Phoenix

Hi friends,

I spent Sept. 25 to Sept 30 in lovely Phoenix, AZ, the fifth largest populated city in the country. I know it was quite rainy and cold back on the east coast during that time, but I was living the high life with 100+ weather, and no humidity, and it was rather nice. I spent Sunday at the NACAC in downtown Phoenix at the convention center and stayed in the host hotel, the Hyatt Regency, which was very beautiful and right across the street. It had a revolving restaurant on the top!

I did not anticipate such demand for Maryland in Phoenix. I went through all my road pieces (2 boxes) just at the NACAC, so I had to make due with the rest of my materials that were shipped and some table copies of the road piece. Bring double next year! Everyone loved the road pieces! I even made a connection with a counselor, Laurie Zentner, from Jess Schwartz College Prep who wanted to schedule an impromptu visit with us. It is a small Jewish high school in Scottsdale with a graduating class of 18, and 5 students came to the visit!

I went to other high school visits that week as well, with usually one or two students joining me. I visited Desert Mountain High School and Diane Sterner, a counselor who joined us the summer for Destination Maryland. I also did a visit to Xavier College Prep, a private all-girls school. The best moment from my 4 years of travel season happened here: 250 high schools girls eating lunch outside in a courtyard with a few doing karaoke to Taylor Swift's You Belong to Me and EVERYONE singing along. You could still hear them leaving campus. I went to a college fair the night before in conjuction with the private all-boys school right next door. There was a bit of interest in the fair. People knew of our great men's and women's lacrosse teams.

I got to reconnect with a previous colleague from CUA and eat some great pizza at Grimaldi's in Scottsdale as well during my time. Overall, a very productive time in the Phoenix area, and room for expansion next year!

-Andrew