We are the champions!

So far, this month has been pretty epic.
For Spring Break, I organized a trip for 70 students and 10 chaperones to go to DISNEYLAND!! I'd been working on the trip since the musical closed last November (on top of everything else that I do.) One day, when I was working on the trip- a student asked me if all my hard work would be worth it. I told him if the kids gave me no problems, and if they were respectful then, YES, it would all be worth it! And it was! I was so impressed with their behavior. We will definitely be going again next year!
 We left on Tuesday at 7:00 am, I had asked my friend Sarah to come (because she is just so awesome!) And we set out on our 10 hour bus ride to California. On the way, the 'short bus' broke down, so we arrived later than I had anticipated.  But luckily, we didn't have any plans for the first evening.
The next day... DISNEYLAND! Oh how I love the Disney Parks!

 We went on Splash Mountain! I've never gotten more soaked on this ride, it was pretty intense.

That evening we took the kids to Medieval Times. It was crazy! Our section was definitely the loudest! If you haven't experienced Medieval Times with 70 teenagers, then, if I may say you haven't EXPERIENCED Medieval Times!

A few kids bought some light sabers and had spontaneous duels!

And I finally saw "World of Color" and loved it!

 Yep, it was AWESOME! The whole purpose of the trip was to have the kids do performing arts workshops with Disney. I went to a Puppet Lab workshop and it was one of the coolest workshops I have ever been to. (Unfortunately they didn't allow photography) The brought out these puppets from Bear in the Big Blue House and Jojo's circus. It was so neat to see the kids light up when they got to play with characters from their childhood. Heck, I even lit up to. And I learned a lot of puppetry technique. I love these kids, and it was so awesome to share this experience with them.

When we got back, we had a week until State Drama competition. So I went into preparation mode. We had a showcase on Wednesday night, which was very helpful in getting the kids ready for State.
First, our one act performed on Friday afternoon. Now, this one act was frantic. And to be honest, I thought we would do ok, but I wasn't really expecting anything.
But, about 10 minutes into their performance, I sat back and thought to myself, "Wow, this is pretty good." And then it just got better. IT WAS FANTASTIC! And much to my surprise, our One Act placed THIRD overall! What??? It was such a pleasant surprise.
The next day was the individual events. They perform their piece three times in front of three different judges. And then the top 5 or 6 go to a medal round to determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
My philosophy with these competitions is that I don't care how well they do (seeing as art is subjective) All I care about is the fact that they are prepared.
Well, as the result were coming in, most of my students were consistently getting the highest marks. I was so proud and humbled at the same time (if that is somewhat possible).
So, I had two kids go to the medal round- Stephen Short for pantomime and Courtney Burton for humorous monologue.
Stephen received a 4th place and Courtney took FIRST PLACE!!
And when all was said and done- We tied for THIRD place with Pleasant Grove High School. I couldn't believe it, I was flabbergasted! It was amazing! I wasn't expecting to do that well at state. Not that I thought we wouldn't do well, I just wasn't expecting to do THAT well. It was pretty cool!
Anyway, I am now in the midst of the Senior Show (we decided to do one we wrote ourselves) which performs in a week and a half. I hope it all comes together!