NH Students Advance to Destination Imagination's Finals

PORTSMOUTH, NH - Local students from New Castle are moving on to the Destination Imagination's Global Finals, the world’s largest celebration of student creativity.

The competition is set for May 23-26 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The New Castle Pandacorns, all sixth graders at Maude H. Trefethen school in New Castle, include Gigi Lannon, Lucy Schwab, Georgia Pinciaro, Maggie Conklin, Forrest Kimmel, and Emilio Pruna.

The Pandacorns will compete with other teams in the Change of Tune challenge, one of seven, open-ended Challenges that require students to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, in addition to their talents in improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork, community service and social entrepreneurship.

"Watching this team come together to create their solution has been a delight” said Daphne Schwab, Team Manager of The Pandacorns. “Although they definitely had frustrations along the way, they persevered and their creativity and humor shines in the result. I am so proud of all they have accomplished – all I had to do was feed them Domino’s pizza!” concluded Daphne.

"I can’t believe we made it! It’s been so fun to learn how to overcome challenges and build on our individual strengths. We are so proud to represent our little town of New Castle on the world stage, and we couldn’t have done it without our awesome Team Manager Ms. Daphne" said Emilio Pruna, student on The Pandacorns team.

The Pandacorns are among the 8,000 students representing more than 1,400 teams that have advanced to participate in Global Finals 2018.

They are seeking donations to help them on their quest for Imagination and Innovation in Tenessee; the kids will be fundraising with a GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/pandacorns, and also with good old lemonade stands around town!

Courtesy Photo / Destination Imagination - Pictured (L-R) Pandacorn Team Members: Gigi Lannon, Lucy Schwab, Georgia Pinciaro, Maggie Conklin, Forrest Kimmel, and Emilio Pruna - 6th Graders at Maude H. Trefethen Elementary school in New Castle, NH.