President-Elect
Being in training for the Presidency of this magnificent organization is fascinating. There is a lot I didn’t know before sitting in this seat. Getting the view from 15,000 feet, so to speak, is daunting at times and it is a huge honor. I wanted to tell you all a little bit of what I have encountered so far.
First: The immediate past K-12 Section Committee chair is our current President-Melissa McMillian- Cunningham. Melissa has a deep affection for teachers in TETA and cares intensely about members! She works tirelessly for TETA and “took the reigns” with a broken back (literally) and never let it slow her down. I don’t know how she does it! Thank you Melissa!
I had the honor of getting a backstage pass to witness the running of SummerFest by our K-12 Section; what an amazing team! I can’t wait until next July to attend again! The SF objective is clearly to rejuvenate teachers throughout the state; and that is exactly what they did. Kudos to you all! Thank you to the record number of members who attended. Thank you to San Antonio College for hosting. A huge thank you to the Officers from K-12 for pulling off tremendous programming, for getting individual gifts donated for every attendee, and thanks to Dr. Dickey and the K-12 Committee, for a world-class silent auction. Thank you to the dedicated professionals who went a step farther and presented; the line up of workshops was impressive and inspiring. If you didn't get to attend SummerFest in July I highly recommend it for next year! Thank you Gloria, Mandy and your entire K-12 Team!!!
I also learned more about a gem named Jenny. I had worked closely with Jenny Nichols for several years on auditions; I had an idea the immense volume of work she does throughout TETA in almost every aspect of the management of the organization. She does enough work for three people! Thank you Jenny for all of your work!
Dr. Gene Dickey. I had worked with Dr. Dickey on auditions before, so I had an idea of his level of involvement in the day-to-day TETA operations, but there is something I did not know. Dr. Dickey is a master contractual negotiator and gives TETA this service for free.
Whether you appreciate the Dallas/Houston TheatreFest rotation or not, this rotation makes the convention as affordable as possible. Other cities and hotels have been given ample opportunity to bid against the Hyatt contracts and cannot come close to beating them. That is something I did not know. For example: in terms of meeting space, TETA gets 60,000 square feet of meeting space deeply discounted or even free based on room nights. This is unheard of according to the Hyatt employee. This is also why it is important that we members stay in the hotel; if we don’t meet the number of room nights TETA would be charged for space. Dr. Dickey also negotiates manageable room nights for our organization. Thanks Dr. Dickey.
Lastly regarding Dr. Dickey: he is entering his final term as your CFO/Treasurer. This will be an interesting and challenging transition for our organization. We certainly want to make that transition as smooth as possible. Dr. Dickey has been serving this organization for 23 years, through 12 Presidents. This is longer than any other board member in TETA history! That is longer than some of our youngest teacher-members have been alive! I have been a member for 20 years, so I do not know TETA without Gene Dickey involved. Thank you so much Dr. Dickey.
There are many, many people that volunteer tirelessly to make TETA an inspiring organization beyond the few I mentioned here. Thank you all members for your dedication to students and educational Theatre. Members, if I haven’t met you yet, I hope I get to meet you personally. I would love to hear about the life-changing work you do with students; please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to me and tell me your story.
Lastly, I want to express condolences my friends and colleagues from Baylor University for the loss of their mentor and great guiding light who was a tremendous force in TETA, Mr. Bill Cook. Professor Cook, you will be greatly missed and your tremendous contributions to theatre education are deeply appreciated.
Thank you TETA members, past and present for all of your work to make Educational Theatre in Texas the absolute best in the nation.
First: The immediate past K-12 Section Committee chair is our current President-Melissa McMillian- Cunningham. Melissa has a deep affection for teachers in TETA and cares intensely about members! She works tirelessly for TETA and “took the reigns” with a broken back (literally) and never let it slow her down. I don’t know how she does it! Thank you Melissa!
I had the honor of getting a backstage pass to witness the running of SummerFest by our K-12 Section; what an amazing team! I can’t wait until next July to attend again! The SF objective is clearly to rejuvenate teachers throughout the state; and that is exactly what they did. Kudos to you all! Thank you to the record number of members who attended. Thank you to San Antonio College for hosting. A huge thank you to the Officers from K-12 for pulling off tremendous programming, for getting individual gifts donated for every attendee, and thanks to Dr. Dickey and the K-12 Committee, for a world-class silent auction. Thank you to the dedicated professionals who went a step farther and presented; the line up of workshops was impressive and inspiring. If you didn't get to attend SummerFest in July I highly recommend it for next year! Thank you Gloria, Mandy and your entire K-12 Team!!!
I also learned more about a gem named Jenny. I had worked closely with Jenny Nichols for several years on auditions; I had an idea the immense volume of work she does throughout TETA in almost every aspect of the management of the organization. She does enough work for three people! Thank you Jenny for all of your work!
Dr. Gene Dickey. I had worked with Dr. Dickey on auditions before, so I had an idea of his level of involvement in the day-to-day TETA operations, but there is something I did not know. Dr. Dickey is a master contractual negotiator and gives TETA this service for free.
Whether you appreciate the Dallas/Houston TheatreFest rotation or not, this rotation makes the convention as affordable as possible. Other cities and hotels have been given ample opportunity to bid against the Hyatt contracts and cannot come close to beating them. That is something I did not know. For example: in terms of meeting space, TETA gets 60,000 square feet of meeting space deeply discounted or even free based on room nights. This is unheard of according to the Hyatt employee. This is also why it is important that we members stay in the hotel; if we don’t meet the number of room nights TETA would be charged for space. Dr. Dickey also negotiates manageable room nights for our organization. Thanks Dr. Dickey.
Lastly regarding Dr. Dickey: he is entering his final term as your CFO/Treasurer. This will be an interesting and challenging transition for our organization. We certainly want to make that transition as smooth as possible. Dr. Dickey has been serving this organization for 23 years, through 12 Presidents. This is longer than any other board member in TETA history! That is longer than some of our youngest teacher-members have been alive! I have been a member for 20 years, so I do not know TETA without Gene Dickey involved. Thank you so much Dr. Dickey.
There are many, many people that volunteer tirelessly to make TETA an inspiring organization beyond the few I mentioned here. Thank you all members for your dedication to students and educational Theatre. Members, if I haven’t met you yet, I hope I get to meet you personally. I would love to hear about the life-changing work you do with students; please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to me and tell me your story.
Lastly, I want to express condolences my friends and colleagues from Baylor University for the loss of their mentor and great guiding light who was a tremendous force in TETA, Mr. Bill Cook. Professor Cook, you will be greatly missed and your tremendous contributions to theatre education are deeply appreciated.
Thank you TETA members, past and present for all of your work to make Educational Theatre in Texas the absolute best in the nation.