Ridiculousness

Look at this.

This is what happens when Stephen and I try to take a decent picture. He makes these faces. 

This was the first of many hilarious moments at the Texas DECA Leadership Retreat for District and State Officers in New Braunfels this past week. Stephen, pictured above, is the incoming District 4 President, and a second time attendant of the retreat (he was an officer last year too). I got to bond with him, and so many more amazing people over the week. (You can find Stephen, a fellow internet addict and an amazing male blogger, at his website here.)

Elvia and Sophia trying to worm their way out of the ropes.

During the retreat, the 30 or so of us (25 District and 5 State officers) got to participate in some pretty fun activities, including trying to bust out of rope hand cuffs (above), and lilypad over alligator infested waters (below). All the activities focused on bettering our communication skills, and learning each other's strengths and weaknesses. We learned that the majority of us have large, loud personalities as well.

They also got to climb up some super tall poles and fly through the air on ropes (so called High Ropes by the camp). I say they, because, as I told my advisor, you get me more than ten feet off the ground and you may be saying hello to my breakfast and goodbye to my consciousness. But I did have a lot of fun cheering everyone on, and getting some amazing pictures with my advisor's camera (which I have yet to see).

Students prepping to jump for a gold ring mid air.

We also had time for some sillyness.

The males of the Texas DECA State Officer Team, and our coach, Curtis, in the background.

Caleb (State Sgt-At-Arms) and Brooke (D5 President) in our epic Rock Paper Scissors game.

And as any true DECA students, we had time for putting our big kid clothes on.

Hey look, Stephen and I in an actually decent picture! 

Myself and Kate, the State President. DECA Girls FTW.

Overall, it was an amazing experience, and the first of many for the 2012-2013 school year with Texas DECA. We're off to LA in early August for the Emerging Leader Summit as a State Officer Team, and I'm so excited to finally be going back home for a bit! 

All for now-

Toodles,

Holly