AUBURN – The Auburn Middle School/Webster Intermediate School Destination Imagination Team was awarded third place at the state celebration on April 5 at the University of Maine in Orono.

The team competed against eight others in their division in the challenge titled “Once Improv a Time.” The problem required team members to read and research 10 classical tales from around the world and pick out literary elements in each.

Then, in a 30-minute period, the team created a six-minute improvisational skit that combined a randomly chosen “surprise” setting and literary elements in an original story.

The elements of the skit included the character Goldilocks, the event of changing a pumpkin into a coach and the surprise setting was on the back of a camel. They incorporated an original phrase, “interesting English kiwi,” into the skit along with a unique functional object – a pumpkin that changed into a carriage.

In addition the team needed to present a “learned lesson” for their tale, which was that “even if someone is negative and mean to you, keep positive.” All props were made from newspaper and tape.

Auburn Middle School participants were Meredith Byard, Kristen Erickson, Teresa Ranucci, Britnee Ward and Ivy Mowry. Webster students included Rebeccah Leavitt and Ian Mulligan. The team is coached by Rich Byard and Ross Leavitt.