Destination ImagiNation team from District 58 advances to nationals

A talented team of students from District 58 took first place at the state Destination ImagiNation creative problem-solving tournament in April at Illinois State University, earning them the right to compete at nationals in Tennessee at the end of this month.

The team members of DI Dynamite – Herrick seventh-graders Beth Jensen and Annie DeCero, and Whittier sixth-graders Abby Murphy, Hannah Krusenoski, Natalie Raden and Erin DeCero – have been working together and competing as a team for more than six years. The team manager is Julie DeCero.

Each team chooses a central challenge to solve during the competition. This year, DI Dynamite chose to solve The Triple Take Road Show, a fine arts challenge. The components of this challenges are: Use three different Storytelling Methods to tell the same story to three team-chosen Pretend Audiences; portray the Travel Methods used to move your Traveling Road Show between different Pretend Audiences; and integrate a team-created Technical Spectacle into one presentation to a Pretend Audience. 

Destination ImagiNation is a non-profit organization that teaches creativity, teamwork and problem solving to students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries.  Destination ImagiNation is a curriculum enrichment educational program in which students work together for several months to solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments.