A team of six high school students from the Bellevue area will travel to the University of Tennessee on May 23 to participate in the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals.

The team, Pinominoes, the name the team goes by, competed at the Destination ImagiNation Seattle-Metro tournament in February with 54 other teams, 14 from the Bellevue area. They went on to compete at the recent state tournament with 84 other teams from around the state and placed first in their challenge at the secondary level qualifying them to represent Washington state at the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals Tournament with 14 other first place finishers from the state.

Destination Imagination is one of the world’s largest creative problem solving programs for youth of all ages, with thousands of participants in all 50 states and more than 40 countries around the world. Teams start to work in October to create their solution to one of five Destination ImaginNation Challenges published each year. All parts of their solution are conceived and created by the team without assistance from adults. Teams members are required to sign an affidavits stating that they have done 100 percent of the work.

The Pinominoes team consist of Julia Melfi, Overlake School, Yael Horwitz, Bellevue International High School, Adrienne Greenberg & Chanel Everett, Bellevue High, Sophie Shank, Lakeside and Devin Shuman, Interlake High School.

The team has been together since second grade at Medina Elementary and were coached by Liz Melfi, a volunteer and DI leader in the Seattle Metro region until her passing two years ago. Honoring the true sprit of DI – “I DI’d It My Way!” – the team chose to compete this year without a coach.