A Champions Finish

Last Wednesday my teacher partner Mindy and I took 11 students to the UIL State Theatrical Design contest. Every school district in the state of Texas can submit 12 students total (9 entries) to this contest. We had one student complete 2 entries which is why we only had 11 enter..

In an unheard of accomplishment (at least around here..) ALL of our entries advanced to the state round!

So, on Wednesday we traveled down to Austin for the contest. We took care of some paperwork stuff Wednesday evening and then bright an early Thursday morning the students were critiqued by the various judges. 

The judges were fantastic.. the best we have ever had. And even if our student's hadn't done well, I would say that anyway. The judges were knowledgeable and nice, but professional and tough at the same time!

After judging we had hours and hours to wait around. We could watch plays and hang out.. but we didn't get results until almost 11:30pm. That makes for an incredibly long day.

But it was WORTH IT!

We had 9 of our 11 students medal!! INCREDIBLE!  And that included TWO State CHAMPIONS!

I went and looked... Stephenville High School's Theatrical Design team is listed SIX TIMES on the state medalist sheet. Click here to see for yourself! The next closest team was listed three times.  

Yeah, we had a good night.

Here we are after the award ceremony.

And oh, yeah... coaches get medals too when you are a State Champ!

The next morning, we loaded up early and made it back to the high school ten minutes before the final bell rang for school to be out for the summer!

To commemorate the last day of school, our championships and my final day of my 30 day handstand challenge, I did a handstand at the hotel before we left.

And then on Saturday we had graduation. One of my art students (and theatrical design medalists) was the salutatorian. She even thanked me in her speech. That was really cool. Here we are before the ceremony. 

I have to say, finishing the year on such a high note is really nice. I'm pumped for next year all ready and I get all of June and July to chill. (Well, we all know that I don't chill.. but I don't have to report to school every morning!)

My plans for this summer include running, painting, cleaning house, taking 6 hours of graduate class and chilling with my girlies.

My world

It's not often that I get to use my theatrical lighting knowledge in my role as an art teacher. There are days when I miss the stage and the world of theatre and I wonder if I made the right choice.

And then I get to play in the theatre, work on sets and lights and help out with a show and leave with the certainty that OH YES, I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION!

I love helping, but man I love getting to leave. :)

So what brings this up?

Well, our auditorium at the high school is getting new lights. YIPPEE! We desperately needed an upgrade and I've been helping out with the programming of the light board.

We are moving from an analog system and old instruments that would throw the breakers if used at full capacity to cutting edge technology. We have had a huge learning curve. And not just us, the electricians weren't sure what to do either.

I have spent a lot of time this week figuring out how to program the board to use the instruments and working out the logistics of the light plot. It's been a ton of fun.

But hard. and because I'm the art teacher and not the theatre teacher, a lot of hours after school and on the weekend as I was expected to be able to do my real job!

But that's okay, because the theatre teacher is one of my best friends and if I needed help in my world and she had the expertise, she'd do it for me.

But also, because it reinforces in my heart and mind that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Moving from the known theatre world to the art world was hard for me. And some days I really feel like the biggest impostor around. But then I get back in my classroom and I know that I am where I am supposed to be. 

Especially when it is 9pm on Saturday night!

Teaching theatre was fun and super hard. When I came in tonight, Doug and I reminisced about the days I taught theatre (and debate) and was gone 3 or 4 nights a week and many Saturdays. Those were really tough times. As he said, no way we could do that now.

And it's not just the schedule, I've found my true calling in art.

I love me some theatre and the technical design aspects of it are a blast, but thankfully, and happily I'll live in my art world and go over and play in my friend's backyard and then go home at the end of the day tired and happy.

Life Long Learner... that's me!

If you have been around my blog for even a few posts, you know that I collect certifications, take classes and am overall just a learning junkie!

This afternoon, in the midst of an allergy induced fog, I added another designation! UIL OAP Contest Manager Certification. I have to say, it is a good thing that I have been in the UIL OAP business a long time cause the 5 modules for training were not as easy as I thought they would be... especially with my head pounding!

Here is a copy of my certificate!

Now all I need is for a district to hire me!