Louisville - Friday

Friday morning kicked off with a live quartet of Kentucky-style music to go along with the coffee and breakfast. A large group gathered to watch and listen before heading into the morning's General Session. The Session itself had a memorable start with a race trumpeter to call the session to order. 

Many of Friday's big events centered around Nate Ball, host of PBS's Design Squad and our Second General Session speaker. Nate captured the attention of the large crowd by sharing his experiences as an engineering whiz from a young age - including blowing up his mother's kitchen with rocket fuel - complete with diagrams. Nate went on toMIT and is now a successful engineer, inventor, and TV host. After his presentation, Nate and Conference Honorary Chair were presented with customized Louisville Slugger bats by incoming ITEA President Ed Denton. 

Also at the Friday Generation Session, teachers from a number of states received the prestigious "Teacher Excellence" Awards. The winners are pictured here. Also presented at the same session were the "Distinguished Technology Educator" Awards.

Later in the day, Nate "dropped in" to the Exhibit Hall via his patented "Rapid Ascender." The ENTIRE Exhibit Hall stopped what it was doing to turn its full attention on Nate's multiple ascents to the very top of the hall, all the while explaining how the invention was developed as well as some of its very useful applications. 

The Exhibit Hall enjoyed a second full day of visits by attendees before closing at 4pm.

 

Immediately afterward, there were a large number of people in attendance at the "Tool 

Time" presentation put on by several members from Pittsburg State University. The session was greatly appreciated by the audience.