Work Projects

It is always nice to receive a compliment for something you have done for someone, an achievement that you personally accomplished, or a personal award or accolade for success. It is even better when you get recognition as a TEAM!

The word excited does not even come close to the description of how I felt when we received the call that our ESC Region 11 Technology Team was chosen at the Team of the Year for the Texas chapter of CoSN (Consortium of School Networking) for our work on FIBER11. In addition to being chosen, we had the honor of representing Texas at the National Conference in Washington D.C.

The work that took place to earn this award was overwhelmingly hard, new, and came with a lot of outside doubters to make this network a reality. When it was all said and done, we had done something that had never been done in an education entity inside this great state. Furthermore, we were the very first ESC to ever receive the team award nationwide.

The amount of pride I am filled with getting to share this story is something I will carry with me from here on out. I wish the entire team would have been able to join me on this trip, but we were limited to only four of us getting to make the journey to our nation’s capital. It is going to be tough to top this one. Team. Effort. Results. I can’t say enough about my teammates!

The STEAM Carnival was back again for the 2017 school year, and let me tell you that it did not disappoint! Once again we hosted nearly 3,700 students, dozens of teachers and had an amazing turnout of staff volunteers to make this event a magical day of learning.

The student showcases turned it up from the first year and got our participants started off with enough “Wow!” comments that some even thought that was the entire field trip. Students teaching students and feeling like the day was over even as it was just getting started was AMAZING to watch!

In addition to the slew of returning partners, a new vendor partner showed up with larger than life interactive engagements that stole the show. The Dinosaur Company out of Allen brought over multiple full-size dinosaurs including a smaller T-Rex that did not have the outside cover. It included a control box that allowed students to move the mouth, body, tail, and neck around with a push of the button. The greatest part of this exhibit was that the students could see how it was being operated simply by the flow of air going in and out of a chamber that pushed or pulled the body movement. Talk about pulling back the curtain!

All in all it was an amazing day of learning and fun. Most of the participants left full of excitement, sweating, and asking if they could come back again next year. As a former classroom teacher, this brought me back to the reason I do what I do. Creating excitement in learning for our next generation!