(CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Destination Imagination (DI) teams from Bob Jones high and Heritage, West Madison and Rainbow elementary schools have qualified to represent Alabama in the 2014 DI Global Finals.

These Madison City Schools students competed in a qualifying tournament at the University of Alabama in Huntsville on April 12. The global finals will be held May 20-25 at the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.

Destination Imagination is a non-profit, volunteer-led, cause-driven organization designed to inspire and equip students to become future innovators and leaders. Students solve challenges that panels of parents, educators and subject-matter experts define in various disciplines.

Bob Jones won in the secondary level in the improvisational challenge with their program, “DIstracted.” Also for improvisational challenge, Heritage ranked at the top in the middle level with “Paradox Peeps.”

West Madison won the fine arts challenge for the middle level with “The Unknown Evolution.” Rainbow presented “The Samurai Puppy Cats” to ace the fine arts challenge in the elementary division.

“Madison City Schools kept with tradition in fielding the most state champion teams of any school district and four out of the 15 winners,” Robin Dauma said. Dauma teaches at Bob Jones and continues as a longtime DI coach and proponent.

“As both Bob Jones and Discovery sponsor and as the regional DI director for North Alabama, I couldn’t be more proud of these teams and their sponsors and team managers,” Dauma said.

To reach solutions, DI teams must exercise creative skills that they may not face in the classroom. Challenges can involve improvisation, community outreach and dramatic and technical elements.

More than 1,300 teams from 45 states, seven Canadian provinces and 13 countries will compete at DI Global Finals. Madison residents can help school teams by supporting upcoming fundraisers to fund their travel to global finals.