Destination Imagination Global Finals 2016 (Siobhan)

Global Finals 2016

Our DI team was totally shocked and excited when we found out that we placed 1st in NH and were eligible to compete in the DI Global Finals competition. We were also in a rush to fundraise the $8000 needed to get our entire team down to TN and pay for our registration fees in less than a month! We set up a GoFundMe page and went door to door asking businesses for donations. Everyone was very supportive and encouraging, and thanks to our amazing family, friends, and local businesses, we raised the full amount of money and were able to compete!

Globals was a phenomenal experience, and we are so grateful we were able to participate in it. Here is a description of the event from the DI website:

Global Finals is the world’s largest celebration of creativity. Each May, more than 8,000 of the world’s most innovative minds compete in teams to showcase their Challenge solutions in our international competition, celebrate their creativity and have fun.

This year, we will have teams from 20 countries, including: the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

After we fundraised the money needed for our trip, we had to fix up our props and scenery. We also had to rearrange our skit's characters, because one of our team members was not able to make it to Globals. We had a lot of fun working together in the last weeks before we left, and we made lots of great memories.

~Canterbury Tale Bearers~

Asia's uncle offered to drive our entire team down to Globals in his 40 foot long luxury RV. We all had an awesome time driving down.

While we were in Virginia, we stopped at La Ray Caverns. The formations were breathtaking!

 The above picture is a reflecting pool, which was definitely my favorite part of the tour. The water looked as deep as 18 feet in some areas but was actually only 18 inches deep. The reflections of the stalactites in the water made it look like there were stalagmites coming up out of the ground.

We also tried out a garden hedge maze which was right outside the caverns. It was really fun, but definitely much more challenging than a cornmaze!

 The Gentilhommes (who brought us down in their RV) stayed at a campground in TN. We spent an afternoon there while Mrs. Foreman registered our team. It was a gorgeous campsite, right by a lake.

 We played volleyball and tetherball, grilled some yummy hamburgers and hotdogs, and enjoyed sitting around the campfire.

 We finally made it to Knoxville, TN!

 Tennessee was gorgeous! This was our view every day when we went to lunch

We went up into Knoxville's Sunsphere which was massive! It has several floors and even holds an Italian restaurant.

It turns out that scenery doesn't hold together well on a 16 hour drive! Thankfully we were able to pick up some paint and styrofoam and fix it.

 Ready to perform!

 Opening ceremony was huge! It was so cool to see 20 countries come together to compete.

15,000 people!

 We went to the Innovation Expo where we got to see exhibits set up by 32 exhibitors, such as NASA, Ford, National Geographic, Microsoft, Scholastic, and many more!

We loved the virtual reality and 3D exhibits, where we got to dissect certain objects such as the heart shown above. It looked like the objects were coming right out of the screen.

We went to the Evening Under the Stars event where we got to see a performance by Step Afrika.

 The University of Tennessee was where the events were located. The campus was beautiful!

 Pin trading is always a big part of Globals. It was really fun to see pins from all over the world. We made some great trades and met a lot of people in the process.

Waiting in the rain for our IC (Instant Challenge) to start :)

My favorite event at Globals was the duct tape costume ball. We all went as wizard of Oz characters.

 We also got to do the 'Try DI' challenge where we had 30 minutes to design a car, build a prototype of it, design a logo for it, and come up with a 1 minute sales pitch to present to a board of Ford designers. It was challenging but a lot of fun.

Our Ford 'Caht' (a car/yacht)

Closing ceremonies were very bittersweet. We were sad to see it all end, but we were so happy to have gone to Globals!

We placed 16th out of 80 teams for our Central Challenge and 7th for our IC!!

We have had an absolutely fantastic year in DI, and we've made so many lifelong memories and friendships. We've grown so much as a team this year. Go Canterbury Tale Bearers!
To read our Central Challenge post, click here