IC Award
|
|
Taylor High School
|
5 to Infinity
|
Fine Arts (Secondary)
|
|
|
Tompkins High School
|
Epic Failiers
|
Service Learning
(Secondary)
|
High IC Award
|
Mobile Sidebar Ad
The Road to Global Finals
As Katy ISD’s 23 teams prepare to compete at the state level, they carry the potential to qualify for the prestigious Global Finals in Kansas City. This event will bring together the top Destination Imagination teams worldwide to compete in an ultimate test of creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving.
Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.
