Here is some special information about my experience in DI!

Information about how long I’ve been in DI, the roles I’ve had in DI, the regions I’ve been connected to, etc.:

My “Home Region” = North Metro

Hi! I’m Kenny Hora, an 11-year-long participant in DI in one way or another. From 2nd grade to 9th grade, I was a participant on a DI Team and placed at regionals and state many times, earning special awards along the way. I’ve been to Globals 3 times and earned a Globals-level Renaissance Award for building guitars out of cardboard. Last year, I was a first-time team manager for a middle-level team. Right now, I serve as a co-chair of the DI Colorado Teen Leadership Committee, planning DI After Dark and other events to reach out to as many DI Colorado students as possible.

Special memories, experiences, etc. related to my time in DI:

Though not a very superstitious person, one of my greatest memories of participating in DI is my team’s superstition during every awards ceremony. At State in 4th grade, one of my teammates found a glittery foam four-leaf clover on the ground and kept it for the award ceremony. During the ceremony, my teammates and I all held the clover in one hand and crossed the fingers of our other hand for good luck. Our fingers became incredibly sweaty and even began to hurt, but we held our fingers crossed until our challenge winners were announced. That year, we placed fourth but received a wild card to go to globals. Though we lost the clover at the end of that year, we maintained the finger crossing tradition through the end of middle school. Every year, at regionals and state, we would always hold our fingers crossed during the award ceremony (unfortunately, the announcements for the Technical challenge were always close to last), but our “superstition” finally paid off in 8th grade, when we went to Globals for our final time as a team, placing tenth and earning a Renaissance Award.

One of my other favorite memories is planning the DI After Dark Technical challenge every year with Ava. On our first year, we created an elaborate laser-maze retrieval challenge but had to test our materials to see how many solutions we could find. As part of a retrieval mechanism, we slipped a piece of string through a straw and tied a loop in the end of it. We inserted the loop end of the contraption into the laser maze, put the loop around the neck of a rubber duck, and then pulled on the string to tighten it around the duck’s neck, pulling out the duck. From that day on, we have always joked about the “duck noose” situation to our own challenge.

My final favorite memory from DI is meeting the DI CEO at DI After Dark during my Junior year. It was so amazing to meet the head of DI and show her the challenges we created for DI Colorado students that year. That year’s food theme was more unique than usual, but I think that only made it more fun and wild. I remember being told that our team could become the next generation of Challenge Writers, and I think that that DI After Dark is the best DI After Dark I have been a part of planning.

Here are some photos I wanted to share with you about my experience in DI. I hope you enjoy them!