Adteacher

Many DJCC students were awarded Superior blue ribbons on projects this weekend, indicating that they will advance to the final level of competition, the State SkillsUSA project judging. Students whose projects were awarded this honor were: Conner Tozier from Hebron HS, who also won Best of Show for the Ad Design competition, Nick Hummert from Hebron HS, who also won Best of Show in Illustration, and the following entrants - David Venable - Marcus HS, Chelsea Sherwood - Marcus HS, Amber Jackson - Marcus HS, Wyatte Schmollinger - Hebron HS, Brandon Donner - Marcus HS, Ariel Coday - Hebron HS, Mallory Strong - The Colony HS, Spencer Hall - Marcus HS, Ryan Brownhill - Marcus HS, Zachary Nienhuser - Marcus HS, Hunter Haygood - Hebron HS, and Charlotte Kimball - Marcus HS. Barely missing the cut and receiving an "Excellent" ribbon were Amy Hillberry - Marcus HS and Cody Phifer - Flower Mound HS. Justin Jones from Flower Mound HS was given a "Good" ranking. There were betw...

Today I wasn't in school. Instead it was a rainy, gray, drizzly drive to and then back from Waco. Being the District 4 Technical Chairs, we had a responsibility to set up all of the projects for display today. There were about 52 total Ad Design projects in our district this year, and they are all judged and rated and ribboned now. The blog entry for tomorrow will have a full listing of the students who will be advancing to state for projects, but for now I can say that two DJCC students have won recognition for Best of Show in both Advertising Design and Illustration categories. Nick Hummert's technical illustration of a Saleen F150 was singled out for Best of Show in illustration. Nick is a senior from Hebron HS who plans to attend Texas Tech University next year. For the first time ever, a motion graphics entry was named the Best of Show in advertising design, and that honor goes to Conner Tozier, who was recently accepted to CalArts and hopes to attend if he can get a schol...

I got the thrill of a lifetime just a day ago. I was able to tour the new Career Center East and to see what is soon to become the new Graphic Design and Illustration studio. My impressions of the first time in the building could not be stronger. I was completely knocked out by the experience of being within the walls of the building. I have such strong feelings of anticipation, and I am ready to see the completion of the building within the next few months. It isn't just the building of the structure though, it is the building of the team that really matters most to me. As I begin to work with new people...our principal, Adrian Moreno, and the "core four" as he referred to us - the first four teachers hired for positions, which include Billy Carter, photo at left, (the current webmastering and computer programming teacher from Marcus HS who will be teaching programming classes at the new CCE) I begin to more strongly feel the bonding of a new group with a shared vision. ...

I remember at the beginning of this day I anxiously looked out the window and was hoping to see some beautiful drifting snowflakes. That didn't happen. The weather forecast had the snow predicted too far north, and we got nothing here at our house. School went on as usual. As it turns out, I am very glad that it didn't interfere with the school day, because so many great things happened that I would have hated to miss out on it. Number one, I received word of some great news regarding a couple of my students and CalArts. Their early round of letters of acceptance have gone out, and both Conner and Ryan were on the accepted list! I know that Conner has CalArts as his number one school, so I feel that he will attend. I am hopeful that once the scholarship offers go out, he is on that list as well! Ryan has now been accepted by four of the five schools that he has applied to: he was offered a $16,000 per year scholarship by SCAD, and he has been accepted also at CalArts, MICA, a...

I am very anxiously curious... will we or will we not have a school closing snow tonight? It is predicted to begin snowing late tonight and if the temperature remains cold enough, I feel like we could have another day off. I think the predicted range of temperatures is 30-39 degrees for tomorrow. That may not be quite cold enough. It would be a wonderful day for us to get some snow, because it would give me a day to rest up from the week that I had previously. Also, I need some time to regroup and refocus. I gave some individual photography assignments in my afternoon class, and that one will be interesting. I gave them one word topics, such as these: Mirrors, Music, Glass, Keys, Light, Fur, Windows, Violence, Silence, Dirt, Wheels, Alone, Caged, Gears, Movement, Glee, Overcome, Broken, Soft, Automatic, Tough, Transparent,Convoluted, Fluid, Pointed, Spiral, and Stripes. The students are to think beyond the obvious solution and see if they can come up with beyond the norm photographic...

This may be one of those weeks that feels as though it is starting one day before I am really ready for it to. I had a very busy weekend, and that is on the heels of a pretty hectic week last week. I know that I should be well rested after a relatively peaceful Sunday, but I could use another day to recuperate I think. However, I'm sure it will be fine once the day is underway. Once I get to school and get busy, I get re-energized. I guess the most exciting thing that happened this weekend was more remodeling completed at our house, and more plans finalized for the wedding. Hailey and DJ joined us for dinner this evening in Las Colinas at a place called Via Real. I guess we are now considering this as a venue for the rehearsal dinner. I had their coconut encrusted shrimp, asparagus, and cilantro potatoes. I enjoyed it. DJ had a traditional Mexican platter and Mark and Hailey went for the fajitas. We looked over the facilities for special events, and it all looks very nice. I gues...