We have three teams and each team has a team name that the team created. The tournament is split between Heritage Middle and Heritage Elementary schools. The awards ceremony is at the Heritage High School. They start with a slide show of tournament photos at 6:30 and the awards are at 7:00 pm. Mrs. Lamb is working on finding a time that the three teams can perform at Dove sometime after the tournament. We are excited for them to be able to show to their friends what they have been working on and to show to other students who have never really heard of it.

Destination ImagiNation is a creative problem solving program for participants from elementary through college levels. Each year, the National DI program develops five competitive Team Challenges, one noncompetitive Rising Star Challenge (for ages 5-8), and Instant Challenges for all the levels. Each Challenge has a different focus or emphasis including; Technical Design and Construction, Science, Theater Arts, Improvisational Acting, Architectural Design and Structural Engineering. All of the Challenges incorporate several other focus areas in addition to the main one and also stress teamwork. Teams of up to seven participants work together to choose and solve one of the five challenges and then perform or present their Solution in a tournament setting. The mission of DI is to foster the development of creative thinking and problem solving skills. The emphasis is on the "process," the learning that takes place all year as the teams prepare their Challenge solutions. Great minds don't necessarily think alike, and they often march to different drummers; there are no set "right" answers. Those involved with DI discover that creative solutions come from teamwork, cooperation, and risk-taking.

At the beginning of each school year at Dove, the DI coordinator sends home flyers about the program. Based on the response, she then starts to put together teams and find parents willing to be team leaders. The teams start meeting in earnest sometime in October or early November and usually meet once a week. Closer to the tournament time, the teams meet more often. Our regional tournament is usually scheduled shortly before Spring Break. Our DI region is called Mid-Cities and includes schools from GCISD, Southlake, HEB, Birdville, Arlington, Irving, and Keller. We send the winners onto the State Tournament in April which will take place in Round Rock, TX, just north of Austin. GCISD has sent teams to the State Tournament for the past four years in a row.

TwisDId Stars of Grapevine (2nd grade team) Doing the TwisDId History Challenge- Stacy Wirick is the team manager of this team and they are performing at 12:45 pm at the elementary school

Dynamite Stars (3rd grade team) Doing the Obstacles Challenge- Kim Wilding and Kim Farbisz are the team managers and they are performing at 11:00 am at the middle school

DI Dolphins (4th/5th grade team) Doing the Hit or Myth Challenge- Laura Salamone is the team manager and they are performing at 9:18 am at the elementary school

Each team also has to "supply" one appraiser to be able to participate in the tournament and parents of DI students can't be appraisers because they would then have to miss their child's performance. So a HUGE thank you to:
Mrs. Connie Williams- 2nd grade teacher
Miss Nichole Hostetler- 5th grade teacher

We appreciate two Dove teachers for giving up their entire Saturday to be tournament appraisers (judges)! Thank you so much!

For more information, please check out the DI website.