With college football season over it is time to turn my attention to Destination Imagination (DI)!  It looks like a great group of up and coming students in the Rising Stars group.  Enjoyed seeing many past Rising Star children and managers at IC Day at St. Mary’s Academy.  I hope that my work with them in previous years in the South Metro region helped them feel good about moving forward.  It’s just amazing to watch these kids grow up and mature, putting to use everything that DI teaches them to do.  Now, how do we keep them involved in DI throughout their life? 

by Wendy Frenzel

Heather’s train made it in early though it backed into the station which took longer than Heather wanted, even though she was still early by about 20 minutes.  She got off the train running to the car, conductors asked her to slow down as they didn’t want her to fall, so we could dash the short distance to the Auroria Campus for the DI Tournament.  She made it in time so she could appraise (her favorite thing to do).

Heather’s section started appraising at 7:15 and appraised until 5:30 with a little break for lunch and very short breaks to get drinks.  Some of these breaks they used to “catch up” by allowing the teams that came in late because of the weather to perform.  She saw some really great teams where it was going to come down to the Instant Challenge to determine who was going to Globals in Knoxville.  Because of Heather’s mad dash back to the train with food first  (followed by work when she got back into Lincoln), she didn’t have the opportunity to go to the great party afterward where the team places would be announced.  One of the team managers Heather and I have known for a long time (one of her teams went to Globals the year we did) was going to text Heather with the results.

I tried appraising for something different.  This was the first year it was really done at the High School and State level – DI Extreme.  I do wish this was an option back when Heather and Karen had competed.  It is a big Instant Challenge.  Teams really need to read and reread their challenge during the “Tinker Tank” time so they can understand what the challenge is really about.  We saw many solutions but only one team had a solution that met the challenge criteria.  It was a great opportunity to work with the High Schoolers after working with the Rising Stars.  I think I’m going to volunteer for this level when I’m not working with the Rising Stars. 

Overall it was a great day and I think fun was had by most.  I know I appreciated how close the buildings were for the different challenges so even though walking was involved, it was not miles.  The other great thing – parking was a lot cheaper than past years.

I know that I saw some great solutions provided by the Rising Stars.  I always enjoy watching the teams and being able to say “Wow!”.  I know that my appraisers enjoy that as well.  Though sometimes, team managers, are a little worried about what their teams do in Instant Challenge, but all I can say is, “We’ve seen just about everything, so nothing surprises us.”

I do think that those that have grown up with Destination Imagination in the South Metro Region believe the best part (well maybe after finding out you are advancing to state) is the party!  It’s a great place to celebrate the creativity of all the participants.  The way South Metro starts it out is with dancing and then the great parade of Rising Stars.  I always love the parade as the Rising Stars march around the gym to a standing ovation.  It makes me so proud of those kids! 

After the Rising Star parade, they recieve their medals and lead the gym in dance to the A-Totlie-Tot.  Yes, I know I’ve most likely misspelled it and can’t do the song justice but I believe many DIers understand.  Poor Jeff, as he was in the stands, I was helping a group of Rising Stars with the actions, and being abandoned by Kat so she could really “groove” was chastised by a grandparent for not dancing along.  Knowing that we’ve been involved with DI for at least 9 years some way or another was not an execuse he could readily use or that others want to hear – they just want to see everyone dancing to this silly but fun song.

If you haven’t yet, take a moment to view some of the pictures I posted to my twitter account from the night.  You’ll even get to see an Italian Rat and Gumby that were made as props by a South Metro team that they will be taking to state and most likely to Global finals in Knoxville.