Destination ImagiNation teams from Rolling Hills and Rogers middle schools, which won top honors at a regional competition, will vie with other schools from around the state in the 2003 California Creativity State Tournament.

Those going to the April 12 event include Saratoga residents on the Rolling Hills and Rogers teams, which won first and second place in regionals, respectively, and their team managers, who are also Saratoga residents.

The Rolling Hills group placed first in regionals with its skit in the "Once Improv a Time" challenge involving fairy tales with a twist. The team also won a special award "honoring those who demonstrate outstanding and extraordinary levels of spirit," said team manager Kerry Langstaff.

According to seventh-grader Lauren Crow, the team's performance of Cinderella stealing a baby on an airplane seemed to amuse the judges. "I was a flight attendant because we were on a plane, and then Cinderella had a baby, so I said, 'Would you like peanuts with that?' "

In the improv category, students were given 30 minutes to come up with a skit, costumes and a coordinated performance. "All they have is a bag of newspaper and they could break seven rolls of tape," Langstaff said.

"When we won, I stopped breathing and we were all screaming," Crow said.

The team also did well in the Instant Challenge, which was one situation given to all the participants in the region, Langstaff said. Regionals, which included schools from San Mateo, Santa Clara and Monterey counties, were held on March 8.

Rogers' team of seven seventh-grade girls placed second in the category of theater smarts for acting as pixies and creating an original song.

"You had to have a troupe of entertainers that had to have a problem to solve," said Emily Shenfield, a member of the team. Shenfield, who joined the team in the sixth grade, said she was "stunned" when Rogers placed first in regionals last year.

Teammate Dani Stuart said, however, that the team had expected to win some kind of medal because it had done so previously. But the girls are working hard to prepare for the state tournament—"We're practicing and we're sort of revising our costumes so we can hopefully get more points," Stuart said.

For the Rolling Hills students, involvement with Destination ImagiNation began while they were enrolled in Forest Hill Elementary School's Gifted and Talented Education program. Kelly Langstaff and Crow were fourth-graders with Jenna Johnson, Vidya Kaipa and Kimi Lyons when their teacher told them about the global creativity organization.

At the same time, Kerry Langstaff signed on to be the manager for the team. "It's a really great opportunity for kids," Langstaff said. "It teaches all the team members great negotiation and team-building skills." It also teaches students "to be really creative and think outside of the box," she said.

Starting in November, the group meets twice a week to prepare for regionals and chooses a challenge from one of five categories: building, improv, technical, theater and connecting. "The beauty of it is, they give you a really good description of what the challenge is," Langstaff said.

Langstaff said being involved with Destination ImagiNation has changed her daughter Kelly's life. "She's very good at thinking on her feet," Langstaff said, and giving presentations in front of her class.

"It gives them a lot of school pride, to be doing this and representing their school," Langstaff said.

Crow said the experience has helped her in her involvement with drama. "My goal in life is to be like Adam Sandler, who's my idol," Crow said.

Rogers co-manager Denise Stuart also believes Destination ImagiNation helps youth learn life lessons. "They get to work as a team, which is very important," Stuart said. The kids "learn to look at a problem in many different ways," as well as "use quite a bit of tools and get practical skills," Stuart said.

"It gives them a lot of confidence because they're performing in front of people," Stuart said. "It develops leadership in kids who you wouldn't normally expect to see leadership in."

"It's a lot of fun because I get to work with a lot of my friends on the team and it makes me exercise my brain," Dani Stuart said. She said Destination ImagiNation is better than school because "it's more creative and we have a lot less boundaries."

"I think I've been a lot more creative in my schoolwork and stuff," Shenfield said. "It's helped me a lot with problem-solving."

Although both teams are excited and nervous about the upcoming state competition, the Langstaff family is preparing for it to be an especially meaningful experience: One year ago, when they were on their way to the state tournament, younger daughter Kaitlyn came down with toxic epidermal necrolysis, a severe and often fatal illness that starts out as a skin disorder.

"Getting back to Fresno will be an emotional experience for all of us," Langstaff said. While Kaitlyn herself wants to go, their entire family is apprehensive and is busy working out logistics, such as how to transport her oxygen tank.

Since the beginning, Kaitlyn has served as the team's mascot. "She was always with me, getting dragged around to team meetings," Langstaff said. "She's just like a little sister to all of the girls because she's around all the time."

Langstaff said the girls always made an extra costume for Kaitlyn and let her hold up their signs. And when she got sick, they created cards and wrote poems for her.

Despite the family's situation, Langstaff said she is confident that the Rolling Hills group will perform well. "It's exciting and challenging," Langstaff said.