Seventy-three Leander ISD teams competed in the Heart of Texas Creative Problem Solving Destination Imagination Tournament hosted at LISD’s Tom Glenn High School Feb. 11. Seventeen of the Leander ISD teams that competed – consisting of over 100 students across the district – will advance to the Lone Star Finals tournament, which will be held at The University of Texas Arlington March 24–25, 2023.

More information about the tournament and a list of teams competing and advancing to state can be found at https://www.heartoftexasdi.org/home. 

Leander ISD Destination Imagination Teams Headed to State

Fine Arts Challenge

Elementary Level
“The Imagineers” – Cypress ES – Second Place
Team Members: Jack Lissi, Kennedy Koen, Charley Fulmer, Bryce Nagy, Renata Prado, Benjamin Lin, William Sheridan
Team Manager: Annabel Honor-Lissi

Middle Level
“Banana Split” – Canyon Ridge MS – First Place
Team Members: Hope Nielson, Violet Ralian, Sofia Malacara, Paula Martinez, Magnolia Carroll
Team Managers: Scott Nielson; Heather Nielson

“Pluto Punk” – Canyon Ridge MS – Second Place
Team Members: Isla Riley, Sophie Haney, Sana Raja, Avinash Dewaggen, Jack Martin, Sanjay Vu, Claire Archer
Team Manager: Bob Riley

Secondary Level
“Vandegrift High School #1″ – Vandegrift HS – First Place
Team Members: Rachel Reynolds, Samu Jayaprakash, Xavier Leffler, Gigi Suresh, Adi Suresh, Adrian Rapier, Rishika Mudundi
Team Managers: Cindy Reynolds; Jacob Leffler

Service Learning Challenge

Elementary Level
“Leander ISD” – Steiner Ranch ES – First Place
Team Members: Eshani Nimmagadda, Adhithi Reddy, Sanvi Kamble, Lucia Kreienheder, Josiah Ganz, Akram Ghanem, Nadine Ghanem
Team Managers: Bhargavi Nimmagadda; Reena Madhuri Valaboju

“Parkside #1 – Problem Solvers” – Parkside ES
Team Members: Krithik Lekkala, Akshaya Cherukuri, Aadhya Ganta, Yana Yadav, Tristha Bharadwaj, Sai surya Karthikeya Varma Dantuluri. Atharv Gupta
Team Managers: Anupama Cherukuri; Nandini Lekkala

Middle Level
“CedarParkMS1 – Flower Tortillas” – Cedar Park MS – First Place
Team Members: Anjali Carl, Sindhu Chidambaram, Dhanvi Myneni, Autumn Wallace, Juliene Tucker, Aryana Jahadi
Team Manager: Shirisha Reddy

Secondary Level
“Vandegrift HS #3” – Vandegrift HS – First Place
Team Members: Mary Bahrami, Shreya Poladia, Brooke Boykin, Kaitlyn Boykin
Team Manager: Angie Boykin

Showdown Improvisational

Elementary Level
“Bagdad ES” – Bagdad ES
Team Members: Mimi Alvarez, Ali Arymbaev, Nihal Basha, Daniel Bushong, River Wharton, Sofia Warr
Team Manager: Monica Warr

Scientific Challenge

Elementary Level
“Mighty Mustangs” – Parkside ES – First Place
Team Members: Rutva Gaddale, Reyansh G. Nighojkar, Sreenandana Kamaltathil Saril, Khairav Akkinepally, Tarun Praveen, Arushri Prakash, Rishabh Nahar
Team Manager: Hemanth Gaddale

Engineering Challenge – Site D

Elementary Level
“Kids Core” – Whitestone ES – First Place
Team Members: Rowan Haskell, Blake Miller, Aleksy Keaton, Darcy Gray, Milan Trilio, Owen Ellis
Team Manager: Walter Haskell

“Team MAGMA” – Winkley ES – Second Place
Team Members: Maya Oberoi, Gauri Vas, Aadhira Anup, Amare Verma, Mishka Shetty
Team Manager: Tiffany Oberoi

Engineering Challenge – Site I

Elementary Level
“Crazy Yeti Children” – Bush ES – First Place
Team Members: Nolan Shaw, Rush Bartlett, Justin Vell,Vincent Chen, Anne Countway, Anaisha Roy, Dravin Sankar
Team Managers: Ning Shao; Rush Bartlett

“Seven Shooting Stars” – Whitestone ES – Second Place
Team Members: Siddharth Vazhkudai, Max Barnard, Preston Helton, Cadence De Torres, Aria De Torres, Advika Suraj, Emma Choi
Team Managers: Meichihko Barnard; Sowmyashree Sundarajan

Texas Xtreme Challenge

Middle Level
“Canyon Ridge Middle School” – Canyon Ridge MS – First Place
Team Members: Dante Leffler, Sunaina Dewagan, Siri Krishna, Shanyu Suraparaju, Ronith Reddy, Chris Bargiel
Team Manager: Jacob Leffler

Secondary Level
“Vandegrift High School” – Vandegrift HS – First Place
Team Members: Rachel Reynolds, Samu Jayaprakash, Xavier Leffler, Gigi Suresh, Adi Suresh, Adrian Rapier, Rishika Mudundi
Team Manager: Jacob Leffler

“Madams of Mayhem” – Cedar Park HS
Team Members: Cara Allen, Mina Danesh, Gabrielle Merrill, Erica Mihealsick, Mathew Sniffen, Erin Alexander
Team Manager: Beth Allen