LYNDEN — Fourteen Lynden kids will represent not only their elementary schools next week at the global Destination Imagination competition in Tennessee. They will represent Washington state.

Two teams of seven students each, from Isom and Bernice Vossbeck elementary schools, each took first place in their challenges at the state competition earlier this spring, earning them a trip to the global finals in Knoxville.

The Destination Imagination competition requires students of all ages to think quickly and creatively to solve problems without help from adults. The five challenges change each year, but they focus on at least one of the following areas: technical design, structural design, scientific exploration, improvisation and fine arts.

“I think DI is something the whole world should know about,” said Kelsey Matthews, 9, from Bernice Vossbeck Elementary. “It should be taught in schools.”

The Bernice Vossbeck team is competing in the CHORIFIC! challenge, which requires students to create a skit about a chore and improvise when “obstacles” to the chore are thrown in. Students also must incorporate a famous historical figure, whose identity is revealed moments before the skit is supposed to start.

The Isom Elementary team is part of the SWITCH! Challenge, which requires them to build a wood and glue structure and see how much weight it can hold, while performing a skit that involves the structure. The “switch” comes in when the weight is removed, the structure is turned on its side, and the weight is put back on.

At the state competition, the team’s balsa wood structure held 350 pounds on the strong side and about 150 pounds on the weaker side.

For Isom third-grader Caleb Eriksen, his first year has been everything he could have hoped for. He joined the team after seeing a poster in a classroom with the following Albert Einstein quote:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

“I kind of agree with him,” said Eriksen, 8. “It kind of made me feel like I needed to do it.”

Several of the students heading to Tennessee are returning participants, having been hooked on the competition in previous years.

“It’s just kind of part of my life,” said Catyler Alex, a fourth-grader on the Bernice Vossbeck team. “I love it so much, it’s just fun to do.”

And for some, a trip to Tennessee has become routine. Katie Clark, a fifth-grader on the Bernice Vossbeck team, is making her third trip to the global competition.

“I keep doing it because there’s always a new experience,” she said.