All around New Hampshire this fall, a groups of student teams are going to design a sorting machine, write an original script, build a set from scratch, and perform the whole thing in front of a live audience.
No adult told them how to do it. No adult is allowed to. Neither are friends allowed to tell them.That’s Destination Imagination (or D.I. for short).
This is Destination Imagination’s 26th year of global programs, and NH-DI’s 45th year of building these nect-economy skills for students K-College. This program is often run as an after school program.
NH Destination Imagination (NH-DI) is a nonprofit program that gives K–college students real, open-ended challenges to solve, in teams, on their own. Students design, build, write, research, and perform every part of their solution themselves. Adults provide logistics and encouragement. The thinking belongs entirely to the kids.
This season, more than 600 New Hampshire students across public, private, charter, and home-school settings will take part. They’ll compete at Regional Tournaments in March, the NH State Affiliate Tournament in spring, and the top-scoring teams will represent New Hampshire at Destination Imagination Global Finals in May 2027.
WHY THIS MATTERS NOW
Schools are under pressure to prioritize subjects that may not leave room for creative problem-solving, collaboration, and resilience. These are harder to measure, yet important skills to master across a variety of challenges.
NH-DI gives students a place to practice thinking for themselves, working with people who are different from them, and recovering when something doesn’t go as planned. Over 120,000 New Hampshire alumni have been through this program. Many say it changed how they approach every challenge they’ve faced since.
HOW IT WORKS
Each year, Destination Imagination releases seven open-ended academic challenges. Teams of students choose one and spend months developing a full solution: research, design, construction, writing, and performance. (Click for a summary of this years Challenges).
The challenges span technical engineering, scientific inquiry, fine arts, improvisational theater, service learning, and early childhood learning. Every team also faces an Instant Challenge on tournament day: a problem they’ve never seen before, with five to ten minutes to solve it.
The rule that makes it real: Destination Imagination’s Non-Interference Policy prohibits adults, friends or any non-team member from contributing ideas, building props, or directing solutions in any way. Students own the process completely. Team managers handle logistics and supervision. That’s it.
This isn’t a policy quirk. This is the whole point. When kids can’t defer to an adult, they figure things out themselves. That’s where the real learning happens.
NH SEASON CALENDAR
Late Summer / Early Fall: Team registration opens statewide. Challenge briefs and practice tasks are released in late July.
Fall through Winter: Teams form, research, prototype, build, write, and rehearse. Team Manager training sessions run throughout this period.
March: NH Regional Tournaments across Northern and Southern New Hampshire
March / April: NH State Affiliate Tournament. Top teams earn a place at Global Finals.
May 2027: Destination Imagination Global Finals, bringing together top teams from more than 30 countries.
Full calendar and confirmed dates at nh-di.org/calendar.
FOR PARENTS and EDUCATORS
If you’re hearing about NH-DI for the first time, here’s what to know:
Teams in the Granite State join teams from over 20 countries in taking this journey.
Your child will join a small team and spend the school year working on a real challenge, one with no predetermined answer. They’ll make decisions, hit dead ends, try again, and eventually present something they and their team built entirely on their own.
Adult volunteers in the program, called Team Managers, are there to support the process. They don’t touch the solution. That part is up to the kids.
What do students get out of it? The short answer: they learn how to think. They figure out how to work with people who see things differently. They discover what they’re capable of when someone actually trusts them with a hard problem. They learn how to budget, generate, plan and implement ideas and follow through to execution: the regional tournament. The journey is where the value lies, not in the competition.
Some teams go to Global Finals. Most don’t. The kids who never leave New Hampshire still walk away with something that lasts – and many return as volunteers to help the program in New Hampshire and around the world.
To learn more or find a team near you, visit nh-di.org or email questions@nh-di.org.
Click here for more information on starting a team in New Hampshire.
