Destination Imagination Global Finals

By Emma Chen, Alicia Hu, Andrew Galbraith, Winnie Chen and Maddy Chang, Grade 7

In the last week of May, fourteen grade 6 students, Mrs. Anthony, Ms. Bouziane, Mr. Lee and six of our WPGA parents represented West Point Grey Academy, British Columbia and Canada at the 2010 Destination Imagination Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee. Over 1500 teams and 15,000 people attended the tournament. The Sure Shots and Team Wall-y both qualified to compete after each receiving first place at our Provincial tournament last month. The competition was fierce and our teams placed 33 and 35 in their age group out of over 75 international teams, facing many challenges along the way.

On the day of their team challenges, the Sure Shots prepared for an early morning performance. Unfortunately, the team discovered that their device for their challenge was a little too short to reach the target that they had to shoot objects into. Even though the technical part of the challenge did not work as planned, the story and skit were still very strong.

After lunch on that same day, Team Wall-y presented. Their unique structure made out of only a few sheets of newspaper and glue held 125 pounds! They based their play on the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and highlights included laughable costumes, a violin duet and an amazing solo song to introduce and conclude the performance.

Both teams also had to participate in an Instant Challenge, an on-the-spot challenge given to the teams with only a few minutes of preparation time. The Sure Shots again had to rise early as they were the first team of the day to present. Getting up early really tested their improvisational skills. They were sleepy but anxious and nervous at the same time. They received a very high score of 89 out of 100. Team Wall-y competed in the middle of the afternoon. The intense heat and sun of Tennessee left the team feeling tired and anxious; however, they did an amazing job with a final score of 70.

Other than the actual competition part of the tournament, there were several other fun things to do. One very popular activity was pin trading! Each province/state/country had it’s own pin to trade. Popular pins included the California Surfboard and Dragon set, the iPod pin set and the Converse Shoe pin set. Voted most popular was Maryland’s Crab set. B.C.’s pins were also sought after: a spirit bear, orca whale and eagle that came together to form a circle with a maple leaf in the middle.

Overall, the trip to Tennessee was a journey of a life time and it was a great experience for everyone. Though we may not have come in first, we still had loads of fun and met many different people from all over the world. We couldn’t have had a better time. It was a blast!

Sure Shots: Madeleine Chang, Emma Chen, Andrew Galbraith, Rachel Xiong, Winnie Chen, Alicia Hu, Rachel Yen

Team WALL-y: Edward Hou, Erin Bullen, Kevin Yu, Kiersten Gilberg, Spencer Kwok, Suraya Bondy, Jessica Chan