The Austin Gazette
October 12 -October 16, 2026
Austin Families,
Just a reminder that Monday, October 12, is a student holiday, and there will be no school! When students return on Tuesday, October 13, our new school start time of 7:50 AM will go into effect. Please plan accordingly to ensure your child arrives on time and ready to learn!
We hope all of our Austin families enjoy a wonderful, relaxing long weekend! Stay safe, have fun, and we look forward to seeing our Cubs on Tuesday!
How can we get kids excited about learning, creating, and solving problems?
Destination Imagination (DI) is an educational program that gives students the opportunity to develop creativity, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills through fun, hands-on challenges.
Students participate in teams of two to seven members, guided by an adult Team Manager. Each team selects one of seven challenges designed to encourage students to explore a topic, conduct research, develop ideas, and apply what they have learned to create their own unique solution—all without adult interference in the creative process.
DI Team Challenge categories include:
Technical
Scientific
Fine Arts
Improvisational
Engineering
Service Learning
Early Learning (K–2, non-competitive).
Teams typically meet at least once a week after school for approximately five months as they work together to develop and refine their solutions. Students then have the opportunity to present both their Team Challenge and Instant Challenge solutions to appraisers at the regional tournament.
Regional Tournament
The Woodlands High SchoolSaturday, February 20, 2027
If your child is interested in making the commitment to participate in Destination Imagination. Are you are willing to serve as a Team Manager or support your child’s team?
For more information, scan this code and fill out the form. Someone will get back to your soon.
Applications will be available in the Austin Elementary front office.
We hope your child will consider joining us for an exciting year of creativity, teamwork, discovery, and problem-solving!
For more information about Destination Imagination and descriptions of this year’s challenges, please visit the Destination Imagination Challenge Experience and Southeast 6 Destination Imagination websites:
What is an eWallet?
An eWallet is a convenient digital payment option that allows your child to shop at the Book Fair without needing to carry cash. It’s an easy, cash-free, worry-free way to shop!
The eWallet experience has been upgraded! Once you create an eWallet for your child, it will carry over from year to year and remain in their Scholastic account. This means they can use the same eWallet at future Book Fairs!
To set up an eWallet for your child, visit our school’s Book Fair homepage:
