Cathy Bishop captures the title BHS Sweetheart

Business teacher Cathy Bishop has effectively earned the adoration of teachers and students at Bartlett High School. Her business-style classes have become the favorite of many students. As the founder of the school’s bookstore, sponsor of DECA, and also a full-time business teacher, Bishop has a hand in many students’ lives. Because her classes have stolen the hearts of many at Bartlett, she takes the title of BHS Sweetheart this month.

“I love Mrs. Bishop’s class, it’s so much more interesting than some of the other classes I’ve taken at Bartlett,” said senior Parker Bryan.

A thriving and lively teacher at school, Bishop also has a rewarding home life. She has a sweetheart of her own, husband of 33 years named Tom. He supported her as she went through school to become a teacher, and her friends jokingly call him “the perfect man.” Her son Justin deserves the thanks for inspiring her to leave her job of thirteen years in sales and marketing to become a teacher. She knew the day he started kindergarten she wanted to be able to be home when he was, so she went back to school to earn a master’s degree in education.

When Bishop is done with school work and DECA, she enjoys gardening, and Saturday night trivia games with friends. She also enjoys music of all varieties, her small dog Betty White, and shopping, even though her favorite shopping buddy, her daughter Caroline, has gone off to college.

From the outside, a life balancing so many tasks and responsibilities can seem stressful, but Bishop loves what she does. As the teacher to dream up the idea of a school bookstore her previous knowledge of sales and marketing showed through. Though Bishop began in marketing some years ago, she was inspired to become a teacher when her son Justin began school. She has even admitted to trying to persuade some of her students to become teachers, but many prefer marketing careers.

“I’m always trying to talk my students into teaching someday, but many of them go into marketing careers.  Maybe someday they will come around!” said Bishop.

DECA has become more than a club at school for Bishop; not only does she run the organization at Bartlett High but she is also the district coordinator. She feels that DECA has become as much a part of her job as teaching is. She also insisted that it wasn’t a club but a co-curricular student organization with a demanding amount of attention needed. Even though she can’t tell which way is up sometimes, Bishop loves what she does.

“Mrs. Bishop is an amazing teacher, and person. She has taught me so much in class and in DECA,” said senior Elizabeth Reed.

Bishop loves building relationships with her students and giving them opportunities to lead, and has captured the hearts of students and teachers alike.

DECA, FCCLA hold spaghetti supper to help flood victims

As a result of the flooding from the storms over April 30 and May 1, three of Bartlett High School’s cafeteria ladies suffered severe damages to their homes.

Because of the huge impact these ladies have on the student body, as well as the teachers, DECA and FCCLA have come together to host a Spaghetti Supper to raise money for the three ladies who were affected so greatly by the storm.

The dinner, which will be held on May 13, will begin at 6:30 p.m. The entrance fee is $7 for adults and $3 for children who are 10 years of age and younger. Any extra donations will be gladly accepted to contribute to the families of these three women.

The entrance fee will purchase dinner, as well as entertainment performed by the Bartlett Jazz Ensemble. Any students and teachers who are interested should bring their families for a night of food and fun to contribute to a good cause.

DECA wins big at state competition

The weekend of March 5, DECA traveled to Nashville to compete in the state competition.

In the district competition, students had to write a paper telling about a business and how they would improve it. All students who were chosen to continue to state had to make a poster board with the major points of their papers listed on it, and give a speech to elaborate on each point.

This year 15 DECA students will continue on to nationals, in Louisville, KY the week of March 24-28.

“That’s more than we’ve ever had go to nationals,” DECA sponsor Cathy Bishop said.

Bartlett came away with more winners than any other Shelby County School.

The 15 students who will be advancing to the national competition are:
Carrie Connor
Ashley Dillard
Caroline Dickey
Dylan Riner
Clay Hillyard
LaTrell Cunningham
Gene Nolan
Wardell Webber
Rachelle Crutchfield
Anthony McCants
Belel Kamara
Kristen Groniger
Leah Hollingsworth
and Caitlin Manley.

These Bartlett Panthers will be competing with 15,000 students from all across the country.

“They were so good, and so professional, I was so proud of them,” said Bishop.

The competition went well; however, the ride back did not.

While driving home from Nashville the bus that the students were traveling on broke down about 20 minutes into the drive. All students had to evacuate the bus and wait on the side of the road for a replacement to arrive.

Although the ride back may have been a little chaotic, Bishop is very proud of all of her students that made it to state, and those who are advancing to nationals.

Most Bartlett students and faculty are alive with Panther Pride for DECA’s wins at state.

DECA students deck the competition

They did it again! Forty-two students from the Bartlett High School chapter of DECA, An Association of Marketing Students, will be competing at the state level of the annual DECA competition.

Whether it was writing extensive research papers or participating in role plays, students from both Shelby County Schools and Memphis City Schools competed in an all-day competition Jan. 21 at Hope Presbyterian Church.

According to marketing teacher Cathy Bishop, students in her classes have been practicing  and preparing for this event for the past nine weeks.

Students involved in writing the research papers had to choose a topic, conduct elaborate research, and write a paper. On the other hand, students who competed in the business decision making role play categories chose a topic and had to compete impromptu.

“My category was Travel and Tourism. It was one of the most difficult role plays,” senior Kirby Elliott  said. “We [Elliott and senior Josh Bay] had to convince our judge that they need to change their prices of their point systems because of the decrease in ‘our’ loyal customers.”

Although the role play competition was all based on previous knowledge, students who competed in role plays were allowed time to look over their topics and prepare for their questions.

“We went into a room and reviewed our role play for 30 minutes. In that time, we wrote down notes and prepared to talk to the judge,” Elliott said. “We had 7 minutes to present our ideas, and then the judge asked us 5 questions.”

Though the work seems tedious in addition to normal schoolwork, senior Taylor Morton, who competed alongside senior Matt Mitchell, disagrees.

“It was easy. I mean, you had to put time into it, but it was fun,” Morton said. “It’s not like we were forced to do it. We chose to do it. So, it was easy to be motivated. Mrs. Bishop gave us practice packets to look over so we knew what to expect.”

Competing in the sports and entertainment category, Morton and Mitchell were asked questions involving a situation in which “their” NFL team was caught filming another team illegally. After “fans” lost respect for Morton and Mitchell, they had to create a way to “gain their support back.”

“There was another group in the same room with us, and each group had 30 minutes to get our material together,” Morton said. “Whenever we were ready, we presented, but we couldn’t watch other groups prior to us.”

After a long day including a lunch and an awards ceremony, the results were released, and 42 of the 56 students who competed for Bartlett made it to the state level.

The state competition will be held on March 6-8 in Franklin, TN. After competing against schools from across the state, those who won will have the opportunity to compete on a national level in Louisville, KY.

Bishop is confident that the majority of her students will make it to the national level. Last year, five students made it to nationals, but with this year’s group being the largest in Bartlett’s history, the chances are even greater.