True Champions!

Last weekend, eight of my Interactive Media students, Mrs. Lieske and I went to Lansing to compete in the annual Skills USA State Contest. Skills USA is a student and professional organization that was developed to help all students be successful both in their chosen fields of study and in the world of work. Their website has more information if you're interested.

Anyway, on with the story...
The event was held Friday through Sunday. So, on Friday, we left school around 8:30 and headed for Lansing. After a stop for breakfast in Davison, we continued to downtown East Lansing. I think my students were both excited and pleased to find that our trip would only be about an hour long. Many had never been there before. Once there, the first thing we did was go shopping! After perusing the books at Barnes and Noble and checking out the sweet digs at Urban Outfitters, we decided to take a walking tour of Michigan State Univeristy. We walked through the Union, past the Library and Beaumont Tower, over the Red Cedar River and past the International Center until we reached my Alma Mater: The College of Communicaiton Arts and Sciences. I had not made any reservations for a tour, so we looked at what we could through the glass windows. Our next stop was the MSU Dairy Store for some delicious ice cream.

After our circle tour or MSU, we headed to the Holiday Inn South to check in. From there, it was Laser Tag and dinner and then the Opening Ceremonies. Students had about 2 hours for fun before they had to be back in their rooms.



Saturday morning, the vibe changed from fun to frenzy as we rushed to take care of last-minute issues in preparation for our contests. Jamie and Brittney competed in Web Design and I had three teams for TV Video Production: Matt R. & Molly, Jeff and Matt B. and Jaimie and Andrew. Keeping track of the details of two contests, while trying to run the TV Video contest proved to be a bit hectic. Luckily, they were at the same building and even in the same hallway. Also, Jill was a big help in the orchestration of people and equipment. We got to the M-TEC center at 7:30 and finally all left around 3:30pm. At least the students. Jennie and I had to organize the judges and make sure they had everything they needed to judge the videos. We were done around 6:30. At that time, I headed back to the Holiday Inn to round up my students for dinner

Because Jennie and I were in charge, we knew that evening how our teams had done. I knew it would be easy for me to play dumb, but I was worried my lovely wife would spill the beans. Surprisingly, we both held our tounges!



Sunday morning was the Awards Ceremony.

The first of my contests to be called was Web Design. I'm very proud of the hard work my ladies put in, and we both knew that they had Silvered because only two teams were competing. I was still very happy for them when they took the Silver. Most importantly, we now know how the contest is run for next year!

The second contest to be announced was TV Video Production. Once again, I had known since 6pm Saturday that one of my teams had placed...in fact...all of the teams did quite well. I had to pretend that I didn't know anything, though! I was down front taking pictures when their names were called, but I could tell they were totally thrilled to be in the top 3. Then, the words I was waiting for "The Bronze Medal Goes to Lapeer County Ed-Tech!" Followed by the words I knew were coming..."The Gold Medal goest to St. Clair TEC!" My wife and one of her teams took the gold! Out of about 22 high school teams, my teams took 3rd, 4th and 5th places. Not too bad, considering we did practically no video production in class this year.

It's funny how many people came up to me and jokingly said "I bet the converstation around the dinner table is gonna be tense tonight!" Actually, that's so very far from the truth. Jennie and I are blessed to have the best jobs ever. What's more, we teach the same thing and are both very passionate about it. I think of jennie's students as an extension of my class and I think she feels the same way about mine. In fact, we both offered input to our students on a few occasions.

What a weekend, indeed. The reason for my tardy post is that I have just now FINALLY caught up on sleep from the weekend!

Congratuations to all who participated!