Mercer Island Students Earn Six Top 10s at Destination Imagination Global Finals

MISD Destination Imagination Teams The Anonymous Chickens (left) and The Crazed Monkeys that competed at the Global Finals

Mercer Island, WA, June 9, 2026 - Mercer Island students stepped onto a global stage this spring with solutions they built from scratch and after months of testing ideas, reworking designs, and solving problems as a team, six teams earned top 10 finishes at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Kansas City, Missouri from May 22 to May 24.

The annual three-day event brings together 600 top student teams from 25 countries to take on open-ended challenges in science, engineering, fine arts, and service learning.

Destination Imagination is a nonprofit organization focused on creativity and problem-solving, reaching 30,000 students annually. This year, Mercer Island Schools sponsored 143 students on 24 teams representing grades 4-12, part of a global community of more than 5,000 teams.

The Mercer Island School District has supported student participation in Destination Imagination since 2006 reaching an average of 140 students per year across grades 1 through 12. Examples of the teamwork, passion, and ingenuity demonstrated can be seen in these student presentation videos or this video recap of the 2025-2026 season.

The teams work independently, with minimal adult coaching, from ideation to execution. They developed solutions that blended engineering, storytelling, and live performance, requiring them to design and build original components, and test and adjust when things did not work. Teams have crafted original musical scores, built working elevators, fabricated dresses from aluminum foil, and crafted science presentations filled with so much humor and information that you can’t help but laugh while you learn. 

High school junior Nik Kini captures the DI experience by stating, “As I reflect on my eight years of Destination Imagination, I realize that it has become one of the most defining experiences of my life. This year, we achieved a top-3 finish in Global Finals, a goal I had been chasing for nearly a decade. Every challenge, every late-night meeting, every friendship built along the way was a team effort. DI has taught me it is not the “Power of One,” but the “Power of We.””

Six teams from Islander Middle School and Mercer Island High School advanced through regional and state tournaments to compete at Global Finals. All six Mercer Island teams placed in the top 10 in their categories. One team, The Anonymous Chickens, earned 2nd place in the Scientific Challenge. The Crazed Monkeys took 4th place in Engineering, marking their second consecutive year finishing among the top five teams globally. The Crazed Monkeys also took home a special Renaissance Award. The appraisers stated: “This team presented an amazing “aluminum” playable piano constructed out of cardboard that was modeled after the real-world aluminum piano that flew on the Hindenburg. A homemade air pump showed pure creativity. Their Structure and weights, with a “propeller” weight evoking the actual airship, pulled the entire presentation together into an integrated whole.”

• The Anonymous Chickens - 2^nd place, Scientific (Secondary Level)
• The Crazed Monkeys - 4^th place, Engineering (Middle Level)
• Unhinged - 5^th place, Service Learning (Secondary Level)
• D.I.tastic - 6^th place, Technical (Middle Level)
• The Flat Earthers - 7^th place, Scientific (Middle Level)
• The Da Vincis - 10^th place, Fine Arts, (Secondary Level)

These results reflect more than rankings. The teams spent months, with minimal adult coaching, working through concepts, learning how to navigate different viewpoints and unify as a team, implement feedback, and building the confidence to present their work at the local, state, and global level.

“The rapid pace of AI innovation demands that we equip our students with problem-solving skills, creativity, and the ability to work through uncertainty together. I’m so proud of all the students that participated this year demonstrating their resilience to tackle complex challenges, work together for the good of the team, and learn from mistakes,” said David Baxter, program leader and West Mercer Elementary fifth grade teacher.

Parent team managers, appraisers, and staff supporters create the structure that allows students to lead their own work. The Mercer Island School District recognizes and thanks the volunteers and educators who supported them throughout the season.

• Parent Volunteers: Allan Velzy, Ana Kamath, Ashley Thurow, Ayesha Harper, Darin Postma, Darren Gold, Emily Ching, Farhad Najafian, Ingrid Weisse, Janine Perret, Justin Pae, Linnea Augustine, Matt Augustine, Mei Ying, Melinda Reimer, Michael Bundesmann, Mrudula Narwal, Nathan Dudley, Nilam Saboo, Pooja Sachan, Robin Li, Shkurte Ejupi, Stephen Morris, Sunny Sun, Susan Kim, Tiffin Goodman, Tom Soeprono

• Staff Volunteers: David Baxter, Julie Langley, Elizabeth Loiselle, Nic Reese, Darren Woods, and Weston Lucas

 2025-2026 Destination Imagination Student Teams

The teams and students that participated in Destination Imagination this year include:

UnHinged: Tessa Baumgarten, Anya Singh, Ella Choe, Zara Velamoor, Asher Schultz, Maryam Gengler

The DI Vincis: Clare Capasso, Esha Shroff, Guillem Sullivan, Rowan Perez, Sahaj Shah, Neil Pandya, Kerem Cansizoglu

The Anonymous Chickens: Nolan Kim, Lucas Pae, Noah Tan, Ernie Fan, Nik Kini, Arnav Sachan, Elliot Chang

The Mean Green Beans: Sadie Kim, Steffi Kim, Jasmine Bandrio, Aadyaa Singhal, Rilke Dalton, Sid Siravara

Team Ascend: Luke Loiselle, Bridge Gerry, Dash Dahlberg, Rohan Parandekar, Mattias Hofstetter, Jay Mehta, Brady Moch

1-800 Dial the Gods: Lillian Jieru Wu, Kylie Zhang, Radhika Jhaveri, Lucy Hao, Ava Lele

D.I.tastic 6: Callie Baumgarten, Aditi Choudhary, Kanav Shah, Ryan Chen, Pranit Pradeepkumar, Arya Hersch

The Flat Earthers: Meera Mishra, Alice Shang, Felix Thomson, Anvi Gowda, Shaan Mehta, Ashleen Tsui

The Crazed Monkeys: Mitchell Dudley, Alfred Wang, Spencer Mi, Rishab Wishwas, Irving Sun, Bryan Hao

The Frying Pans: Kabir Sachan, Myra Shinde, Toby Thomson, Juliana Sung, Natasha Baghe

Drama Dragons: Isabelle Loiselle, Amina Harper, Sophie Wang, Mira Prakasam, Kaira Reddy, Clem Masada, Taylor Hua

InterDImensional: Kekoa Tang, Oliver Reimer, Adam Augustine, Neeraj Kini, Oliver Bickel, Peter Smith, Yuhan Sui

Destination Procrastination: Teo DiPasquo, Felix Soeprono, Elliot Capasso, Rishaan Junnarkar

AMAAISE: Isa Bundesmann, Marie Fortson, Elise Cherdron, Siya Maheshwari, Annalise Huang, Aria Naftolin, Avnoor Sidhu

The Chefs: Vivaan Jaideep, Walter Plichta, Eveline Armitage, Rinesa Halili

Notoriously Awesome Heroes: Zach Howshar, Maddie Janusson, Evelyn Jing, Shaivi Pandya, Leo Furdell

Galloping Goldfish: Arshia Singhal, Cecilia Fortson, Alice Bickel, Zach Kuespert, Elliot Morris, Noah Chu, Miles Chow

Oven Mits: Milo Velzy, Albert Calderer, Jeet Mody, Atlas Tang, Jakob Postma

D.I.D.T: Amara Chen, Hannah Chen, Joanna Ju, Natalie Chan, Natalie Yue, Hennie Lee, Monica Zhou

Hyper Huskies: Lily Augustine, Vivian Gold, Jake White, Matteo Doni

Win a Lifetime: Eliza Thurow, Calder Morris, Mahati Narwal, Peter Zhang, River Hulst

The Flying Bananas: Marco Chan, Hudson Pae, Hailey Pae, Siyang Ding, Dylan Cho, Daniel Haberfeld

The Big Brainers: Brayden Hong, Greyson Lau, Saarthh Upadhyay, Soneri Shodhan, Sukhi Shodhan, Maëlys Moran, Emma Ahmadi

MI Tigers: Mira Hersch, Anany Babu, Melody Furdell, Adrian Najafian, Liam Reardon

About Destination Imagination

Destination Imagination (DI) is a global educational nonprofit that inspires and equips students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders. Through team-based STEAM Challenges rooted in creativity and project-based learning, students learn how to think creatively and critically, communicate and collaborate effectively, and solve problems with confidence and persistence. Since 1999, more than 1 million students worldwide have participated in Destination Imagination programs like the Challenge Experience, Team Film Challenge, and SkillFire, using the DI Creative Process to solve open-ended Challenges, explore new skills, and build confidence in themselves and their ideas. Learn more at www.destinationimagination.org.