2 months later...

Considering that it has been almost 2 months since my last post, it's probably time to post at least something.

First up - this is currently my favorite song.

Secondly - since May 15 (last posting) it's been just a little bit busy in the Teach For America - Chicago Institute world. My team and I hosted "Leadership Conference 2" here in Chicago in March - I co-managed the logistics for this conference w/ the Phoenix MIS and her crew - so about 50 people to house/feed/guide. We were able to use the new TFA office and overall the conference was a success. I was able to present to the leadership team of the Chicago institute (school directors - SD) about how the school operations manager (SOM) functions in their lives. This has been one of the things driving me in my work this year - to make sure that SDs and SOMs have a good working relationship and that they understand their roles. The other exciting part of LC2 was that I acquired a membership here.

LC2 definitely wiped me out - but I was back at work the next day gearing up for the "Operations Director Conference" in Houston and the big-one: "All Staff Conference" in Chicago both of which happened in April. ODC was nice - just hanging w/ the ops folks of institute - my kind of people :)! And then - I got a vacation!!

And vacation was wonderful - just enjoying the life of the Reddigs and Holy Week. Some highlights of that trip: not working, Katie's Zumba class, Samba de Amigo, the annual Seder Meal - which the Beiers joined us for, discovering a new restaurant with a friend, a new scarf from the Easter Bunny, watching The Masters for the first time ever, and of course having Mary Ann update me on things coming up - i.e. "Mitzi, didn't you know that tomorrow is Easter?"

And then it was back to work...let's just say that coming back from vacation was a little rough, and the 2 weeks that I had to prepare for the All Staff Conference were just a little stressful - but it was all worth it. We had an incredible conference and with the survey results back now - it seems as though all 110 people that I logistically brought together were pretty happy about their time in Chicago. I had been working on this conference in particular since last August - so it was really great to see it all happen...and to meet everyone that I have been e-mailing since December. That's just one of the things that I truly enjoy about this job - I get to see the results of my planning and organization.

A week later - the Buschelmans came to visit me - first time since my move to the Ukrainian Village. It was a relaxing weekend of wandering around the city, the zoo, and the brewery. And we were able to get the kitchen curtains hung! It's incredible to see how Dom and Will are growing...and more incredible to realize how small my apartment can become with 4 extra bodies.

And now we are up to this past week - well, work picked up quite a bit with the announcement of a new region attending the Chicago institute. This means that not only will the corps members from Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Eastnern NC, Charlotte, and Boston be trained here in Chicago this summer - but now also the South Dakota corps members. It'll be quite an group of people (over 600) descending on Chicago and the public schools this summer - so now is the time to get ready for it all.

A future corps member (who has worked at institute before) wrote a letter - and well, this small excerpt gives me a little inspiration to continue to work hard:

I am excited to return to institute, this time as a corps member, to know the other side of the experience, to earn my place in this cycle, and to prove myself worthy of the children I will teach – and worthy of the time you spend at conferences like this preparing to lead me and my fellow corps members. I look forward to having my own stories of the ways “my kids” changed my life – and hopefully, the ways I changed theirs – and I’m grateful for the role you have already begun to play in moving me there.