DI Global Finals

This year’s Senior School Destination Imagination team, Volume Up, Tap Tap won the Provincial Finals on March 25, 2023 and qualified for the Global Finals in Kansas City, Missouri, May 20-23. Our team worked hard to present a solution to their challenge which was an 8 minute play that included a storyline that “flipped” a well known story, included a set that flipped, turned or rotated, was staged in such a way that there was a focus shift and included a literary device. They also needed to have two team choice elements that showcased their talents and their values. The team chose the story from Beauty and the Beast, flipping the tale to tell the story from the perspective of the sorceress searching the kingdom to find royals who have love in their hearts. The team created incredible stained glass windows using tissue paper and modge podge and fabric backdrops of the castle. They made costumes from recycled materials and used puppets to create additional characters in their story.

On Friday, May 19 our team began its long journey to Kansas City. In the Opening Ceremony Global Finals, the team participated as the flag bearers for the Canadian teams and proudly carried the Canadian Flag into the arena, one of 12 countries participating in the Global event. Our keynote speaker, Oscar winning screenplay writer and Destination Imagination alumnae, Daniel Scheinert, opened the competition reminding us all how proud we should be of the hard work and dedication it took to get this far! As we flew to the competition, our set needed to be rebuilt at the event space. Our team got to work on Sunday morning, drilling the two-by-fours and screwing together their set. They then donned their costumes and make-up and presented their solution to the judges. They performed admirably and were off to their Instant Challenge where they were presented with a challenge and had 8 minutes to create an innovative solution to a problem while demonstrating teamwork and collaboration. Sadly, as the judges called, “time” the structure they had built, collapsed. Such is the process of innovation and risk taking! The team took it all in stride showing their resilience and determination.

One of the highlights of the event is pin trading. Each team comes with pins from their country/state/province to trade. The team members enjoyed their time meeting students from around the world and trading pins with them.

Destination Imagination is an organization that promotes innovation and creative thinking. Team members develop skills of critical thinking, collaboration and curiosity, all valuable 21 century learning skills. The energy and enthusiasm that buzzes around the competition site is amazing! To see so many creative, talented young people is truly inspiring! We are very proud of our team, Polly Maguire, Silvia Labora, Jessica Ou Yang, Macy Glick and Lucy Ou Yang for all of their hard work and dedication to their team!