It's been a while... to say the least. The unfortunate thing is that I think of stuff to blog about, but when it takes me two months to blog, I forget a lot of it. It's probably best to just try to do a general update and maybe remember some of the small stories.
General: The University (like the rest of the state/country/world) is still getting hit with financial woes. Money has been a topic of discussion the whole year but we were told last week that travel expenses will be looked at very intently (well, more intently than what they've been doing already, that is). The staff has been doing pretty well otherwise though.
Students/Wing: The students have definitely been getting hit with tough classes this semester. The past few weeks have been really stressful as students are experiencing tests/papers/exams in rapid succession and some also have competitions that include trips which make them miss school. The wing has been along the same lines, and after I get back from Spring Break, I'm planning on getting more programs up and running since that's been the department I've been lacking in this year. A number of my guys interviewed to be a Community Leader (student position on the floors similar to the U-Crew job for the UMN'ers) and also want to stick with me for next year. The staff already decided on who would be a CL and who would go where, but of course I can't divulge that until after the information has been sent out to the students.
Oh, speaking of the students, a pair of students got me a waffle maker for my birthday and recently, I was able to finally test it out and make waffles for people. I picked up some mix in a box and it was pretty simple. If anything, I just need to stock up on syrup, various waffle add-ons/add-ins, and more juice boxes before I make a wing brinner (breakfast for dinner).
Math League: The team has been doing well although it's been a little more lax after Springfield. In February, I brought a van of kids down to Springfield to compete (including an overnight stay at a 50s-themed Best Western on Route 66) and it was a pretty good experience. We ultimately got 2nd to Springfield Central and there was a 10th grader on that team that was getting accolades in every test (or at least it felt that way). A number of my students were getting accolades as well (including Top 11th and 12 Graders awards), so I thought we did well. Our March competition was to be hosted on campus! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any other school to come (I figure it's partly budget cuts, partly scheduling conflicts with the competition the week before in Kansas City, and partly that some schools I emailed didn't have a group of students gung ho to compete in math). I did have our students compete since the tests took money and unfortunately, not as many people showed up as I would have liked/as told me that they would. The championship meet is in about a month in Columbia (which is when the students have to qualify for that meet by doing so well in a previous meet this year), so as soon as I get back, I'll have to get the students pumped for that.
Robotics: Oh, robotics. We had the big competition the first week of March in Kansas City. There were a lot of bumps in the road but we finished 28th out of 59 teams, and being one of the few teams where the robot is 100% designed/built/maintained/operated by students, I am proud of their success. I'm definitely this year as experience of stuff to do/not do next year. Now that the official competition is over this year, I'm doing things to try to build us up from now until the summer. One of those things is starting a team blog. If you wanted to read the tales of the competition, or see a video of the robot, you can go to the team blog address: http://www.team2167.blogspot.com/
Improv Team: I've been letting Improv Team do their own thing for a while and they had a show about a week-and-a-half back, and it was pretty good! I played host and there were some pretty awesome sketches. We are planning on having at least one more show before the end of the year and the t-shirts came in last Friday and they are sweet! I know the kids will really like wearing them during a show.
Power Down Team: This is the student/staff group that is dedicated to reducing our environmental impact and going more green within the Academy. It's been kind of touch-and-go, but the students are working on using recycling to fit into advertising for the group and we are trying to get an account set up with Box Tops for Education. I also have little things here and there like helping to prevent students from leaving power strips everywhere, so we'll see how stuff like that goes.
Like I said, I can only think of the big/most recent updates for the groups. If little stories come up, I'll try to blog them before I forget them. Oh, and the first part of the entry title ("All three of my kids had a baby!") refers to a 2-week period when the Robotics competition, the Math League competition on campus, and the Improv Club show all happened. It was pretty crazy.
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