84th Annual Zilker Park Kite Festival

Greetings future Austinites! Here is our first post in our series where we will be highlighting fun events happening in Austin to get you pumped up for next year!

This weekend is the 84th annual Zilker Kite Festival, the oldest continually running kite festival in the USA! Created in 1929, the Kite Festival competition events have changed little since then. Participants are encouraged to compete with their homemade kites in the steadiest, highest angle, strongest pulling, most unusual, smallest, and largest events. The contest includes youth (up to 16 yrs old) and adult (16 yrs or older) categories and a 50-yard dash for kids between 7 and 12 years of age. Trophies are awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

You don’t have to fly a kite to enjoy the festival. Many come just to enjoy the magical view. Delicious foods, moonwalks, face painting, rock wall climbing, games and contests are offered all day.

Kite flying demonstrations by professional kite flyers are presented throughout the day. There are kites choreographed to music, kite battles, kite buggies, kite skateboards and huge 40, 50 and 90 foot kites are displayed.

Office Fashion

Facial Fashion
This morning Jesse Tow (top left) strolled into the office with an always classy, handlebar mustache. This lead to a photo shoot of some of our hairy coworkers. Katie Stone (top middle) strikes a fierce pose with her asymmetrical mustache. Brendan Higgins (top right) keeps it classy with freshly trimmed whiskers. Charlie Herrmann (bottom left) enjoys a fresh apple with his bushy beard. Drew Freeman (bottom middle) chillaxes with his ever-present five o'clock shadow. Ruqiyyah Abu-Anbar (bottom right) works the camera  with her Santa-like beard.

Highlighted Coach, Feb. 24, 2012

Highlighted Coach: CHAZ HOSKINS!!

Chaz (bottom row, right) with the Del Valle team! 

Just like in this picture, Chaz greatly supports his team. 

Position: Junior Coach

First year CoFo member

Missouri Western State University

Interview with Chaz

Cofo: What brought you to CoFo?

CH: I have always enjoyed working with youth and I really feel a great sense of accomplishment by empowering others who cannot empower themselves.

CoFo: What is your favorite thing about working here?

CH: I have two. 1) Getting to know my students and learning about all of their different views and backgrounds and 2) working with all of the different co-workers and all of their different personalities and ideas that they bring to the table.

CoFo: Where is your favorite place in the office?

CH: The Zen room (aka: The Connally office). It cured my headache.

CoFo: If you could describe CoFo with 5 words, what would they be?

CH: 1) Legendary 2) Exciting 3) Intense 4) Unpredictable 2) PHAT--as in Pretty Hot and Tempting

CoFo: That is technically more than 5 words.

CoFo: What is your favorite thing about living in Austin?

CH: All of the things that are available to do in Austin. I like going to movies, museums, and parks and those are all there.

CoFo: What are your current Rose, Bud, and Thorn?

CH: 

Rose--the highlight for me this week was when I sat down with my students and registered every one of   them that were there for the ACT.

Bud--I am looking forward to coming back as a visitor and watching my students graduate from high school, in 2013.

Thorn--I went on the Del Valle High school retreat in the fall. There were 90 high school students and 5 chaperones. And all the students rebelled for a whole weekend.

CoFo: What is a hidden talent you have?

CH: I can talk in different voices. Some are high pitched and some are deep. I don’t tell many people about that.

CoFo: What advice would you give to future coaches?

CH: Remember to have fun and don’t take everything too seriously.

Our 2011-2012 AmeriCorps* Members during beginning-of-the-year training at St. Edward's University

 IN THE LOOP

This blog is designed to keep our applicants and new hirees in the loop about College Forward.  We will profile coaches, let you know what's going on in Austin, and hopefully give you some insight into the CoFo experience.