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DATES OF THE SEASON
After school team meetings begin in October
Instant Challenge Boot Camp - Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 9:00am - First Colonial High School
Virginia State Tournament, Atlee High School, Mechanicsville, VA - Saturday, March 16, 2024
Globla Finals Tournament, Kansas City, MO - May 18-20, 2024
What is DI?
Destination ImagiNation is a worldwide creative problem-solving competition for kids. Teams of 6-7 members work together to use creativity and critical thinking skills to solve challenges without assistance from adults or any other non-team members. Students develop leadership, performing, writing, technical, building and teamwork skills as they develop creative solutions! The team chooses one out of six Team Challenges to solve over a 12–16 week period and then presents their solution at a tournament. The team also solves one Instant Challenge at the tournament. Each Team Challenge is designed to be open-ended and solvable in many ways and on many levels.
Challenge A: Technical/Mechanical
Challenge B: Scientific
Challenge C: Fine Arts
Challenge D: Improvisation
Challenge E: Engineering
Challenge F: Service Learning
What does a DI season look like?
A typical DI season starts in October when teams are formed. Teams meet once a week for an hour or more. Teams meet after school or on the weekends. Individual teams determine when, where, and how often to meet. By January, teams tend to meet more often or for longer periods of time to prepare for the tournament in March.
Who is on a team?
Each team must have at least 1 adult Team Manager and up to 7 students. Teams are designated as Elementary Level (Grades 3-5), Middle Level (grades 6-8), Secondary Level (grades 9-12), Grades K-2 are Rising Stars. Teams can have students from different levels, but will compete at the level of the oldest student (e.g. a team of 5th/6th graders will be a Middle-Level team).
How can my child participate?
Register online. The number of parent volunteers willing to be team managers will determine how many teams can be formed. The more volunteers we have, the more teams we can create!
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What experience do I need to be a Team Manager?
No prior experience is needed!
Team Managers attend a virtual training session in November and you will receive amazing materials from DI! There are also workshops for your team to help them build their skills. TMs act as facilitators to the team, making sure the kids are making progress in solving the challenge and preparing for the tournament. Remember, Team Managers don’t solve the challenge, the kids do! TMs facilitate team meetings and also prepare Instant Challenges for the kids to practice at team meetings. It can be helpful to have two TMs for a team, or a TM and an Assistant TM. As a TM, you'll have the opportunity to teach real-world, life-long skills to your team. You'll have the satisfaction of watching kids come together to create a unique solution that they can be proud of. And, they’ll rub off on you, as you become more creative as well!
What happens at the tournament?
All teams will compete on the state level.. The Affiliate Tournament is Saturday, March 16, 2023 at Atlee High School, Mechanicsville, VA. The teams will solve the following:
TEAM CHALLENGE: A team will select a Team Challenge to solve in advance of the tournament. The students will prepare their solution/performance in the months leading up to the tournament. The students must solve the challenge themselves, with no assistance (interference) from anyone (parents/friends/Team Managers/etc.). At the tournament, teams will deliver a performance/presentation of their solution (up to 8 minutes) to a group of appraisers. The Team Challenge is 75% of their final score.
INSTANT CHALLENGE: At the tournament, teams will also be given an Instant Challenge, which they will be asked to solve in a very short period of time, without knowing the challenge in advance. Teams will go into a room and will be given a challenge and the materials with which to solve it. They use their thinking-on-their-feet skills to produce a solution, usually in a period of five to eight minutes! Teams practice many different Instant Challenges in advance to prepare for this part of the competition. The Instant Challenge is 25% of their final score.
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How much does this cost?
The registration fee is approximately $65-$75 per student, depending on the number of students per team and which Team Challenge they solve. Payment is expected at the first meeting, once your child has been placed on a team.
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