MADISON — They call themselves Infinite Velocity and they’re on their way to Destination Imagination’s Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee, billed as the world’s largest celebration of student creativity.

And they’re all home-schooled.

Isaiah Simoneau uses a power drill and ropes to pull a vehicle toward him as he and members of the Somerset Homeschool Co-op demonstrate their team Infinite Velocity entry that earned them a state championship in an academic challenge competition Wednesday. They will compete for a national title in Tennessee. Staff photo by David Leaming

Students from the Somerset Homeschool Co-op assemble their team Infinite Velocity entry that earned them a state championship in an academic challenge competition Wednesday. They will compete for a national title in Tennessee. Sarah Hatfield, left, and Mackenzie Merrill work on the vehicle as Isaiah Simoneau, Ashton Umbrianna and Carter Houle assemble the ropes and winch that pulled the vehicle. Staff photo by David Leaming

Ashton Umbrianna sits in a vehicle as another student uses a device powered by a drill to pull it. Staff photo by David Leaming

The group of five middle-school-age students, members of the Somerset Homeschool Co-op, came up with a physics challenge that uses an ordinary power drill, pulleys and rope to haul a box on dolly wheels across the room. They won the 2017 Maine Destination Imagination competition in their category and earned a trip to the University of Tennessee May 24-27 for the Global Finals, which involves about 8,000 students from 30 nations around the world.

A spokeswoman at Destination Imagination said there will be several other teams from Maine going to the Global Finals in different categories, but the complete list will not be released until May 3.

Somerset members will compete in the Show and Tech category, one of seven open-ended challenges that require students to apply science, technology, engineering and math skills.

Team members are Ashton Umbrianna, 13, of St. Albans; Carter Houle, 14, of Vassalboro; Sarah Hatfield, 12, of Solon; Isaiah Simoneau, 13, of St. Albans; and Mackenzie Merrill, 12, of Norridgewock.

“We learned what we can do with just average things, like a drill. We never would have thought that you could pull a car with 200 pounds in it with a drill,” Isaiah Simoneau said. He said the system the team devised pulled a homemade car made of cardboard and plywood across the floor with two of the kids inside.

“As you turn the drill on, it just winds it up just like a winch,” he said. “We learned the science behind pulleys.”

More than 1.5 million students have taken part in the Destination Imagination program, according to promotional material. This year, 150,000 students participated in tournaments throughout the U.S. and 30 countries in hopes of earning a spot at the Global Finals competition in May.

Infinite Velocity is one team among more than 8,000 students representing more than 1,400 teams that will advance to Global Finals 2017.

“I think it’s super exciting to make it to globals,” said Mackenzie Merrill. “We had to build a stage — it’s a car — that would move one person from one side of the room to the other. We were given the challenge by the Destination Imagination board.”

Isaiah Simoneau said by adding pulleys, the stress on the rope and the load it was pulling was divided up, as in a physics equation, and the drill was able to pull the weight.

The state finals were held March 18 at the University of Maine. The team meets and continues to improve on the device’s performance at Crossroads Bible Church just off U.S. Route 201 in Madison.

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