150+ Volunteers Trained to Appraise Creative Solutions; Next Up: for Destination ImagiNation Creativity Tournaments
For Immediate Release: February 19, 2011
For more information contact: Wayne Kurtzman, NH-DI Media Relations wayne.kurtzman@nh-di.org
In less than a month, hundreds of Granite State creative problem solving teams will be showcasing their solutions to educational Challenges at Destination ImagiNation tournaments to be held around the state. Today at Londonderry High School, the final group of over 150 volunteer Appraisers was trained to appraise the solutions that are designed to build creativity, innovation and teamwork skills while incorporating core educational subjects.
New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation (NH-DI.org), now celebrating its 30th anniversary will use over 250 volunteer appraisers and over 1,000 total volunteers across the four regional tournaments and state finals. Teams that advance from state finals will join teams from around the U.S. and the World at Destination ImagiNation Global Finals in May.
“We are in awe of what our volunteers do for this program”, according to Affiliate Director Kara Swedlow. “Our volunteers enable us to provide a program that is fun for kids, incorporates national learning standards and gives students the tools to learn “hands-on” how to innovate, be more creative and manage change.” Teams select a Challenge at the beginning of the year which has multiple focuses including the arts, literature, science and technology, improvisation, structural design and community service.
This year, nearly 2,000 students will participate in the New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation program joining another 100,000 around the world.
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About New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation
Destination ImagiNation® is a leading-edge non-profit organization dedicated to teaching participants the essential skills of creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. Every year, we reach 100,000 students (from pre-K through college) across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries.
There are over 1.3 million Destination ImagiNation alumni around the world including over 120,000 New Hampshire alumni.
NH-DI is administered by the 501(c)3 non-profit NHICC™: New Hampshire’s Incredible Creativity Connection. NHICC, celebrating 30 years of creative problem solving programs for New Hampshire students, will run Destination ImagiNation for over 2,000 students from well over 150 Granite State schools and community organizations. NHICC also operates Camp Gottalikachallenge, our 17 year old summer creativity camps.
Learn more about NHICC and New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation at NH-DI.org, or the international Destination ImagiNation at www.IDODI.org.
Goals of Destination ImagiNation:
• Foster creative and critical thinking.
• Learn and apply creative problem solving methods and tools.
• Develop teamwork, collaboration, and leadership skills.
• Nurture research and inquiry skills, involving both creative exploration and attention to detail.
• Enhance and apply written and verbal communication and presentation skills (both impromptu and sustained).
• Promote the recognition, use, and development of many and varied strengths and talents.
• Encourage competence in, enthusiasm for, and commitment to real-life problem solving.
Destination ImagiNation® by the Numbers
and NH-DI by the Numbers
- 100,000+ students take part in DI each year.
- 6,000 – 7,000 schools participate each year.
- 50 states and over 30 Countries take part in Destination ImagiNation programs.
- 35,000 volunteers make this program work each year.
- 18,000 of the volunteers are Team Managers.
- 1.3 million Destination ImagiNation alumni.
- Over 2,000 NH students each year.
- Over 150 NH schools and community groups are represented.
- Over 700 volunteers take part in NH-DI annually.
- There are over 120,000 NH-DI alumni.
Major calendar dates
Dates and directions are updated at https://www.nh-di.org/resources/calendar/
| Date | Event | Location |
| Sat. Oct 30 | New Team Manager Training | Pembroke Academy |
| Sat. Nov 20 | Team Manager Café Training, | Merrimack Valley Middle School, Penacook |
| Sat. Jan 8 | Instant Combustion & Improv Workshop | University of New Hampshire, Durham |
| Sat. Jan 29 | Appraiser Training | Merrimack Valley Middle School, Penacook |
| Sat. Feb 5 | Appraiser Training | Londonderry High School |
| Sat. Mar 12 | NH-DI Regional Tournaments | Nashua Area Regional Kingston Area Regional |
| Sat. Mar 19 | NH-DI Regional Tournaments | Monadnock Regional HS; Plymouth State University |
| Sat. Apr 2 | NH-DI State Creativity Finals | Nashua HS North |
| May 25-28, 2011 | Destination ImagiNation Global Finals | University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN |