I am sitting in the Dallas airport after a weekend that was as successful (at least, we hope!) as it was fun. We are so pleased to have been able to spend an enjoyable time with such vivacious and welcoming alumni. If for no other reason, I could move to Dallas for its tight-knit, enthusiastic, and active alumni chapter.
     On Thursday, we—Treasurer Brandon Allred, and Fundraising co-Chairs Becky Mickel and Bobby Rutherford—hopped in a van to the Roanoke airport in what would typically be considered the wee, quiet hours of the morning. But the morning never knew what hit it. Becky and Bobby were, already, running on pure Mock Convention adrenaline—the best kind, I would argue—and Brandon, whom we members of the Executive and Steering Committees fondly address as Grandpa (just shake is hand, you’ll get it), rolled his eyes and shook his head—some would argue affectionately—as he checked (for the thirty-seventh time) his meticulous notes regarding the upcoming 72 hours.
     Despite all worries to the contrary, we made it to Dallas, in time, each in one piece, with coffee in each hand. Our first instinct upon setting foot on warm Texas soil was, as any red-blooded American college student might intuitively understand, find a great Mexican place for lunch—or, as we had sufficiently precluded for ourselves any possibility of healthy circadian rhythms for at least the next twelve years, was it dinner? Not the types to let a little grogginess get in the way of the full Texas experience, we trudged on. My friends, when in doubt, remember this: fresh guacamole is always, always the answer.
     A good lunch and a brisk, roundabout walk back to our hotel downtown (thanks to Bobby, our self-declared capable navigator and handler of the iPhone’s map app) and we were ready to take on the night ahead, our first in a series of visits to alumni chapters. Well, we were “ready” in the sense that, after having passed out on our hotel beds without setting a single alarm—except, notably, for Bobby, who worked furiously to perfect the Keynote presentation he and Becky have been working on tirelessly for months—we scrambled to shower, change, pack, and primp in less than thirty minutes, which, with Brandon and wardrobe on board, can be quite the challenge. Oh, and not to mention, we left over three hundred brochures back in Lexington and had to run to the nearest Kinko’s to get it done—a special shout-out and a thank you to the kind, quick folks there!
     Somehow, we made it to the site of the alumni party with time to spare. The Guy and Cindy Kerr, parents of sophomore extraordinaire and newly appointed Executive Assistant (read: Life Saver), Audrey Kerr, welcomed us into their home with open arms and open bar, for those of us, of course, over twenty-one. Yet, it was not five minutes later that Bobcky (affectionate code name for our indomitable fundraising couple) realized that they had forgotten the cord that would transfer their presentation from computer screen to projector screen. After nearly an hour of technological finagling, a guest appearance by the Kerrs’ neighbor, Mrs. Hunt, an emergency trip to the nearest Apple store, courtesy of the fabulous Geddes family whose daughter Katie, quite simply, gets it done, we sidestepped crisis and found a way to get the long-awaited, long-agonized-over presentation to play in the warmth of the Kerr living room. And boy, did it ever.
     Though the presentation, which covers Mock Convention’s history, Steering Committee members, how to give (hint: there are two buttons on the home page), the 2012 build-up, how to give, what innovations we are making, and what we have accomplished thus far and plan to accomplish within the next twelve months. Becky and Bobby pulled it off with an amazing combination of personality and humility, enthusiasm and willingness, humor and sincerity. I loved to watch the faces of alums, young and old, who really took to the presentation and, after only a few minutes, had been led to recall their own convention—the legends, the memories, the learning, the students, the speakers, the spiritedness.
     Throughout the night, I heard the same thing, particularly from those who were heavily involved in their own Convention: just remember to sit back and enjoy everything that is going on around you; it only happens once when you are a student, so soak it up, every minute of it. As busy as we are, as hectic as it is, this piece of advice, I think, should carry us through the next year.
      If, at any point, you ask me what I enjoy about Mock Convention, my answer always comes down to this: the people. I would be willing to bet (most of our budget—don’t you dare tell Brandon), that the level of collaboration and creativity achieved by our Steering Committee, Subcommittees, and soon our State Chairs is unmatched on any college campus in the nation. I don’t know how one would measure this, so perhaps it is a silly bet (sorry, Brandon), but, as any alum can attest, we’ve got something pretty special here that only grows more special as the years pass, and I know that anyone anywhere would be amazed at what these kids can do.
Just remind me of this next time we forget the brochures, oversleep, or leave behind a critical piece of computer equipment.