Interview Day!

So, today was interview day. I donned my fairly fantastic red power suit, collected my data, and headed to Indy with my mom as my traveling companion. On our way to the State House for my interview, we stopped into the Office of Catholic Education. I am so grateful to them for the opportunity to compete in the Teacher of the Year competition, and they were pretty excited that I am the first ever Catholic school teacher to make it to the top ten, so we were all a big gooey, smiling mess. The staff at the OCE is wonderful, and have been so helpful to me with lots of things, not just Teacher of the Year. Just like so many other aspects of Catholic education, I feel so blessed to count this group of people among my colleagues, resources, and friends. In this picture, I am with our two assistant superintendents.
This is just Kathy and I - she's the assistant superintendent over curriculum, and I would love to have her knowledge and a job like hers when I 'grow up'. She has been my biggest cheerleader, but also a huge resource in this journey.

I also got to meet the new executive director of the OCE while I was there, which was exciting.
We left the OCE and headed to my interview. It wasn't too bad, and I feel like I did my personal best. There were some questions I could have answered better, but some questions I think I nailed right on. Time will tell...apparently they've added a new piece to the competition this year. The top three will be notified within the next few days about the last "stage" of the competition. This has fostered many jokes - could be American Idol, could be a dance off, could be a swimsuit competition. If I'm lucky, I may find out before the end of the week. If I don't hear anything, that means I have the official title of one of seven "finalists" for Teacher of the Year - which is also just fine with me.

After my interview, Mom and I had lunch with my friends Amy and Gretchen from HGS. I should have taken a picture - I'm not sure what I was thinking!

The one thing I know for sure is that I am the ONLY competitor who had their entire school stop and pray before her interview. Catholic schools have their perks! I'll keep you posted!