Priceless

I wanted to make one of those lists and itemize a few things, then end with, "Sharing a Great Professional Development Experience with College Students = Priceless"

BUT... we haven't figured any of the bills, so I didn't have numbers to make it work!

In all seriousness... I've attended these types of events with high school and college students for 20 years, I've traveled with small groups and large groups---short trips and long trips, and for professional activities and athletics.

There is no doubt in my mind that this was the most enjoyable trip I have taken. Everyone worked together, made sacrifices, and contributed to a fun and meaningful experience.

You all are exceptional folks. I was proud to travel with you and I am proud to sponsor your organization.

I have high hopes for next year!

Thank you,

McCartney Hall - MM Dept Office

Time for a quick Arthur Bryant's sandwich, THEN head home...

Gross Memorial - We ARE Home!

It is great to be back in Hays! It is about 1:45 a.m.

Dr. Weisenborn is in the office (STILL). We will unpack the van and run up to make a Weisenborn delivery and then home.

Salina

Stopping for a quick break... then on to Hays.

Its about 12:15 a.m., its been a long run, but we are hanging in there and ready to be home.

KC Tradition...

Dr. Greg Weisenborn (Management/Marketing Chair) and Charlene Nichols (Assistant Alumni Director) have really made me realize how wonderful KC Barbecue really is!

Dr. Weisenborn has created this "tradition" when anyone is in KC for a DECA event, a trip to Arthur Bryant's is mandatory. Its just the most all-American thing you can do.

SO... of course, how could we not stop? ---- WELL... someone (she will remain nameless) programmed the GPS and somehow had us going up to the Riverboats. NOW, I'd LOVE to blame that someone. However, the drive (Yes, ME) should have figured out something was wrong WAY before I did.)

One picture is our our misadventure and the deserted location East of the Riverboats it told us to go...

We did finally make it (thus the picture of the AB sign).

Reminder---I LOVE Columbia Missouri...

I just have to mention how much I love Columbia Missouri. The Enterprise staff was great, I appreciate their assistance. It was just nice to pass through Columbia.

Movin' On Up...

If you have been following us, you might remember that we ended up with a 12-passenger van, rather than a 15. We have 10 students and 1 advisor traveling. (So, you would think all would be fine??---and, it is "OK" but when you add luggage for a week, it gets a little crowded.)

Enterprise came through and found a van for us---in Columbia, Missouri---and it will be available when we travel back through.

To get a better understanding---Columbia is about 1/2 way between Hays and Louisville. Is it worth it? Honestly----I'm thinking may be it isn't worth stopping and switching luggage. However, I'm not the one in the back seat, either!

We stopped and made the switch.

Max and Erma's

Lunch at Max and Erma's---across the Street from the Old Court House (pictured from the top of the Arch).

From the Top of the Arch

A few shots from the top of the Arch.

Show-Me Missouri!

Oh, it is so good to be in God's Country----My home state of Missouri!!

Its around noon, we are in St. Louis. GREAT day. The weather is wonderful with a slight breeze.

Walking around underneath the Arch.

Bad Santa, Evil Santa, Mean Santa???

Still in Evansville. I think I must have needed some humor, because this quick detour is absolutely cracking me up. I made a special stop to take a picture of this. (I have more pix's.) This was a rather large truck stop along the interstate in Evansville. The facility has been abandoned and this very strange (and creepy) Santa stands in the middle of the property.

Evansville, Indiana.

Just got started down the road, stopped to refuel, and take a quick break.

Had some real unique opportunities for pictures... SO, we had to include those as well.

No one really knew why the Pink elephant with the margarita glass was so entertaining...

Packing the Van... Leaving the Galt House

Orders for the morning---get out of your room by 7:30 a.m. Unfortunately, you will remember from the previous post, it took longer than anticipated to get checked out... (I guess several fell asleep in the lobby waiting...)

We are now packing up the van (this is no small task).

Departing around 8:15 a.m.

Remember the old folk song...

"Morning has broken like the first morning----Black bird has spoken like the first bird..."

It was sort of a religion song?? Anyway... I thought of that song as I left side of my hotel to head across the street---it was quiet, peaceful, and calm---especially after all of the traffic earlier in the week with Thunder Weekend and Delta Epsilon Chi ICDC.

Took awhile to get the van out of hock and checked out of the hotel. You sure would think that with all of the technology available in the world they could come up with a faster way to process checkout... (laugh!!) but, I had a GREAT lady working with me and she got it taken care of. Hats off to "Mary" at the Galt House--she was the best!

WAY too early...

It is 6 a.m. (that would be 5 a.m.--Kansas time).

Trying to get packed up and ready to rock n' roll... or, more appropriately stated pack the van.

Should be leaving Louisville about 8 a.m. (KY time).

Proud to Announce....

Entrepreneurship Team

(Bryan Sandon and Byron Hummon)Place in the Top 10.

This is a HUGE accomplishment.

I'm VERY PROUD of both of you. Congratulations on a job well done!

Louisville Slugger Museum

We got to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum today, it was pretty cool. We got our mini bats and some good pictures. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures during the actual factory tour but we got to see a lot of cool stuff - like how they make the major league bats! I'll try to add some pictures of the museum and maybe the Science Center from this afternoon a little bit later. Tyler and I are going to try to head out there and catch some cool 'science-y' things!

Good luck to Bryan, Byron, Seth, and Zach this afternoon in finals. We'll be taking lots of pictures for everybody at home!

Entpreneurship Team Advances

Congrats to Byron Hummon and Bryan Sandon (just trying to get those B's out right some of the time is hard) for advancing to the Final Round!

Sandon and Hummon will compete at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.

Good Luck and Congratulations!

Business Law Team - IN Finals!

Congratulations to Zach Meyer and Seth Ritter for advancing on into Finals in the Business Law - Case Study competition.

Meyer and Ritter will compete again this afternoon at 1:40 p.m.

Best of luck this afternoon.

We are proud of you!

Finals Announced!!

Just left the Awards Session that announced the Finalists. We have TWO teams who will compete this afternoon.

Congrats to everyone who competed and have been a part of this trip, it has been an honor to travel with you. You are exceptional.

STAR Bar and Grill

A wonderful dinner with the crew. Walked around downtown a little and retired to the Galt House. Tomorrow morning we will have the Mini-Awards Session. Some groups may go straight from the stage to final competition?? Could be nuts.

We have WiFi in the lodging part of the Galt House. Unfortunately, we don't have WiFi in the Conference Center. Tyler will be updating his blog through his phone---so we will have some real-time info---please use the link on the right side of my blog to find Tyler's.

I'll update pictures once the session is over.

We will be seated in the Conference Center around 7:15 a.m. (Kansas Time).

Stay tuned!

Texting, Prelims, Emotions,,,

Today (Monday) is the first round of competition. Those who place high enough will advance to finals. We won't know rankings or places until tomorrow---SO, we won't know who advances.

We will have a rather early (I'm wanting to say around 7:30 AM) "Mini-Awards Session"---this will identify those who will compete again... in some cases, they could literally be recognized, walk off the stage, and have to find their location for their next competition... (That gets a little nuts.)

Anyway... it is always interesting on the first day. At times, emotions run high---sometimes people don't feel like they did well---etc.

I don't remember how I handled these things before cell phones and text messaging---but, believe it or not, I guess I did... Anyway, my fat little fingers have danced across the antiquated keypad on my phone all day.

It sounds like some groups feel pretty confident---some not sure, some a little more pessimistic.

Only time will tell.

I worked with the other Kansas Advisors and supervised the Web Design competition. We had a long morning, but things are more straightened out now---just took time to get into a routine.

Our competitors have finished for the moment, they will have a debriefing session in about 30 minutes. At this time, Judges and ALL competitors in a given event meet. They will discuss the event, what they (judges) really wanted to see, etc. Judges won't give students any specific feedback regarding their performance. However, sometimes after this, students have a better feeling for how they have been received by the judge.

More to follow...

More Pictures!

Scott graciously allowed me, the field commander, access to the blog to put up some more pictures from the day. We are having a great time in Louisville, the weather has been perfect, the people are great, and there are lots of things to do around the city. I had better get back to working on the presentation with Tyler. Enjoy some of the pictures from our time in Louisville!

Louisville Bats Baseball

Just got back from the Bats game---they lost. GREAT night for a game, though. Weather was perfect. This was all part of National DECA planning. The stadium is a few blocks from the hotel---easy/safe walk, but National DECA also provided transport buses, for those inclined to ride.

This is such a nice group to travel with, they make everything easy and enjoyable.

Everyone is back in the hotel... the two groups with prepared entries will work on putting together their presentation materials for awhile this evening... We'll see how quickly they get all the last minute details taken care of.

Weather in Louisville

Weather is wonderful today. At 5 p.m. we will head to the Minor League Ballpark for a game... should be a great evening for it.

I just took the 2 pictures attached, this is the view from the "bridge" that connects the two towers of the Galt House. Its hard to believe that yesterday this area was swamped with folks watching Thunder Weekend.

Briefing Session

Sounds like our ADC (Ad Campaign Group) will be competing against another Kansas team--Butler County Community College...

No other news from briefing yet...

I'm working with the advisor from Butler and Garden City (each Advisor has to work an Event) on the Web Design contests---we will keep time, assist judges etc. NOW, I'm wondering why FHSU didn't have a web-team....

Sunday AM

Advisors had a meeting this morning---it always encourages me, they are such a GREAT group of positive folks that really want to help everyone. (Something some times lost in "Academia.")

Students are in Professional Development Academies that are related to their competitive events. The Academies are designed to strengthen students understanding of the area and give them a chance to interact with business folks in those respective industries.

They just broke for lunch.... I'm on my way to check on them... see how things are going.

Not all Fun and Games...

Now, Keep in mind--we came for a purpose.

Different students are working on different projects---different projects have different forms of competition.

A couple of teams have materials they bring with them when they go before judges. Saturday night we had one of two "study/prep sessions"----we will have another on Sunday night for those with this type of event.

I left them at 4 a.m.----not sure how much longer they worked.

Thunder - Fireworks!

We had a break (although rather brief) between the Opening General Session and the Fireworks display. For the fireworks display, I believe they said is the largest in the United States? Something like 8 barges on the River and using the bridge that crosses over into Indiana.---Its NUTS. I want to say this took over 90 minutes??? Traffic looked to be shut down all over the area??---We couldn't see a single moving (non military or police) vehicle.

This was VERY impressive.

Opening General Session...

The Air Show lasted for hours (as did the thousands of people around the hotel).

Our Opening General Session to kick-off Delta Epsilon Chi started at 7 p.m.---by this time, I think everyone was tired of the sun and ready to get our ICDC started. (Although we could still hear some of the "Thunder" from the Airshow outside.)

The Staff at DECA Inc take great pride in their work and do an amazing job planning an event. Our opening session was no exception. DEX is working hard to develop opportunities to recognize DEX Members, Chapters, Advisors, and School Administration who support DEX activities.

John Ramsey delivered a brief by memorable Keynote address---leaving everyone pumped up for a great conference experience.

Air Show

The Air Show started in the early afternoon. All we had to do was walk down to the Pool Deck and we could see most everything. LOTS of people. My pictures aren't all that great, the kids have better pictures, hoping they have them posted or will use Picasa or Flicker so you can see them.