Seventeen Greenville ISD teams competed with nearly 200 teams in the East Region Destination Imagination (DI) Tournament last weekend. Ten of those teams earned a spot in the top three, and six of those are first-place winners headed to the State Tournament in Corpus Christi March 22-23. Greenville ISD has more teams advancing to the State tournament than any other school district in the East region.
“I am so proud of our students and the time and effort they pour into DI. These teams have been working since September on a solution to a very ambitious challenge. The skills they learn through DI are going to serve them throughout their lives. It is their determination, planning, problem solving, team work and ability to find innovative answers to their problems that makes them successful,” said Emily Duke, GISD DI coordinator.
More than 150,000 students from 45 states and 30 countries participate in regional, state and global Finals tournaments. Teams are challenged to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the challenges. Think of it as theatre and STEM... multiple teams present solutions to a specific problem and compete against each other. (More on DI at www.destinationimagination.org )
Martha Hill, a senior at Greenville High School who is competing on a team headed to state AND is coaching an elementary team also headed to state had no problem defining DI.
“DI has been a big part of my life for six years. I gained my best friends through the program," Hill said. "Doing DI taught me how to collaborate with my peers and find creative solutions for a variety of problems. It brings so many people from a variety of different backgrounds together. I have had conversations with people from all over the world during my time doing DI. It's truly an amazing program that has changed my life forever.”
Destination Imagination is a problem-solving activity that encourages all levels of students to exercise their creativity. Students in GISD solved challenges in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Fine Arts, Improv and Service Learning. In addition to their long team challenge, they compete in an instant challenge that really shows off their skills. It is when students are under pressure that we really see them excel at teamwork and problem solving.
GHS team member Brye Harmon says every tournament holds "action-packed thrillers full of obstacles that we will need to overcome to be better as a team and as individuals."
"Sometimes we have a hard time putting Destination Imagination into words because it is so much bigger than any one thing, it is who we are and who we become. I think DI changes the way we see the world. We define problems as challenges and we are ready to start solving," Duke said.
DI has teams from every GISD campus in grades K-12.
