These days, more and more parents are concerned that – due to budget constraints, questions about teacher competence and burnout, and lower, “least-common-denominator” standards – their children are not receiving a quality education.
However, parents needn’t be too worried if their young scholars are involved in Destination ImagiNation (DI). The nonprofit organization gives students the opportunity to compete in teams – at separate Elementary, Middle, Secondary and University divisions – that solve a variety of tasks designed to promote scholastic and personal growth.
Teams from some 30 countries (the vast majority are from the U.S.) compete at local, regional and national levels for the right to go to DI’s annual Global Finals, where the best and brightest young minds gather to solve a creative assortment of team-focused “Challenges.” Each team is assigned one of several of these Challenges – many with names that incorporate the organization’s “DI” designation: DIrect DIposit, Do or DI, and Breaking DI News, among others – and present their finished product to a panel of judges in competition.
 One local DI team, the seven-member Don Juan DInomites (left), from Don Juan Avila Elementary school in Aliso Viejo, was among the 10 percent of DI teams that made its way through the regional and state competitions to participate in the Global Finals, which took place May 26-29 at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville.
“As they began winning local competitions and coming back with awards, the DInomites gave [Don Juan Avila Elementary] a sense of pride,” says Rick Wojcicki, the team’s manager. “Everyone got behind them, including the principal. And, of course, the team members really benefit.”
 At the Global Finals, the DInomites came in 15th place out of 67 teams, despite a glitch in their Challenge.
Destination ImagiNation was born in the summer of 1999, when some 200 volunteers united to create a problem-solving program designed to provide students with a fun educational experience. Less than a year later, more than 100,000 students had participated in the program.
DI stresses three key values: problem solving, teamwork and creativity. As team members work through their Challenges, they are encouraged to think outside the box and work together, creating a finished product that is based on a synergistic experience. Students learn that by overcoming roadblocks together, more can be done as a team than through a single individual’s work.
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