DI Competition

A couple of weeks ago, Seth competed in Destination Imagination (DI).  It was his 8th time to compete; he started in 5th grade.  4 of the team members have been together since 6th grade (7 years). They are an amazing group of teenagers!  They are going to do awesome things in our world. 

Here's a glimpse into the world of DI.  The kids do EVERYTHING, including writing the script, designing and making the costumes and props, creating a soundtrack, and performing.  Everything!  There is an adult manager there just so they aren't unsupervised.

Shopping for costume ideas.  Seth got a little bored and started stacking golf pencils.

Final night of practice before the big competition.
Seth loves the tricycle for some reason.
 I think I have a picture of him on it every year.

This year's competition involved choosing a work of art, then centering the entire performance around it.  I had seen the work of art prior to the competition, but didn't know what all was going on with it.  DI is kinda like fight club.  The kids don't talk about it outside of DI.  The only thing I really knew was that Seth needed brown shoes for his costume.

The artwork inspiration for this year's performance.

The kids do ALL of the costume prep.
 If you'll look closely on the back of his arm, you can see a little bump that is his Dexcom sensor.

The  competition consists of 2 parts - a performance and an Instant Challenge.  I don't know much about Instant Challenge (think fight club again), but I know they have a problem to solve in a set time with limited supplies.  This is the hardest part of the competition for Seth's team.  Spectators are not allowed for the IC, but are allowed for the performance.

The performance was fantastic! The appraisers (judges) had awesome things to say about their performance. The engaged and delighted the audience from beginning to end.  There was humor.  The team used their musical talents as part of the performance.  It was just wonderful, beginning to end.

Team picture with their manager after the performance.  They nailed it!

There is a big awards show at the end of the day.  The scores from performance and IC are totaled and medals are given for each category.  Seth's team placed 3rd in their category overall.  BUT, they earned a DaVinci award.  DaVinci awards are given for excellence in their performance.  The appraiser's sheet for the DaVinci award had nothing but great things to say about their performance. This is only the 2nd DaVinci award ever earned by a team from Seth's school.  The first one was earned by this same team 2 years ago!  Like I said, they are an amazing group of kids!

At the awards ceremony with their DaVinci award.

Diabetes did not play into the day much at all.  Other than his Dex sensor showing and having to do an injection in the hall for his lunch, it was not much of a factor.  Seth tamed the D-beast like a boss.  He watched his Dex trend graph and took appropriate actions throughout the day.  I just wanted to share his amazing accomplishment.  With diabetes along the path is a little trickier, but with careful management he has been able to continue doing all of the same activities he did before d. Not only does he do them, he ROCKS them. KDA every day.