Hello 'Ilima

I'm glad to say that this quarter of school is finally over. This was a very chaotic quarter of school, full of many ups and downs. Let's start with the biggest events of the quarter. The biggest thing we did this quarter by far would have to be Spirit Week. One whole week full of work that climaxed on an eventful Friday that consisted of Cheer Off and Relay Race. I went into much more detail about Spirit Week in my blog dedicated to it, but I will still mention some of the biggest parts from it. So like I mentioned earlier, Friday had Cheer Off and Relay Race. These are like the two headline events of Spirit Week and they did not disappoint. Both events had all the teams compete against their grade level to see who had the best cheer or who could finish the race the quickest. Besides the actual events being fun and flashy, the environment was probably the best part of these two events. The crowd was so electric and they were full of team spirit. Besides Cheer Off and Relay Race, there was the Synchronized Swimming which I was a part of. Me and a group of 8 other students had been practicing and preparing for the synchronized swimming in Ms. Acob's class weeks ahead of the competition so that we would be ready. It was a lot of fun learning the choreography, specially with a group of people who are fun. This is where I will end my talk on Spirit Week, but if you want to hear more about it, I have a whole blog that talks about Spirit Week. The next biggest things were the last few ISA events of the year. I only attended two of the last ISAs, those being Boys Softball/Girls Volleyball and Track and Field, and what a difference these two events were. I'll start with Boys Softball/Girls Volleyball because it was by far the worse of the two events. First of all, the weather was abhorrent, it had recently rained and it caused the fields to be very muddy and flooded. This made walking in the field miserable, so of course I was the one who was going to spend my time in the field, taking pictures of Boys Softball. Speaking of taking pictures, that was also one of the worse parts of the event. Because Softball is such a spread out activity, it's hard to know where the best action shots will be. So I could walk across the wet field to try get a picture, only for the action to happen on the other side of the field. It was just an awful experience and one of my least favorite ISAs. On the other hand, Track and Field was probably one of the best ISAs. Comparing the weathers, the field was also wet but not nearly as wet and I didn't need to spend as much time on the field for picture taking. Then, picture taking was much easier because everyone is running on the same track and aren't very spread out. So all I needed to do was find a nice angle and the pictures then came easy. To summarize the experience of both ISAs, it's like a devil and angel on someone's shoulder. Boys Softball/Girls Volleyball being the devil and Track and Field being the angel. Moving on, we had three afterschool events this quarter. These events being Recognition Night, Graduation Meeting, and Elementary School Dance Competition. I won't speak about the dance competition because I will be saving that discussion for my weekly blog. But Recognition Night and Graduation Meeting were both similar in the fact that I had similar jobs. Being a door. What that entails is a mix of greeting and smiling and lot of standing. Both events were not very exciting but not at all bad. The last event to talk about would be Graduation Picture Taking. Graduation Picture Taking was a four day long event in school which was for the 8th graders to get their graduation pictures. The job we had to do was pretty simple, just dressing the students up and then undressing them. An overall fine event that didn't take too much gas out the engine. Those were all of the events from this quarter, and the last thing I will talk about in this paragraph would be my brand new elective. Since Financial Literacy was a one semester elective, I had to switch to a brand new elective during the second semester. This elective being Computer Science. The beginning to Computer Science was pretty boring, it was a lot of introductory stuff and note taking. What made it worse is that our actual teacher wasn't there. Ms. Milli apparently had some kind of job thing which made it so that she wasn't going to be here for months. But this slow start soon sped up when we were introduced to the computer lab. In this computer lab, we would actually program and make code that could do certain commands and it has so far been really fun. We learned a lot of different types of commands in one main form of code called Python. It's really beginner friendly and pretty easier to learn. I've learned a lot of new things from this class and I've actually been coding things out of class. I've mainly programmed formulas and calculators that uses my inputs to give me an answer and they are really fun to make. A quick example of one my programs was for my Retro Bowl League. I've been making an offensive efficiency stat and I've used Python as a sort of calculator. So overall, I've enjoyed the Computer Science elective and can't wait to learn more about programming.

p = float(input("Passer Rating: "))

r = float(input("Receiver Yard Averages: "))

py = float(input("Passing Yards: "))

pa = float(input("Passing Attempts: "))

ry = float(input("Rushing Yards: "))

rt = float(input("Rushing Touchdowns: "))

ra = float(input("Rushing Attempts: "))

result = (p + r + (0.66 * py) / pa) + (0.5 * ((0.66 * rt) + (3 * ry) / ra))

print(result)

The first highlight from this quarter would be my forementioned Retro Bowl League. I am currently on my fourth, entering fifth, season in the league and this has been the most active I've been in the server. The reason for this is because the league has been so lively in the past couple weeks. So many interesting faces are able to share their ideas and thoughts about things in my league, and I've recently started to give some of my input in the league more often. Additionally, being in the league has encouraged me to create more things. From making 3D models and Canva designs, I've been making a lot of new things for this league which has really sparked my creativity. The next thing highlight from this quarter would be the time I have gotten to spend with my friends. The biggest thing I've done with my friends this quarter was going to the mall with them and it was such a fun time. Multiple hours of walking around a mall that is awaiting to be explored is the perfect formula for fun and it didn't disappoint. But going to the mall wasn't the only thing I've done with my friends. From the times I spend with them in school or online, I've had a lot of fun making stupid jokes and having interesting conversations with my friends. The big lowlight from this quarter would be school, but this could be broken up into two main parts. Tests and Leonardi. Let's start with tests. The two biggest tests from this quarter were the Science SBA and the Math IAB and they were very stressful. Starting with the Math IAB, it was a test on things we had recently learned. I had a bit of confidence for this test as I believed I had everything we recently learned down in my head, and for the most part I felt like I had did good during the test. It felt pretty simple and I was confident I did good on the test. But my heart shattered when I learned I had gotten a 13/17, or at near, for the test. It was major blow to my confidence, but I think it helped me overall grow as a test taker, making me more cautious of what I do. For the Science SBA, I barely knew any of the topics that were in the test because I had no idea what to prepare for. I was preparing for questions on gravity because that was what we had recently learned, but there were was so much things from either 7th grade or things that we hadn't learned which we just couldn't have known was on the SBA. The blame does go to the lesson plan and the lack of reviewing, but I mostly blame the substitute teacher for the lack of learning and improving for Science. For one month in this quarter, we had a substitute for Science. This substitute, Ms. Leonardi, was the worse substitute teacher I've ever had. First of all, she seemed totally lacking of experience. She barely knew the topic she was covering, she constantly needed the assistance of other teachers or students to do things, and she would always go on weird rambles that had do correlation to what we learning. But what makes this worse is that she was also very ignorant. When we would point out mistakes to her for her to know, she would often get mad at us. Even when she was 100% in the wrong, she would not accept it and just tell us to stop asking questions. It was truly awful and not a good environment for students to be able to learn. Overall, this quarter was a huge roller-coaster of a quarter.

The overall lesson from this quarter is that not everything lasts, and that’s fine, but you need to make the most out of everything. As I am nearing the end of my time in middle school, I reflect on how time has flown by me. But instead of focusing on the things I didn’t do or regretting the bad decisions, I fondly looked back at all of the great times I’ve had during my two years in ‘Ilima. So with all this reflecting, I came to the conclusion that you just need to make the most out of everything. Take the opportunities that are available for you, spend time with your loved ones, and don’t throw away your shot. This was the main lesson of the quarter, but I’ve learned a lot of other things this quarter. First of all, I’ve improved my graphic design ability. Because of all the ideas I have, I wanted a way to show them and graphic design was the best option for me as I’m a horrible artist. I’ve never been the best designer, but over the course of this quarter I’ve learned how to get better at making designs. I’ve also made a lot more designs, so with improved quality and quantity, I can safely say that I’ve learned a lot about design. Then, I’ve learned a lot about casting while in Fishing. The most important thing I’ve learned about casting was that all the power comes from the wrist. You don’t need to do be overly dramatic in your arm motion, you just need to flick your wrist at the right angle and with the right amount of force. Overall, this has been a really informative quarter and it helped me gain a lot of new knowledge.

4th quarter is coming up and there is going to be a lot of things going on. The thing that I look most forward to is orientation because we have our a lot or effort into practicing and I really want to see all of the hard work in action. Then, I’m looking forward to receiving the yearbook from this year. There was so much blood, sweat, and tears that went into the making of the yearbook, so it would be very gratifying to be able to hold the book and look at the individual pages that I helped in making. Finally, I’m looking forward to the Dance Competition. Last year, I was an absolute hot mess. I was very stressed out and anxious during the competition, so I want to be able to improve on how I was. I shouldn’t feel like I have such a heavy burden to hold as I have the support of others around me. I want to be able to be able to improve my experience and prove to myself that I have changed over this past year. But with me about to leave ‘Ilima, there is a lot of things I’m going to miss. First of all, I’m gonna miss this environment. ‘Ilima has become so engraved into my mind that I could probably walk the whole campus blindfolded. I have been so connected to this campus and it’s gonna be strange walking around the Campbell campus in my first year there. Also with this environment, I’ve gained a lot of habits from being in ‘Ilima. I know which directions are the quickest to certain places, I know what to do and what not to do, I know the differences in teachers, and so much more. I know will gain new habits in Campbell, but it will just be weird for the first couple months. Then, I’m gonna miss the teachers. I’ve had some amazing teachers over my time in ‘Ilima, so it will be sad so not be able to see them as often. I might still check in on them every now and then, but it won’t be that often. But at least I still have my friends with me as I move on to a new chapter of my life. With that being said, this concludes my blog. I hope you have a great break. Cheers to another day!