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.