The start of a new beginning

I can honestly say this was not only the longest project I've been involved in but also the most significant.  I feel like project gave me and my group members a chance analyze the problems we have at this school and take matters into our own hands by finding a way to fix it.  The entire process hasn't been a smooth path at all.  We had many problems we had to overcome but in the end everything eventually worked to our advantage.
The things that went well with our project was that we were all willing to put in extra hours to work on our project.  Max and I went in a lot during our free periods to deploy our final project on time.  While Jo and Kipa worked on the draft.  In the end everything came together.  Another thing that worked well was that we were mostly on the same page.  We knew what we had to do for the day and we knew what we needed to accomplish and I think that was the main thing that kept our group on task.  The best part about this project was definitely looking at our final project and thinking, "holy moly we made that!!"
The hardest or most challenging part of this project that didnt go as we wanted would probably have to be getting approval.  We had to wait on Mrs. Martin and Mr. Massad for approval.  If we got their approval on time I think we would have deployed our prototype on time.  But you know everything must happen for a reason.  You never know what could have happened if the bench was deployed earlier.... I am very proud of my group for not giving up when all we could do during class time was wait.
I learned from this project the value of patience.  Throughout this entire project we had to be patient whether it was from waiting to get approval or waiting for the blue paint on our bench to try.  Im glad that everything turned out great though.  I also learned that this could actually be a foundation for bigger and better projects.  This could actually be a start to a new beginning for Konia Field.  If I could change anything with our project I would actually ask for a larger time frame.  I feel like a quarter wasnt enough time at all.  The deadlines for a lot of the assignments were really close and I felt like we hardly had time relax and sit in the glory that another task was finished.
If I were to be honest I really didnt think that we were doing science because we had a really hard time explaining the physics portion of our assignment.  Which ironically should have been the easiest part because we are in a physics class.  But all in all I had a great time doing this project.  Through the ups and down of this project the entire time I knew that the group would always be there by my side every step of the way.

Crossing the finish line

I have to admit that I did a lot to my team by asking them to present first, but even with that pressure we did well. Sure, our time limit was well broken, but I can continue to be positive by saying that at least we got every detail in ^ ^. Personally, I'm glad I had a lot of speaking time during the symposium because early in the project I let my group know that public speaking was my strength. My dad even commented to me that he found our presentation entertaining, mostly because he could tell how nervous I was (Thanks Daddy -_-‘) Afterwards, however, when I showed him the actual bench for him to see in person, his opinion about the entire project as a whole changed. He seemed thoroughly impressed by the craftsmanship of it, and was a little saddened by the fact that someone had already done the devils deed of vandalizing the bench.
Unfortunately, I too am at fault for my missing role in the completion of the final paper, because even if Nicole, Taylor, and Max tried to contact me, I could’ve done more to contact them and meet them halfway. I trust that their work is much more then enough to earn full credit on the assignment.
Over the course of the project, stress was high, and as I in stated in the title ‘cross the finish line’, I feel as if all the weight of that stress is melting away. It’s also a very satisfying feeling to know that your project is truly making a difference in the school. Thanks to Max and Nicole, construction was very successful despite it not being done on time, but not everything can be perfect, right?
Speaking of that, there are many things that went wrong. Take for example the mistaken impression of our bench being a table, and the later vandalism that was present. If there is anything about the project I’d improve, it’d be to allow more time for students to work, and finding a way to ease the process of gaining administration approval. The time at which the symposium is could also be changed…for some, it’s difficult to make it to a night performance.
A lot of the things I gained from this project doesn’t involve science. More so, they’re skills for life. You might consider that successful even though since as said by Mr. Blake, that was what he was aiming for. The biggest skill I have practiced and gotten better at with the Ho’o’ulu is Kamehameha project is working with a team. Truthfully, I’d much rather work alone, and sometimes have a hard time being flexible with opposing opinions to my own. Because of the environment this project has placed me in where I was forced to work with a team, I was forced to discipline myself to accept other’s ideas better and be flexible. On a lighter note, I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with during this project, and am smiling at the thought that we really did it….that we helped move just that bit closer to changing our school.

Breathe in the sweet smell of success

Finally, the weight of Ho'oulu ia Kamehameha is off of my shoulders and I can finally look back at everything and pat myself as well as my group members on the shoulder. We did a great thing. We actually contributed something to Kamehameha Schools, even if it is just a bench as Mr. Blake so kindly pointed out, that is used on a daily basis and is rather successful. I'd love to see this turn into a class. I think that encouraging such "out of the box" thinking should be implemented into every class. Part of being successful and innovative in life comes from being creative, which is something Kamehameha does not strive to teach.

I am proud of our final project. The portion that went extremely well was most definitely the construction phase and the presentation. Although we went "grossly" over the allotted time period, I got a lot of encouraging praises that our overall oral presentation was very detailed. The success of our bench came from the precise construction that me and nicole executed quite well. We knew that in order for the bench to not only look good but stand on its own 4 feet, it needed to be exact. With this in mind, we cut no corners and made sure that everything was done correctly, by checking and then double checking. The result was a damn sturdy bench! The polishing was definitely a success as well. Jo did an excellent job painting and installing the plexi-glass. I couldn't have done a better job.

A lot of things didn't go according to plan. Ms. Martin contacted us weeks after we would have wanted. Administration took forever to approve our project. I had to leave our group at a very crucial time in our completion phase. Not only that, but a lot when wrong in the construction process. For example, I had bought square head screws instead of cross-haired screws. The impact could only drill in cross-haired screws. A couple times, nicole and I had misunderstandings and she ended up drilling the wrong holes into the wood. Another huge unexpected event was going over our presentation allotted time by 15 minutes. I learned that a lot of things can go wrong and the best way to brace yourself for mistakes and errors is to be flexible and find ways to use them to your advantage.

To improve the project for next time, I would recommend allowing perhaps a semester to execute the entire project. The time frame seemed rather rushed and was nearly impossible for groups to finish on the given deadlines. I would also recommend starting the oral presentation portion early in the day, or perhaps put it on a Saturday morning to avoid any late nights (if a group happens to go over their time by 20min!). Other than that I really enjoyed the project and cannot think of any other improvements.

I learned a lot from this project, not really pertaining to physics, but to life. I learned the necessary "friend making" skills that are crucial to working successfully in groups in businesses. I learned how to communicate to important people and how to communicate effectively to my peers. I even learned that sometimes being "the nice guy" puts too much weight on your shoulders. If you want work distributed evenly, then you have to lay down the law and make others pull their weight. I also learned how hard it is to construct such a simple piece of furniture, which before this project I took for granted. I'll always remember to treat such objects with more respect, because they are products of someone's hard work and dedication.

To be honest, Ho'oulu ia Kamehameha did not feel like science at all. In fact, it felt more like Speech/Woods/English. When relating our project to physics, I knew that we were partially lying our way to a physics related solution. I knew that friction had little to nothing important to do with the project. Anybody, who has no knowledge of physics would know that sanding something down smooths it out. It doesn't take an understanding of physics to get the job done. It takes an understanding of physics to realize why it gets the job done. I felt that we should have picked a problem that had more physics related solutions, like the ID group and even the 5 minute warning bell group. Even so, I'm extremely happy with what my group and I accomplished.

Sailing Into the Sunset

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This weekend was one full of accomplishment and happiness. On Friday, Kipa had to go to her boyfriend's graduation, which made our group be the first to present. Because of this, we were scrambling to practice and calm our nerves, which wasn't enough. Even though we rehearsed and timed ourselves, we still went over the time limit which overall resulted in a B+ for the final exam. This sense of disappointment is fueling our desire to make our final draft of the final paper a 100/100. I was in charge of getting the binder that will shelter the two copies Nicole and Max will edit and print. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of Kipa, so she didn't contribute in the final touches of our paper. But once we are done with this paper, all we have to do are the final posts and the peer review and we are free sailing into the sunset!

Final Words...

Have you ever had that endless feeling of accomplishment that just makes you want to jump up and down for 5 minutes strait, and, even though you had the same amount of energy in the ending as you did in the beginning, it still wasn’t enough? Well that is exactly how I feel with this project, and let me tell you why…

At first I thought this project was going to be a piece of cake. I thought all you have to do is find a small problem, and do some calculations, and solve it using physics. At the most, I thought I was going to put in about a few hours of work to create a solution. But I was wrong.

After really taking the time to think about what Ho’oulu ia Kamehameha was really meant to do, I realized that we aren’t writing a report or doing a project that we can just forget about after we are through, but, rather, we were making a physical or tangible change to our school that will be seen by administration and the student body. After deciding that we were going to make a bench, I realized that REAL people will sit on the bench – REAL PEOPLE who will judge, vandalize, and sit on the bench.

I thought it was phenomenal what Mr. Blake was doing. He managed to disguise using necessary skills for the future, such as teamwork, time management, communication, problem solving, creativity, and presentation, in a project that also helped to make Kamehameha a better place. He also disguised using physics in our project because most of us didn’t even know how to incorporate physics at the time of thinking of our project.

I really thought that beginning of construction went well because all of the team members were present, and we had a set process of doing work: Max, Nicole, and I went in during our free periods to work together and get the bench done ASAP. However, the road became bumpy after Max left. At that time, we finished constructing the bench and began the polishing process. Unfortunately, all the free periods I had didn’t overlap with Nicole and Kipa’s, so I felt the need to go in on my own and do majority of the work. I felt so pressed for time that I had to ask some of my friends for help. Even if this didn’t go as planned, this project was still a success because the good times weighed out the bad.

The good thing was that we pulled off a pretty good presentation, but even after having a few timed group practices; we still went over the time limit – “grossly” over the time limit. But in our presentation, we got to express how the final product was a success. The bench looked pretty darn nice, if I may say so myself. And after all that hard work, I hoped it would look exactly that. We put a lot of hard work into this project, whether it was depending on each other to do daily blog posts to writing a 10-page report. And even if there were a lot of rough times, for example, when someone didn’t turn in the presentation or did a blog post on time, the project was worth it because it gave us a taste of what the real world is going to be like.

This project is a revelation, and I hope that one day it will be turned into a separate class instead of a physics project. This class could pull in concepts learned from math, English, and science, and at the same time, teach you how to communicate with others. Other than life skills, it could possibly teach you other skills, as I learned how to use a drill, how to paint, how to use an impact, and how to use an electric sander. I think it will be better if the class raises money somehow to serve as an additional fund for the project. But other than that, this gave me a taste of real life, and gave me an upper hand for the future because I have all of this experience to help me.

Today is the BIG DAY

I can tell that everyone in my physics class is nervous for tonight. Tonight is the day of final presentation. The portion of the project that everyone has been dreading for the entire quarter. I thought that we would have more time to prepare for our speech, but honestly, we just finished implementing our project. Our group still has some final details to touch up on and a lot of stuff to plan out and clarify for tonight. We are planning on doing a few complete run-throughs after school today. I am hoping that our professional attire along with our charismatic voices and beautiful powerpoint, we will finish our project off to the best of our abilities. I am hoping that as the first group, we will set the bar high and be able to enjoy everyone else's presentations after ours is completed. I MUA!

Nerves?

With the final days of school approaching the pressure to complete all of the work and study for finals are upon us.  Our final speech is tomorrow and I personally have a bundle of nerves in my stomach.  Our game plan for tomorrow is to go over our speaking parts during our original physics period and sometime between the time school ends and before our performance we are going to do a final run through. We are going to look very professional by wearing an all black attire.  I feel like we all just want this project to end because we spent countless hours working on this project and we are sufficiently proud of the outcome.  I am glad that my group has came through during crucial times wether its pulling together a detailed design on time or spending extra time in the wood shop to finish our bench on time.  In the end I can honestly it was all worth it :)