Both Brighton teams that competed over the weekend in the Region I Destination Imagination Tournament at Waterford Mott High School have advanced to the state finals.

This is the first year that Brighton has fielded teams in the Destination Imagination tournament. The Brighton teams were formed just six weeks ago in January, meaning the other schools, which had started last fall, had a head start on them. In the elementary school division, the D.I. Dabbers from Brighton took on a challenge called Inside Impact, which required them to create a project to address a community need. They took on the problem of homelessness and organized a drive to create care package bags for homeless shelters in Ann Arbor. The group collected over 800 items and delivered them to the shelters.

The Brighton Dogz, who were in the middle school division, faced teams from Birmingham, Troy, Huron Valley, and other Oakland County school districts. They chose as their category the “Challenge Drop Zone” in which they created a catapult, which had to be under 170 grams in weight, using just wood, rubber bands, cork and fishing line as materials. The catapult then had the task of launching bean bags toward a specified target. The Dogz finished in a tie for 4th place in the 8-team field.

Jennifer Bond, who spearheaded the formation of the Dogz, said that they did a very good job, considering the time constraints. Bond is actually a teacher in the Walled Lake School District. However, she lives with her family in Brighton, and her two children are on the Brighton teams. The Brighton Dogz and D.I. Dabbers will be competing in the state tournament at Michigan State University on April 14th. (TT)