We are excited to announce our 2024 Destination Imagination (DI) scholarship recipients!
Congratulations to Hannah Reyes (Colorado), our DI Graduate of the Year, and Trevor Bateman (Maryland), our Founders Award recipient.
This year’s DI Scholars are Alexandra Harvey (Texas), Norah Springborn (Illinois), Nikhita Penugonda (Washington), Thurman Milan (Michigan), and Ella Catanzaro (Maryland).
Please join us in congratulating our 2024 scholarship recipients!
DI Graduate of the Year
The DI Graduate of the Year Award was open to students (DI team members and volunteers) who were graduating from high school or college/university/trade school in 2024.
Hannah Reyes
Hannah Reyes’ passion for Destination Imagination (DI) began in first grade. Her team, Rainbow Girls, competed in Global Finals three times and earned the DaVinci award. In high school, she joined the DI Colorado Teen Committee, creating challenges for local DI events. Her dedication to DI earned her the 2024 Non-Profit Volunteer of the Year award at Colorado Women’s Day.
Beyond DI, Hannah is a force for good. She is a five-time speaker at the United Nations in New York advocating for girls’ education and also runs the award-winning company HER Designs, which she founded when she was eight years old. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Hannah pivoted the company from making handcrafted hair accessories and personal safety alarms to creating and donating thousands of cloth face masks to her community. She was named “Village Hero” by the City of Greenwood Village, CO for her efforts and contributions.
In 2022, Hannah became Chair of the Young Americans Center for Financial Education’s (YACFE) Youth Advisory Board. The board oversaw nearly 70,000 students and helped raise over $300,000 to further YACFE’s programs. As an advocate for financial literacy, she hosted and founded a podcast (“Money Smarts for Kids”) to raise awareness of financial literacy in a kid-friendly way.
In 2023, Hannah was selected as one of the 300 Bank of America Student Leaders from 5,000 applicants nationwide to work on social issues in local communities. As a Student Leader, she was awarded a paid internship with Mile High United Way (MHUW) and participated in a Summit in Washington, D.C. At MHUW, Hannah contributed to solving a vital issue in Colorado: increasing volunteerism. By capturing MHUW’s network of 60+ nonprofits and their volunteer needs, she helped address community-wide problems, including homelessness, food insecurity, education, and child care. This work encouraged the “Denver Post” to recognize her as the “Next Generation of Change-makers.”
At school, her leadership roles included student government president, team captain of speech and debate and dance, and concertmaster in the orchestra.
Hannah’s problem-solving, creativity, and leadership skills have helped her make a tremendous impact in her community and beyond. In Fall 2024, she will attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Watch Hannah Reyes’ graduation speech for DI’s Class of 2024.
DI Founders Award
The Founders Award was established in honor and appreciation of the hundreds of volunteers who came together to make the DI network and community a reality. This award is given annually to the applicant who best exemplifies the spirit of Destination Imagination through volunteering in support of Destination Imagination and its mission and creating impact for the organization and its participants.
Trevor Bateman
Trevor Bateman is a high-school from Maryland and has participated in 14 Team Challenges during his 12 years as a Destination Imagination participant. For Trevor, DI gave him a place to grow his passion for engineering and STEM while allowing him to be creative. Through his participation in DI, he not only strengthened his teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills but learned a wide range of other hands-on skills, including soldering and circuitry, woodworking and carpentry, scene creation, RC tech, computer programming, physics, chemistry, and more.
Outside of DI, Trevor runs the Science Olympiad and Chess Club chapters at his high school, is a competitive fencer, participates in construction club, Tri-M and Civics society, and works as a swim instructor and dog walker.
This year, with the help of tools provided by the University of Maryland, he helped lead a research project on modifying the bass clarinet mouthpiece bore geometry to study its impact on tonal accuracy using 3-dimensional methods.
Trevor also gives back to the DI Maryland community through volunteering. He has served as a volunteer at Maryland’s Regional DI Tournaments and their Instant Challenge Day, where he taught newer DI teams tips and tricks regarding Instant Challenge, teamwork, and building. In addition, he helps DI Maryland teams transport their props safely and affordably to Global Finals.
Trevor says that the skills and mindset he learned through DI help him in all aspects of his life.
In Fall 2024, Trevor will be attending Capitol Technology University, where he plans to study mechatronics engineering.
