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Fourteen Dover-Sherborn students recently competed in the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee, from May 25-29. This annual competition, known as the world’s largest celebration of student creativity, includes 8,000 student finalists from 20 countries who gathered to showcase their creative thinking, problem solving skills and teamwork.
Dover Sherborn Destination Imagination (DSDI) team members include: The DI Devils: Pine Hill 5th grade students Vivian Jalali, Cian Keohane, Connor Murphy, Elizabeth Phillips, Ava Schwartz, Adalaide Schwarz and Garrett Theberge.
The Supersonic 7: DS Middle School students Kai Abbett, Laurel Mahoney, Jack Potter, Riley Schumacher, Sophia Tate, Luke Theberge and Sam Thompson.
Both teams competed in the Improvisational Category, which consisted of a four-minute improv skit with the required elements of a three-minute planning session, a mysterious stranger, a miscellaneous prop built from newspaper, a random newsflash and a confined space. The teams each presented skits that included research facts, humor, teamwork, and incredibly quick and creative thinking. Both teams delivered strong performances, which earned them 30th and 32nd among 80 teams in their respective levels.
In addition to the competition, global finalists participated in presentations by NASA, science experiments hosted by Mind Trekkers – an interactive group led by students from Michigan Tech that focuses on encouraging students to uncover the mysteries of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); numerous creative workshops and interacted with students from around the world including countries such as Qatar, Singapore, Poland, and Guatemala.
A few of the many highlights of the event are the annual Duct Tape Ball in which students make outfits using their creativity and duct tape, pin trading with kids from all over the world, opening and closing ceremonies and an evening of music and dancing on the beautiful campus of University of Tennessee. It was an incredible experience for team members and they represented DSDI well.
In the months leading up to Global Finals, DSDI team members actively raised funds to help defray the costs associated with traveling to and registering for the competition. They are grateful for the generous support of community members who participated in their bake sales, car wash at the Sherborn Fire Station, and sponsoring a flock of flamingos to travel from house to house throughout the two communities.
Destination Imagination is a leading educational nonprofit with 150,000 participants annually from 30 countries. It is a fun, hands-on system of learning that fosters students’ creativity, courage and curiosity through open-ended academic challenges in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, fine arts and service learning. Participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem solving process. Since it’s incorporation in 1982, DI has impacted more than 1.5 million students in challenge levels ranging from Pre-K to University.
The Dover Sherborn DI program was established in 2010 with just one elementary-level team led by parents Ellen Bendremer and Laura Rinaldi. The 2015-2016 DSDI season had 18 teams with representation from Pine Hill, Chickering, and DS Middle School. Nearly 35 parents volunteered to lead teams and manage the program, with nearly 100 DS student participants. Dover Sherborn school administrators, Barbara Brown, Scott Kellett, Laura Dayal and Deb Reinemann have been instrumental in helping the program take root in our schools.
While the 2016 DSDI season has concluded, plans are underway for an even more robust 2017 season. Anyone interested in forming a team or volunteering with the management of the DSDI program, please contact Megan Abbett at abbettkm@msn.com. More information about Destination Imagination can be found at www.destinationimagination.com.
The DI Devils and Supersonic 7 were honored to represent Dover Sherborn at the Global Finals and they thank the entire community for their support.
