Final Blogpost YESSSSSS

I'm so over this year I dont think it's possible to be any more over this year then I am right now. But, to answer the prompt: I really thought that this project was more applicable to the real world than any other project we have done in school. In school, we are mainly given tasks that have nothing to do with the real world and we may never use again. But with this project, we are given a very business-like deadline and were free to work as we pleased. Some things that went well were we met almost all of our deadlines. We also were given a good group dynamic. We had two people who worked very well with the technology and kept us on track with our blogposts, as well as Ekolu and I, who worked very well hands on. Some things that didn't go as planned were as followed: we didn't follow our plans, we didn't take into account the door that our bench would be blocking once implemented. Also, we didn't really follow our original design for the bench. We were supposed to pour quikrete into our cinder blocks. From this I learned that planning is one key aspect that it is essential that it is followed or else projects seem to go downhill. I learned that if given a group, you should play to each other's strengths and establish a plan and due dates to keep you on task. This project was pretty well done so i'm not so sure that i would do anything differently. For the most part, I guess our construction was somewhat science. Obviously it dealt with science because everything in the world has to do with science, but it was not at the forefront of our brains and thinking during the project.

NO NEED DO FINAL!!

Finally done! This project took a lot out of us, we really worked hard and had to force our selves to stay on time during this whole process. But through all the hard work, the painstaking construction, and the looonnngg presentation of projects we made it. I can say on behalf of everyone in this class that it was worth it for the reward of not needing to do a final written test was so wonderful. I enjoyed this project and I really think that this should be repeated every year and hopefully our school can become a better place with the work of students and staff of this school. Imua Kamehameha.

Final Blog post

Alright, so first things first. This project was definitely a project like no other. It required me to actually solve a problem not written on a piece of paper or with a hint as to how to solve the problem. Instead, I had to actually go out into the school community and find a problem. In my experience as a student, teachers usually say, "here's a scenario, your tasks, and your timeline on how it should be, now go and do it." However, this project was like: "find a scenario, plan it out, and keep yourselves plan in check." It forced us as students to be individual thinkers in a way, making choices for ourselves and standing on our own two feet as people. So what went well was definitely the presentation. I feel that our group put it's best foot forward in our showcase of our project. What didn't go so hot was what the presentation encompassed. Due to some planning issues, our Ho'oulu ia Kamehameha project was a scramble to finish a single bench and just get someone to sit down on it. I learned that sometimes, it's better to just lead than expect another to do it, because your subordinates are probably thinking the same thing: "Oh, it's fine, someone else will take charge, no worries." Sometimes, it just takes a single person to step up and say: "Hey, we need to focus right now, so lets get back on track." The stories behind this are the  blog posts and several of our written assignments. For our blog posts, all of us forgot the turn of who did what, and ended up thinking it was just someone else's turn, thus a lack of blogposts. For writing assignments, for several items, such as our final report, proposal, and detailed design, they were all pretty rushed. The reason? No one regularly checked when what was due, and no one tried to take charge and remind the rest. As for what I would change, I can't think of anything really. It's pretty fair, so I would say nothing needs to be changed. By thinking up a real solution to a real problem, I saw how the science was happening, which I found very cool. Asking things like: "What's the plan?" or "What's a possible solution?"

Pau Hana: My Final Blog

This project has been such a good experience for me as a person and as a student. Sometimes this project brought a lot of stress but for the most part it has taught me a lot. My overall thoughts on this project is that it is a positive thing that students should go through. We were able to make strides toward making change. Although they were small steps to change, it was making the effort that really counted. It helped us to realize that there are problems bigger then ourselves and that we have to be the ones to initiate change in order to make it happen. An overall positive effect!
One thing that went well was that towards the end of our project we became more focused and worked more collaboratively as a group. Our contributions in the ending portion of our project really showed off the strengths we have as a group.
The most significant part of our project that didn't go as planned was the planning. As a group we had a hard time keeping track of our deadlines and completing things on time. Most of the time we would complete the task but it was already late. However, we were able to turn in our final paper on time :D
Some of the things I learned was that in a group project you actually have to work as a group! I learned that if you work to each others strengths you can accomplish more. Also another thing that I learned was that staying on track and the importance of planning can contribute to how successful you will be.
I feel that this activity was really effective! I don't think that there is any problems with the project. Every aspect that each group had to do was thoroughly planned out and instruction given to students were clear.
This project exemplified a different kind of science. It was a different approach, therefore, I didn't feel like we were doing science but I knew we were. I liked it this way much more than sitting in a classroom and just learning from a textbook!

It's All Coming To An End

On Friday we had our project presentation! This marked the ending of project, beside the final paper of course. I'd say that this project has been kind of a rough road from beginning to end. Many unexpected turns and as group we faced and overcame a lot! On a good note this project has taught us a lot about ourselves and students. We were able to learn how we can become better team members in order to solve problems that are bigger then ourselves. The different projects and their members gave all of us new perspectives during the presentations on how we can help to improve our school, which was great. Overall this project has really been an eye-opener in a variety of ways and there is so much more we can do in and out of school but it is really up to us to make that change! Now at the end, it has really settled in, how exciting :D

Last Post, #1

As of right now, it is 1:05 in the morning. This is the first post of the last three we have to do . This is our last weekend blogpost for this project and the last weekend of our junior year. I got home after 12 and I couldn't manage to sit myself down to write out this blogpost. But here I am doing it right now. Sorry guys because its late, but better late than never. We did good tonight guys. I can honestly say this is the first project I actually enjoyed and I know you all did as well. We came together, cooperated well, learned, taught, and finished it strong. Although many of us did not want to be at school so late on a Friday night, I think it was worth it being that we put so much time into the project it self, we needed so much time to explain everything, and now we dont need to take a final. Im stoking on that one. I think everyone is. If there is certain requirements for this blogpost besides posting our over thoughts/success/updates just like we usually do, sorry cause I have no clue what they are. But this counts as our blog post for Friday, May 18. And I am going to bed now.

Almost There...

Thursday was another somewhat productive day for our group. During class we worked on our Keynote presentation, presentation prep and on our final paper. Tomorrow is our physics Final/presentation, the culminating event if you will. After tomorrow all the stress from this project will be over, well sort of. We are still working on our final paper which is due on Monday, but that is the least of my worries. Today, we also tried to accumulate some type of data that will be presentation-ready. Students did respond to our survey, via surveymonkey, which is good but we hope to get more! Tomorrow is a big day but we just need to go in confident and professional. The presentation makes me a little nervous but a little more prep during period 6 tomorrow is sure to do us some good :D

FInal stretch, here we go~!

Alright, so NOW that we have our bench out and running, it's time to get back to punching away on our computers. Today, I posted up our group presentation on google docs, so everyone can contribute and we can finish this dang project! With our basic outline done, we just need to fine tune it with info and pictures, and then we're off to present! Furthermore, after school today, I plan to go down to lower campus to record info on how our bench is working with the students. With some work on our presentation, and some good team effort, we shall finish this class strong.

Bus Stop Bench

Today was a big day for our group! We finally installed our bench at the lower campus bus stop. Hopefully, it will be used properly and effectively by the students, being it is in fron of the outlet in that bus stop area. Today we faced some adversities with the installation of our bench but it all worked out really well. First, our group planned to carry down the bench from our physics class in Konia all the way down to the lower campus Paki building. Keep in mind this is A LOT of weight, four cinder blocks and 4 pieces of lumber! It was so rough even my iphone screen cracked! Luckily, we bumped into Kumu Kawika who graciously drove us and our bench down to tech. building and then to our Bus Stop destination. This saved us a lot of time and energy. Once we got down there Chayse and Ekolu sanded the bench and put up a small sign explaining it's purpose. There were students who were already intrigued by the idea of having the bench as they watched us situate the bench. In all, today was a very productive day in terms of getting closer to completing this project. We still need to prepare for the presentation and write up our final paper but we should be able to finish everything!

Last Week Push!

This week will probably be the most crucial and important week of our physics lives! There is still so much to get done. The bench will be our first priority and collecting data will probably be the next. It is vital that we receive some type of data throughout the week in order to write our paper and complete our presentation. Hopefully, we can collect something so that we can prove if our project was successful or not. It is hard believe that in the next five days our physics finals will be complete and we will be that much closer to the end of our junior year! I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared at all, but I do have my slight doubts. However, I know that if our group really concentrates and works hard this week we'll definitely be ready come Friday!

Final Deployment Day

Today was our final deployment day /:
Unfortunately construction still continued today and the bench, is almost, but not yet fully completed as of our working class period. Over the past few days we've had some problems completing and installing the bench whether it was finding the right drilling materials or getting the proper measurements. We still need to determine how we will transport the heavy bench to it's home at lower campus. It's been a pretty long week and everyone is excited for the weekend but... there is still a lot of work to do before our final presentation in 7 days! We need to install and implement our prototype, collect data, write our paper draft and develop our keynote presentation. Our group has a lot to get done and I hope we can pull it off :D

A progressive kind of day.

So did we flat out finish the benches today? Nope! Am I mad about it? Nah. Today was a great day for getting things done for our group! The plan for today worked out like this: Me and Chayse walked down to Mr. Massad's to pick up a drill bit while Ekolu took measurements for the bench (marking where we would drill/lining up the planks straight) with the help of Megan. When we got back, we began drilling holes in the wood and the cement blocks. Tomorrow, we shall deal the finishing blow and (with the help of Mr. Massad, apparently) get this bench to the underclassmen. Imua! XD

A little behind on things....

Ok, today's blogpost is a little different then usual. Today's blogpost is basically going to be a personal speculation from your's truly, about how our group has "fallen behind" a little. At first, our group was on it pretty good. Turning in blogposts in a timely manner, as well as other written necessities. What brought us (and killed us) here was not sticking to the plan/lack of proper planning perhaps. We have slumped behind in our posts, and stumbled a little here and there (I don't exclude myself from this, cause I stumbled around a lot too). Also, one of the things I see as the most detrimental was our adapting to when we would receive and start building with our supplies. When we got things last thursday, we were a little iffy on how things were actually gonna go down. Are we taking it home? If so, who is gonna do it? Maybe we should probably build it here? This may have been good if we had sat down as a group and talked about it earlier. So were we on track? For sure. What brought us down? I speculate that it was that we should've talked about "the plan" just a tad more, so that we were all on the same track about this. But, don't lose faith yet of course. Tomorrow will be a great day for our group, for I am sure we will get this dang bench out and running, once and for all! 

Physics Contest

Haaha! It seems we have miscalculated plans on Friday. On this day, we had our Physics Contest, a short quiz on topics we've learned in this course. AGGGH, even though we were reminded of this, I HAD NOT FORESEEN THIS! Being so focused on the bench, the quiz did not even cross my mind. In other words, we couldn't do anything about bench building!  So, a slight screw up? Yes. But make no mistake, next week, with our supplies, tools, and plans ready to go, we shall FINISH OUR BENCH. :D 

Divide and Conquer

Today was the first work day of the week in physics. Our goal for the day was to get as much work done and do it efficiently because of our time restraints! We used a divide and conquer tactic to accomplish what we wanted to achieve.
Jordan and I were left in the classroom to work on the preparation for the content needed as we're getting closer to the project deadline. This means that we worked on the early drafts and the beginning development of the group's keynote, paper and presentation that will e due in a couple of weeks. We also decided that we had to make sure and catch up with any missing blogs and the revisions of our proposal and detailed design papers.
Chayse and Ekolu had a much different, hands on, task to do today. For the most part of the class they both went down to the tech building to get materials and instructions/assistance from the teachers down there who are familiar with construction and designs of things, similar to our bench project. They are becoming responsible for all of the construction and development that goes along with the project, specifically the building of the bench. After all, without a bench there is no project!
We trust each other to work hard and get as much work done quickly in this next few weeks so that we will be able to finish it and still have time to prepare for our final presentation.

Week of Construction

This week is going to be crucial in the progress of our project. We received all of our materials last week as May 4th's blog mentioned but now it is time to put it to use! During the last working class period our group assembled the bench to see what it will look like after it is completely and securely assembled. This week is going to be important because we are going to make sure our bench is in use so that we may begin to collect data. In the picture it seen that our group members did the pre-construction measurements and planning. Our schedule is really tight and we haven't gotten a whole lot completed, but I believe that our teamwork will help get everything run smoothly, whether it's in class or during free periods. We will have to take this week serious being there are only a couple more week of school!

A short break....

Whoopsie, did I say those benches were going up on Friday? Silly me, forgot we had a TEST on Friday. Can't really put up a bench when you gotta test, can you? Enough joking around, our group has not been the most active, during this time lapse, but will be bouncing back starting tomorrow (unless some other prior engagement interferes). In the case of a free class period, our project prototype will finally see it's creation/deployment, 

Support Package arrives!

So, when I strolled into class today, I was totally shocked! Because as you can see in the pictures above, we finally received our supplies today. YAY! Thanks to Pauahi and her trip to home depot to pick up our supplies, which consists of: 

(5) 8 ft long 2x4's

(4) 8inchx8inchx16inch corner cinder blocks
(16) 3/8's inch by 5 inch long (GALVANIZED not zinc coated) 
(16) 3/8s inch (GALVANIZED not zinc coated)* washers.
(16) 3/8s inch (GALVANIZED not zinc coated)* hex nuts.
(1) bag of quikrete mortar mix ( to secure the 2 blocks on each side together)

(Thanks Ekolu for the list). 

So from this point, what's next? Well, tomorrow, we have our prototype roll-out planned. Although we wanted to get it done today, transportation troubles (to and from Ekolu's house) were in our way. However, tomorrow, we will take down our supplies to Paki, build our bench, and have that baby ready to go! (Or so I believe). As for extra improvements (sanding down the wood/painting), we shall see.

Look forward to a new bench, underclassmen! 

HAWAIIAN FOOD FOR LUNCH

Use your time wisely, or if you need you can leave early to get to lunch. The basic intro of todays class. Everyone was pretty energized today after a long fun assembly. Its one of those things where its an exception and everyone can let loose. Since the whole day was pretty slow going and classes were only thirty minutes there was hardly enough time for us to work in class on the project. We really have nothing to do until we get our materials to build our benches. Thats the progress we made so far on this building stage. We are at a standstill till our materials come in. If we get it by next class we should be able to get our benches done on time in the block schedule class period.

4/31/12

A day late... sorry guys. But anyway todays class was our preparation day for building our prototype. We just talked about the construction of our bench, talked about what the different things we needed and why and what our final project will come out to be. We finally got our list of materials through and all we need to do now is wait for it to come in and then build our drawing out. I think I can relate this process to the world of engineering. If you think about it, we went from an idea, to forming a hypothesis, to building and example of what we need to make, to designing our prototype and we have yet to build and put it out. After that we take data of how our project is doing. Its engineering on a mini scale. Cant wait to get our materials because we have 3 days to get our project out. Hopefully construction goes smoothly also and everything works out.

Construction Begins!

This week was a very long one! We got so many things done to continue the progress of our project. In the beginning of the week we got approved, later on we were able to complete our detailed design paper and now we are going to start construction. During the week our group also took a trip to the Konia benches (pictured) to get some measurements and inspiration from the already successful plan from last year. Our plan for this week is to construct and place our bench prototype in the designated area to begin data collection by next week. The project seems to be going smoother and we're getting more things done! This week will definitely be crunch time but we're ready...

Further inspection!

Today was a very productive day for our group. Actually meeting (with everyone) this time, we all got caught up on what needs to be done. The biggest thing of course, was the struggle to finish our peer assessments, which wasn't SO bad. After that, we went down to inspect the benches in the konia hallway. This is certainly key, because those benches are key models for our own benches. Me being the novice in construction and building materials, I got lost real fast when Chayse and Ekolu started analyzing the benches. While they talked about 2 by 4's by however much, or 8 by 8's by some other length, I merely nodded and tried my best to comprehend (kinda sad, but true). Also, we delved further into detail about our actual supplies. Right now, we are also discussing what we actually need to buy from the stores. As for our planks and cinder blocks, we are now reassessing which sizes we will actually be using after our data gathering of the benches in the konia hallway. purchasingSince some supplies can be scrounged up by other members, we may be also be able to save on supplies. Today was a very productive day for us as a group.

Approved to Improve

On April 24, when this blog was supposed to be published... Jordan and I made a visit down to lower campus and had a meeting with Kumu Hailama Farden. The overall meeting went really well and the best part was that our plan got his approval. Kumu Hailama even gave us his mana‘o on our proposal. He said he has also tried to implement the use of benches in the Kekuanaoa area for students but it had been denied, until now. He also liked the idea because he realizes, like us, that there are a lack of seating areas around the campus. He gave us his suggestions as to where the best places for our benches would be. It was a great meeting because he had a variety of ideas to improve the school as well. The meeting was successful and he was quite open to our concepts now we can continue to move forward with our construction!

The REAL plan begins.....

Alright, so today me and Ekolu got down to some REAL planning. As we may have mentioned earlier, we plan to model our benches after those done last year up at Konia. To do so, we need only two MAIN materials: cinder blocks and planks. So~ today in class, Ekolu and I were looking up some cheap and viable sources of both. We decided that Home Depot looked good. When we checked, we saw that they had some sweet deals on both materials. The 2x4 planks sold for about $4 each, and the cinder blocks for about $2 each. With the remaining time in class, we discussed our actual design, but sadly I didn't really understand what Ekolu was saying (XP). Well, that's not entirely true. From what I got, he said we should lay 2 rows of 3 blanks (the long way), which would be supported by 3 cinder blocks, or something of the sort. Anyways, we plan to talk more thoroughly about this as a whole group. Finally, after class was done, I made sure to go down and schedule an appointment with Kumu Hailama for an actual approval of this project. This meeting will take place tomorrow, (pretty convenient huh?) and I'm sure we are all glad that it is finally being taken care of.

Posts on the weekend suck

Apparently it is the weekend, and tomorrow we are back in class. With 12 days left to get our prototype done we still have to talk to Hailama, get together and build our prototype. This weekend we got nothing done, we weren't able to meet and talk about this project because junior prom was this weekend. So we plan to work hard in the next week to plan ahead, get our interviews done, get information and ultimately get our prototype built and place where we think it is needed most. Somethings we need to do now is get materials and put it together. That needs to be scheduled for a weekend so we can get together and complete it. We wonder how things will work out. Another thing is getting approval. We need to talk to Hailama if we are allowed to do what we want to do and if we are what else can we do and where can we do these things. Overall we are pretty well kept up with the timeline and on schedule hopefully this keeps up and we can reach our goal which is an A on this project.

FOUR-TWENTY

THAT IS WHAT THE PAGE LOOKED LIKE FOR 30 MINUTES.
We are in class trying to write out or "detailed designs" of our proposal for this project. We are working diligently as always... and having fun conversing about what our designs should consist of. We also talked about this weekend, looked at pictures, and talked story about our topics with other groups. There is a significance of today its 4/20 as everyone is saying but we have no clue what that is. Back to the subject today was basically a cram day. Google docs wasn't working for the first half of class and also we were rushing to meet the time requirements. We had to wait for forever to get our document started cause google was down. But our conclusion was that we are going to basically copy the same thing as the class did last year. We are excited to get this started and see it completed.

Approvals and Designs

This week has been pretty busy with the crazy scheduling and there hasn't been a lot of time to work on our detailed design paper during class! That's okay though, our detailed design is still a work in progress. Starting with our meeting with Kumu Hailama Farden. We contacted him a couple of days ago to set up a meeting so that we can go over our project proposal with him. In order to put our designs and plans in action we first want to make sure it is okay with him. So he e-mailed us back and now it's all about the scheduling! We are still going to work on our detail design paper although we are still pending approval. Hopefully, with our proposal and detailed design we will be one step closer to finding a solution!

iPau

This is probably the first late blog D: boooo....
Anyway, on Wednesday we had a pa‘ina on Konia Field. It was also a half-day of school and we had no regular classes. This was a really special time because we all completed writing our I ke Ku‘oko‘a. Also, it was an all high school gathering celebrating the completion of this task assigned to all the students by Dr. Chun. We weren't able to work on our physics projects as a group in class because of this special schedule. It was a good break for all the students to just relax and hang out. Although, we did not work on our detailed design as a group, this break was much needed. Can't wait to work hard the next two days to get it done!

Not so fast!!

Here I thought we were ready to go forward with our planning, but I was a little off. It seems we have yet to achieve approval to even begin our detailed design. According to our discussion with Mr. Blake today in class, we must: Talk with Kumu Hailama to make sure we can get approved with the building of benches. Also another suggestion he added was to even consider talking with the SSC to ask for even more ideas. The main thing we should focus on (considering we are approved) is to get IDEAS. By asking Kumu Hailama and the SSC workers for their opinion, we may be able to improve our project even further. That being so, we emailed Kumu Hailama today, and plan to talk with him later this week.

Stage 2: The Plan.....

So, although this has probably been emphasized more than once, we finished our proposal paper!!!
(YES!). All celebrations aside, it's time for the next part of the project: Planning!
We need a strategy: How we will build our benches, where we will put them, what materials we'll need, and so forth. So far, we have touched bases on the topic of location. Right now, the two places that seem the best to put the benches at are the fields in front of Paki and Kekuanoa. As for materials and process, this will most likely addressed at our next face to face meeting.

DONE!.. with the first part at least

I'm literally panting because my fingers were moving so fast when writing this paper. We have met the requirement and then some. Actually, come to think of it, we almost went over the limit of 5 pages... without pictures. '13OSS group! This paper is just the beginning of our detailed design and will catapult us into the second portion of our soon-to-be completed project. Those poor unfortunate souls at the lower campus (mainly paki) will now be graced with the same benefits that the upperclassmen received - benches to sit on! Our physics concepts, although hard to think of, fits in nicely with what our benches represent.

Long Days, Longer Nights

I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that I am not a very strong writer, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Needless to say, my whole group worked very hard on this paper, working all through class periods, staying up late on chat, and getting some help from Mr. Blake himself. We have finished up the first two portions (or questions) of the paper and are now working on the physics concept that we will incorporate into our project. Basically, as far as we have brainstormed, we will be providing a place for lower-classmen to sit and hang out before, during and after school time. Only one more page to go! 

CLASSWORK #10

This is what we looked like in class today. Working hard to put together our thoughts and write out a wonderful three page proposal paper. We figured the smartest way to do that was a google doc so that is what we did. We came up with our problems and addressed each of them together trying to take out two birds with one stone. This is all to make Kamehameha Schools a better place. Like we said some of the things that teachers grumbled about were not so tangible like student values and appreciation. We hope that with our solution to a crowded lower campus students would look at the bigger picture and learn to appreciate what they have. In the end hopefully this goes through, it would be a fail if they didnt allow us to do so or if administration disagrees with what we think. But being part of the student body and seeing these things first hand... I think weʻre right.

The big problem, the campus as a whole

Even on a day when we dont have class we have to blog... well overall nothing really happened. Our group talked a little further and elaborated on certain ideas. We think that since most if not all of the teachers are grumbling about how students do not "appreciate" what they have or that we dont have any values that that should be integrated within our plans. It shouldnt be put aside as an unfixable problem because it is important and we think that kids should learn this stuff because its life. The problem is a lack of understanding and self common sense that people tend to stray away from for some reason. Students should already know their values but sadly some dont and so why not have a little value lesson integrated within a tangible subject. For example, opening up the garden at main gate for students to work, and allowing the river to flow through to connect students to their culture right on campus. Thats a lesson within its self. When students see that they will start to learn because obviously counseling, classes, and verbal lessons arent enough. There should be community service but homeroom time slots are to little for that so make a mandatory grade service day, maybe atleast once a quarter and it has to be related to a culture to where students would atleast learn 3 new things every trip and maybe a few speeches during those field trips to get through to the students. The reason I say that is because if were outside not in school we tend to listen, but at school students just dont want to deal with things and go to class so they dont pay attention. It goes down to every detail and a big change project connections to millions of other little pieces within itself and that what we want to try to do. To get everybody on the same page so we are one ohana. I think that is the main goal and focus should be set on doing that. When big changes are made students should appreciate that its for their better and eventually hopefully everyone realizes that the school is just trying to help us.

Blog Post (#8)- Ideas, Ideas, Ideas!

Today in physics class all six of the groups had presented a short presentation in front of our whole class. Each group shared the progress made thus far. Along with that, the groups introduced some of their narrowed down choices as to what the group is looking to fix in the school system. This was a great way to find out more about the ideas of each group because we all shared some of the things we jotted down on our "bug lists". Those who interviewed teachers and faculty about our project also shared some great feedback and interesting proposals. Overall I believe this class was worthwhile. It was a great opportunity to listen to what others had to say. We learned how we each had very similar ideas in the beginning with our lists but our solutions pretty much differed. Also I appreciated some of the clever proposals, those that I would've never imagined myself. Such as re-purposing the stream and adding hooks to chairs in ‘Akahi Dining Hall for students' backpacks. There were a lot of excellent plans in the making and I am very excited to see what each group comes up with at the end of the week!

Photos From: Ho‘oulu ia Kamehameha Website

Blog Post (#7)

Over the past week we've been doing interviews with teachers about the various problems in our school. Jordan and Chayse both talked with three teachers and found a lot of ideas for our project. As the "developing an idea" week comes to an end upon the return back to school on Tuesday, our group will have to make a decision on what problem we will want to fix. This will be a key part of the quarter project because whatever we choose to do will become the base of our project. The next week will be crucial, we want to develop our idea, make a proposal and begin our detailed design on Friday. It will be a little stressful but our group is definitely up for the challenge, we really have no choice anyway. Then again, it's all about making Kamehameha a better place so it'll be worth it!

Interview 2!

We have made even more progress in idea searching now that Chayse has interviewed
Mr. Cup Choy. Although the ideas were more about the school values, and were not very
tangible problems, it was only helpful to a certain extent. Nonetheless, ideas are ideas, and hopefully
these ideas will help us get new and even better ones. Also, we consulted Mr. Blake, who gave us even more advice.

Interview 1!

So yesterday, we made some progress in getting some ideas for our project.
I was able to get some interesting ideas from Mr. Fukuhara in an interview.
The bugs he pointed out were:
1. Two classes eating at the same time is not good
2. Location of the dining hall is not good..makes kids not want to each lunch....
3. Not a big enough place for kids to hang out at at Paki
4. The siren warning bell is annoying and unprofessional.
Now although these are all probably true, not all of them are very tangible....
I don't think moving Akahi is something we can do, nor can we change the pace
at which people eat. The other two, seem very solvable however, and are
what I would consider to be "possibilities."

Blog Post (#4) - Reunited and it Feels So Good!

AWWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAHHH! (cue Pauly D). We are now a group. If you you were to look closely at the previous blog post, there were only three profile pictures on our group page, due to the fact that Jordan and I were not friends on Facebook. That, however, has changed! We are now united as one, in a place that we can share more ideas on how to improve the school. Our Buglist has little to no (leaning more on the "none" side) ideas, but I have a good idea involving the lunch lines at 'Akahi Dining Hall..... Hehe. This is gonna be good. At least we made progress, eh? :)

Blog Post (#3) - The Beginning!

So, as you can see, we have started a place where we can all collaborate and talk in an open environment as a group. The reason we chose facebook as our means of communications is simple: we all go on it every day. That way, there should be no excuse as to why we havent checked the group we made. Our buglist, is lacking very much right now, however, I have scheduled an appointment for an interview with my beloved --and very opinionated-- teacher, Mr. Kauka. I have had many informal talks with him about what is wrong with our school and the problems with teacher-student relationships. However, I feel that when he is prompted, he will give a good beginning point for tangible ideas. We have begun, and we will make Kamehameha a better place.... in less than $100. Thanks Auntie Bernice.

The Lorax

The Lorax is similar to our project in the sense a problem in the community is solved. In the case of
Sneedville, the main character addresses the environmental problem by starting the rebirth of trees with the planting of the last tree alive. In our case, we must seek out our own problem, and like the main character, must find a solution to accordingly address it. As for the movie in general, I was surprised at how the main theme of environmentalism was so dominant. The movie itself addressed pollution in a rather light way, but still portrayed the dangers of a completely urban environment. It shows how although cities and all technology and made-made stuff seems great, there is always a downside excluding nature. Finally, it also teaches people to stand up for what is right, even when everyone around you disagrees or criticizes you. Overall, a good and inspiring movie.
(This blog post was late because I was unaware that it was an individual assignment).

Lorax boysss

So during spring break I told my parents that I had to watch the Lorax for a homework assignment. The response I got was a confused look on my mothers face while my dad didnʻt even know what I was talking about. My mom just questioned me if I was telling the truth or not. Later on during the break I got to get out to the movies and see the Lorax with my little cousins. I would have rather spent money to watch 21 Jump Street but I guess a little classic Dr. Seuss wouldnʻt hurt. It turned out to be not as bad as I thought. It was a kids movie but the issues were relevant to people of all ages. I think that it is a great movie that shows the issues of the world and can teach little kids something about the world they live in. In the movie a problem is addressed and a solution is made which is to plant more trees. In this project that we are starting we have to do the same thing. Find a problem and assess it using whatever abilities we have. This movie teaches a valuable lesson about the world we live in today and how our biological world has been hurt because of development and so on. Overall this was a good movie and it teaches a good lesson for people of all ages.

MMMMM Gettin' All Kinds of Classy with My Virtual Ticket

As I rolled in to the movie theaters, two girls under each of my arms-- I'm kidding, I went with my two friends who are dudes, Nick and Makoa. To be honest I really wasn't looking forward to go see it, because of the sheer fact that the Hunger Games was playing on the theater to the right, and 21 Jump Street was playing on the movie theater to the left. Each of which were two movies that I would much rather spend $18.75 of my mother's money on. But, however, the movie was not all that huge of a disappointment as I thought it would be. It was classic Dr. Suess, based of the movie that showed that, pretty much no matter what, teamwork would prevail and change things for the better. If I'm not mistaken, that is our basic prompt and underlying reason for the Ho'oulu ia Kamehameha project, right? So this relates directly because it shows that we can make a difference for the better if our ideas, minds, and actions are unified as a team.

My thoughts on The Lorax :)

On March 24 me and my friend Allie, pictured above, went to watch the Lorax at Regal Theaters in Pearl City. Although we did sneak into 21 Jump Street afterward the Lorax movie was still playing back in my head :D IT WAS SOOOO CUTE! I absolutely loved it, it literally made my heart melt. It was a great movie for all ages combining comedic and musical aspects that is relatable to today's audience. The Lorax movie was a great motion picture based on Dr. Seuss's classic book. My favorite part about the movie was the overall message and it's relevance to the present-day environmental issues. The movie showed the audience that in order to make a difference big or small you need to work together. It only takes one or a small group of individuals to initiate change or think of one idea that could impact the course of history. This has direct relevance to our fourth-quarter group project in physics. We might not be changing the course of history but we have the opportunity as a group to improve the school, our chance to give back to a place that already has given us so much.

Blog Post (#2)

Before we left for Spring Break and Song Contest, a couple of weeks ago in physics class we had the final group competition where teams were able to receive the highest amount of points that week. The activity in which we all collaboratively competed in was RockBand! Being "group #1" we were on stage first. I did not want to sing at all, but it seemed that I had no choice... Until one of the group members saved my life (thank you Chayse!) so I played guitar, ‘Ekolu rocked out on the drums, Jordan held it down on Bass and Chayse serenaded the crowd with his voice. I'm not going to lie, our rendition of Creep was a winner. It was near perfection and I'm not only talking about the score! Yeah, we ended up with the highest score, the grand prize of 20 points and the win but it wasn't just that. It symbolized our group as a whole and our ability to work together. A total group effort and a great way to kick off Spring Break!