Hey Everyone! Today is sadly our last full day in New York. Tomorrow we leave on a plane back to Kauai! I'm actually kind of glad that we're going back even though I had lots of fun because I'm a bit homesick. In the morning, we ate breakfast and left our hotel at 9. It warmer than yesterday but still a little cold. We saw snow on the windshields of cars! We took the subway all the way to 81st street, that leads directly into the American Museum of Natural History. The museum had four levels and a lot of information. The first level we visited was about the Earth. We went to an exhibit about the Big Bang explosion and the creation of the Earth. There were a lot of different types of rocks and smooth granite. There was even a station where we could touch some of the rocks! We noticed some fossils in them that resembled a fish and some shells. We saw a video there about the volcanoes on our home state, Hawaii. I recently visited the Big Island so it was pretty interesting to see. Then, we went to a different exhibit about the different types of species and animals. Along the walls were a bunch of models of a lot of organisms! Some of the insects plastered up there freaked me out a bit (especially the butterflies). After that, we went to this area where you could watch educational videos. I sat down with Kolten and watched a video about Potato Biodiversity. I thought it was actually really intriguing. After the video we left to go to the ocean exhibit. We saw models of polar bears, a big whale, and a giant squid! That was a really big squid. We went through different culture art exhibits next. First we went through the Asian exhibit. There were lots of Japanese-cultured pieces. I thought the block printing art was interesting. We went to the exhibit about Central America next. They had lots of mini sculptures and ceramic models. It was cool to see the different unique things each place and culture has to share. We went to watch a movie about the national parks next. It was iMAX and in 3D too! I really enjoyed the movie. It had some great aerial shots and the places are so pretty! We visited the dinosaur section and got to see al of the bones and models. We visited the gift shop then went back onto the subway. We then went shopping in Times Square. I went to the Hershey's store, M&M store, Forever 21, and a NY souvenir shop and bought a few things. After some shopping, we went to dinner. I went to Chipotle and got a chicken burrito. I'll miss Chipotle when we go back. We took the subway back to our hotel and said our goodbyes to Uncle Sadai and Uncle Ryan. Sending out big thank you'd to them for helping us get around safely! Also thank you to our awesome chaperones for taking care of us! And a HUGE thank you to Mr. M because this trip wouldn't be possible without him and his hard work! I had a great time on this trip but am also really looking forward to going home and see my family. Also, thanks to my parents for helping me get to GA and NY! Well I have to go pack everything now. Thanks for keeping up with my blogs. Sorry if they weren't very good. See you later!

Hey Everyone! Today is the twelve day of our 2016 STN trip. With two more days left of our trip, today was surely a fun one! Mr. M let us sleep in today! We were all pretty excited and happy about that. We left the hotel at around 11:40 and departed for the subway station. We took the subway all the way to the west side of Manhattan. Then we walked to Chelsea Piers. Chelsea Piers is a sports complex that had laser tag, bowling, rock climbing and other indoor activities. We played laser tag. I was on the blue team. At first, my laser tag gun didn't work and then again in the end. Regardless, it was fun. Then we got some lunch. I got a chicken caesar pleaser. Then we just watched the boys bowl. We then took the subway back to Central Park where we ice skated again! Many people didn't get to skate the first time since they were sick so it was fun with everyone else. I'd say that I improved, too. I only fell four times! That is in comparison to the 20 times initially. I had a blast. It was more slippery though and harder to skate. Regardless, it was fun. Also, IT STARTED TO SNOW! It was really light at the time, but it was also really cool. It was my first time being and seeing snow. The snow was gentle and created little water droplets when they'd land on you. We took the subway to 34th street heralds square or Times Square. I'm not exactly sure which one. I ate at this soup and sandwich place. I had clam chowder which was nice and hot since it was really cold. Today the low was 32 and the high 41. I had on seven layers but still was freezing! We went to this desert place after that. When we walked out, it snowed harder than at the ice rink but Uncle Ryan (Mr. M's brother) said it was still pretty light. This time, it was much colder. Although there were no visible snow on the ground, it landed on our jackets, in our hair, and even got in my eye! It was cold but a really unique experience. If you looked closely it was actually in flake form. We took the subway back to East Broadway and debriefed in the hotel. Overall, today was a really fun day. I enjoyed ice skating and getting to see snow for my very first time!

Hey Everyone! Note: This blog is posted a little later so this one may be out of order. All the other blog days are up to date. Today is the ninth day of our 2016 STN trip. We met at the lobby for breakfast. After breakfast, we left the hotel for the subway. We took the subway to 34th street for the Empire State Building tour. On the tour, we got to go up to the 86th floor, the highest floor in the building. It was cold out there but the view was great. We got to see the whole city! New York is full of buildings, skyscrapers, streets, and cars. The view was surreal. It was a little foggy too, but it was still really cool. The air was really refreshing. We all took lots of photos until it was time to head back down. We stopped at the 80th floor for the gift shop and then made our way back down to the lobby. Then we got some lunch. I got a burger from SmashBurgers. After lunch, we walked past MSG to a Broadway studio. Here we participated in a dance workshop for one of the dances in the play Matilda. The lady taught us how to sing the lyrics. It went like this: "We are revolting children living in revolting times. We sing revolting songs using revolting rhymes. We'll be revolting children, until our time is done. It is 2-L-8-4-U WE ARE REVOLTING!" or something like that. Then, we were taught the dance moves. I'm really uncoordinated and I have a terrible memory, so I was basically just trying to follow along and copy. It was surprisingly pretty fun even though I sucked at singing and dancing! After the workshop, we had some time so we took photos in Times Square. There were a lot of surrounding advertisements and a lot of flashing lights. It was really crowded, too. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood. I sat with Nicole, Kolten, and Napua. I ate Mac and cheese with a Sprite/water. Then, we made our way to the play. We watched Matilda which you may have read or watched the movie. The play was pretty good! Even though I watched the movie a couple of years ago, I still really enjoyed it. Also, the little kid actors definitely did a much better job than I did at that last dance we learned! They're pretty great! Today was a fun day and I loved the view and the play. I'm sorry I posted this blog a couple days late. Bye!

Hey Everyone! Today is the eleventh day of our 2016 STN trip. Today was really cold. In the morning it was 37 degrees I think, and stayed in the 40s throughout the day. After breakfast, we left our hotel at 7:30am. We had to take a lot of subway trains to get to our destination. We took the F train to Broadway Lafayette, then transferred to the 6 train to City hall. Then we transferred the 5 train and arrived at Bowling Green. Here, we walked to Battery Park where we would take the Ferry for the Statue of Liberty tour. The ferry had three levels. On the way there, I went on the uppermost level where it was open and there were no overheads or roofs. It was cold especially because of the wind. Though, the air did seem quite refreshing as it differed from Atlanta's smoky air. From the top deck, we could see the New York skyline as the ferry slowly made its way to Liberty Island. It was quite a sight. As the skyline slowly decreased in size, we could see Lady Liberty in our view. Lady Liberty is pretty tall and large. I learned that the Statue was actually a gift to the US from the people of France. I also learned that the statue is not naturally green, it's originally dull brown since it's made of copper. However, over the years, the Statue turned green because of oxidation. We stopped at Liberty island and took photos of the skyline and the Statue. We visited the gift shop then we hopped back on the ferry. The ferry took us to Ellis Island. We went to the national museum of immigration there. When you first walk in, you are greeted by the Registry room. This is where many people would wait to be put into the inspection process to see whether or not they'd be granted permission into the United States. The inspection process is very tedious and long. First, the immigrants would arrive to New York and enter Ellis Island. Then, they'd be medically inspected. To further this, they'd either be screened into more medical examination or hospitalization. After medical inspection, they'd be legally inspected. They'd be asked questions and may be sent to a hearing for the or appeal to the board of special inquiry. Finally, they'd either be granted or denied permission into the US. I actually played this interactive program to see if I'd be granted permission and I was actually rejected! It was because I was of Asian ancestry and several other reasons. The museum was really interesting to see how many ancestors of Americans got here. We then got lunch. We walked a couple of blocks and I got some food from the pizza place. However, I did not eat pizza. I got this bacon sandwich. It tasted pretty good. Then, we walked to the World Trade Center memorial reflecting pool. That memorial honors those in the planes, towers and the first responders of the 9/11 attack. On the plaque were the names of all those people. It was a really sad sight. We the went to the National September 11 Memorial Museum. I loved the museum. It's important to learn about 9/11 because it's apart of our nation's history. The exhibit was so sad and very heavy. It was about the actual 9/11 attack, before, and after. It was so heartbreaking to see all of the videos and read the quotes of victims and witnesses. Everything was just really sad. Everything in the exhibit was artifacts and things related to September 11, 2001. The saddest part for me were the little dark rooms where they'd play audio recordings of actual people that were there. They seemed so frightened and bewildered. I remember reading a firefighter's quote on the wall that said that they told people in the towers that help is coming soon even when they knew that they weren't. There was another section where it actually showed the falling debris, and people falling from the tower. It was just so sad. All of those innocent lives lost. It was so honorable and brave of all those firefighters, policemen, and citizens helping each other in that crisis. I was really inspired by the museum. When people talk about 9/11, I didn't really know the whole severity of it. Of course, I knew that it was a terrible terrorist attack but I didn't actually know the whole thing. It happened before I was born, and not a lot of people bring it up in discussion. Going to that museum really opened up my eyes, to see the reality and horror of it all. Despite the terribleness, it made me proud of all those brave men and women. I remember reading a quote on the wall. This worker got a call from an eighty year old man who said, "My pilot uniform still fits. Let me help out those in need". I found that so touching. I was really intrigued by that museum and I'd definitely go there again if given the chance. After the museum, we ate dinner. We went to the Shake Shack. I got a shake shack burger. Then we took the subway back home to East Broadway. Overall, I loved the museum and learned a lot today. Well, that's it for today! Bye!

Hey Everyone! Today is the tenth day of our 2016 STN Trip. I had lots of fun today. After breakfast, we started off the day by going to the Museum of Moving Image. We had to take the subway to get to Queens. Queens looked much different than Chinatown or Times Square. It was definitely more relaxed and there weren't as many sky scrapers. It was quite cold too, I believe like 46 degrees out. The Museum of Moving Image, or MOMI was really interesting. It was a media museum all about the history of film, television, and digital media. Our tour guide was named Tyrone. When we first walked in, there were film portraits of famous actresses and actors. Next to that, was make-up and models. It was really cool how they could literally use make up and create masks to make the actor seem different, fit the setting, or fit their character. We even saw Chewbacca's mold there too! Next to that was an exhibit about production design. Tyrone walked us through all the steps into making a set come to life. First, you needed a sketch. You then transform that sketch into a model, then a 3D model, animate it, and see what your characters in it look like. After production design, we learned about costumes. We talked about how their costume was used to make the audience think something of a character. For example, I saw a costume of dirty converse, jeans, and a sweatshirt. This told me that this was a casual outfit, maybe the person is lazy or plays a role in a comedy. After that, we went to Licensing and Merchandise, or permission and toys. We got to see old magazines, and old miniature figures and toys. There were a lot of Star Wars figurines and I saw some Pinocchio, too. Then we went to music composition. Music plays a big role in a lot of films and television. We got to see some vinyl covers of music used in soundtracks! I spotted some Bee Gees! Following that, was some old video games. There were actual arcade games! I didn't know most of them, but after watching Pixels on the plane, Some names sounded familiar. There were games like Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxian, Pong, Atari, and many more! Then we went weed in this art installation of ancient Egypt. There were some pretty neat paintings on the walls all related to film in some way. Though, we did spot an out of place Mickey Mouse! We got out of the ancient Egypt installation and took a break on a TV lounge art installation and watched some old Spider-Man cartoons. Next we learned about image breaks and optical illusions. This was probably my favorite part in the whole museum. Image breaks are the one part that is blank between two images. That blank spot allows the two images to kind of merge together when it's going at high speeds. There was examples of image breaks in optical illusions. We saw a rabbit in a cage, a man running in a lamp, and my favorite, a water droplet turning into a paper airplane. That last one was called Feral Fount. They used strobe lights and kinetic sculptures to animate 3D models. When the lights were turned off, the sculptures started spinning fast in circles. It produced this model. A water droplet would drop out of the faucet, transform into a bomb, then transform into a paper airplane that lands in the trash bin. Each sculpture changed a bit so that it allowed you to see the whole motion. When it spun, you'd see all of the changes added together to create motion. The image break in this case was the darkness between the flashes. This image break created a 'moving image'. Similarly, we tried out this concept through a video flip book. It reminded me of stop animation. We had 5 seconds to do whatever we wanted, and it's break up the video into frames. I went up with Herenui and Nicole but it was really only Herenui that changed during the 5 seconds. I kind of just stood there awkwardly. After that we looked at old cameras for film and television. Then ones for film looked like the classic cliche clip art of a camera. It literally had two circles on the top connected to a box. When you opened up the door of the camera, you could see the different film strips and where the RGB came together to create color. The process of it all was interesting. The film cameras differed from the television cameras. The television cameras were bulkier and more box-like. Then, we went into this room that was soundproof. It had speakers on all sides of the walls. It was used for ADR, or Automated Dialogue Replacement. It's basically a technique used to replace your clips original audio with audio that you re-record now. I've actually tried this, and although it takes a few practices, it works! It's helpful when you have bad audio to begin with, but when re-recording, you have to make sure you match up with the lips of the original clip. Then we saw some old television sets. Some were really tiny, almost portable! Most were big and bulky but I saw some that were round shaped! We ended our visit to the MOMI by having a workshop. It was about political ads. We learned that there are two kinds of political ads: one that is positive about making the candidate appear better, and one that is negative that tries to bring all the other competing candidates down. Our job was to use an online editor and provided clips and create a political ad. I worked with Nicole and we decided to do a positive ad endorsing Obama. We had maybe 10 minutes or so. We had to make it under 30 seconds, too. Our plan was to find good sound bytes from the clips, add b-roll and add music. However, we weren't familiar with the editor and so we ended up accidentally refreshing the page twice and restarting. Although our video didn't turn out the best in the end, I learned the power of political advertisements. We left the museum and it was really cold out. So, we went to Starbucks. Although cold, I ended up trying a double chocolate frap with white mocha, thanks to Dalson's recommendation. We took the subway to Uptown and walked to where Central Park was and got lunch. Of the shops in the vicinity, I chose to try Chipotle. I've never tried it and I heard great things about it so I went with Erik and Nicole. I got a chicken bowl. We took our food to go since we were going to eat in the park. I ate on the rocks that overlook the playground. There were a lot of squirrels. They were pretty adorable too. Chipotle was pretty good. After I finished up eating I headed to the playground. I went on the swings and ended up totally failing and falling off. Central park was huge! They had a lot of activities there. However all the leaves on the trees were gone. Then we continued to explore the park and stumbled upon an ice skating rink! This was definitely one of the most fun experiences on the trip so far. We paid to get in and rented skates. I only went ice skating once on Oahu years ago so I pretty much didn't know how to skate. Thankfully, Herenui taught me how. When I first stepped onto the ice, it was really slippery. I probably was the first one who fell (no surprise there!). Herenui and my other friends and classmates helped each other out when on the rink. Practically all of us didn't know how to ice skate so we all fell down. It was really funny and painful at the same time. We joked that if you wanted to spot us out in the rink, just look at the ground. All the other people in the rink were so good compared to us and even the little kids were doing great! After probably 100 falls, I finally got the hang of it. I had a great time despite the blisters and bruises I had created. We left the park and then took the subway to Brooklyn. We saw Barclas Center. We then ate dinner. I ate pizza from Not Rays Pizza. Yep, Pizza from New York! While waiting for the other group to finish dinner we went to this bookstore and I bought two books. Then we took the subway home and walked to our hotel. I had so much fun today despite all the painful falls. I loved ice skating! That's it for today, I still have yet to post Day 9. Bye!

Hey Everyone! Today is the eighth day of the 2016 STN trip. Today is the day we left for New York. We woke up early in the morning for breakfast. We walked across the hotel to this cute little pastry shop called "Corner Bakery". I got a ham and cheese panini. It was pretty good. Then we met in the lobby at 8 with our bags and luggages. However, the super shuttle that was supposed to bring us to the airport didn't come until 10! Once the shuttle finally arrived, we left for the airport. We checked in our luggages and went to TSA. I luckily got TSA pre-check so I waited in a shorter line and didn't have to take off my shoes. We waited at the gate T13 for our plane since our flight got delayed until 12:43. We went to another bagel shop and got water and a fruit cup. After some time of waiting, our plane arrived and we boarded the plane. I ended up sleeping through the whole flight despite some turbulence. We got off and we were in Newark, New Jersey. We took another super shuttle to actually get to New York. On the shuttle ride to our hotel, we saw the NY skyline and the Statue of Liberty. There were a lot of buildings and skyscrapers. We finally reached Chinatown where our hotel was located. We are staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, a branch of the Marriott. There we met Mr. M's friend. We got settled into our rooms and then headed to the laundromat. We dropped off our clothes and then walked back to the hotel. As we were walking back, it started raining on us! I was already quite cold, too because I only had my sweatshirt on. We got back to the hotel and I went to get warmer clothes. I had a thicker jacket with a turtle neck and I put on my CKTV windbreaker over that. I also got some gloves. Then, we walked to dinner. We went to a place called "Famous Sichuan". It was family style Chinese platters. They had asparagus, squid, duck, noodles, rice, and a dumpling. After dinner we walked back to the hotel. We stopped by this building and took some photos. I can't wait to go to the Empire State Building and see the Broadway play tomorrow!

Hey Everyone! Today is the seventh day of our STN Trip. Today was a very eventful day. We went to CNN, World of Coca-Cola, and then finally the aquarium. Some of our classmates are still under the weather so I was sad that I didn't get to spend the day with them. First we got breakfast on our own. I went with my room to the M store and got a yogurt parfait. We all met in the lobby and walked to the World of Coca-Cola. That place was huge and really interesting. When we first walked in, they gave us a complimentary bottle of Coca-Cola! Inside, we met a worker named Amelio who was kept us entertained. He explained a brief history of Coca-Cola. Then we walked into this tunnel where it was a timeline of the history of the soda. We even played a game where you'd wave your hands to do things in the graphics. After the game we walked into this room that was the vault of the secret recipe. It produced the illusion that we were in a coke bottle itself and it was filling up to the top. It was really cool. Then, the walls shifted and a big vault appeared. We weren't allowed to walk past this red line though. We exited the vault and took photos with the Coca-Cola's Polar Bear. I took one with Kaycee. The polar bear had red eyes. Then, we went into this exhibit called Bottle Works. It showed us the process of how they made the glass bottles and how it was packaged. After the exhibit, we went into the Pop Culture exhibit. Get it, 'Pop' culture. It was full of Pop Art. This was probably my favorite part of the whole place. There was even a couch from American Idol in the room! I liked the cool sculptures and art on the walls and how they creatively included Coca-Cola in it. We watched a 4D Show next. Being 4D, the chairs moved and it sprayed water on your face! The show was all about finding the secret recipe to Coca-Cola. After the 4D show, we went to this area where you could taste different flavors of Coke from around the world. They tricked me into trying this one soda called 'Beverly' from Italy. It tasted like the worst medicine, literally. I tried other flavors from Germany, Mexico, and other countries. They all had their unique flavors, but I think I prefer the classic regular Coke the best. They gave us another complimentary Coke but this one in a glass container. We then proceeded to the gift shop where I got some souvenirs. We then quickly walked to CNN for our tour. Apparently, the escalator there is the longest one in the world! It's even in the Guinness World Records. After the long escalator ride, we had our tour from our guide named Aleese. She showed us this area where you can see the controls from the control room. It was basically like a more complicated version of our morning announcements. They had jobs similar to ours at school, a technical director and a director. The individual cameras were called routers. They had preset and aired cams, which is like our preview and on settings. They don't edit anything because it'd take too long-that 7 second thing is a myth! We visited other places at CNN where we could see the people work. We saw an anchor, and their breaking and featured news section. They were all busy and hard at work. They even brought us to a replica of a news anchor area. They had a TelePrompTer, which reflects the Anchor's script onto the screen of the camera so that they can make eye contact with the audience at home. They had a really cool magic screen. With the flick of some switches and the press of buttons, the wall retracted up and could change into different things. There was a TV that was a bit like a big iPad and a green screen, too. Kallen volunteered to be our weather man and even wore an invisible cloak like how they do it in Hollywood Movies. The tour ended and we got lunch. I, of course, got Taco Bell. We then had a choice between the Georgia Aquarium and the College Football Hall of Fame. We all decided on the aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium was the #1 in the US and #2 in the World. It was pretty big. When we walked in, there were exhibits on all sides. We went to the first exhibit called "Ocean Voyage". It was about sharks. There was a huge tank about the size of a football field (according to the worker). I even got to touch baby sharks and a baby stingray. They were slimy and hard. After that we went to other exhibits that were of different types of fishes. One of the exhibits had penguins! There was a tunnel that you crawled through to get to a little pipe section where you'd be ground level with the Penguins. This was my first time seeing one in real life! We then went to this dolphin show. There were a lot of dolphins and trainers and they all performed neat tricks. After another exhibit, we went to the gift shop and then headed back for the hotel. We went to subway for dinner and then spent the rest of the day packing up our things. Tomorrow we leave for NJ/NY! Let's hope for good health and a safe travel there! Today was a fun day and I hope that New York will be too!

Hey Everyone! Today is the sixth day of our 2016 STN Trip. Today we got to sleep in until noon because some of our classmates unfortunately got sick. I'm sending good thoughts their way so hopefully they'll get better soon! We met downstairs in the lobby and walked across the skyline to the Peach Tree food court. Technically this was lunch. We all went our separate ways to eat. I went with Herenui and got a ham and cheese sandwich from TJ Sandwiches. It was actually really good. After breakfast/lunch, we got in our vans and headed to Georgia University. We didn't really have time for our self guided tour so we just headed straight for the bookstore. The bookstore was merged with Barnes and Nobles. We had about 15 minutes to shop. I got a crewneck sweatshirt that said 'Georgia Tech', and some other small things. I thought Georgia tech had a nice campus and we saw cherry blossom trees and a squirrel. After the bookstore we had to return the vans. We walked back to the hotel and relaxed because the college football hall of game had already closed. For dinner we went to Metro Cafe. We sat in these booth table area up on top and we could hear people singing that were below at the karaoke bar. I sat on a table with Herenui, Kai, and Aron. We played a game where we couldn't look at our phones during dinner and whoever lost would have to do this dare. I actually won but we didn't make anyone do the dare. It was a good way to have people socialize instead of everyone on their phones during dinner. I had shrimp Alfredo. It was really good. After dinner we went back to our hotels and had our debrief. Tomorrow we may be going to the aquarium, World of Coca Cola, CNN and possibly the College Football hall of fame. I'm not sure yet. Until then, that is it for today's blog! I'm having so much fun on this STN Trip! Bye!

Hey Everyone! Today is the fifth day of our STN trip to Atlanta and NY, and it sure has been an exciting one! Today was the last and final day of the Student Television Network Convention! All of our hard work practicing and fundraising was all worth it. Being the last day of the convention, it was the closing awards and ceremony where they'd announce the winners of each category. As I stated in my previous blog, all teams made the deadline, so we all have a chance at placing! Also, today daylight savings time occurred so our time is one more hour off. I could hardly sleep yesterday because I was so anxious and nervous for the closing ceremony. I kept wondering if our recap was good enough to place in the top 5. However, we all need to remember what Mr. M said. Winning is just icing on the cake, it's nice, but that's not why we are here at STN. We are here to learn, to make memories, and to experience the competitiveness of it all. When I woke up, I was literally pacing out of worry. We ate breakfast and rushed downstairs to wait for the ballroom to open up for the ceremony. Since Mr. M is on the board, we got to enter the ballroom earlier. Every year, we always sit next to all the Hawaii schools during the closing ceremony and we all wear the same shirt. This is definitely my favorite part of the whole convention. I am so ​proud to be from Hawaii and representing our state. Even though we may be competing against each other, there is true Aloha spirit shown. Whenever a Hawaii school would win, we'd all go crazy and end up chanting "HAWAII!" over and over. We'd do the same for our pen pals and friends over at Castaic. I was apart of the Crazy 8's News Magazine and Convention Recap team. The convention recap video actually opens the ceremony, which is one of the main reasons why I got so nervous. We'd be the first one's to know our results. Kaycee and I sat next to each other as we waited in suspense. They started to announce Middle School Convention Recap winners first. Valley got 2nd honorable mention, then Placerita first honorable mention. Maui Waena got third and all the Hawaii schools went crazy. For second place, they called Chiefess Kamakahelei! The Hawaii schools cheered even louder! Our friend, Ayden, from Castaic got first in recap! I thought this was awesome! He was the only one on the team and he placed first! I was ecstatic. Kaycee and I went onto the stage to collect our award. I was so happy that the top three for recap was from a Hawaii school and Castaic. Convention Recap is new to Middle School this year so I wasn't sure how well we'd do, but I'm pretty proud of Kaycee and I. Next they announced Spot Feature. Castaic got first honorable, Maui Waena third, and Chiefess for Second! Congratulations to Kaden, Kolten, and Mia M!! Also, great job to Kallen for being a STN presenter! You did awesome! They called Movie Trailer next. Congrats to Dalson, Kirra, and Erik for receiving second honorable mention for MS movie trailer! NAT package was after that. Maui Waena got 1st honorable, Chiefess got second place, and Waianae Intermediate got first! Congrats Brent, Carter, and Aron! They then announced MS PSA. 1st honorable went to Ewa Makai, third went to Maui Waena, and first went to Chiefess! Congrats to Nicole, Javlynn, and Destrey! Anchoring team was announced after that and Chiefess got first place!! Congrats to Kallen, Napua, and Taylor for an awesome job! For the music video competition, Castaic got second honorable, Chiefess got first honorable, Maui Waena second, and Waipahu Intermediate first. Congrats to Herenui, Shaelyn, Mia T, and Kai! The last two competitions that our class entered was for Crazy 8's news magazine and film. Unfortunately, our news magazine didn't place, but our film team took home first with Maui Waena second and Waipahu third! Congratulations to everyone! Overall, every person in our class placed somewhere in the top 5 of our nation. I was proud to be a school from Hawaii and I think we represented our state well. Great job to everyone! After the ceremony, we said our goodbyes to Castaic and headed to Six Flags. I only rode three rides because time flew by so quickly and there were lines. The first ride was a rollercoaster called "Cyclone". It was made out of wood which was pretty cool. I sat next to Shaelyn, and that was her first rollercoaster! It was pretty funny seeing her reaction. Then we went on the Goliath. It was a 200 feet rollercoaster. I sat next to Nikki, Nicole, and Javlynn. By the way, Nikki is someone from PBS who's been filming our class to create a documentary on the STN convention. She's really nice and pretty awesome. Today was her last day sadly and tomorrow she is on a plane back to Oahu. Anyways, I really enjoyed the Goliath and all the drops. The last ride was a water ride. It was somewhat similar to Splash Mountain but had more steeper drops. We all got wet. Thankfully we had our windbreakers on! We had a snack at Johnny Rockets and I got one of their Rocket Single Meals which is basically a burger with onion rings and french fries. Before we knew it, it was already 7pm and the park was closing! I had a great time at Six Flags Over Georgia and made some memories that I won't forget! We then ate some 'dinner' at iHop. Technically, it was breakfast because I ordered a breakfast crepe. Well that's it for todays blog! See you tomorrow!

Hey Everyone! Today is the fourth day of our STN trip. We got breakfast and then continued to work on our recap video. Today was our last day to work on it because at 2pm, our video was due. We decided that we definitely shot enough footage, and we needed to work more on editing. We spent last night up until 2:30 in the morning editing the video. Our goal was to have our first draft done yesterday night but we only got about halfway through. Kaycee and I set a goal for ourselves to get our first draft done asap, then second at 10:30am, then our almost final at 12. We then wanted to edit right next to the baskets at 1 until the deadline. So after breakfast, we spent a lot of our time in our room dedicated to editing. We worked in shifts. We first dragged down our shots into the main timeline. We decided that we should change our last voiceover so we spent some time on that. We didn't really like our original ending VO, so I think this was a good choice. Once we recorded and imputed the VO, we adjusted the audio levels. We needed to make sure that the music wasn't overpowering the VO and that they were all hitting between -6 and 0 dB. We straightened and color corrected our shots, and then filmed our ending sequence. We were on track with time and were pretty confident about making the deadline. We left the room and edited near the baskets. We wanted to be close to the entry baskets so that we could submit it faster. We didn't take the chance of being late or missing the deadline. We finished editing near 1:40 and spent the rest of the time re-watching the video to watch for mistakes or things that we can revise. We made sure that the video worked on the flash drive and that we named it correctly. We turned it into the basket with some time to spare. Then we went to eat lunch and then rest in our room. We met at 5pm downstairs for the NBA basketball game. The game was between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Atlanta Hawks. I understood the rules and how basketball worked so I actually really enjoyed the game. I sat in the middle seats with Nicole on my left and Brent and Dalson on my right. The Hawks won 83-95. We left the arena and walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow is the last day of STN and the closing ceremony and awards! I'm really anxious and nervous. The winners of convention recap will be announced first so we will know right away. Although a good mindset to keep is that the whole point of STN isn't to win. We all did our best and everyone made the deadline! It's the experience, the new things we learn, and the memories we create that matters. Congrats to all the teams for making the deadline! Now we just have to wait until tomorrow morning for the results.