Destination ImagiNation

This article is about the non-profit organization. For the television show, see Destination: Imagination.

The Destination ImagiNation logo

Destination ImagiNation Inc. or DI is a creative problem solving organization for youth and adults. Destination ImagiNation's educational goals are to foster creative and critical thinking, to develop teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills, and to nurture research and inquiry skills involving both creative exploration and attention to detail. The program is open to students from elementary school through college. Teams of up to seven members compete in various challenges that require complex thinking, problem solving, teamwork and creativity. The organization holds international competitions to encourage creativity in the world's youth. The Destination Imagination headquarters are located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

History

The Destination ImagiNation program was created in 1999.^[1] It legally dissolved into the OM Association, Inc. during the 2000 and 2001 season.^[2][3][4] The resulting Destination ImagiNation, non-profit organization, has provided almost one million students with an enriching educational and extracurricular experience. Destination ImagiNation currently provides creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving programs with approximately 80,000 participants and 20,000 volunteers from 35 states and approximately 20 countries.^[5]

Teams

A DI team comprises anywhere from two to seven members and one or two team managers, who must be 18 or older to be head manager. The Team Manager of each team serves only as a facilitator; he or she is prohibited from assisting the team in its solution.

Though the team is often associated with a public or private school, community organization, or church, any group can register for competition. Groups must first purchase a membership through Destination ImagiNation, Inc. After that the team registers with its local DI affiliate. Teams also have the chance to choose their own name by which they are identified for the duration of the year.

Each team is registered to participate at a certain competition level, which is decided by the age of the oldest team member.

• Rising Stars: grades K-2 or 5–9 years old
• Elementary: grades K-5 or no student above 12
• Middle: grades 6-8 or no student above 15
• Secondary: high school or no student above 19
• University: college, graduate school and armed forces with no younger students

Teams can include up to seven members^[6] No maximum restriction exists if the team is within the Rising Stars category. After being formed, each team chooses a Team Challenge, which it will work to solve until the first competition. The team works together to create a solution, to present it on tournament day.

Destination Imagination Affiliates

Associations for U.S. states

Alabama Destination Imagination Alaska Destination Imagination Arizona Destination Imagination Arkansas Destination Imagination California Destination Imagination Colorado Destination Imagination Connecticut Destination Imagination Delaware Destination Imagination Florida Destination Imagination Georgia Destination Imagination Hawaii Destination Imagination Idaho Destination Imagination Illinois Destination Imagination Indiana Destination Imagination Iowa Destination Imagination Kansas Destination Imagination Kentucky Destination Imagination Louisiana Destination Imagination Maine Destination Imagination Maryland Destination Imagination Massachusetts Destination Imagination Michigan Destination Imagination Minnesota Destination Imagination Mississippi Destination Imagination Missouri Destination Imagination

Montana Destination Imagination Nebraska Destination Imagination Nevada Destination Imagination New Hampshire Destination Imagination New Jersey Destination Imagination New Mexico Destination Imagination New York Destination Imagination North Carolina Destination Imagination North Dakota Destination Imagination Ohio Destination Imagination Oklahoma Destination Imagination Oregon Destination Imagination Pennsylvania Destination Imagination Rhode Island Destination Imagination South Carolina Destination Imagination South Dakota Destination Imagination Tennessee Destination Imagination Texas Destination Imagination Utah Destination Imagination Vermont Destination Imagination Virginia Destination Imagination Washington Destination Imagination West Virginia Destination Imagination Wisconsin Destination Imagination Wyoming Destination Imagination

International Affiliates

Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Curaçao Denmark Ecuador

Germany Guatemala Honduras India Israel Italy Malaysia Mariana Islands Mexico Nicaragua Peru

Poland Puerto Rico Scotland Singapore Soloman Islands South Africa South Korea Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Venezuela

Team Challenges

Each year, five new Team Challenges are written by a board of writers for the program, known as challenge DIvelopers. Generally, there is a challenge that relates to each of the following areas:

• engineering/technical
• technical/theatrical
• theatrical
• structural
• improvisation^[7]
• philanthropic
• rising stars (a non-competitive challenge for DI's youngest participants)

Each challenge includes aspects of each of these. The Team Challenge requires that the team write a skit of up to eight minutes in length (or six minutes for improvisational or nonverbal challenges) that creatively presents the solution to a problem presented in the challenge explanation. The goal of the challenge is that the team develops a solution that is integrally tied into the creative skit. Points are awarded not only for completing the challenge's requirements, but also for creativity, teamwork, and performance. Only registered team members can help with the challenge.

For most team challenges, up to 240 points are based on the Central Challenge (the team's creative solution to the basic problem, including their artistic presentation of the solution), and an additional 30 points can be earned for each of two Team Choice Elements, formerly called Side Trips (team-chosen stylistic elements of the presentation; e.g. costumes, props, music, etc).

Improv Challenges require team members to select skit elements (some pre-researched, some not) and create a skit in 30 minutes of "StuDIo" time. They then present their skit, which is limited to 5 minutes in length. This type of challenge diverges from the traditional script writing and acting to focus on quick thinking and team work. This segment is worth up to 300 points and does not feature Team Choice Elements.

List of Team Challenges

Program Year	A Technical	B Scientific	C Fine Arts	D Improvisational	E Structural	Rising Stars!®	projectOUTREACH®
2011-2012 [8]	Assembly Required	The Solar Stage	Coming Attractions	News To Me	Hold It!	Built to Last	The World Canvas
2010-2011 [9]	Unidentified Moving Object	Spinning a Tale	Triple Take Road Show	Mythology Mission	Verses! Foiled Again!	Big Bug's Bad Day	Dynamic Networks
2009-2010 [10]	DIrect DIposit	DI-Bot	You’re Gonna Flip!	Do or DI	Breaking DI News	Weighty News	Band Together
2008-2009 [11]	Operation Cooperation	Instinct Messaging	ViDIo Lit Hits	Private DI	A New Angle!	Hidden!	Take Charge
2007-2008 [12]	Obstacles, Of Course!	Hit or Myth	DI've Got a Secret!	Chorific!	SWITCH!	TwisDId History
2006-2007 [7]	DIrect Flight	CSI-DI	Round About Courage	Switching TraDItions	Card-DI-ology	Make It New, It's Up To You
2005-2006	Back At You!	Kidz Rulz!	How’d tHAT Happen?	On Safari	The Inside DImension	1-2-Change-A-ROO
2004-2005	DIzzy Derby	Sudden SerenDIpity	Live! It's RaDIo DI!	IMPROVing Along	DIsigning Bridges	More to the Story!
2003-2004	Destinations in Time	The Plot and the Pendulum	Cartoon DImensions	Upbeat Improv	GuessDImate!	Surprise Trip!
2002-2003	ViDIo Adventure	Change in DIrection	Theatre Smarts	Once Improv A Time	ConnecDId	Lost and Found
2001-2002	It's Your Move	On Holiday	Dual DI-lemma	StranDId	The Art of Improv
2000-2001	IncreDIble TechEffects	Mystery Loves Company	Anonymously Yours	DInamic Improv	Triplicity
1999-2000	Fruit Roller Coaster & Eggploration	If Music Be the Food of Life... Play on!	Mixing Apples and Oranges	Instant Pudding Improv	It's Not Impastable!

Instant Challenge

An important part of every DI competition is the Instant Challenge (IC). An Instant Challenge is a new, previously unseen challenge, requiring a quick, improvised solution. To maintain fairness, every team at a tournament competing in the same team challenge and age level is given the same Instant Challenge. To maintain this surprise, Instant Challenges are conducted in a private room, with no more than one Team Manager for an audience, and the teams must pledge not to divulge the nature of the challenge until the competition is over.

Upon entering the Instant Challenge, a team is given a one-page description of its Instant Challenge and a set of items that the team's members may use. The challenge is read aloud, and then the time begins. Teams are given between two and ten minutes to create a solution; the typical duration is four to six minutes. A given challenge usually demands a dramatic presentation, a technical device or system, or both. The goal of the Instant Challenge is to exercise on-your-feet thinking, problem solving, and teamwork.^[13]

At a competition, an Instant Challenge score is typically one quarter of the total competition score.

Competition

In the spring, after months of preparation, each region of each affiliate holds a "Regional" competition to select the best teams for each level of each challenge. The winning teams are then eligible to compete at the affiliate-level "State" competition, which is held a few weeks after the regional competition, differing between affiliates and regions.^[14] In May of each year, the Global Finals are held in Knoxville, Tennessee (although it is not a permanent location). This is the final competition level and is attended by those teams that advance beyond the affiliate (State) level. The 4-day event has an atmosphere akin to the Olympics with pin trading, high quality competition, and teams.

At each competition, a team is required to perform two tasks. First, the team performs its eight minute solution to the long-term challenge. Second, the team is required to complete an Instant Challenge, an improvised performance ranging from completely dramatic to highly technical. The scores for the Instant Challenge are factored significantly into the final scoring of teams for their placing at the awards ceremonies, in which high-scoring teams receive ribbons, medals,trophies, or certificates and learn whether they will be advancing to the next level of competition, including the Global Finals.

Global Finals

Global Finals, the final competition level, has been held annually in May in Knoxville, Tennessee at the University of Tennessee since 2001. The first Destination ImagiNation Global Finals was held in Ames, Iowa at Iowa State University in May 2000.^[15] All participating team members stay in area hotels or in the dormitories of the campus each year. The competition is also held on campus. During the week of the competition, participants are encouraged to be involved in pin trading, an activity in which team members exchange their state or country's pin for the pins of another team's state or country. There is always an opening ceremony welcoming the teams to the Global Finals competition as well as a closing ceremony presenting results. Not only does the main competition take place at the university, but also recreational activities. In the Knoxville convention center, pin trading and competitions take place. Each state, region, or team designs pins and brings them to the Global Finals.

References

1. ^ "Articles of Incorporation"Colorado Secretary of State. Accessed 22 Aug 2008.
2. ^ "Nonsurviving Entity In Merger"Colorado Secretary of State. Accessed 07 Oct 2008.
3. ^ "OM Association History 1982-1983"WayBack Machine Internet Archives Accessed 19 Oct 2008.
4. ^ "2000 IRS Form 990"GuideStar. Accessed 07 Oct 2008.
5. ^ "IRS 990 Records for EIN 22-2415554"Urban Institute National Center for Charitable Statistics Accessed 08 Oct 2008.
6. ^ "What is DI?" Destination Imagination. Accessed 19 Apr. 2007.
7. ^ ^{a b} "Team Challenges." Destination Imagination. Accessed 19 Apr. 2007.
8. ^ "2011-12 Challenge Previews" "Destination ImagiNation." Accessed 21 June 2011.
9. ^ "Challenge Previews 2010-11" Destination Imagination. Accessed 05 October 2010.
10. ^ "Sneak Peeks 2009-010" Destination Imagination. Accessed 23 June 2009.
11. ^ "Sneak Peeks 2008-09" Destination Imagination. Accessed 19 April 2008.
12. ^ "Sneak Peaks 2007-08." Destination Imagination. Accessed 22 Apr. 2007.
13. ^ "Instant Challenges." Destination Imagination. Accessed 1 Dec. 2008.
14. ^ Tournaments Destination Imagination Accessed 5 June 2007.
15. ^ Inside Iowa State Iowa State University Accessed 30 January 2010.

External links

• Destination ImagiNation program
• Destination ImagiNation organization
• Destination Imagination Global Finals Website
• A short documentary about Destination Imagination Global Finals