Bob Jones wins Destination Imagination Global Finals

They brought it back home to Alabama.

Bob Jones students won the Destination Imagination Global Finals.

Students from Bob Jones High School won first-place honors at the Destination Imagination (DI) Global Finals. Their win brings the honor back to Alabama for the first time in a decade and for only the second time in history.

Team members are Adrienne Dauma, Darien Harris, Michael Herbek, Kendall Kingsford, Brandon Mallette, Lex Morton and Marissa Walker.

The DI finals were held in Knoxville, Tenn. on May 23-26 at the University of Tennessee, team manager Robin Dauma said. She teaches English at Bob Jones.

The Bob Jones team won first place in the Instant Challenge category. In addition, they took first place overall in Challenge C: Coming Attractions, which involved theater arts. “They were recognized in front of over 20,000 participants in the Global Finals from over 20 countries and their supporters who were gathered in the Thomson-Boling Arena at UT,” Dauma said.

Challenge C required the team to present a movie trailer with characters from two nations minimum. They also had to design and feature a cinematic special effect and create an original soundtrack that complemented the trailer.

The Madison students used a model slide projector, circa 1950, with theater-lighting film. For projection, they “gutted a 1980s-model big-screen television,” Dauma said. They bought the equipment at Madison thrift stores for $5 each.

“Further adding to the prestige of their win, the Bob Jones team decided to compete at the university level,” Dauma said. Teams composed of all college-bound, high school seniors have this option.

“This strategy was a double-edged sword: potentially increasing chances of making it to Global Finals but pitting them against college students from around the world … (who had) more advanced coursework and performance/technical experience,” Dauma said.

Bob Jones rated third in team performance (75 percent of tournament totals) “but a far-and-away first-place win in Instant Challenge (25 percent) to secure their place at the top,” she said.

Dauma believes the students’ “dedication to creative problem-solving will serve them – and our society – well in the future. I have no doubt!”