Dear DI Family,
First, I want to thank everyone for your support, patience, and feedback following the cancellation of Global Finals. Your commitment to Destination Imagination is extraordinary and deeply appreciated.
I am proud of our kids for their diligence and their ability to adjust. It is one of the things that I truly admire most about our children. They are resilient, hard-working, well-meaning, and they care a lot about their friends. I am also deeply gratified by the response of our volunteers.
Many have offered really creative suggestions and ideas as to how we can keep kids engaged in DI when many are going to be staying at home for an extended (and unknown) period of time.
And to the parents who are doing their best to work from home, manage schoolwork and keep kids entertained and fed, I understand that it is an almost impossible task.
It’s no surprise that some students would benefit from some additional activities after they complete their remote schoolwork. I wanted to make sure that you are aware that:
- DI is offering daily STEAM challenges on our Facebook page
- We released a new resource that includes 5 free STEAM Challenges, which are designed without a teamwork component so that kids are able to do them on their own
- We released our first-ever Destination Imagination Virtual Instant Challenge: Unknown Structure, which is designed to be solved virtually by a team!
This is very different from our traditional DI format, and we are committed to providing opportunities so that important social connections are maintained. So, we encourage kids to share these DI resources far and wide! Please feel free to forward these links on social media, in an email, or when connecting online through Zoom, Google Hangout or another face-to-face platform. We also invite adults to share these resources with their network of friends and family.
I want to take a moment to thank the teachers and school administrators who are working so hard to ensure that the education of our kids continues. As a member of my town’s Board of Education, I get to see firsthand the challenges educators face in pivoting from teaching in a classroom environment to a virtual environment. It can be overwhelming to teach remotely. They miss their students. They have gone from a collaborative environment to one that feels isolated. We know that they are concerned for their learners, families, friends, and communities. We support and salute them for their dedication and effort.
Your DIHQ team is also adjusting (and pivoting) from a live Global Finals Tournament to a virtual environment. Again, thanks for your patience as Global Finals is reimagined and reconfigured. You will be hearing about our plans very soon!
Stay healthy. Stay creative.
Michele
