Hopkinton Destination Imagination Heading to Finals

What Does it Take to Get to the Destination Imagination Global Finals?

It takes months of hard work, teamwork, dedication, winning a regional tournament, winning the state championship, a few rolls of duct tape, and help from their families and the community. 

Hopkinton is very fortunate to have two Destination Imagination (DI) teams win the Massachusetts State Championships for their challenges and these teams have been invited to compete at the Destination Imagination Global Final competition (globalfinals.org) in Knoxville, TN, May 21-24. They will represent both Hopkinton and the state of Massachusetts at this international competition.

Destination Imagination is an international non-profit, volunteer-led organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become our next generation of innovators and leaders.  At the start of the DI season at the beginning of the school year, teams choose one of seven DI Challenges. After months spent creating, developing and practicing their solutions to these challenges, they go to a local tournament. Top-scoring teams advance to state or country tournaments. The top level of the tournament is the Global Finals—the world’s largest celebration of creativity which will have more than 1,300 teams from 45 states, 7 Canadian provinces and 13 countries showcasing their DI Challenge solutions.

Congratulations to the 7th grade Middle School team of Aren Arakelian, Neal Patel, Patrick Webb, Austin Marques, Izzy Puri, Niha Gopi, Eva Kuruvilla (Team Manager: Leda Arakelian)

Congratulations to the 5th grade Hopkins School team of Elizabeth Kane, Tara Joshi, Paige Lavelanet, Ceara Perry, Mia Sannicandro, Vani Sharma, Sara Bernardo (Team Manager: Cindy Bernardo - Co Manager: Haley Bernardo.) 

For their DI challenge, the Hopkinton Middle School DI team (7th grade) worked on a community service project to generate awareness and raise funds for Soldier’s Angels, a charity which supports US veterans at home as well as abroad.  They wrote letters to servicemen, sent care packages overseas, and raised money which will help fund various programs for the vets. The Hopkinton Hopkins Elementary School DI team (5th grade) worked on a community service project to bridge the gap between the elderly and children. Their project raised awareness on elder affairs and raised funds to support the Hopkinton Senior Center. 

Attending Global Finals is a huge opportunity for these students. The week includes not only the DI competition for their central challenges and instant challenges, but also includes several learning opportunities including an Innovation Expo and interaction opportunities with National Geographic and NASA. For the kids, this is a once in a lifetime learning opportunity. 

However, the cost to travel and attend the competition seems insurmountable, and the teams are hoping that they can raise funds to help defray these costs.  Hopkinton hopes to send two teams, each of seven children, with one parent to accompany each child. The cost of the registration fees, housing, airfare, transfers, for the two teams is well in excess of $40,000.  

Fundraising Events: Send Hopkinton to DI Global Finals

The students will be selling Otis Spunkmeyer traditional chocolate chip and butter sugar cookie dough, unique signature flavors and reduced fat options.  If you are interested in helping the children, please consider purchasing one of these products.  Contact Cindy Bernardo, cindybernardo@hotmail.com

The students will also be holding a fundraiser at the Fruit Street Fields in Hopkinton on Saturday, May 17, where they will be collecting donations and also selling items to raise funds to cover their expenses.

In addition, the HPTA will be acting as the teams’ 501c3 fiscal sponsor.  A donation in any amount could also be sent to the HPTA c/o Cindy Bernardo, 5 Susan Drive, Hopkinton, MA 01748.  Checks should be made out to “HPTA for DI.”

Companies interested in sponsoring the teams should contact Karen Webb at webb.karen@verizon.net.  More information on Destination Imagination, please visit MADIkids.org.

Submitted by Hopkinton Destination Imagination.