DI: AstroNOTS! Provincials Update

⭐️👽☄️🚀

Provincial score sheet.  AstroNOTS: We got second!

Every year, PLP participates in Destination Imagination (DI), a competition that challenges creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving. My team (Milaina, Emilia, Ailie, Adam, Logan, and I) competed in the regional tournament, where we presented our solution against other teams. While DI took up a lot of time and wasn’t always the most exciting thing to work on, it was still rewarding to see our final presentation come together after all the work we put in.

Provincial edit: In the provincial tournament it was Milaina, Emilia, Logan and myself, because Ailie and Adam were on a band trip. It was a good day, we decided to change a few things after regionals, like our geyser explosion, our script, and more!)
for our instant challenge we ran into a scheduling/miscommunication problem, so Logan and I ended up doing it together. It was scary and felt like a lot of responsibility, but we didn’t have time to think about it. We found it really really easy, which was nice, and we scored really well 🙂

Trying to Balance Everything ⚖️

One of the hardest parts of DI for me wasn’t the project itself—it was balancing it with everything else in grade 10. Between school, work, homework, and actually having free time, DI often felt like just another thing on my plate. Finding time for rehearsals, meetings, and prop-making wasn’t easy, and I often felt like I had to put other priorities on hold. That being said, when we finally got to perform, it was nice to see all the pieces come together and actually present what we had worked on.

Creative Process: Breaking Down Our Challenge 🚀

Our team took on the Scientific Challenge, which required us to tell a story about a character who thinks they are alone on a planet—until they realize they aren’t. Along with that, we had to incorporate several different elements:

• Technobabble: This was mainly carried by Milaina’s character, who played the “smarty-pants” role and explained the advanced science in our story.

• A Functional Device: Our “translator box” was meant to be functional, but right now, it’s just a prop. We ran out of time to make it actually work.

• A Scientific Demonstration: At first we used elephant toothpaste to represent a geyser on the planet. We did test it once, but honestly, it was pretty underwhelming. Since we tested it too late, we didn’t have enough time to change our plan, so we just had to go with it. Even though it wasn’t the most exciting experiment, at least it added a visual element to our scene.

-For the provincial tournament we ended up changing it to coke and mentos, which I think looked and worked better, and it tied in the line about Coca Cola as well.

• Two Team Choice Elements:

• Music: Adam really pulled through with a background soundtrack that added atmosphere to our performance.

• Our Love for Science: Our story revolved around space exploration and discovery, making science the core theme of our solution.

A challenge we faced was making our props and effects look good and like something we could proudly use. It took a lot of effort to refine them and make them stage-ready.

The instant challenge scheduling problem was a challenge, and included flexibility and adjusting to our environment and what was handed to us.

What I Learned & My Role in the Team 🏆

Through DI, I developed a few important skills, even though the process wasn’t always easy:

• Time Management: Balancing DI with everything else was difficult, but it pushed me to plan better and prioritize tasks.

• Teamwork & Collaboration: I learned how to combine ideas with my teammates and work together to problem-solve when things didn’t go as planned.

My role in the team included:

✔ Editing the script to make sure our story flowed well.

✔ Building the spaceship and other props to bring our performance to life.

✔ Contributing ideas and helping my team refine our solution.

✔️Being a supportive team member, who is kind and positive.

One thing I want to work on moving forward is becoming more of a leader. As one of the grade 10s in the group, I realize it’s important to step up and take on more responsibility in the future. I believe I did accomplish this goal in the provincial tournament.

Looking Ahead 👀

Now that DI 24/25 is finally over, I gained lots of valuable things that I will be using in the future. DI mainly taught me that different learning opportunities are thrown at me every single day, these won’t only stretch my learning, but will also make me feel more proud and productive.

While DI was sometimes stressful to balance, it was a valuable experience in teamwork, problem-solving, flexibility, and time management. Seeing our project come together in the end made all the effort feel worthwhile, and I’m looking forward to stepping up as a leader in the future.

Thanks for reading