March Madness

It's been another hectic time in the psychoverse. This past Saturday was the first time I've had a chance to catch up on sleep in the past month.

For an idea just how crazy school has been, I believe 75% of the last school days for the past month have been spirit dress up days, including 12 of the last 14. Tomorrow is epic movie day, as we count down film genres heading into the movie soundtrack themed Lip Sync Rally this Friday.

So here are some of the good things that have been happening as of late...

El Camino hosted its first fashion show. Believe it or not... I wasn't even there because I was at a conference for CADA for four days. However, from what all the students say, the show was a tremendous success for the most part. The only real harsh criticism I've heard is that it was too short. There were 8 different stores and designers who donated clothes, you can only make the show last so long. I swear it felt like the two weeks leading up to that event felt like my whole life. Yet the person who put the most work into it was my co-worker Elaine. She did an excellent job securing all the clothes, setting up the program, working with the lighting company and DJ's, and inspiring the officers into making this event possible. More huge thanks to Feliciana for working with the models, to Robyn and Mike for spending the week prior co-scripting and memorizing the program in order to do M.C. duties, to Faye and Nikki for lending helping hands along with other alumni (I can't say for sure who was all there... I haven't yet seen the video), and to everyone else involved.

The following Saturday night was our school's first formal fundraising dinner. I flew back into SFO from my conference and still managed to get there at 8pm as the silent auction was going on. I felt like I was walking into a room of El Camino history and South San Francisco local dignitaries. There was a particularly nice moment when Carlos Roman was honored for his
service to the school as its baseball coach for about 25 years. The event is definitely one that I'd like to see grow and include more alumni and raise the tens of thousands that is potentially out
there (many other schools that have a similar event raise that much and it is the biggest fundraising night of the year). I was surprised that the gift basket of El Camino items went for the most money of all the silent auction baskets at $350. I wish the school made that much money after every sweatshirt/ beanie/ attache bag/ lanyard sale. I personally wanted some of the Warriors and Giants tickets that the teams donated. The 49ers donated an autographed Joe Montana ball that went for $550 in the live auction. The 4-digit items were all travel packages that were donated. Overall, a fun evening, even though I had slept a total of 7 hours in the 3 nights prior.

I spent that time networking at my conference in Reno. I don't gamble so that really isn't an appeal to me, but I did have the opportunity to be surrounded by 1500 other activity directors and class advisors. We get together annually to discuss the current state affairs: things like how are we supposed to raise money for our programs if we can't sell candy, chips and soda anymore. Also, in the midst of all this working, I did the foundation component of the new activity director certification program (since the growing trend is that everything needs to be certified, but it also will protect many of the newly hired people who were forced to take the job on and not realize what they were getting into when they agreed). The best part of the whole conference was getting to know the people at schools in the bay area. I rarely ever get a chance to talk to the directors down the peninsula and a few of them attended this year. Hopefully we will be able to coordinate something in the future. In addition, Milpitas High is coming to EC to watch our lip sync rally... I really wish I had time to practice the teacher routine... this could get embarrassing. I appreciated T and C letting me hang out with them Saturday as we swapped stories about our schools and how they are run.

Things didn't slow down once the weekend ended. I had my first prospective parents meeting. I usually meet with the parents of the leadership students after they have been chosen for the
class. However, I thought it would behoove me to meet with them prior to them running for office so that the parents would not be surprised by the amount of money summer leadership camps and the time commitment involved. The biggest point for me was to emphasize to the parents how much of their time that would be needed to create a successful program. Things like how needed it is for them to attend the Elegant Evening or buy tickets for the district sponsored Giants game. The scariest part of the night was the fact over a 100 parents were in attendance--and many parents couldn't make it. Admittedly, many parents had to really sit down and talk with their son/daughter to make sure this commitment suited them. Another fun moment is that one of the parents in attendance was my cousin R. I may actually have her daughter T in my class next year. I know it won't be like when my sister attended EC, but it still must be odd knowing that your teacher is your uncle. What if I end up her English teacher?

So while all the above was happening... I've also been trying to coach track, rehearse for the lip sync rally, and write a poem for last Friday's amazing 1st annual hip hop spoken word showcase. I didn't think I would end up performing because the hours were ticking but Martens and I pulled together at 5pm, 2 hours before the show, to make his plan come to fruition. I forget what a rush it can be to perform on stage. We did a found poem stating all the questions we get everyday from students. I think we were the only piece of the night that really tried to be funny. I am so proud of all my creative writing students who conquered their stage fright to express their words in ways that many of their peers never expected. The night was an empowering moment that they should never forget. Here are the links to the ones I could find on youtube so far. The students are all in my creative writing class. I'm pretty sure mine will end up on there eventually.

The group piece from my creative writing class called "Respect Women"
another view of "Respect Women" (this version I think has the whole thing)
Deanna
Travis


Another great moment from the showcase was hanging out at BJ's after the show with Martens, Vosberg, and our featured poet/artist Randomabiladeze. I loved his political themes. I know the students may not have understood a lot, but I loved the social conscience take he had. You should check him out here:

music can be heard @ www.myspace.com/randomabiladeze
www.cdbaby.com/randomabiladeze

And in another surprise for today...
a former student came by to visit on his was to the airport...
i'm glad he's been pursuing his dance career...
he's in the newest Janet Jackson video
and was flying back down to southern California to begin a 3 month tour...

and dinner got even better when I was able to hang out with 3 co-workers and my sister and the Red Robin Fundraiser Dinner for our Track Team....
and didn't realize we were there for 2 hours just sharing stories...

now I need to stop procrastinating and get back to grading papers...