Welcome one of two teams from Pinkerton Academy! And yes, Mandy and Eric make a two person team! This makes only the second two-person New Hampshire team to advance to Global Finals,

This duo of Pinkerton juniors litterally works like a team of seven! To make matters worse, their challenge callsto blend improvisational acting, story development, research, social studies, geography, theater arts, teamwork, design and innovation. AND meet strict scoring areas. And they just keep doing it!

So what can challenge these two?

"I think the most challenging part of DI is Instant Challenge", according to Mandy. [That is]" where you have only several minutes to come up with a solution to a problem which could be anything from creating a skit to performing a task. You need to have good time-management skills but also be able to come up with something really creative in a short amount of time.

For Eric, it's something else. "The most challenging part of Destination Imagination was compiling our research. While there are many nations and different cultures out there, it is hard to pick traditions that stand out above the rest. We found many obscure aspects of some cultures, but it was difficult to find things that have major influence on a nation".

Being a two person improv team had the potential to be very difficult for Mandy and Eric since most teams have around 5-7 kids; however, they actually turned it into an advantage for themselves. They learned each other's strengths and assigned roles when making props and during the skit that utilized what they were good at. They also taught themselves how to play many different characters within one scene, since there were only two of them, without confusing the audience and while maintaining their sense of humor.

Their team manager, Kerry Lafond gets a close look at it all. "I love watching how well Mandy and Eric work together. They each have a great sense of humor and spend a lot of time trying to make each other laugh while brainstorming and researching their problem. Needless to say, their jokes, sarcasm and quips back and forth make meetings and their performances very entertaining."

Now, they are heading off to Destination ImagiNation Global Finals!

More information about this team will be posted from Knoxville as it is relayed from the team!