Bobby Hawthorne
Academic Director
For me, autumn is a time of hope, hope that summer will end soon, say by Halloween, and that fall will hang around for a while, at least until Thanksgiving.
I hope the Longhorns will win games they’re expected to win, perhaps even one or two they’re not, that they won’t pound my heart into mincemeat just because I’m naive enough again to believe that “this year” is “the year.” I’m sure the Aggies and the Bears and the Red Raiders feel the same.
I hope the Cowboys play well, though I’ve long since stopped caring much about professional sports. Still, I grew up with Landry, Lilly, Meredith and Staubach. It’s hard not to care a little.
I hope the turnout for the first student activities conference will justify the expense required to put on these free workshops, that I don’t get a ticket on my way to Tyler, that the AC, the lights, and the projectors will work.
I hope the advisers, directors, coaches, coordinators and kids attending these conferences will be imbued with enthusiasm and a sense of possibility, that the first conference is their initial step on a grand adventure. I hope for them the kind of adventure I had my junior year at White Oak 35- something years ago, when I qualified for state, bombed big-time, but was present for one of the nation’s largest anti-war protests on that weekend of nationwide demonstrations against the war and the incursions into Cambodia. I stood in the stadium during the state track meet as thousands of hippies and housewives and run-of-themill college kids marched past Memorial Stadium and chanted for Darrell Royal to join them. He didn’t, far as I know. But it was quite a sight, especially for a goofy kid from East Texas. Like nothing before, it opened my eyes to the world beyond Gregg County.
I hope all persons involved in UIL academics will take the time to read the Leaguer (especially my column) and monitor the UIL Web site regularly. I hope administrators will understand that academic competitions can be and should be as enriching as anything that takes place on a wooden court or grassy field.
I hope (and trust) the on-line Spring Meet Entry System works better than it did last year, and if it doesn’t, I hope my medication does. I hope all concerned will know that UIL entries will be submitted on-line, that paper entries won’t be accepted, and I hope that they’ll read the on-line instructions carefully before scanning the computer screen and hitting “invoice,” thus locking out the remainder of the school’s entries.
I hope they’ll put their UTEIDs (if you don’t know what that is, you need to find out) and passwords in a safe place. If they don’t, I hope their name is M. Grievelhoover rather than R. Jones or M. Garcia because there are more than 200 R. Joneses and M. Garcias in the UT database, and I’ll have to go, one by one, until I find the right R. Jones and/or M. Garcia. You may not have noticed, but I failed to contribute a column for the final two Leaguers last spring. I fear that if I had, both columns might have begun, “You morons, read the &^% instructions and keep track of your @#$* (different word) passwords…” I hope coaches will adequately prepare their students for competition, meet deadlines and familiarize themselves with the rules and contest plans. I hope they’ll teach their students important lessons about fair play and hard work and good sportsmanship. I hope they’ll lead by example.
I hope the tests I write will be free from glaring mistakes, that all of the UIL test material, manuals and handbooks will be error-free. And if it happens, it’ll be a first, not that we don’t try. But when you’re talking about 23 high school contests, two invitational, two district, one region and one State Meet, the odds aren’t in your favor.
I hope I can squeeze at least one more year out of those fabulous UIL academic contest directors — Laverne, Fred, Delma, Dave, Denis, Karen, Marcia, the two Lindas and the two Larrys. I hope none of them retire before I do. I hope we have a grand time on our trips across the state, that the King’s Inn in Kingsville will be as memorable this November as my first visit there 28 years ago with Max Haddick, Lynn Murray and those other wonderful souls, most of whom are no longer with us.
I hope Randy Vonderheid has a great year at Frisco Centennial. I’ll miss him dearly. As good a UIL journalism director as he was, he’s a teacher, and he belongs in a classroom. I hope Jeanne Acton settles in quickly, becomes comfortable with the job and the odd family that we are here. We’re thrilled to have her as a member of the crew. I met Jeanne many years ago. She was a student in a feature writing class I taught at a summer journalism workshop in Dallas.
Then, like now, she was talented, passionate, energetic — a little wacky. The last day of the workshop, she and other Duncanville students dressed like mummies for class. I’m sure there was a point, but neither she nor I can remember what it was. I hope her baby arrives in late October, happy and healthy.
I hope I don’t do anything stupid to upset or embarrass Dr. Farney, Jana or Treva. Again. I hope those of you still reading have a fabulous year. I hope we all appreciate the special gift we’ve been given — to work with the best students public education has to offer, that at this time next year, the most we can hope for is a year as good as the last.