Hey Everyone! Today was our Crazy 8's competition. Our room got up at around 6 and we all met in Uncle Don's room at 7 for breakfast. Thank you Uncle Don and Aunty Jodi for the delicious food! I ate some eggs and strawberries. After that, the whole class met in on the atrium (I think?) floor to get our Crazy 8's assignment. This year is different than the others. Originally, two people would have to attend a contest briefing that has an overview of the contest, a Q&A session, and then finally you'd get your topic. But this year, we just picked up the prompt from a basket. There are two teams for Crazy 8's: news magazine and film. The competition started at 8 and no entries were excepted after 4. I am on the news magazine team, formally known as broadcast. Our prompt was "Science and Technology". I was pretty surprised. I expected the prompt to be something Atlanta or Georgia based. My group members, Mia Thompson and Destrey, immediately started brainstorming of ideas. Most of our initial ideas didn't work out. We thought the Georgia aquarium could connect to science some how but it didn't open until 10. The same went for World of Coca-Cola. We looked into places near the Marriott Marquis like the 'Escape the Room' places but those didn't open until later either and it didn't really fit our topic. We called this CDC center which was a center/museum that educates the public on stopping the spread of diseases but they said that no interviews would be allowed. We saw this one business, an Atlanta Tour company online. But when we called, the numbers we got didn't work. A lot of our ideas were dead ends. It was already late 9 and no one had any ideas or stories so we decided to walk to Cennentenial Park. When we reached the park, there were a lot of people filming, whom were most likely apart of the Crazy 8's competition, too. 6 minutes away was the ATL-Cruizer Electric Car and Segway tours business that we saw online. We decided this was a lead we should try out. We walked with Uncle Cory (Thanks Uncle Cory!) to the business and saw the hours it was open. We were an hour before it actually opened! But we still knocked, and thankfully, they opened up for us! We told them what we were here for and asked them if we could do our story on them. They agreed! We talked to one of the workers named Mira Dunn. She was really nice and funny. We asked her questions about how their tour business is affected or connected by technology. Our story ended up being about how the business, the electric car and Segway guided tours, are done totally digitally and electronically. They chose to do this to be more careful with the environment because of the rising ozone levels and the landfills. We got a lot of b-roll sequences. We got back to the hotel after an hour or so of filming. I started editing while Destrey and Mia wrote the 5 points outline and voice overs. All four story groups had to finish their stories completely by 2 for the final editors. We finished our story and turned it in at 2! By the way, that was a total improvement from our practice which we turned in 70 minutes late. I'm pretty proud that we got it in on time! Though our small story group finished, I wasn't. I shifted into Convention Recap mode and started shooting. At first it felt a bit awkward and creepy like because I was filming other people. I took a break for lunch and shared a sandwich with Nicole. When I got back, there was about an hour left until the deadline for Crazy 8's. Some schools started to submit their entries into the baskets so I thought it'd be a great time to start shooting with the Osmo. But I had A LOT of complications with the Osmo. First the card wouldn't read, then the batteries started dying but the main problem was that it wouldn't connect to the app! The Osmo would connect with the wifi, but when I opened the app, you couldn't see the viewfinder. It was like you were shooting blindly. 5 minutes until the deadline and everything got 100x more hectic in the ballroom. Everything got more intense, and people were yelling under the pressure. For me, I wasn't that stressed because I turned in our story and I had faith in the final editors. I was more pressured that the Osmos weren't cooperating and this was my opportunity to get some good potential shots! It started working and I got a couple of shots near the end of the contest. Everyone started clapping for those who finished even if they were our competition at the end of the day. Overall, each team, film and news magazine made the deadline! Congrats to each team!! After Crazy 8's, we met with our pen pals for our gift exchange. I got to hang out with my pen pal, Ileana. She's really nice. We went to dinner with our pen pals at PittyPattys Porch. I had some fried chicken. The Castaic pen pals are really friendly. We then went to the opening STN Ceremony. Kaycee and I filmed for recap. Shaelyn was there also. We heard some really inspiring and humorous stories and speeches that got me excited for STN. Then we debriefed and went back to our rooms. Tomorrow, Kaycee and I will continue filming for our recap video and other teams will be competing! Good luck to them!

Hey Everyone! The day we have all been waiting for has finally came. All of the fundraisers and practices all in preparation for the Student Television Network trip! On March 8th, the CKTV Media class met at the Lihue Airport at 7pm. After that, we had a long night and day ahead of us. We took a plane from Lihue to Los Angeles which took around 5 or 6 hours. I mostly took naps and started to finish up some math homework. Though, there was a lot of turbulence which made graphing linear functions quite difficult. I sat in the middle seat with Kaycee on my left and Taylor on my right. I'm glad to have some of my best friends sitting next to me! We landed in the LA airport at around 4:30am. We then separated into our chaperone groups to get some breakfast. I went with Mrs. Gusman's group to a place named 'Wolfgang Puck' and got a yogurt parfait. After breakfast, about an hour later, we boarded our next plane from LA to Houston. Our plane ended up being delayed by two or three hours. This was due to lighting and bad weather in Houston which was totally out of the airline's control. They had to refuel the plane and decide on the most efficient route to travel through. The good thing was that the seats had charger ports and free streaming movies! I sat in the isle seat with Javlynn at the window and Kaycee in the middle. Like the last flight, I took a lot of naps and watched two movies. I watched the documentary, 'He Called Me Malala' and the film 'Pixel' on the screens on the back of the seats. They were both really interesting. I also played some card games with Dalson, Carter, Herenui, Kirra, and Kaycee. We landed in Houston finally around 3:40pm. The times may seem very confusing because of all the time zones and differences. The flight from Houston to Atlanta only took 2 hours. I slept the whole time. When we finally arrived at Atlanta, it was near 8 at night and we collected our luggages at baggage claim. We then separated into chaperone groups and got into shuttles to the hotel. We are staying at the Marriott Marquis. I'm worried about Crazy 8's tomorrow because I didn't see many shops or places near the hotel. The interior of the Marriott is pretty interesting. Once you step inside, you can see all 42 floors if you just look up. Really unique architecture. It's almost like a honey bee comb or railroad tracks. The elevators were see through and you could literally see yourself ascending and descending floors. The downside to that is that the elevators are small and it takes a while for one to come. Because of the flight delay, we had some complications with our rooms. I am in the room with four girls and no chaperone-Kaycee, Javlynn, and Shaelyn. Our room was supposed to be connected with a chaperone's room but we ended up having to switch rooms. We ended the day with some dinner. We had Papa John pizza delivered to a seating area in the hotel. Now we just are awaiting a debrief of the day. Overall, the day had some unexpected surprises but we managed to get to Atlanta safely. Tomorrow is Crazy 8's which I'm pretty nervous about. Wish us luck!

      Hey Everyone. In eighth grade english, we are learning about The Holocaust and one of the books we are reading is "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". Today, I will be sharing with you the really sad film adaptation. This movie was made in 2008, but it was set during World War 2, during the time of The Holocaust. It follows the life of young German boy, Bruno, who is oblivious to this sad and awful time during Germany's history. The Holocaust was the mass genocide of Jewish People and others, as a "The Final Solution" by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist, or Nazi Party. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat in WW1 and managed to convince and force a whole country into believing the same thing. The Nazis forced the Jewish and other people into concentration camps where they'd be killed or placed in forced labors. In the film, Bruno moves from his house in Berlin to one next to a concentration camp, where his father had just became the commander of. Like his father, Bruno's sister truly believes in their Fuhrer, Hitler. But after Bruno's mother finds out that they are killing the prisoners, she does not. Bruno is unaware of The Holocaust or what is happening next to his house. One day, he explores around his house and meets Shmuel, a young jewish prisoner. The two of them create an unbreakable forbidden friendship. This film had a great storyline and exciting plot. I think the whole oblivious mind Bruno had and his innocence to the situation around him really brought the story to life. It was overall really interesting, and a very strong and powerful ending. It's a really sad film and I thought they tackled the difficult topic of The Holocaust carefully. I highly recommend you watch it until the end! Here is the trailer below. It's also on Netflix, too. Well, that is it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye! 

     Stress. We're all bound to be stressed at times. This week, in particular, has had me more stressed than usual. From today, our STN trip is in two days! I'm in the midst of packing, and there's still a lot more to be done! For this week's constructed response, I will be talking about what causes me stress. Being a middle school student, there is not a lot to be stressed about. Therefore, most of my stress revolves around school.
  School can be stressful, especially if you're a big procrastinator like me. I admit, If I didn't procrastinate, most of my stress could have been easily avoided. For example, yesterday, the eighth graders took our algebra final which really stressed me out. I was quite nervous, and still am, as I wait for my results. That final counts as 50% of our quarter grade, which is contributing to high school. It was nerve wracking to prepare and study for it, which again, is my fault. I got my index card early, yet I decided to wait until the last moment to do it. Ms. Chiba came to school and let us take our final on Saturday from 8 to 12 (Thanks again Ms. Chiba!). Despite the whole week I had with the index card, I only started it on Friday night and finished it on Saturday near 3 in the morning. Then, I had to get up 3 hours later to actually get ready to take the final! That whole stressful situation could have been avoided if I didn't procrastinate. Besides math, other classes can bring pressure and worry. Nearing the end of the quarter, a lot of important tests are coming up and a lot of work is piling up. More so that we will be gone during the last week of school. 
     One class in particular is stressful. It's my favorite class of them all, but also the one with the most work. Media. This will be my third year as a student in the CKTV class, and I love it. I get to learn and experience things that no other class can offer. Media covers them all! From life lessons to writing to speaking and communicating, in my opinion, media has made me a better student. This class has definitely taught me about the importance of deadlines. We have deadlines in everything, radios, blogs, and a lot throughout our projects. Despite the work and difficult situations at times, I'd do it all over again!
     What do I do to relieve the stress from school? To alleviate stress, my direct go to is music. I love listening to music on Spotify and jamming through work that needs to get done. I find that if I don't listen to music, it takes much longer to get things done, and in a more negative attitude, too. Music boosts my attitude and makes you full of adrenaline. Or if I have the time, I'll usually take a break to watch an episode on Netflix or play the piano. I find both activities calming and they both help ease the stress. One known method to relieve stress is to always think positive. With a positive mind, no matter how bad the situation may be, positivity always beats negativity. 
​     Overall, stress can occur to anyone. For me, school work including media, is the thing that stresses me out the most. "A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor" Sometimes we all need stress in life to push us to our greatest limits to succeed! Take media as an example. One of my favorite classes, but can be stressful. To calm myself during a stressful situation, I listen to music and think positive. How about you? Well, that is it for this week's constructed response! Thanks for reading! Bye!