Anyone can be creative, but the ability to leverage that creativity for tangible results frequently takes a facilitator. That is the role of the volunteer Team Managers in Destination ImagiNation. 25 of these volunteers, or enough for 175 new “DI” participants in schools across the state, were trained on Saturday at Pembroke Academy in Pembroke.
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This year, some 2,000 New Hampshire students will join the over 100,000 students around the globe that take part in solving Challenges from the non-profit Destination ImagiNation program. These Challenges build and test student teams in creativity, teamwork and creative problem solving skills. They incorporate national learning standards and range in disciplines that include mechanical and architectural design, science, the arts, community service and improvisational skills.
The number one rule: Each Challenge must be totally solved by the team without interference by the Team Manager or anyone else.
“You are a guide and not a sage on the stage”, says New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation (NH-DI) Affiliate Training Director Marj Allen during the training. “If you show your team how to fish … and you help them find a boat, and the team gets to choose the boat, the bait, where to fish and how to reel in the fish – you facilitate fishing, but you don’t do the fishing for them.”
The next Team Manager training for new and veteran Team Managers is scheduled for Saturday, November 20 at Merrimack Valley Middle School in Penacook.