January - Month of Craziness

I'm aware that most of my months here are what are considered "crazy-busy" to many other people. But I've always been that way. I've always wanted lots of things to do to keep me busy, otherwise I feel like I'm not pulling my weight. The month of January has made me realize how true this really is. Besides doing the typical teaching and coaching that happens during January, I also did:

~"End of the Road" DDF Tournament/Random Acts (Jan 14-15)
We had 58 students from 6 schools - West Anchorage, South Anchorage, Chugiak, Wasilla, Nikisiki, and Homer - all in Homer for a DDF tournament. The South coach did a clinic for our debaters on Friday morning about different types of debate. I had the afternoon to run around and get other things done, and then the tournament started. We ran from 3:30pm-9pm on Friday, and then after things were closed down I went home and put breakfast for the judges in the crockpot (an egg/ham/cheese/potatoes bake) and prepared the sloppy joes that they'd have for lunch. The tournament ran from 8am-5pm on Saturday, and then we got ready for "Random Acts of DDF". RAD is our big fundraiser for the year, with admission charged and lots of silent auctions and plenty of other fun things. The students get to perform their pieces for an audience that rarely gets to see them (because our tournaments are far away). We ended up raising a lot of money, which will definitely help us next year. For articles about the tournament, see here and here.

~Borough Honor Band (Jan 24-25)
As an opportunity for our students to get to play in larger groups than normal, as well as play as part of an honor band, we run the KPBSD Honor Band. It's two days of rehearsals followed by a concert. BHB was in Homer this year, which meant that I was the host director. Planning ahead of time includes working out who is in it, making sure everyone has the music, etc. During, it involves organizing the program, making sure the guest clinician is where he needs to be, and just generally making sure the everything runs smoothly (from hot lunch during the day to the end of the concert Tuesday night). It was a really busy two days, but it taught me so much about teaching - how to do it better, and it really helped me grow.

~Eagle River DDF Tournament (Jan 28-29)
Same schedule as we had for our tournament (3-9 on Friday, 8-5 on Saturday) but this involved traveling up to Eagle River. We left at 6:45am Friday morning, drove up to Anchorage. We had a bit of mall time, and then the tournament. After it was done, we headed to the hotel to sleep. Tournament all day Saturday, dinner at Sicily's in Anchorage, and then driving back to Homer. We got in just a little before midnight on Saturday night. Tournaments are long and crazy, but they're a blast.

I'm so privileged to have a job that I love in a place that I love. The community here is wonderful, and I'm developing even more great friendships up here. Everyone is super supportive, and I'm excited to be up here for even longer this summer (I should be here for 6 weeks and Outside for 4). My parents are coming to visit at some point, and I just know that they'll love it too.