End of the Summer Blog

         Now that the summer has ended and school is starting soon, I feel prepared for the year thanks to my bridge and workdays experience. Before I had the thought of joining the program, I didn't even know of it or consider it. My mom had saw the program and wanted me to join it. I received the papers and after a couple of weeks I went to the interview. I was very nervous and during the interview I had tried to remain calm. I had written a poem from my interview and I was very scared when Alissia started to laugh in the middle of it. She apologized but I felt so scared and it made me want to leave. The interview ended and I saw my friend, Riselle, enter the room as I left. When I got the results I was ecstatic and when I saw that Riselle also got in, I was super happy for her.

        Our first day of bridge was on June 7th and as it came closer I was more and and more nervous. When the day came, I walked onto campus and I was completely lost. I eventually spotted the group and I followed them to the cafeteria. The others got seated close together and started to talk a lot while I sat far away because I was waiting for Riselle. I remember a person (I think Sienna) say I was lonely and asked if I wanted to move down. I obliged but I didn't move down far as I was uncomfortable with sitting to close to the others. After a while, Riselle came to the cafe and we started to talk. A bunch of other kids then came into the cafeteria and then some teachers split us into different groups. Ms. deGuzman told us to follow her and she brought us a circle of benches. We sat down and Ms. deGuzman told us to introduce ourselves. The only names I remembered were people from Holomua that I had met before. After the introductions, we entered the building and Ms. deGuzman allowed us to sit anywhere. I sat in the back with Riselle and were given the task of making a journal cover. There were very little rules to it and it allowed for creativity and silly ideas. I made mine a random mess of dogs with glasses, a duck wearing a wig, and random bits of fire. When we were done, we were then told about flags. The flags where a place that stamps would be put on. Stamps were earned from daily attendance and winning games. My flag was green and I designed is so that all of the letters were connecting with lines. The day came to an end when we were finished and we headed home. The whole time I was uncomfortable but I had a fun time doing these activities. 

Photo Taken on First Day of Bridge

    For the rest of bridge, we did more activities and crafts that prepared us for workdays and allowed us to get comfortable with each other. We cleaned out cubbies and then turned them into our new cubbies and created tags for them. Mine was a perspective art of a highway with cars. Another thing we did was frisbee golf which is a game where you are in teams of 2 and have to throw the frisbee into a basket in the least amount of tries. I was partners with Mal and I threw a frisbee onto the roof which would foreshadow future events. We ended in last place and she was surprisingly chill about it. I remember the day before, we got to practice throwing frisbees and I kept on throwing it too hard according to Riselle. Other things we did were blindfolded capture the flag, connect 4, scavenger hunts, and many other games. During this time I started to talk to more people including Jabez, Dominic, and Mal. A project we did was the making of the Ilima Intro video and I was part of the history team. I was with Dominic, Jayna, and Sienna and I was the one who wrote the script, Jayna and Sienna filmed the video, and Dominic edited the video. Another project was when we went around campus taking photos so that they could be added to the backgrounds of Ilima TV. We also did fun challenges of making separate Tiktoks, one of them as the rules of the school and one as a campus tour. My rule team was Mikayla and Gabby and we did a do's and don'ts video where I was the don'ts. My campus tour team was Sienna, Bianni, and Mal. We made it Sid the Science Kid themed and it was pretty fun to record. Then we started on our bio cubes that talked about 6 different parts of us. I also can't forget the lessons we learned like how to make a TV Intro and how to fly a drone. All of these activities we did helped me become more comfortable and by the end of bridge I felt happy to be there but also I still didn't talk a lot. The ending of bridge also came with a 1 week break until Workdays.

Photo of Photos Getting Taken

A Photo I Took For Ilima TV Backgrounds

    When the 1 week break was over, we returned with a different schedule and new periods. The new schedule was 9-12 instead of 8-11 which it was in bridge. I was in Period 3 with Riselle, Alex, Dominic, Biaani, and group leader Reese. Schedule pick up was coming and we started preparing by cleaning up the the room and setting up tables. During the setting up, we were allowed 20-30 minute breaks where all the girls and sometimes a couple boys would go and get 7/11 or McDonalds. I would always stay behind so that I could walk around campus listening to music. When schedule pick up was a couple days away, we were taught what the jobs were and what jobs we had. I was a ID runner with Riselle and our job was to take IDs from the machine and give it to the makers. But before schedule pick up, there was the parent open house which was also a meet and greet with the Alumni. My group included Sadie, Reesee, Alex, and Mikayla. We were tasked with making a group name and then making a poster. Sadie came up with the idea to name us the Icee Spicees and Mikayla picked our group color of purple. I didn't really draw as I am not the best at drawing but I did color in a popsicle. We then had to plan out a dance set to the song Baby Shark which I was the grandpa shark. The day after the meet and greet was the first day of schedule pick up. This schedule pick up was for 8th graders only and it started poorly as the ID machine in our station wasn't working. Eventually we got it to work and everything was fine. Reesee was handling the ID machine while Dominic was our cameraman because Sadie wasn't here. Eventually Dominic had to do his other job and I took over as the cameraman while also doing my regular job. After a couple of hours, less people showed up and it allowed me to take breaks. Lucky for everyone there, there was a Jamba Juice vendor outside which we used to cool down after our work. When the first day ended, we got to eat teri burgers and left on a successful day. The second day was 7th graders only and it was chaotic. There was way more people but we were able to successfully manage it. Besides the more people, it was mainly the same with the Jamba Juice people still being there. The only big difference is that I had recognized many people from my school. Then at around 12:30, I took my ID picture which I am satisfied with. The day ended with us eating spam bowls and then leaving to start new schedules. The new schedule was a rotating pattern between times 8-10, 9-11, and 10-12:30. During the rotating schedules, we did more schedule pick up work for the people who didn't come on the main two dates. Dominic and I were in charge of the check in table where we would give people the papers they needed and permitted them inside.  We would continue this all the way up to the last days of workdays but in between we worked on our bio cubes. We formed a box and printed out our cube sides to tape on the box. We also had to put a photo of ourselves but my photo was too big so I arranged it so it was hanging. But bio cubes weren't the only thing as we also learned how TV worked, how the music station worked, and how the ID station worked. There was also TV Intro making that I had a fun time creating. Near the end of workdays, an end of summer field trip was planned for August 4th and I was very excited for it. It would be a trip to the beach and then a firework show. We had to wear our meet and greet group color and our phones would be taken away before it started. The days prior, we were asked to bring snacks and I decided on bringing granola bars. I packed only essential things but no swimming clothes which I would regret.

Photo of Line From Day 2 of Schedule Pickup

    The day of the trip arrived and I got my bags ready and took a seat outside. I came early thinking others would be there but to my surprise, no one was there. I waited and after a while, I saw Riselle enter the campus and we started to talk. Jewelyn arrived shortly and then after a while more people came. We got our bio cubes and waited for everyone to arrive. Today was also Zhalea's birthday and we sang to her multiple times across the day. After a couple of minutes, Ms. deGuzman got a bin and took our phones. We headed to the bus where I sat at the back. Mark arrived last second and we headed to the beach. Along the way, I talked to Riselle and watched the outside world. We arrived at around 12 and placed our snacks and bags down. Mr. Ing told us we could go off and do our own thing and I decided to play volleyball. I played with Dominic, Jayden, Jewelyn, Riselle, and Jayna using Mark's ball. We played many different games using the volleyball and I had a habit of hitting the ball to hard. One unfortunate hit sent the ball flying into a tree. This one mistake snowballed into 2 hours of trying to get it down. We threw water bottles and my shoe while other people were laughing at our pain. At some points we took breaks and one time a bottle got stuck in the tree. But after a while, Mark was able to get the ball down. We decided to go to the sand and dig a whole after all that hard work. They were digging and digging and I was finding lots of big rocks. My feet were tired and I decided to take many breaks but Mark successfully made a whole. We did more silly things like freeze tag where Mark started dancing or when we buried many people. We also got to meet Oliva who was a member we hadn't met yet. At around 5 pm we ate sausage, chicken, and steak served with rice and corn. Jayden had to leave but he said would come back later. So far, the day had been fun but it was just getting started. After we ate, we cleaned up and took a break. A bunch of the others played volleyball and tried to keep a streak of the full alphabets but they only got to W at best. Then we shared bio cubes with the Alumni. I was paired with Jewelyn and we shared to Ari. We only shared the obstacles but it was very informative as Ari gave us tips about how we could overcome our obstacles. After the sharing, we started our walk to Magic Island. I shoved my items in my bag and followed Mr. Ing all the way to the place. We took a small bathroom break where Jabez could of gotten hit by a car because he didn't look both ways. After a while, we arrived at Magic Island and Jayden returned for the firework show. The others sat down while I stood because there was no more space. By this time, we received our phones back but I didn't use it much. When the firework show started, I recorded the show to watch later and when it ended our group returned to the bus. I started using my portable fan as I had not wanted to get a headache. I sat at the back and me and Riselle took a selfie to remember the day. I laid back, holding my fan, and rested as we headed back to Ilima. When we got dropped off, we waited for our parents and I felt like throwing up. My parents were the last to arrive and this ended the summer and on August 8th school with be starting up.

Photo of the Beach

Photo of the Sky Before Fireworks

The Selfie Riselle and I took

     Throughout this journey, I experienced many ups and downs that shaped how I felt about the time there. Starting with the highlights, I made new friends and new connections that I wouldn't have made otherwise. For example, I became friends with Dominic and Jabez and I now have the phone numbers of my group members. Another positive is that I got to experience Ilima and feel comfortable in the new school before school actually started which benefited my feeling of comfort. A different highlight was the field trip as it was a time for lots of fun and excitement and it was just an overall great time. Finally, schedule pick up would be considered a highlight as it was a great learning experience that allowed me to experience the feeling of working. A lowlight of mine was the beginning interview as I was very nervous and anxious about the possibility of me getting accepted into leadership. Another negative was the beginning of bridge because I was uncomfortable with the new environment and scared of what the others thought of me. Finally, another lowlight of mine was not being talkative and apart of the discussion as if I had it could of benefited by social abilities and my confidence.   

    Finally, I want to think about the lessons I have learned during this summer to reflect on how I changed. First of all, I learned that I should be scared on what others think about me. This has been a problem with me for a long time and it could still affect me, but I feel more confident about myself because the others showed me that you should just be yourself. Then, I learned the importance of working. "If you are idle for too long, something is wrong" is a testament to this as work should always be there and you should always have something to do. Another thing about the importance of working is that you should never stall work and just do ahead of time so then you aren't stressing about due dates. Finally, I learned the importance of time management. I had learned about the ever changing schedules that can surprise you and the early or late times that are needed that can be difficult for people. Leadership has taught me to figure out a clear schedule of times so I can plan ahead and not have a messy schedule with overlapping times.

    To conclude this blog, I have to thank Leadership for all the skills they've thought me and the friends that I have made along the way. Leadership has been such a fun time and the people are amazing. I'm thankful for the opportunity that was given to me and I can't wait for the new school year to begin. I hope to put my skills into good use and to make this year great. Cheers to another day!

  Written by Cassell Shiroma