By Linda White
Congratulations to the Bedford students who have clearly demonstrated they possess the requisite creativity, imagination, and drive to reach their destination and successfully represent Bedford in the 2019 Destination Imagination challenge tournaments.
Bedford’s 2019 Destination Imagination (DI) teams participated in their first showcase on Saturday, March 2 in the Lane School cafeteria. Teams set up and presented to an audience of family members and friends adhering to the established DI guidelines and restraints for materials, space, time, and content and used the showcase as a dress rehearsal before facing their first official competition round. Click this link to see all the images from the Showcase at Lane School in the Bedford Snapshots album on Facebook
On Sunday, March 10 Bedford teams joined participating DI teams from Acton, Billerica, Burlington, Chelmsford, Concord, Dracut, Groveland, Lexington, Millis, Newton, and Westford in Chelmsford for the DI Massachusetts Region 4 Tournament. A total of 12 teams, 72 students, represented Bedford. Six teams were DI veterans and six teams were new to the DI experience.
The Bedford teams included:
Looking Ahead to State Competition in Worcester
The Skittleworms*, Cotton Candy Squad, and TEJKMO will be busy preparing for the State Tournament competition in Worcester at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, March 30 where they will face other 1st and 2nd place winning teams from eight regions across Massachusetts.
Bedford 2019 DI teams are under the leadership and guidance of Jennifer Cunningham, incoming Bedford DI president, who commented, “We are so pleased to be continuing the strong tradition of Destination Imagination Bedford because it is such a completely unique and important activity. In DI, the kids are in charge! They make every decision from the beginning of the season up to the end including which challenge they are going to solve, what topics they want to research, what they want to build, which team members should play which roles in the presentation, etc. DI teaches creativity, resourcefulness, and problem-solving in an environment where kids get to have fun with their friends every week.
“Thanks to my two sons, our family has been involved in DI for seven years running now, and the process astonishes me every single time. These kids work together to explore common interests, figure out how to approach long-term, open-ended tasks, communicate and collaborate with those who have different styles and ideas, persevere through failed designs and setbacks, and within a few short months, they’ve created something amazing together. Ideas go from post-it notes in a brainstorm to prototype sketches to finished products that are 100% kid-designed and kid-executed. They create something from nothing, and they do it as a team. It’s a powerful learning experience for all of us.”
If you are interested in following the progress of the Bedford DI teams, visit and Like them on Facebook at “Bedford Destination Imagination” or visit the team home website www.bedfordmadi.org. Families interested in receiving information regarding Destination Imagination 2020 programs and activities may complete the survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sKjz3-p9gQkNJV8gYnbi7rsZRQsVw6Mf96zvhusQvUk/edit
About Destination Imagination
Destination Imagination (DI) is a non-profit, volunteer-led, cause-driven organization with a stated purpose to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders. Seven new standards-based Challenges in STEM, Improvisation, Visual Arts, Service Learning, and Early Learning are offered annually. Each Challenge is open-ended and enables student teams to learn and experience the creative process from imagination to innovation. Learn more about DI at https://www.madikids.org/
