D.I. Post

Hello everyone, or like probably 5 people. Anyway, today I’m going talking about Destination Imagination, or D.I. for short. D.I. is a global competition that takes place in many countries around the world. You have to go through two levels of competition to get to Global Finals in Tennessee. The first level is the Regional Competition for your area, the second is the Provincial Competition. I’m going to be talking about the Regional Competition in this post. In my time competing in D.I., I have been to three Regional Competitions, two Provincial Competitions and one Global Finals.

So this year my team and I are doing the Engineering Challenge, which is called Drop Zone. In Drop Zone you have to make up a story about a sudden impact with a dramatic effect, and you also have to make a structure that can withstand weights being dropped on it. We started by brain storming ideas and came up with a script for the challenge. Here it is:

Drop Zone Story

Kiera: This happened to me long ago and I had to learn to go with the flow. This story is true and people say, that I saved the kingdom in a special way. You see, giants were known as brutal creatures. They were tall and scary with violent features. This is my story that I wish to share with you, but keep in mind that at that time, peace was something new.

Narrator (Caleb): “Once upon a time in a magical kingdom called Parigonia, there lived a king and queen. We ruled the land as far as the seas, but were attacked by a giant who was mean. This is our story of how I, the queen saved the day. We showed great courage and bravery is what people say. The story started as many others. My husband, the king was hosting a party with his brothers. I, dressed in my finest clothes was making my way towards the dance floor where the king and I struck our pose. The crowd quieted and the music began, and all was well throughout the land.”

King: What a wonderful party with all my brothers! It’s great that we GET to celebrate our kingdom with others!

Queen: This is definitely delightful without those giants who are so spiteful.

King: Oh yes, those giants are gross and mean. They just don’t understand our elegant, formal scheme.

Narrator (Caleb): But as the king and I walk across the floor, a loud thumping and cracking came from the door.

-giant comes in, stomping

-Caleb drops first weights

King: What on earth could that be?

Narrator (Caleb): Said the King as he began to flee. And there at the door, stood a tall, scary giant. His eyes were flaring bright and violent. He charged at us with large hands wide. Swinging to grab them from side to side.

Queen: Oh my! Look at that big disgusting looking thing! It’s huge and ginormous and is attacking the king!!!

-pointing to giant, scared

King: We must go out the door and escape!

-running towards cellar door

Narrator (Caleb): Sayd the king with a flip of his cape. The king ran and hid behind a cellar door, but I wasn’t so lucky and hit the floor.

Giant: This is so much fun to see the king and his wife hide and run! I’m coming to eat you!

-grabs Kiera and holds her there while talking to her and the king

Narrator (Grace): The giant exclaimed

Giant: But you on your own will taste quite lame. So I shall capture the king and stew you two together. And brew you in my pot made of leather.

-Points at Kiera

Narrator (Sam): The giant then grabbed a stone off the wall causing more rubble to tumble and fall. He then started to drop the bricks on the cellar door. Cracking it like a nutshell while the bricks hit the floor. I came to my senses and hurried towards the cellar and the king, who was huddled in a corner as his ear drums ring. I sat beside him as the banging continues. Trying to comfort him as the dropping of weights continue.

-drop more weights on our structure

Queen: It’ll be ok the giant will leave soon.

King: Yes the giant is such a goon!

Queen: We could just say sorry and make a new rule where humans and giants can live together and be cool.

Narrator (Caleb): But as the king considers another weight falls causing the king to curl into a ball.

King: Help me my dear!

-peering out around the door

Narrator(Grace): The king screamed in fear. As the knocking of weights became closer and near.

Giant: This is easy! It’s like cracking a nut! This king will taste as good as King Tut!

-if the structure hasn’t broken yet keep dropping weights

Narrator (Sam): I got up and stood tall with my hands on my hips and began to shout as loud as faraway ships.

-squirms a bit and manages to stand

Queen: Go away Mr. Giant and leave us be! Let us be free I plead! We will treat you well and share our treasure in hope that giants find some pleasure. We are sorry for treating you wrongly in the past. We treated giants as slaves with lots of sass.

Narrator (Grace): The giant considered this offer for a long time then begins to speak and draws the line.

Giant: As long as you promise to treat us well, I guess I will forgive you and follow this new rule as well. See as long as we treat each other as we want to be treated and follow the golden rule, both giants and men can live in harmony and all will be cool.

-king comes around from the door

King: Well while we’re at it, come join us for our party of celebration! We shall make this new rule known throughout the nation.

Narrator: (Grace): The giant quickly accepted without hesitation. Then walked with the royals to their destination. So giants and men are now the best of friends. A friendship they hope will never end. But the lesson learned shall stick forever. Treat someone well and they’ll treat you better.

We also made costumes for it as well. By the way, the giant is my part. We were all set for the competition. Unfortunately on the day of the competition, one of are members couldn’t go so we had to fix the story in 20 minutes. Fortunately, we had all tried to memorize all the parts just in case so things went well and we were prepared. Our structure was able to hold all of the weights that they had available to drop on it!

Here is a video of our performance http://youtu.be/6e_NGYUOHAU

In D.I. your team also has to do an Instant Challenge. An Instant Challenge is a problem that you have to produce a solution for within 5-8 minutes using only the materials that are provided. There are three types of Instant Challenges. The first one is called a Task challenge, which normally involves building a structure or device to do a job. The second is called a Performance Challenge, which involves making up a story and acting. The third one combines the Task and Performance Challenges, and this is the hardest in my opinion. I’m not allowed to say what we did for our Instant Challenge until the Global Finals are completed for this year. They may use the same challenge at a different level of competition and keeping the challenges secret ensures a level playing field. This was only the first D.I. Competition for the year; the next one is Provincials. Knowing my teachers we will have to write about that too. So stay tuned for the next episode of D.I!