Central Elementary School students Emily Chadwick, left, and Anna Grigsby take part in a rehearsal for their team's state Destination Imagination performance Thursday. (The Observer/DICK MASON).

Dick Mason

The Observer

Never underestimate the power of duct tape or Newton’s third law of gravity.

Just ask about 40 Union County students. They are members of seven teams that will compete in Saturday’s state Destination Imagination championships in Corvallis. Destination Imagination is one of the world’s largest creativity and problem-solving programs for youths of all ages.

At state, students will put their mechanical, theatrical and musical skills to use in unforgettable fashion. One La Grande High School team will give a skit on what the world would be like without Newton’s third law of motion "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Without Newton’s law the world at first seems like a better place because bombs cannot explode and bullies cannot push people down. However, it is soon discovered that many good things also can’t occur birds can’t fly and balls can’t bounce, said LHS sophomore Mary Barrett.

Joining Barrett at state will be teammates Leah VanLaarhaven, Christina DeVillier, Tyler Dixon, Ella Antell and Russell Vaniea. The team’s manager is Barrett’s mother, Jan Michel.

La Grande High School will also be represented at state by a team comprised of Jenna Montgomery, Tessa Hanson, Morgan Kelly, Doug Rice and Rosie Sharrard. The students have to give a skit telling about the life and times of a famous architect. The skit must have a structure that helps them tell the architect’s story. The architect the LHS team selected is Frank Gehry, designer of the Eppcot Center and the Guggenheim Museum, said Connie Sharrard, the team’s manager.

At the grade school level La Grande will be represented by the Central Elementary School squad of Anna Grigsby, Becca Schoenfelder, Lauren March, Michael Chadwick, Emily Chadwick and Katie Davis. The students will give a skit they wrote about a child who climbs into China through a storybook. The children wrote the skit’s script and made its props. The Central students are becoming adept at making quick repairs of their props, which they must haul on to stage and set up before each performance.

"Duct tape solves everything,” said Becca Schoenfelder.

The fourth-grader said that participating in Destination Imagination is a thrilling experience.

"You get to have fun, be enthusiastic and do a lot of things with your friends,” she said.

The Central team’s managers are Anne March and Ellen Schoenfelder. March said that one of the most important things the children are learning is to work together. For example, when writing the play, they had to meld their ideas into one.

"They all love to write,” said March, a teacher at La Grande Middle School.

Elgin’s Stella Mayfield Elementary School will be represented by two teams. One will give a skit about one of the most isolated places on earth Easter Island, which is 2,000 miles west of Chile and people there providing lights for Dutch navigators, said the team’s manager, Evelyn Spikes, who earlier taught at Elgin High School.

The Easter Island team is comprised of Stella Mayfield students Jessica Bottger, Lauren Sauers, Ty Bowen, Blu Risseeuw and Melanie Nave.

Stella Mayfield will also be represented by a team comprised of second-grader Lena Johnson and third-graders Miah Slater, Makayla McElravy, Jake Burgess and Alexandria Bottger. The students have developed a device that fires balls that are returned. The machine will be incorporated into a skit with a patriotic theme. The team’s manager is Laura Slater.

The Imbler and North Powder school districts will each be represented by

one team at state.

Imbler’s team will have to deal with the element of surprise, said team manager Wendy Clerget.

The team will be given a number of elements from Africa, including an environment, an animal and a crisis. The students will then have 30 minutes to create a six-minute skit using these elements, said Clerget, who is a kindergarten teacher and a Talented and Gifted program coordinator with the Imbler School District.

Imbler’s team members are third-grader Daniel Allen, fourth-graders Malia Mills and Riley Merrigan, and fifth-grader Chris Creech.

North Powder’s team is comprised of eighth-grader Zane Garner and seventh-graders Jesse Brown, Nathan Pointer, Trenton Dixon, Shan Bruland and Scott Nelson. The team’s managers are Shawn Brown and Laura Pointer.

The North Powder team will give a performance using a device that fires balls and then returns them.

The top finishers at Saturday’s competition will qualify for the international Destination Imagination competition in Knoxville, Tenn.