This has been a really long week and weekend for us. On Thursday I was on a morning radio talk show called Cross-Talk getting interviewed on the Caribcert program. Also on the program was the Minister of Tourism so it was a great chance to promote ICCI and what we have been doing for the Tourism Apprentice Training Program. Doing the early morning things is hard since we dont get home from work until after 10:30 Monday through Thursdays but every chance we get even if it means little sleep we jump on. The show lasted over an hour and I got several plugs in for ICCI.
On Friday we had a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Job and Career Expo. The Expo was took place at Sir Vassell Hall on the campus of the University College so we were on unfriendly turf. Friday was for high school students and all the local schools brought their 11th and 12th year students. There are seven high schools all within about a two mile stretch that all the high schoolers on the Island go to. We passed out brochures that Katie has designed and also gave out key chains with ICCI and our phone number on a palm tree. Friday night was the welcome reception so after 4 hours in the afternoon with high school students we had another two hours with some big wigs like the Minister of Education and some industry leaders.
Saturday morning started at 4:30 a.m. as we woke up to start getting the donations for our memorial walk which began at 6:30 a.m. Katie had been planning this for two months and had lined up donations, sponsors and gotten everything ready. We drove over to the Island Taste factory and picked up patties for the walkers. On Friday we had gotten some donated fruit platters from Fosters Food Fair and had already picked up the donated drinks. It was a testament to good planning as everything went off without a hitch. Katie had made a banner with all the sponsers and we had stations set up at the half way mark and at the castle. We were the marshalls so we had to make sure everyone stayed safe. We walked fast at the beginning leading the group but later had to slow down and be the back end marshalls escorting the slower walkers to the finish. Even slowing down for the second half of the walk we finished in about an hour and 15 minutes so we kept a pretty good pace. It was a good first training walk for the half marathon we want to run/walk in December.
On Friday we had a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Job and Career Expo. The Expo was took place at Sir Vassell Hall on the campus of the University College so we were on unfriendly turf. Friday was for high school students and all the local schools brought their 11th and 12th year students. There are seven high schools all within about a two mile stretch that all the high schoolers on the Island go to. We passed out brochures that Katie has designed and also gave out key chains with ICCI and our phone number on a palm tree. Friday night was the welcome reception so after 4 hours in the afternoon with high school students we had another two hours with some big wigs like the Minister of Education and some industry leaders.
Saturday morning started at 4:30 a.m. as we woke up to start getting the donations for our memorial walk which began at 6:30 a.m. Katie had been planning this for two months and had lined up donations, sponsors and gotten everything ready. We drove over to the Island Taste factory and picked up patties for the walkers. On Friday we had gotten some donated fruit platters from Fosters Food Fair and had already picked up the donated drinks. It was a testament to good planning as everything went off without a hitch. Katie had made a banner with all the sponsers and we had stations set up at the half way mark and at the castle. We were the marshalls so we had to make sure everyone stayed safe. We walked fast at the beginning leading the group but later had to slow down and be the back end marshalls escorting the slower walkers to the finish. Even slowing down for the second half of the walk we finished in about an hour and 15 minutes so we kept a pretty good pace. It was a good first training walk for the half marathon we want to run/walk in December.
The college to castle walk is designed to raise money for the Hugh Cummings Scholarship Fund. We had almost 50 people pre-register and then another 20 plus walk ups, some didnt walk but over 60 people did all or part of the four mile walk. We raised over 800 dollars for the fund. It was a complete success and is something that we look forward to doing in the future.
After getting home from the walk Katie spent a day scrapbooking while I went back to UCCI for six more hours of the Expo. Katie had bought a lot of scrapbooking supplies in Miami last weekend and is working on a scrapbook of our Keys trip from last November. I headed back to the Expo for the Saturday session which was open to the public. We passed out a ton more keychains and brochures. We had taken five pages of call back sheets and filled up all five with potential students. It was also great for raising the visibility of the college. Lots of people came up to tell us they were happy to see us there and that it was great that ICCI was coming to events like this. It also helped that we had a really professional looking booth, with our web site called up on the lap top through wireless, brochures, pictures and program forms as well as the keychains.
In the evening we attended a Cayman Outreach Association dinner. It was a celebration of Valentines Day but both of us were so exhausted it was hard to really enjoy the occassion. We got home around 9:30 and the TV station was showing the Young Caymanian Leadership Association awards dinner from the Ritz Carlton. The guest speaker was Mike Huckabee, yes that Huckabee who actually gave a really good speech on perseverance and leadership with no politics mentioned. You can tell he was a preacher as he was very polished and was great story teller. Couldnt tell you a thing about his politics from last night but he is definitely a really good speaker.
The girls ringworm has definitely gotten better but we are still giving them medicine. They are getting smarter though and it is getting more and more difficult to get them to take the medicine without having to force it down their throats. We have the hurricane shutters off and the cats sit in the front window watching the world go by everyday when we leave. They like the toys we brought from Florida and Ginger has adopted several as her children and carries them up and down the stairs every morning and evening crying as she does to the ones she left behind not to worry she will be back soon. We are half way through the Winter Quarter and already planning for the summer and fall events. Cayman has been unusually hot this winter and everyone tells us that means a steamy summer.
