In May, The Foundation @ FCOE was proud to sponsor three Destination Imagination (DI) teams from Fresno County schools to attend the DI Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee. Destination Imagination, a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the global community by providing opportunities for learners of all ages, celebrated its 30th Anniversary at Global Finals, which is the world's largest creative thinking and problem solving competition for kids in the nation. With a record setting 1,419 qualifying teams, participants from 42 states and 14 countries, this year’s completion was fierce.
With more than 15,000 teams competing at the regional DI Challenge tournaments throughout the year, only the top teams received a coveted spot at Global Finals. During the week-long competition, our local teams presented their regional project and competed in open-ended challenges. These challenges required the team to solve a problem using a holistic approach of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge, improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication innovation, teamwork and community service, in one of seven challenge categories. Since its inception 30 years ago, Destination Imagination has impacted more than 1.5 million young people, who have gone on to attend top tiered universities, receive national awards, and launch successful careers in the arts like Chris Colfer from Glee and Zac Efron from High School Musical, and science and math like Dr. Kristen Jerger , patent holder for a surgical aspirator.
As you can imagine, the travel costs for a team of eight students can be excessive. The Foundation was happy to support three teams this year. “Thank you and The Foundation @ FCOE for your tremendous support of the DI program here at Valley Oak. It is greatly appreciated,” expressed classroom teacher and seasoned DI coach Maurice Bonetto.
