Algoma Destination Imagination qualifiers: Stoplight

ALGOMA – There are three students competing in the category of improv as a secondary Algoma Destination Imagination (DI) team, named Stoplight, which has qualified for the DI global competition.

Gwen Bennett has been participating in DI for seven years, competing one year in the scientific category, three years in fine arts and three years in improv. She is a senior, graduating on May 25.

She is also a DI scholarship winner and plans to attend University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha for psychology and social sciences.

Bennett loves DI and recommends every student try it out. Ailey St.

John has participated in DI for four years, with two years in improv and two years in fine arts. St. John is a freshman and made it to globals in her two years competing in fine arts, which cemented her passion for DI. St. John and Bennett were a team of two last year competing in improv. This is Brenden Bumm’s first year participating in DI. Bumm is a sophomore home-school student. He enjoys it and said he has learned a lot about communication. He plans on attending acting school in New York.

According to Co-Team manager Danielle Bennett, last year St. John and Bennett were on a team together with three other people. As a team, they reviewed the challenges and selected improv due to time constraints (jobs, sports and other extracurricular activities). Their other teammates ended up dropping out, so Bennett and St. John competed as a team of two in improv.

“They really enjoyed it and decided they would continue with improv this year. They recruited a mutual friend to join the team,” Danielle Bennett said.

Stoplight may be competing in improv for the first time with this new group, but all the students are involved with theater, potentially giving them an edge over the competition.

“Improv, for this team, focuses mostly on humor but they are all involved in theater,” Co-Manager Bennett said. “Improv is more character driven and is based on personal interests and knowledge.

Improv is being yourself and being comfortable with that. You need to be brave and even though you are scared, being able to do it anyway. The other challenges focus on repetition, memorization and mastery of knowledge. Improv focuses on adaptability, communication and trust.”

That trust and confidence can be difficult for teenagers to build, but thanks to Destination Imagination, participants are driven to push themselves both for themselves and for their team.

Each DI team is able to select their main challenge from different categories. This year’s improv challenge required teams to research twelve diverse locations (including fictional, man-made, natural, remote, and settled places), twelve different transportation methods, a seeker with a specific goal and to complete an unexpected detour.

Stoplight is able to prepare for the main challenge as teams can research and choose their transportation methods and settings beforehand. At the competition, the Seeker is revealed along with the specific mode of transport and location. The team then gets two minutes to plan their five-minute skit. During their performance, they must incorporate an unexpected detour that is revealed at that time.

“For example,” Co-Manager Bennett said, “...their skit at state was a starting location at the Great Barrier Reef, ending in Rome and traveling by monorail. The seeker was a writer searching for the perfect pen. The detour was sand filled pumpkins were on the path, preventing them from moving forward. We practice once a week for two hours. At practice, we do an instant challenge and several main challenge skits.”

That surprise challenge is introduced and changed at each practice session to enhance the team’s performance, construction, and communication abilities.

Per DI rules, specific details about the qualifying challenges cannot be discussed publicly until after the Global Finals competition. These challenges may involve performance elements, construction tasks, or a blend of both. This year, there are no props, costumes or backgrounds for the category of improv.

The global level of competition can be intimidating, but Danielle Bennett has confidence in her team.

She said she is driven to manage the team because, “I have been involved in DI for seven years, first as a volunteer and then I started coaching last year. My daughter wanted to spend more time with me and I thought this would be a good way to do that. I really enjoy watching them grow and becoming stronger communicators, individuals and leaders. As team manager, I keep them on track as they go off the rails quite a bit. As a high school team, they have a variety of other time commitments so sometimes it is coordinating schedules so we can fit a practice in.”

Stoplight is excited to compete on a global stage and show their skills to the world, and the Algoma School District and wider community is just as enthusiastic and supportive.