Quarter 1 Blog

 Hello 'Ilima

We have come a long way and we can say goodbye to the first quarter, but let's look back at some of the biggest things that happened this quarter. I want to start with my classes. I have all new teachers except for my science and it’s been an interesting transition process. My new classes are Algebra 1, Social Studies, ELA, and Financial Literacy. Each class is different in their own ways and I enjoy each of them for their own reasons. Algebra is filled with a bunch of people I know, Social Studies is quiet, ELA is relaxing, and Financial Literacy discusses interesting topics. If I had to rank my new classes it would be 1. ELA 2. Algebra 3. Financial Literacy 4. Social Studies. Another thing about my classes is the work involved. We’ve had a lot of things to do from tests, to essays, and projects. The math tests were probably the most stressful assignment, mainly because they had a lot at stake. NHD also began this year and my topic is the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the difference in the leaders and how they communicated their messages. Moving onto events, we had a couple throughout the quarter. I'll start with picture taking. This event took 4 days and our jobs were to either guide the students or watch the students as they were waiting for their turn. The next event was Flag Football. This was defintely my least favorite event because of how long it took and how boring it was. All of the games were not exciting for the fact that the players barely tried and the crowd wasn't cheering. It was so hot for those weeks we spent doing Flag Football. I'm so glad I won't have to do Flag Football ever again. Moving on, next we have the ISAs. As a SBG, we have to got to the ISA events in order to take pictures. There have been two ISAs so far. Cross Country and Flag Football. Cross Country was first and the better of the two. All 5 SBG attended this ISA and it was our job to interview the students and take pictures of the players. It was a very new experience for me, but I learned quickly and we did a good job. The Flag Football ISA came after and it was terrible. 3 SBGs came this time and the goal was the same. What made this event so bad was that 1. Ilima 8th Graders didn't have their jerseys on which made getting pictures harder. 2. There was so much walking because we had to cross a huge field over and over again to get pictures. 3.  Helios himself was angry and shined his light so hard throughout the whole day. I am praying that the next ISA is inside or the day is cooler or else I am gonna be a puddle the next time you see me. Speaking of sports, the next event is Team Flag Football. Now this event was fun. Each team went against each other in a 7on7 Flag Football game. The crowd for the games was electric and the plays made were explosive. I loved this event and I even had a special role. If you know football, you know about the Chain Gang, the group of people who mark where the ball is. Well, I got to be Ilima's Chain Guy, chain coming soon. It was a little confusing at times, but I did a pretty good job in my opinion. The final event was Family Nite, This Family Nite was a mixture of Math and Science with me working a coordinate dart booth. The night went decent with no problems happening. If I had to rank all of these events in order from best to worst it would be 1. Team Flag Football 2. Family Nite 3. Picture Taking 4. ISA Cross Country 5. ISA Flag Football 6. Intermural Flag Football. Moving on to out of school stuff, I had a lot of fun this quarter. I can point to two main things that I will talk about. Ohana Fair and my Big Island Vacation. Let's start with Ohana Fair. This year's event was very similar to last year's, but I still had an amazing time. I was with the same group of friends and we had a blast walking around our old school and doing different things. Spending time with my friends is something I will always cherish which made Ohana Fair special to me. Then, there was my Big Island Vacation. During one of the extended weekends, my family and I went to the Big Island to have some fun. This was my first trip in over 5 years and it was well worth the wait. The hotel was so cozy and the food all around the island was amazing. Everything I ate was amazing from lobster mac and cheese, to chicken katsu, to the ice cream and slushies. I wish I could have stayed in Big Island longer, but not all good things last forever. Overall, this quarter was very fun and good way to start off a year.

 "Now a silly one" ahh photo

 ISA Flag Football Picture

Group Ohana Fair Picture

 Hotel Bed (I NEED IT AGAIN) 

To start with the highlights of the quarter, I will begin with TV. One of my major goals this year is to make people smile. School is obviously not the happiest place. No one wants to be there, students and teachers included. So if I can make people smile, even just a smirk, that makes me feel like I have made their day just a bit better. The main way I do this is from TV. I love dressing up as different things and playing the role of many weird things. It gives people around me and across the school joy and I know this from the reactions I get. Teachers and students alike come to me and tell me that they love my TV performances. These comments justify everything I do and lets me know that I am making a difference. I never had this feeling as a 7th grader, but now I know that I am a role-model, inspiration, or a spark of joy to people around the school. The next highlight has to be the life-long memories I am making with those I care about. From family to friends, I have been having some of the best times of my life. 7th grade me was always so focused on the future, so I am trying to slow things down and enjoy the now more. I've been enjoying all of the moments I've had with the ones I care about and I have felt more in the moment then I ever have. I used to think so much about what my future will look like, but I need to care about my present so I can have a future. The only lowlight (that branches into two lowlights) for this quarter is school work. The reason I say it branches is because the schoolwork is both hard and causes me to be very tired. First of all, the amount of schoolwork we had has been a bit overwhelming. We've had multiple essays in a week, tests from different classes on the same day, and projects that take up so much time. All of this work has caused me to be so exhausted. Sleep, Sugar, and Nutrients have done nothing to help me stay awake. I am using the break to recover from all of the schoolwork and I hope that I will be ready for the next quarter. 

 AHH THERE'S A ROBBER!

 Jacob Bryan Ryan Estevez Batoon

 shenanigans

 In this first quarter, I have learn a lot about myself and others. The first thing I learned was about learning how to be a teacher. It was a bit challenging in the first couple of weeks to adjust to being a teacher to the 7th graders, but I have been able to adjust and learn a few things. From learning how to become a teacher I learned lessons about people. For starters, not everyone grows at the same rate. Some people need more time than others in order to be settled in and ready. I've also learned that some people are able to learn in difference ways better than other. Some people are good with just hearing the instructions while others need to actually experience the work. Another thing I learned from this quarter were general life lessons. The two main ones are optimism and patience. I need to have a more positive outlook on new things and not expect everything to be bad. I also have to have patience to wait for things to get better and to not give up easily. The last thing I learned were general new things that I hadn't known about. The main example of this is Financial Literacy as I am learning a lot of new terms and advice that will actually help me in my future. Overall, I have learned a lot from this quarter. 

Comparing this first quarter to the last, the main difference for me is the workload. As a 8th grader with a new SBG role, I have gotten more responsibilities than I had last year. For the leadership side, I've gone to the ISA sports and had increased roles in other events which I didn't do last year. Then for the academic side, there has been so much more work during school and I've felt more overwhelmed then I did last year. Then differences from last year to this year is that I was much more inexperienced and fresh at the end of last first quarter. It was my first time in a new school and I was very anxious. I don't have this feeling anymore because of my year of being at this school. Overall, this year's first quarter has been pretty different since last year's first quarter, despite having a similar amount of events. With that being said, this concludes my blog. I hope you have a great break. Cheers to another day!