Drama teacher Ann Chance recently made the trip of a lifetime to Hollywood to attend the Academy Awards.

Mrs. Chance, who has been with Ascension for 12 years and has been teaching for more than 40 years, was offered tickets from a former student, Wendy McMahon, whom she taught 23 years ago for eight years in speech and drama.

These tickets were VIP red carpet bleachers. Mrs. Chance was offered three tickets for herself, her sister, and her sister’s best friend.  The three ladies had talked about doing this for a very long time. Wendy, Mrs. Chance’s former student, is one of the vice presidents of ABC and was chosen as one of the producers of the Academy Awards, so she was able to give Mrs. Chance a seat in the Oscars.

“We had to arrive at 9am with FBI security clearance,” Mrs. Chance said about her experience to the Oscars, “our seats were nontransferable, meaning that if I couldn’t make it no one could take my place because we had pictured IDs.”

The attire for this important occasion was casual wear for the beautiful weather in California.

While Mrs. Chance was seated in the VIP red carpet bleachers, she was able to see all of the celebrities as they entered. The celebrities did not arrive until between 3 p.m.to 5:30 p.m. when all of the actors and actresses had to be seated inside of the Hollywood Kodak Theater. Mrs. Chance was also impressed by some of the celebrities who arrived.

“I was most impressed with George Clooney,” Mrs. Chance said about seeing some of the actors walk on the red carpet, “He arrived at 3 p.m. and stayed outside for two hours to wave and meet fans and also take pictures and talk with reporters. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie gave me the worst impression. They arrived at 5:30 p.m. which was after everyone else had arrived and entered the Oscars and took pictures.”

Mrs. Chance also thought that Robin Roberts looked very gorgeous interviewing different actors and actresses during the pre-show.

After seeing all of the actors and actresses walk the red carpet, security took the VIP section into the El Capitan Theater where they had dinner. Everyone received a gift bag that included a $50 gift certificate for JC Penny, which sponsored the VIP section.

After dinner, they went to the Hollywood Kodak Theater and were seated on the balcony to watch the Oscars on a television so they could have a better view of the actors and actresses presenting and receiving awards.

“I was happy to see Meryl Streep winning an oscar for best leading actress in The Iron Lady and for all of the people who were from Louisiana,” Mrs. Chance said about some of her favorite actors winning an award.

Mrs. Chance was really thrilled to have gone to one of the biggest awards show ever. She had VIP red carpet seating and was able to see some of her celebrities hit the red carpet in fashion and style.

“I thought everything was very calm, organized, and in order,” Mrs. Chance said about her overall experience of going to the Oscars.

Mrs. Chance also said that going to the Academy Awards was on the top of her bucket list, but she has plenty activities that she still would love to do. Some of those things are going to the Kentucky Derby and going to the Rose Bowl.

Mrs. Chance would also want to go to the Oscars again very soon.