What is DI?
While I may have forgotten to explain what DI is in my last blog post on this topic, I would love to explain here. DI, also know as Destination Imagination, is a global tournament held every year in which teams get to create a story and execute it in a creative and fun way. There are four different parts of DI: scientific (my group got to do this one), artistic, technical, and engineering. While all of these different aspects sound very fun to participate in, my team presented in the scientific category, where we got to create a puppet and props and perform our story. Because this is a competition of sorts, there were some parameters around what we could and could not do (for some reason, there’s a rule about keeping your shoes on, probably deriving from an unfortunate incident). Some of the most important guidelines in our section are our presentation has to contain a character from the past (our puppet), an artifact whose discovery leads to a new finding, and two team choice elements. Our team choice elements were chemistry and baking.
Conquering Destination Imagination
This blog explores my experiences at the Provincial Tournament for Destination Imagination. If you want to read about Regionals, here is my Regional DI blog post:
My Talented Teammates
As you probably gathered from my explanation of what DI is, I had a group to work on this project with (I mean, if I didn’t I’d probably be drowning in work). Working with my peers was sometimes challenging mostly because of issues in communication and getting everyone in the same place but we were able to persevere and create an amazing project nonetheless. My teammates brought a lot to the table and I cannot thank them enough. Because of our collective efforts, we were able to win first place at Provincials in the overall challenge and the instant challenge! Although getting to that point was a little bit of a stressful journey, my teammates were able to bring in strengths that I am still working on and it allowed me to showcase my skills in art and design.
If you want to hear other perspectives on our DI experience, here’s where you can find my teammates’ blogs:
Chloe‘s blog:
Insights Into Chloe‘s Learning
Elsa‘s blog:
Finnley‘s blog:
Tyler’s blog:
Our Precarious Performance
As I talked about in my previous blog, Blizzard Wizards vs Destination Imagination, creating this project was a roller coaster of emotions. You might have got the gist that DI was all rainbows and sunshine but there were some difficult parts too. Of course, creating the props and story was fun but at times could be very overwhelming due to the extreme workload. But I am grateful for these experiences as they have helped me develop many skills including my performance skills. While performing at Regionals was also very nerve wracking, we had a smoother delivery of our lines then. Provincials felt waaaaaaaaaay more chaotic because it was a bigger event. Although we may have messed up on our lines at the end, our acting skills had greatly improved from our last presentation. I cannot speak for my entire team but messing up our lines at the end definitely made me feel a little discouraged. But nonetheless we won first place. Certainly the highlight of the tournament.
Trials and Tribulations
While I already touched on what my favourite part of the project was in my last Destination Imagination blog post, I really did enjoy working with my peers to create an engaging and well-rounded story. I do believe my views have shifted a little bit and I now am really starting to appreciate the time I spent on the props for our presentation. As I previously stated, DI can be very challenging and at times a little stressful, for instance, feeling a little short on time for creating props and practicing lines. Although these experiences were somewhat nerve wracking, the skills I gained are invaluable and I know I will continue to use them for the rest of my life. Because of this project, I got to exercise skills I have found challenging in the past such as teamwork, time management and communication. But I also got to practice skills I was already adept at: design, propmaking, and costuming to name a few.
In conclusion, Destination Imagination is a valuable part of the learning that I did this year and I am excited to see what future years hold for my DI experiences.