Cali here we come...

In late April Phillip and I and three students headed to California for the DECA International Career Development Conference.  We had a great time.  The conference was a very eye opening experience and a great learning experience for the students as well as myself.  To get the opportunity to be part of an international conference is a big honor.  To get to this conference these students had to win a the regional level competition, then win at the state level competition - so it took so hard work to get here.  The first night we ate at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.  The first day we got up pretty early and head to Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was pretty cold but we had a good time. That evening we had the big grand opening session.  It was a lot of fun.  There were over 16,000 students at this event.  Thank goodness our hotel was right next to the convention center so it made it very convenient.  Thursday I had to run an even from 9am - 2pm but I ended up getting out early so that was good.  The girls had to take a test at 2pm and the guy with us had to be in his event unit 3:30 so after everyone was done we just ate and hung out.  On Friday the girls had to do role plays and then after their role plays we headed to LA.  They were so excited and so was I.  We research and tried to figure out the best places to go and we actually did a good job.  We got SO close to the Hollywood sign.  It was amazing.  We saw the Chinese Theater, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Paramount Studious, etc...  We also at at In and Out and it was yummy!  We had a great trip.  The students were great.  Next year it is in Atlanta!

 

DECA

 
This past weekend I took 6 students to the DECA State Career Development Conference.  We left Thursday and we came home Saturday.  At the event the students have to compete in different competitive events that deal with marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, etc...  They did GREAT we ended up coming home with 3 winners - now we are headed to Anaheim, CA for International Competition in April.  These students make me so proud.  Way to go and way to represent CHHS!

Christmas Dinner with the DECA Officers!

 

Proud

 
This year all of the CTAE CTSO Clubs got together and had a Christmas party together.  The clubs included DECA, FBLA, HOSA, FCCLA, and SkillsUSA.  We had the party in the cafeteria.  We ordered pizza, had drinks and played holiday games.  It was a lot of fun.  In order for the students to attend the party they had to donate a toy that we took to help those in need.  The kids did an amazing job with this and brought over 70 toys including a bicycle.  Way to Chapel Hill!

DECA Fall Leadership Conference

This year's Fall Leadership Conference was in Athen's, GA.  We had a great time eating, talking, attending sessions, etc...  This is really a great group of girls and I know they have a lot of potential and will really go far in their lives. 
 

It's GREAT to be a Chapel Hill Panther!

Last Friday I really felt GREAT to be a Chapel Hill Panther.  I mean I have been teaching for over 8 years and this was the first time I saw an entire school come together like I did that day.  It was homecoming week and the spirit was in the air.  We had dress up days every day with all the different themes and the students had a great time dressing up then on Friday we had a BIG day planned.  The day started off with the filming if a video.  Ms. Baggett, one of our Administrators, had this great idea for us to make a video that highlighted what Chapel Hill is.  She saw something similar on YouTube and we have a counselor who was at a school where they did this before so we got to work on creating our own.  Ms. Baggett has been talking about this video since preplanning and I wasn't ever really sure that it would come to be but it did and I am SO glad.  We filmed the video with the help of the CCI.  The morning of the video I had car rider duty so I got to see many of the students as they arrived to school all dressed up and pumped about what the day was going to bring.  I also saw some students get out of their cars dressed in normal school clothes and I would ask them about where is their purple and black and they would just kind of shrugged their shoulders but something happened after everyone got to school that Friday.  By the time the video was to begin being filmed everyone and I mean everyone was in spirit gear in one way or another.  I mean the kids who would NEVER care about school spirit or purple hair or face paint or whatever were dressed up and showing their spirit.  It was crazy and such a great feeling.  I mean we have a very diverse group of students at Chapel Hill and that day it was like we were one big family.  You could just feel it in the air.  It took a little over an hour to film the video from beginning to end and the kids were great.  No behavior problems at all!  They were all into it and listening and paying attention.  After the filming we had a pep rally where the teachers had planned a flash mob.  I knew this was going to be great.  We had practiced before school and NO students knew about it.  Of course high schoolers think their teachers can't dance but they were proved wrong that day.  At the pep rally when it was time for the flash mob we started and then before we knew it the entire school and when I say entire I mean EVERYONE was on the basketball court.  I just knew when I saw that starting that that meant trouble - over 1,000 kids on one floor that normally would equal TROUBLE but not today instead after the song was over the kids returned to the stands as asked and the teachers did their dance.  It was probably one of the best pep rallies I have ever been involved in.  I can honestly say I love working at Chapel Hill and that day really proved why.  Thanks CHAPEL HILL!

Link to the teachers dancing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEQcLtPfSCQ
I will put the video link up as soon as it is ready!