All Dressed Up

Another one of my favorite parts of Workshop is when we get all dressed up for what we call the DanQuet.  That's a combination of the words dance and banquet, if you hadn't already guessed.  We take a break from eating chicken patties in the Wayne State cafeteria and enjoy a catered meal of pasta, salad, and breadsticks.  Then, we have a dance party in the outdoor plaza.

Something really awesome has happened to me within the past few years.  I'm starting to have former students of mine attend Workshop.  When I see their names on the registration lists, it makes me exponentially more excited.  This year, Morgan and Andrea from Lux came.

Getting ready to head down to the banquet

Two of the nicest, smartest, most talented girls you'll ever meet!

We always arrive early to the banquet to get pictures of our co-ops.

The Mango men

The Mango ladies

The Mango JAMers

Our Mango family

Silly Mangos

The Kiwis

Silly Kiwis

The Watermelons

The Pineapples

Silly Pineapples

All of the JAMers

Our amazing JAM Staff family

At dinner, I had the privilege of sitting at the boy end of the table with these fine gentlemen:

The 50th anniversary roses provided for some fun photo opportunities.  I suspect they'll soon be used as Facebook profile pictures.

At the banquet, I was fortunate enough to engage in some very enlightening conversations about sports, girls, crushes, girls, future high schools, sports, and girls.  Oh, to be 13 again.  No, thank you.

Although the awards ceremony is boring for most of the students, it has become one of the week's highlights for me.  Because it was our 50th anniversary, staffers from years past were invited back for a reunion.  These were some of the pioneers of Workshop and NASC, and I felt humbled just to be in their presence.

The finale of the evening is always the Lux Award, which is the highest honor that NASC can bestow upon one of its staff members.  This year, the award went to Amy Batten, a good friend and mentor of mine.

Well-deserved and long overdue if you ask me.  I only regret that I didn't have a better camera with which to capture this moment.