Did you know that volunteering is one of the most beneficial extracurriculars for children? Studies have shown that volunteering not only supports kids’ mental health, but helps them to grow in four critical areas: social skills, empathy, self-efficacy, and civic responsibility.
Participants can develop these very skills in our Service Learning Challenge (one of 6 competitive challenges teams can choose from). Students research and explore real community issues and work together with their team members to address a need. No project is too big or too small—like this project from team Da Cheeeeeeze in Minnesota:
Last year, the team from Wayzata High School worked on a plan to prevent gun violence at schools. Their solution earned them a first-place win at Global Finals 2022, but they are continuing this important work and have founded Vigilance Safety–a student-led nonprofit organization dedicated to developing solutions to improve school safety and reduce school shootings.
News of their incredible work spread and even caught the media’s attention. See what they had to say about their project and experience.
“This team has been doing Destination Imagination for the past 7 years. One of the things I love about this program is enabling the kids to figure things out on their own, troubleshoot ideas on their own, negotiate solutions autonomously, and decide on the best path as a team. As adults, we tend to decide based on risk assessments. In DI, these kids tend to take more risks in their solutions and approach them without limited restrictions. This year's solution demonstrates the value of DI.” - Jenny Zeroni, Team Manager for team Da Cheeeeeeze.
Start your journey with Destination Imagination today or sign up for a free info session to learn more.
