What is Destination Imagination?

Destination ImagiNation, Inc., the world’s largest creativity and problem solving organization, inspires participants in all of its programs to learn the process, art, and skill associated with problem solving. 

DI is a place where kids take what they know and what they are good at, and learn to apply it to solve challenges, working together and cooperatively with a team and pushing the limits of imagination to best not their competition, but themselves.

Up to seven participants work together as a team for up to 5 months to create their unique solution to a Team Challenge.  Every year 6 unique and new challenges are put out in 6 different areas: Technical, Engineering, Fine Arts, Scientific, Improv and Public Service. Frequently, challenges also incorporate history, culture, literature, math, science, technology and the arts. 

Teams also learn and practice “think on their feet” skills for the Instant Challenge portion of the competition.
Destination ImagiNation helps young people learn in a fun and supportive environment, and the valuable skills they have acquired will be with them for a lifetime.
Participants learn unique and critical life skills including teamwork, critical and creative thinking, project management, resource management, mutual respect, research and presentation skills and, as all challenges must be strictly team-solved, self-reliance. These skills make Destination ImagiNation participants more valuable to their communities and as future employees.

Maharishi School Teams

This year Maharishi School has 5 teams.  We have 3 Elementary teams, 1 Middle School Team and 1 Upper School team.  2 teams choose to solve the Engineering Challenge, we have 1 Fine Arts team, 1 Improv team and 1 Technical team.

We are the only DI teams in Iowa so we compete in Illinois.  Our first competition was a Regional Competition, Saturday, March 4th, in Pekin, Illinois. Our teams did very well, and we’re preparing for the  bigger State Competition on March 25th in DeKalb, Illinois.  There they will compete against the best teams from the 4 Regional Competitions that Illinoiis holds.

Elementary Level:

Fine Arts team:  3rd place, 

Team Manager: Moss Cook

1. Gus O’Connor
2. Myka Wallace
3. Hazel Cook
4. Scarlett Kranz
5. Harlo Olsen

The Fine Arts Challenge this year requires : 

1.  Research well-known stories from any genre, culture, medium, and time period. It is up to your team to determine what it means to be well-known. 
2. Choose one researched story.  Create and present a Flipped Tale. For this Challenge, a Flipped Tale is a team-created story that is inspired by the researched story but focuses on a New Main Character.
3. For this Challenge, a New Main Character is a character who existed in the researched story but who is not the main character of the researched story.

Improv team:  3rd place

Team Manager:  Whitney Schutten

1. Chunni Bregenzer
2. Prithvi Kalra
3. Keya Thakker
4. Fuji Aikar
5. Isabel Everett

This year the requirements for the Improv Challenge are:

Use up to 2 minutes of Preparation time to create an improvisational Skit about an Underdog preparing for and/or participating in a Competition. Incorporate an Expert into the Skit. Enhance the Skit with Trash Bags and Rubber Bands. Use up to 5 minutes to present the Skit to the audience and Appraisers, incorporating a Complication.

Engineering team:  4th place, and highest Instant Challenge score of our Elementary teams

Team Manager:  Amandeep Negi

1. Ryder Schuldt
2. Ishaan Desai
3. Lyra Montgomery
4. Mehar Negi

This year the requirements for the Engineering Challenge are:

1. Research roller coaster design.
2. Design and build a Roller Coaster that will be assembled and then tested during your team’s Presentation at the tournament. For this Challenge, a Roller Coaster is a structure that supports and guides a tournament-provided golf ball along a single, continuous track. 
3. Design and create a Launching Mechanism that starts moving the golf ball along the Roller Coaster track.
4. Test how far and how fast the golf ball can travel along the Roller Coaster track.
5. Team members must do all designing, cutting, shaping, and assembling of the Roller Coaster and Launching Mechanism.
6. Create and present a skit telling the story of the roller coaster experience

Middle Level:

Engineering team:  1st place

Team Manager:  Mark Wilkins

1. Ayaan Desai
2. Sohani Singh
3. Pranit Ruia
4. Eliana Alsenosy

Requirement the same as the 4th grade Engineering Challenge

Secondary Level:

Technical Team:  1st Place

Team Manager:  Celeste Siemsen

1. Miles Siemsen
2. Trent Hefner
3. Uma Wegman
4. Eva Marie Quevedo Rubio
5. Jace Wallace

Requirements for the Technical Challenge this year are:

1. Design and create a Puzzle that will be assembled during the Presentation.

For this Challenge, a Puzzle is a set of separate, physical pieces that create a single unit when assembled.

1. The Puzzle must have a minimum number of pieces, according to your team’s competition level:

• Elementary Level teams must have at least 6 pieces.
• Middle Level teams must have at least 10 pieces.
• Secondary and University Level teams must have at least 14 pieces.

1. Designate one piece of the Puzzle as the Crucial Piece. For this Challenge, a Crucial Piece is the most important piece of the Puzzle. It is up to your team to determine why the Crucial Piece is the most important.
2. Design and build all pieces of the Puzzle using your own ideas and skills. Your team may incorporate commercially produced items, but for scoring, Appraisers will only consider your team’s changes and/or additions to those items.
3. Each Puzzle piece and the completed Puzzle should be visible from 25ft (7.62m) away.
4. Create and present a story about how at least one character’s understanding changes at a Pivotal Moment. For this Challenge, a Pivotal Moment is an event or point in the story when something important is revealed, discovered, and/or learned.
5. Integrate the Puzzle, the Crucial Piece, and Puzzle assembly into the Presentation.

Curious about our school? Click here to see what we are all about.

Learn more about school events and student life, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Ready to apply? Click here.