Destination Imagination Colorado

1st Place Fine Arts Challenge, University Level
Destination Imagination Global Finals 2026

The DICO Univ DI team Maximum Jank is comprised of Ren Deru, Colorado State University; Ryder Fine, Colorado School of Mines; Tanzhen Deru, Metro State University; Amelie Keyser, Salida HS; Liam O’Rourke, Regis HS, and Ming Deru, Compass Montessori HS.

For months, these dedicated students planned around their busy schedules, building many projects at home and using a handful in-person meetings and video calls to coordinate their efforts. They climbed up and jumped off extremely detailed 2-story sets of a synthetic fertilizer factory and hospital, sewed costumes and a life-sized dummy that was dismantled during the performance, created gory nature prosthetics, and engineered EMG-activated tentacles and telescoping stilts. Norma Nature wanted to destroy humanity; Steampunk Steve tried to heal Norma; and Fumigator Frank ultimately provided the vaccine that solved the problem. As usual for this team, their performance can best be described as “hysterical and unhinged.”

3rd Place Service Learning Challenge, SL and Renaissance Award: Conservatory of Matter from Cherry Creek Schools
Destination Imagination Global Finals 2026

As Colorado’s only secondary level service learning team, The Conservatory of Matter was thrilled to accept not only third place at Globals but also the coveted Renaissance award! Our team identified isolation as the community need we wanted to address. We played music concerts at senior homes to help the elderly feel like they mattered and we also made over 6000 servings of bean soup to help those with food insecurity know they were not alone. We had an amazing time at globals and can’t wait to dive into next years challenge!

10th Place, Technical Category P Division, Elementary Level: Team R U Ready
Destination Imagination Global Finals 2026

Team R U Ready is an elementary level team from and has been working together since they were in 1st grade as rising stars. Over the years, they met weekly during the DI season, and have developed and improved their problem-solving, building, engineering, and teamwork skills together. They shine brightest through their creative script writing, sense of humor, and enthusiastic acting. They have experienced many ups and downs as a team and learned many lessons together and were so proud that all of those experiences led them to earn a spot at global finals this year. While only 4 of the 7 teammates were able to attend, all 7 were part of the team’s success! It was an experience they will never forget!

9th Place, Technical Category, ML: That's A Cool Name
Destination Imagination Global Finals 2026

The DI Colorado team "That's a Cool Name", from and Cherry Creek Schools, just returned from Global Finals in Kansas City and they brought home a 9th place finish in the Technical Category, Middle School Level. The team spent months engineering an original game show from scratch, building everything from a four-pulley levitation device to a self-spinning, light-and-sound synchronized wheel, all on a $225 student-managed budget. Hours before their Global Finals presentation, key technical components failed but the team pushed through tears to make emergency repairs and take the stage.

🇺🇸 We remember today and always