Veribest T.A.F.E. Chapter Receives Top Honors at the State T.A.F.E. Conference Seventeen of the Veribest T.A.F.E. Chapter members attended the T.A.F.E. State Conference on February 12-14, 2012. During the conference, the members attended breakout and general sessions, presented their own breakout session, judged competitions, and competed in many events. Edgar Ramirez, Ashley Esquivel, Brianna Brown, and Ariceli Hernandez jumped in as soon as we arrived to help judge the scrapbook and project visualize competitions. Although it took about two and a half hours, they hung in there and represented Veribest well. Mrs. Taylor had several compliments from other sponsors about how well they worked to get the job done. Three members competed on Sunday as soon as they arrived. Ariana Hernandez presented the Chapter Scrapbook. She received an Honorable Mention White ribbon. Jordyn Bauerlein presented the Project Visualize Display Board and received a Second Place Red Ribbon. Jaime Oliver also competed in the Outstanding Speech contest. All three of the students did exceptionally well and we are very proud of them and everyone else who helped them with these contests. On Monday, four students, Brianna Brown, Angela Molina, Javier Carmona, and Kynsey Jones took the Educational Fundamentals Leadership test. This is a written test based on knowledge a student would gain through educational classes taken during college. In order to advance to the final round, you must score a 100. Only three students in the contest made perfect scores. Although we did not have anyone advance, the students did very well. Also on Monday, Stormie Braswell and Jessica Tharp competed in the Count on Character Storybook Competition. Ariceli Hernandez illustrated Jessica's book. We were all very proud of all of the chapter members including Ethan Lankford, Alex Valenzuela, and all the rest of the members. They were able to go watch and support Jessica and Stormie while they presented their books. There were some very good competitiors. In the end, Jessica Tharp advanced to the finals. She then presented her book again on Tuesday morning. Jessica finished in the top six in state! Congratulations to Jessica, Ariceli, and Stormie for a job well done! Another award was accepted on Monday by Chapter President Ariceli Hernandez. She received the Outstanding Chapter Award for the Veribest T.A.F.E. Chapter. The award is based on a points system. It is a list of activities that your chapter has been involved in throughout the year. We received 590 points which qualified us to receive this award. Continuing on Monday, the T.A.F.E. Promotional Video Award winner was announced. Mrs. Taylor wishes the whole community of Veribest could have been in the room of over 1600 people. It was completely quiet as the third place winner was announced. As some of us sat with our fingers crossed, they called the second place winner. At that moment, we began to celebrate knowing we had won "First Place!". Jan Nurenberger, Clay Schaefer, Brianna Brown, and Charly Holik went up on stage to receive their First Place State Award for Best Promotional Video in the state! The video was shown to the entire audience. They laughed at times and when Miss Felps put on her pink hat and scarf, you heard the audience say, "Oh!" Mrs. Taylor personally wants to congratulate the students as well as the inspiration behind the video, Mr. Steck. Without his guidance and leadership, this video would not have come to life. Mrs. Taylor also wants to congratulate the students and faculty of Veribest ISD. You were helpful in creating this video. Now, we know we are the "Very Best" in Texas! Congratulations again to Jan, who spent countless hours working on the video. Congratulations to Clay, Charly, and Brianna for helping film and edit the video. On Tuesday morning, the students presented their own Breakout Session, "Make It, Take It." There were about 80 students from around Texas who attended the two sessions. Our members allowed each person the opportunity to create their own Halloween Mummy Treat Holder. These are treat holders we gave our own teachers as an appreciation gift during Halloween. In addition, we showed the students how to make the Squeeze and Kisses and even gave away 18 of them to lucky students. Then, the students were told to make Oreo Cookie balls. Our members made about 240 Oreo Cookie Balls. Each attendee was given a bag of three cookie balls as they left the room. We are very proud of our students for presenting this session. They are very brave and courageous for speaking in front of so many students. Way to go! Mrs. Taylor wants to thank Mr. Steck and Mrs. Molina for attending the conference and helping with whatever she needed to be done. You both are very much appreciated! Mrs. Taylor would also like to thank all the members who attended the conference. You truly represented Veribest well with the way you behaved during the conference as well as the rewards you received. We hope you all had a wonderful time and are so proud of each of you!