When I was in high school, my Home Ec class (now called Family and Consumer Science) was a lot more than sewing pillows and learning how to cook. We did a lot of presentations to prepare us for “real life.” It was probably the one class throughout my entire school experience that I feel taught me most and prepared me the best.
I can remember getting some kind of presentation ready to present to the Board of Education. My teacher, Mrs. Burch, came along with us, and she was wonderful. A free spirit… very energetic… and very flighty and spacy! She had no edit button on what she said, at all.
Back in those days, video capture technology was a relatively new invention, and I had purchased a video capture device called the Zip Shot to collect different still photos from some videos to help our presentation.
We sort of fumbled through parts of the presentation, as shy high school girls often do, so Mrs. Burch would randomly pipe in and help us out when she felt we were faltering. At one point, she jumped in and asked me to explain what equipment we had used to help us in our research and preparation. She specifically wanted me to explain the device that captured the video, asking “What was it, Zip Shit?”
Being the young, immature high school girls that we were, we lost all composure and while trying to speak through our muffled giggles, fumbled through something quickly to bring our presentation to an end. The Superintendant only smirked, not really seeing the humor in it.
Not exactly my presentation experience highlight, but amusing, none-the-less.
Sally Kent
