With the fall rapidly approaching, LEAP Ambassadors gathered together–along with alumni and friends–for some entertainment, food, and planning. It was our quarterly(ish) get together with alumni for theater entertainment and a meal, combined with our planning retreat. And when the Houston Post Market and the Alley Theatre are involved, you know it’s going to be fun.
As has become something of a tradition, we began at the Houston Post Market, a suggestion once made by Bryan Phillips (thank you!), which offers something for everyone and a great view from the top. The food hall offers more than 10 types of ethnic foods, plus other ice-cream, coffee, and juices. Orders tended to cluster among the Italian, West African, and Mexican options, and no one was disappointed.
Meanwhile, we also had the opportunity to spend times with “friends of LEAP,” such as Maggie Betancourt, Katherine Burnett, and Victoria Medrano (and Victoria’s mom, Sandra), and the chance to catch up with alumni Victoria McClendon (and her amiable fiancée Nick Cardenas), newly-minted alumna Morgan Robertson (and her long-suffering boyfriend Tommy Ward).
Professor Yawn even brought a gift for Morgan, who in her years in LEAP, distinguished herself as a klutz of the first order, often impersonating a pinball, bumping into angle, corner, wall, or furniture item within a stride’s reach. She is safer now, thanks to a bright yellow wrist-band reading “Fall Risk.”
This should alert safety personnel that an emergency is imminent, and it should warn passersby to give wide berth, for Morgan’s safety and their own.
After making Morgan feel at home, as though she had never left the LEAP fold, we headed off to the ostensible main attraction, our annual attendance at the Alley’s “Summer Chills,” where our group was joined by alums Bianca Saldierna and Quinn Kobrin and his fiancée, Jessica Madry. With an assist from the Alley’s always-helpful Laura Perez, we had 17 tickets for “And Then There Were None,” a suspenseful, fun, and–at times, frightening–adaption of the Agatha Christie classic.
The plot is familiar, but largely because Christie’s work has spawned so many conceptual copy-cats.
Ten people are invited to an isolated island under false pretenses, and then they are killed off one-by-one until “there were none.” The play, a type of locked-room mystery, is a technical masterpiece, and the Alley’s professional staff did a great job of pulling it off with freshness and humor and with a moody atmosphere that occasionally raised goosebumps.
And while the play was wonderful, the real treat was spending time with new students, the LEAP Ambassadors, and alumni. In many respects, these outings embody the LEAP approach to learning–fun, education, and long-term relationships rolled into one event.
It is a formula we hope to repeat throughout the fall–er, autumn (sorry, Morgan)–and, indeed, for many autumns to come.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 