On average, DI takes about as much time as a sport or most other school age activities, although the specific schedule is usually flexible and dictated by the students themselves and by their family availability.

In the fall, teams meet for about an hour every week to plan their challenge solutions and practice instant challenges. By January, students often spend an additional 1-2 hours working solo or meeting in smaller groups to work on specific components of the challenge. As the tournament approaches in March, teams will usually spend more time finishing their props and practicing their performance. Most teams choose to meet twice a week from February break until the tournament in March so they can rehearse and polish their presentation.

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Once a specific group of students (no more than seven) is matched together as a team with a designated parent Team Manager, it is entirely up to those families to determine a mutually convenient meeting time. Many groups meet in the evening (Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are popular), but some meet after school or on the weekend.

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Again, it depends! JGMS is often hosting teams most weeknights. A few teams meet after school at Lane. Weekend meetings are typically not held at the school and may be hosted in family homes or in flex spaces like church or library meeting rooms.

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Yes and no! The Rising Stars teams (grades 2 and below) perform in an exhibition only category. All the other teams, when they present their solution at a tournament, will receive a score based upon the rubric for their chosen challenge and will be competing against the other teams in their region or state that are in the same level (Elementary, Middle or Secondary) in the same Challenge (Scientific, Technical, Fine Arts, Engineering, Improv, or Service Learning.)

However, DI is so much more than a competition! In a very real sense, all students are winners. Kids go through the process of creating something from nothing, how ideas on a post-it get translated into prototypes and then into finished products the creators can be proud of. They make new friends, and they laugh a lot. In addition to numerical scores, each team will receive “sticky notes” of compliments from the appraisers highlighting what they found special about the presentation.

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For the most part, schedules are specific only to the team, with three exceptions that gather all 100+ DI kids in Bedford: the IC Medley in late January, the Bedford Showcase (dress rehearsal) in late February or early March, and the Regional Tournament on a weekend day in March.

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Yes! The schedule of DI is dictated by the students and the families. However, flexible time does not mean NO time. Students and families will have the option to schedule meetings at times that are mutually agreeable, but if your student is booked every night of the week and away every weekend, it will be difficult for them to fully engage in the program (part of the fun is really seeing your ideas take shape) and it will pose an undue hardship on the other team members to plan around frequent absences.

In general DI should be considered more like a sport and less like a class– particularly as the March tournament gets closer, there will be times when you are asked to flex your schedules for other activities and prioritize your commitment to the team.

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DI runs from October/November through March. Many teams, particularly returning ones, start meeting in October. Team formation is usually complete by October 15 and new teams often start up around mid-November. The season ends in mid-March for most students, with a few teams advancing to state competition in early April or Global Finals competition in late May.

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Yes! Absolutely! DI is a great place for parents to model collaboration and teamwork for their students. Many hands are needed to make a DI season successful. The best way to help is to volunteer to be a Team Manager! We usually have more children looking for teams than we have spaces on teams, due to a limited number of managers. Volunteering as a Team Manager allows more children to participate in DI!

Learn more about team managing on our “Becoming a Team Manager” page.

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If you cannot volunteer as a Team Manager, there are many other ways to help out! Other parents can support the kids by offering to host project work time, select and prepare instant challenges, be one-day tournament volunteers, donate materials, or teach a skill students would like to learn. The Instant Challenge Medley in January is another event that will require 2 to 4 volunteers per team in addition to the Team Manager.

Yep! DI was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit offshoot of Odyssey of the Mind (which was/is a for-profit entity). DI is now the larger of the two organizations, but if you are familiar with Odyssey of the Mind, Destination Imagination is far more similar than different.