Comox Valley secondary students participated in Destination Imagination’s first-ever virtual world championship mid-July and achieved significant results.
G.P. Vanier improv students competed in the annual Global Finals in an online tournament that played out entirely on a live-streaming app, a first of its kind for the globally recognized competition.
Competing in the senior category against teams from China and Poland, students were tasked to create a story using visual effects and deliver a performance using Zoom.
Vanier’s Team Chance performance earned fourth place in the Virtual Team Challenge and sixth in Instant Challenge during week two of the championships. Of the thousands of entries from across the world, the team earned a remarkable 11th place finish overall in the online event.
Team Managers Greg Kochanuk and Lori Mazey were impressed with the students’ tenacity to compete under the new reality of COVID-19 restrictions and pleased with their results.
“To compete against hundreds of teams, many of whom were using professional studio equipment to complete their entries, is remarkable in itself. To be recognized as one of the very best in the world at improv performance in this entirely new presentation platform, however, is truly ground-breaking,” said Kochanuk.
As well, Vanier’s junior team, the Sockstars, competed in the middle-level category.
“The challenge offered many opportunities to learn in a new way,” explained Brooke O’Toole, a student in grade 12. “We had to edit video right up until the time we submitted it, condensing and slightly speeding audio and video files to make it work within the time limit.”