A judge examines a mechanical device developed by the Badger Guys, the North Powder Destination ImagiNation team, at its district competition in Baker City earlier this year. Three members of the North Powder team are shown, Zane Garner, dressed as a pirate, Nathan Pointer and Scott Nelson. (Baker City Herald/KATHY ORR).

Dick Mason

and Chris Collins

Never underestimate the power of imagination.

Just ask a team of six seventh- and eighth-grade boys from North Powder. The students are bound for Knoxville, Tenn., on the wings of imagination.

The students recently qualified for the May 24-27 Destination ImagiNation Global Finals at the state competition in Corvallis earlier this month. The North Powder team is one of three from Union County that qualified for the Global Finals but the only one that will travel to Knoxville for the competition. The two other qualifiers were teams from La Grande High School.

The Badger Guys, as the middle school students call themselves, placed first in their division and also won the Renaissance Award, given for "exceptional skill in the areas of engineering, design or performance.”

The North Powder team, comprised of eighth-grader Zane Garner and seventh-graders Jesse Brown, Nathan Pointer, Trenton Dixon, Shan Bruland and Scott Nelson, placed first in their division of the "Back At You!” challenge.

Teams were required to design and build a delivery device to send tennis or ping-pong balls from a "departure zone” to an "opening in a receiver” and a ball-return device to send the balls from the receiver back to the departure zone. The team had eight minutes to complete the presentation, and was not allowed to spend more than $175 on building materials.

The boys were also required to integrate a story about someone or something that had gone away and comes back.

In placing first, judges gave the team 386 points out of a total of 400, and had this to say about their project:

"The Badger Guys created some of the most awesome props we have ever seen. … And when we were still agog over those wonderful props, they started up the ball-firing cycle, and oh my goodness, those guys could fire balls so fast and accurately that we were even more amazed.”

Laura Pointer and Shawn Brown are the team managers. Pointer credits Brown with helping the boys learn many of the skills, including welding and wiring, that they used to produce the award-winning props.

The two La Grande High School teams also displayed remarkable creativity at state. One team qualified for the Global Finals by winning high marks for 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 cannot occur, for example, birds can’t fly and balls can’t bounce, said La Grande High School sophomore Mary Barrett.

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

La Grande High School was also represented at state by a team comprised of Jenna Montgomery, Tessa Hanson, Morgan Kelly, Doug Rice and Rosie Sharrard. Connie Sharrard was the team manager. The team automatically qualified for the Global Finals because it had no competition in its division. It likely would have been a solid contender anyway because the team received good marks from judges.

The LHS students produced a skit in which they told of the life and times of a famous architect. The skit had to have a structure to help tell the architect’s story. Frank Gehry is the architect the students selected. Gehry designed the Eppcot Center and the Guggenheim Museum.

Travel expenses are a major reason neither team from

La Grande High School is going to the Global Finals.

The North Powder team is in the process of raising $10,000 for its trip. The team is seeking sponsorships from local businesses and asking for donations of products to be sold at an auction during a potato feed planned for May 5. The event begins at 6 p.m. at Powder Valley School.

What’s more, a baked food sale is set for Saturday at the Sell-Rite General Store in Haines.

Donations also are being accepted at the North Powder school office or can be sent to P.O. Box 10, North Powder 97867.