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.