October 2008 Silicon Valley Newsletter
Fri, 10/03/2008 - 10:23am — John Cardosi
California Creativity
Silicon Valley Region
Destination ImagiNation®
Volume20 Issue #1 October 2008
Welcome to the 2008-2009 season of Creative Problem Solving with Destination ImagiNation®. This program provides an opportunity for kids of all ages to work together in teams, solving exciting challenges with their own ideas and imagination. Based on the concept of divergent thinking --understanding that there is more than one way to solve a problem-- Destination ImagiNation® encourages students to build on their strengths and to discover skills they never knew they possessed.
This year our Region is celebrating our 20th Anniversary as a supporter of Creative Problem Solving!
Regional Information Nights
If you have scheduled a Destination Imagination information night at your school, please send that information to John Cardosi (cardosi1@comcast.net, or 408-738-4471) so that it can be added to our regional calendar. If you would like help with a meeting at your school for parents and students who are interested in learning about the DI program, contact John Cardosi.
What’s New for 2009
Fee
The combined national and state membership fees have increased this year. The 5-pak costs $510 and a single membership (1-pak) costs $195. Go to www.shopdi.org to buy your membership. After purchasing a membership, all online team registration is done through our California Creativity website.
The California deadline for purchasing your membership at ShopDI is December 20, 2008. Make sure you buy your membership before the deadline.
projectOutreach
This year Destination ImagiNation is offering teams the opportunity to participate in the projectOutreach program, a program that combines Creative Problem Solving and Community Service. A projectOutreach challenge is included in this year’s membership materials. This season, the projectOutreach Challenge invites teams to “Take Charge!” Teams of middle school, high school, and university-aged students are challenged to increase their peers’ physical and mental health by rallying them to eat better and become more physically active.
The first 500 teams to purchase projectOutreach memberships can apply for a free 1-pak membership. See details here: http://www.californiacreativity.org/node/356
New Yahoo! Group for Silicon Valley Team Managers
We have set up a Yahoo! Group where our region's Team Managers can trade information about being a DI Team Manager, and offer and receive support. This group is moderated by Alan Orcutt. Alan has been involved with Destination ImagiNation for 10 years, has been a manager for 13 teams and has gone to Globals twice. We will be inviting everyone who is on our newsletter list to join the group. You can apply to join the list now by sending an email to svid_tm-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Getting Started
In order to participate in Destination ImagiNation, teams must be assigned a membership number. Anyone may purchase an individual Team Membership (1-pak) for $195, or a school or other recognized youth-serving organization may purchase a 5-pak Team Membership for $510, which will provide the sponsoring organization with 5 membership numbers for competitive teams. Purchase of a membership covers the National and State fees. A regional fee of $80 per team is paid directly to the Silicon Valley Region in January. Teams advancing to the State Tournament will pay an additional $125 state tournament fee to California Creativity.
Purchase memberships at www.shopdi.org. Then register teams at www.californiacreativity.org. The California deadline for purchasing your membership at ShopDI is December 20, 2008. Make sure you buy your membership before the deadline.
Information about starting a Destination ImagiNation Membership can be found at www.caldi.org/how-get-started.
The challenge materials are only available for download after your membership fee is paid.
The California Creativity website (www.californiacreativity.org) maintains the database for all our team information. Team Managers will register teams and invite volunteers and appraisers directly through the California Creativity website. If you are new to DI, please go to www.californiacreativity.org and create a log in account. This will allow you to access all of the features and will let us know you’re out there. Mangers will need their team membership number to register their team at www.californiacreativity.org . To access our regional page, click on the Silicon Valley icon at the top of the California Creativity home page, or go to www.californiacreativity.org/region/sv .
The Regional Fee and Tournament
In addition to the National and State fees paid when you buy a membership, our region charges a fee of $80.00 per team fee to cover local costs. This fee of $80.00 includes Team Manager Training, Appraiser training, admission to the Instant Challenge festival, participation pins for the team members and all tournament costs.
To participate in the regional tournament a team must complete tournament registration in the region with their own unique membership number (and a unique team name if they want); provide an appraiser willing to spend two Saturday mornings, January 31 and February 7, 2009, being trained, and the entire Saturday of the tournament, March 7, 2009, appraising teams; provide a tournament volunteer willing to work a three hour shift at the tournament; and pay the regional fee of $80.
This year’s Silicon Valley Regional Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, March 7, 2009 at Independence High School in San Jose. Regional champions from the Regional Tournament will be invited to the California Creativity State Tournament which will be held on Saturday, April 4, 2009 here in San Jose at Independence High School. The State Tournament will have a separate tournament fee of $125. All teams going to the state tournament must provide a trained, experienced appraiser and a state tournament volunteer. Teams advancing to the State Tournament must update their California Creativity registration with their state appraiser’s information no latter than Saturday, March 14, 2009. Teams that do not comply will not be allowed to participate in the State Tournament.
The 2009 Destination Imagination Global Finals Tournament is May 20-23, 2009 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Details and fee information will be provided to those who qualify.
Team Manager Training
Team Manager training for New Team Managers will be provided in two installments. The first session “Getting Started and Introduction to Instant Challenges” is designed to get you up and running with your team. The second session “Solving the Central Challenge” will delve into the details of solving the challenge: how to move the kids along without interfering. This will not go into challenge specifics but, rather, general techniques that apply to solving any central challenge. If you have questions about any of our trainings you can contact John Cardosi, at cardosi1@comcast.net or 408-738-4471. If you would like to host a training session at your school, please contact John.
New Team Manager Training - Part 1, “Getting Started and Introduction to Instant Challenges,” will be on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 from 7:00PM to 9:00PM at Cupertino Middle School, 1650 South Bernardo Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94087. Please bring a copy of the Rules of the Road to this training.
New Team Manager Training - Part 2, “Solving the Central Challenge,” will be on Wednesday, October 29, 2009 at Cupertino Middle School from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. If possible, please print out and bring a copy of a central challenge to the training.
These trainings will be repeated in November. Check the regional calendar for dates and locations.
We will not cover Rising Stars or projectOutreach in these training sessions. If you plan on managing a Rising Stars or projectOutreach team, we will have separate trainings for these programs which will be scheduled soon. Please check the Silicon Valley Calendar for more information.
We Need Help!
Organizing a program like Destination ImagiNation takes a lot of time and effort. Each year a group of dedicated volunteers puts together everything needed to provide team manager training, communications, instant challenge festival, tournaments, and more, so that all of our kids can have a wonderful season of creative problem solving. You will find our contact list with the names and jobs of our hard-working volunteers posted on our website. But some jobs are still unfilled, and we can always use more help to lighten the load. We need people to help organize food for the Team Manager Walkthrough and Appraiser Trainings, people with experience in marketing to help spread the word about DI to the community and people willing to join the operating committee (we usually meet the first Thursday evening of each month) in planning and supporting DI in the six counties of the Silicon Valley region. Contact John Cardosi if you can help. Please join us in keeping Destination ImagiNation growing and thriving in the Silicon Valley Region.
What’s Happening?
Our calendar is constantly being updated as we confirm new dates and sites. You can access our calendar at http://www.caldi.org/calendar/sv . Check back often.
For more information go to:
www.idodi.org for national DI news and general information
www.californiacreativity.org for California DI specifics
www.californiacreativity.org/region/sv for regional DI news and events
If you would like to be added to our Silicon Valley Region newsletter list or if your email address has changed from last year, please go to http://www.californiacreativity.org/region/sv , click on the name Lauren Bird-Wiser and send her an email with the subject “DI email.”
The National Dairy Council is a National Sponsor
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Destination ImagiNation®