Imagination, innovation and goodwill abounded at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn., where 7,978 students from kindergarten through college converged to compete.

The Bigfork School Ti-Rangles ranked 46th out of 88 middle school teams in the “Tension Builds” category. 

Tension Builds was one of six technical, fine arts, scientific, improvisation, structural or service-learning categories.

To get to Knoxville, team manager Shauna Gibson estimated the team raised roughly $12,500 to cover expenses for the seven members of the Ti-Rangles Evan Benton, Grant Gibson, Cole Hider, K.C. Isaman, Ben Johnson, Riley Hoveland and Reuben Hubbard.

During the competition, students performed a skit they produced and built a prop to demonstrate tension. They also completed a task-based instant challenge.

“I don’t get nervous much,” said Hoveland, who is involved in theater, “but I was so nervous.”

The Ti-Rangles also had to build a structure that could withstand force. The structure had to weigh less than 80 grams. The structure they built withstood more weight than the state level. At the global competition, the structure withstood the equivalent of about 560 pounds. At state, their structure withstood 322.5 pounds.

“We saw teams of third-graders with 900-pound structures,” Hoveland said.

On Thursday the team celebrated its return from the competition, held in late May, with a barbecue.

“It was an honor to be there,” Hoveland said. “Some teams try for years and years.”

The Bigfork team had the unique opportunity to apply to be paired with a buddy team from Beijing, China. The two teams met, ate lunch together and exchanged gifts and pins. 

Pins were a hot commodity at global finals, according to Hoveland. Pin exchanges were one of her favorite parts of the trip. Hoveland said she met people from Mexico, Poland and Qatar, to name a few.

“I’m a people person, so I definitely like meeting people,” she said. 

After pin exchanges and pin purchases Hoveland said she has about 200 pins displayed on a bulletin board at home.

Hubbard said one of the highlights of the trip was sightseeing at the World’s Fair Park and taking an elevator ride up the Sunsphere, built for the 1982 World’s Fair.

In between competition, pin exchanges and sightseeing, the team toured an Innovation Expo, where they checked out the latest in technology.

“The Expo was so much fun. We got to look at some new educational software that had 3-D glasses,” Hoveland said. 

Putting on the glasses and using a digital stylus, Hoveland “dissected” a virtual image of a cat — which was to scale — while Hubbard peeled away the layers of  3-D human eyeball.

“It was genius,” Hoveland said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].