After months of hard work and a strong showing at the state championship, two teams are heading to the Destination Imagination global competition.

The senior team, “The Entire Population of Canada” and freshmen and sophomores, team, “Hoodwinking Hoodlums,” came in second place in their respective age groups.

“It’s really empowering for kids and it’s fun,” said Tina Rood, who has managed the teams for 11 years with Kerry Bulman. Both are parents with kids on the teams. “It’s a big time commitment for the kids. It’s hundreds of hours that they work on it.”

Destination Imagination is an international, creative problem-solving program where students from elementary school through college choose one of six different challenges, including fine arts and science and create a skit around it. They have a $150 budget for materials and have only eight minutes to set up and perform.

As an adult manager, “you can never tell them how to solve the challenge. You have to step back,” said Rood.

This year, the seniors' challenge involves a mystery with three suspects, whose names are written in an envelope on the stage. One name is chosen during the performance. With the possible culprit always a mystery, the students have three different scenarios.

The team – Rikard Bodin, Sara Lafrance, Drew Robert, Will Lynch, Maddie Meyer and Kyle Rood – won first place at the regional tournament and took home the prestigious DaVinci award for “outstanding creativity and a unique approach to problem solving and/or risk taking.”

In addition to second place at the state competition, held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Lafrance also took home the Barbara Mann Scholarship, for a student who has worked to promote and mentor Destination Imagination members. Lafrance, who is also an intern for Sippican Week, managed an elementary school team this year and has been in DI for 11 years.

The other winning team is composed of Ben Lafrance, Brett Rood, Pat O’Neil, Maggie Farrell and Kelsea Kidney.

The team chose the scientific challenge that requires their skit to have an inhuman character that uses natural camouflage and include another item on stage that uses a natural camouflaging method. The team chose the peppered moth and created a tree with thousands of pieces of tissue paper to mimic lichen where the moth could hide.

Rood said both teams have shown a lot of dedication this year, but it’s bittersweet for her as she approaches the last competition with the seniors, some of whom she has mentored since they were in second grade.

“I’ve been nostalgic all year,” Rood said.  But they’re not done yet. Fresh off their wins, the teams are now prepare for the finals held in Knoxville, Tennessee May 25 to 28. They have a number of fundraisers in the works, including a car wash at the Mattapoisett Fire Station on May 14.