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CASE V Opening Extravaganza

4:45-8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11
Sheraton Ballroom and CASE V Resource Center

Don't miss the "official" opening of the 31st annual CASE V Conference! Start the conference on the right step by taking part in the district's annual meeting when we recognize CASE V's many accomplishments:

• honoring CASE V's best with the Distinguished Service Award
• welcoming the district's newcomers, and the top new professionals
• reacquainting yourself with old colleagues — and meeting new ones over a glass of wine
• being inspired by Rafe Esquith's keynote, "There Are No Shortcuts"
• taking your chance at winning some great door prizes (must be present to win)

"There Are No Shortcuts"

Award-winning grade school teacher Rafe Esquith will be the speaker for the Opening Extravaganza. By any measure, his students have been wildly successful. They have opened for the Royal Shakespeare Company, been hired by Sir Peter Hall to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles, and have appeared at the Globe Theater in London. His students are just 10 years old, live in the inner city, and many are learning English as their second language. Esquith immerses them in Shakespeare, and in doing so, teaches that hard work and dedication will help achieve academic success across the board.

Esquith recounts his incredible story in "There Are No Shortcuts: Changing the World One Kid at a Time." Many of Equith's students have gone on to Ivy League colleges, and his teaching awards include the Walt Disney American Teacher Award for National Teacher of the Year and Oprah Winfrey's Use Your Life Award. Queen Elizabeth invested him as a Member of the British Empire, and President Bush presented him with The National Medal of Arts in the Oval Office, the first teacher in history so honored. He has also been selected to receive the Leavey Award, given to the teacher who best teaches students about American economics and private enterprise. He is currently working with the NEA to help put Shakespeare in 10,000 American classrooms.