The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) took three firsts and a third-place honor at the academically driven Destination ImagiNation Global Finals competition held in Knoxville, Tenn. recently. It was the sixth year in a row that UTD finished with high marks in the international tournament.
UTD fielded four teams totaling 20 students at this year’s event, which was held May 24-27 on the campus of the University of Tennessee. The contest is designed to teach students how to work together to solve complex problems in group environments, as well as how to recognize that there can be multiple solutions to a problem.
Approximately 880 teams (elementary school though the university level), made up of more than 8,500 students from across the United States and 15 countries, participated in the tournament and chose from among five categories in which to compete — Back at You, How’d That Happen?, Inside DImension, Kidz Rulz and On Safari. The UTD squads took first place in the How’d That Happen?, Inside DImension and Kidz Rulz categories, and third place in the Back at You category. In addition, two UTD teams participated in the DI eXtreme collegiate category against eight other universities and took first and second place in the special grouping.
U.T. Dallas teams began preparing for the tournament last fall and included students Ben Connors, Nic Cowling, Jason Dossett, Austin Edmiston, James Fickenscher, Nathan Hannon, Melissa Lent, Annie Luu, Megan Malone, Erica Neiser, Chris Pier, Liam Skoyles, Michael Smith, Richard Thomas, Benedict Voit, Richard Voit, Walter Voit, Bradley Wallace, Ben Yelverton and Jordan Youngblood.