ITA Holiday Luncheon, December 12th

Not to irk those ITA instructors out there who are former students, but at one point a very prominent staff member of ITA stated "that was the best ITA Holiday Luncheon ever!" Over 400 attendees registered beforehand, the party was held at the Alliant Energy Center, as ITA was too large for a UW venue.

We kicked off the morning over in B203 with a frantic wrap-up of BTWs, a few permit-test retakes, and (eventually) rehearsals of the Juniors Excel game skit. As it had gone the last session, the students took charge of the performance, working out in the hallway and calling their own shots. Us instructors should have taken the morning off! (Actually, we were desperately trying to get the remaining students to finish their BTWs and most certainly should not have taken the morning off.)

After an hour of that shenanigans, we all climbed on a big ol' school bus to head over to the event. Actually, a small crew decided to drive their own car, for which they were swiftly reprimanded by Excel upon arrival. But we all made it!

Paul, a trained actor, first lead the students though a cool-down/warm-up relaxation gig. Kevin decided he could use a stretch as well, so speaking from personal experience, it was great. Calm and cool, until about 12:15, the Juniors ran through rehearsals, which improv kept lively each iteration.

The luncheon: kicked off by Bronson and his little brother playing an unbelievable original piece on classical guitars. Next, everyone grabbed some lunch while dual projectors showed the lovely Freshman/Sophomore Photoshop/Illustrator pieces. Don't quote me on this order, I'd had a lot of coffee by this point, but I believe the seniors then presented their "Senior Thesis", with great stuff from educational flash games to websites and marketing designs for non-profits.

The Juniors then presented -- it was the stuff of legend. An Excel Game competition, with half the class rooting for "Noah" the Jock and the others for "Terrence the Terrible Tigrr" the Nerd. Eddie was the sports announcer, and some excellent lines included "great weather out there folks, for software sports fans, not too chilly, clear skies." AJ reffed keeping things (largely) clean. The Terrible Tigrr won, declaring he was taking his entire team to wallgreens with the $5,000 dollar prize. Noah said he went out there and gave 100%, but his competition put up an excellent game. Maya concluded, letting the audience know the Excel unit isn't all about acting, but we actually learn some spreadsheet software.

The Luncheon continued with an amazing song from Carrie, done in sign language, and then the keynote speaker, Police Chief Noble. Bronson and Bro finished things off with another mind-blowing guitar piece, and the day was won.

First day of Zon in B203!

As our title implies, Zon introduced herself today here in B203, to a rousing 9:00am round of applause. Next, the students worked on their By The Ways, finding data about colleges (Harvard included).

After break, Noah and the class of 2011 took control of the classroom in rehearsing for the holiday luncheon. It was so much fun. The students came up with having one team be jocks and the other nerds. Eddie became a sports announcer, and the "crowd" came up with dances.

Finally, the students took their Road Tests and worked on their blogs.

Session VII: Road Test!

Elizabeth started the day explaining that today was their last session... and Open House! (Unfortunately, some of the students did not even know this =X)

When the students got to work, they all thought that they had more time next week to finish their BTW. When A.J. walked in to confirm that the instructors knew about this, they realized that Elizabeth had thought they had more time too! Unfortunately for the juniors, the time in the morning was given to the freshmen and seniors. So.. they now have to finish their BTW in FIFTEEN minutes!

Maya had been missing for two sessions and believed that she would not finish the BTW. In addition, she had only taken the permit test once! And today, they're going to do the road test? Nevertheless, the instructors believe in Maya's ability of completing the road test! Good luck, Maya~

***

When break ended, all of the students gathered in Kevin's room and started their rehearsal for the Luncheon. Thor directed the junior class with the Excel Your Skillz Game skit while Terrence played a geek and Noah, a jock. Though the rehearsal was longer than expected, the students all enjoyed it.

When the students started their road test, they didn't know where to save their file. Elizabeth eventually told them that they were going to send their files, which was at the bottom of the page. The "Final Question."

This triggered one a good example of learning to follow directions exercise that Cristina has done in the past.



It'd be fun to see who passes =D