CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It was a packed house at the American Bank Center Tuesday morning as the Corpus Christi Independent School District held its Back To School Convocation 2022.
For the first time in years, all 5,000 of the district's employees got together for the event.
If you've never attended one of these back-to-school events, think of it as every pep rally you ever attended in high school, all rolled into one.
The convocation is a chance for district employees, especially teachers, to get fired up for the start of the new school year.
The cheering, the yelling, and the applause all give it the feeling of a rock concert.
"It's like a party in there, it's like a concert in there. Everyone singing and dancing and cheering. There's so much school pride, there's so much department pride, CCISD pride, it's just electrifying and contagious in there.," said Cindy Perez, Director of Professional Learning.
The convocation featured motivational speaker John Gordon.
He spoke about the power of positivity to inspire teachers to start the school year on a positive note.
Teachers like Luther Jones Elementary kindergarten teacher Bianca Alvarado Cantu also used the convocation as a way to hook up with fellow teachers.
She said she's hoping for normalcy in the new school year but she's especially looking forward to meeting her new students.
"Sending out a prayer to all teachers out there for a healthy, safe, fun, exciting new year," said Cantu.
The theme of this year's convocation was "We are CCISD".
"Our theme is we are CCISD" because it does take each and every employee, regardless of what position you have, to help shape the minds of our students and we want everybody to know that we appreciate everybody's hard work in this wonderful school district of ours,"Cindy Perez said.
"Parents, we are so looking forward to having your kids back next Tuesday, August 9th," Perez added.
