Holliston May 2016

Page 18 Local Town Pages www.hollistontownnews.com May 2016
Holliston DI Makes a Historic
Run to Global Finals
On May 25th, ten Holliston
High School students will travel
to Knoxville, TN to compete
in the 2015-2016 Destination
Imagination Global Finals at the
University of Tennessee. But before
any of these talented teens
step foot on a plane, they will
already have made history, not
once, but twice.
Destination Imagination is a
not-for-profit organization that
teaches students of all ages creative
problem-solving through
innovative challenges and competitions.
Every year, hundreds
of elementary, middle-school
and high school teams from
across Massachusetts compete
in regional tournaments, then
MADI State Finals, vying for the
right to represent the Bay State at
Globals. But in what may well be
a first for the state, this year one
town will send two teams from
the same age group to compete
in Global Finals in the same challenge.
As if that wasn’t enough,
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one of those teams will also compete
in a second challenge as
well.
Karin Knapik has been involved
with Destination Imagination
for decades, first as a
competitor, then as a team manager,
and now as the Affiliate
Director for Massachusetts DI
and even she can’t remember a
showing like this. “I would say it
is very rare if it has happened at
all.”
At the MADI State Finals,
the “Creative-a-trees” team of
Joshua Perlmutter, Ariana Ameli,
Ryan Cahill, Abby Meltzer, Kent
Perlmutter, and James Crews
took part in two different events,
one a service-learning task, the
other an improvisation challenge.
The four seniors and two
sophomores finished second in
the state in the former, and were
crowned champions in the latter,
earning the right to attend
Global Finals and compete in
both events against teams from
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But they quickly learned they
wouldn’t be alone, as the “Accidental
Peanuts,” comprised of
HHS sophomores Maria Gentile,
Olivia Palmer, Hazel Peters
and Jenna Pralat, finished right
behind them in the Improv challenge,
punching their ticket to
Knoxville as well.
“I really didn’t fully comprehend
what was happening,” admits
Peters, thinking back to the
awards ceremony at the state
tournament, when the two teams
were called up to the podium in
succession. “It was unreal because
I knew it was such a rare
occurrence.”
With nearly two months
between the State Finals and
Global Finals, the teams have
plenty of work to do, and not all
of it involves practicing their performance
skills and flexing their
creative muscles. Fundraising to
defray the cost of making the trip
to Tennessee will take up even
more time and creativity.
Kristine Perlmutter, team
manager of the Creative-a-trees
and the MADI Region Seven
Coordinator, has tallied up the
costs and set an ambitious goal.
“With ten students heading to
the tournament, we’re trying to
raise $10,000 to cover their registration
and travel costs.”
The two teams will certainly
On Monday, April 16, Fiske’s General Store donated $345 to Holliston’s
Destination Imagination Teams, headed to the Global Finals in
Knoxville, TN late this month.
l-r, T Kristine Perlmutter, Ryan Cahill, John Paltineri, Ariana Ameli, Kent
Perlmutter, Jenna Pralat, photo by Bill Tobin originally appeared in and
is used courtesy of The Holliston Reporter, www.hollistonreporter.com.
go head-to-head against each
other at Globals, but in the
meantime, they’ve decided to
work together rather than compete
for local donations. All ten
students will combine their fundraising
efforts which will include
pink flamingo “flocking” on the
lawns of Holliston in the coming
weeks, and a May 6th “Kids
Night Out” event for 3rd-5th
graders at Miller Elementary
School.
“The members of the teams
will act as counselors for the
night,” according to the Accidental
Peanuts’ team manager,
Shawn Peters. “Parents can drop
their kids off and head out to dinner
while their kids play sports,
watch a movie, and even learn
improv games. It’ll be about the
same as a babysitter, but a lot
more fun, and for a better cause.”
With generous donations from
Holliston PTSA and Fiske’s General
Store, the teams are on their
way to their goals. Local businesses
and organizations that
would like to help sponsor their
efforts or community members
interested in their fundraising
events and initiatives can email
the teams at HollistonDI2016@
gmail.com .
By Memorial Day Weekend,
both teams will know how
they’ve stacked up against the
hundreds of other teams they’ll
face at Global Finals. But win or
lose at Globals, these ten teenagers
will know they’ve already
made a little bit of history, and
put Holliston on the map as an
unlikely creative capital in Massachusetts.
Thanks to Yanks Donates to
Homes for Our Troops
Pictured is Donnalee Shain
Vice President of Thanks To
Yanks, she is holding a donation
check,Thanks To Yanks
will be making a donation
to Homes for Our Troops, a
Taunton-based, non-profit organization
that builds specially
adaptive homes for disabled
veterans, these funds were
raised at a recent breakfast
fundraiser.
The next event fundraiser,
will be a comedy night on
May,14th.
For information please visit
Thanks To yanks on Facebook
Or thankstoyanks.org.