“Giving kids clothes and food is one thing but it is much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important, and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people.” - Dolores Huerta

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Masterpiece Academy Essay

Trust was given, so was respect but usually it was not reciprocated within the class or for the class. Did we deserve it? This question seems invalid since at the beginning of this course we had all merely chosen this class as part of our schedule and truly had no idea what to expect. Did we earn it? Not in all instances, there were times where we created excuses for not completing work; there were also times were we were very truthful and actually had jam packed schedules and were busy 24/7. I think most of the time we took advantage of the trust, as a class, to avoid doing work and simply laze around. But I also feel that it allowed people to realize the type of student they were, whether they chose to be lazy and complain later, or simply get the work done. I feel as though Preston's trust in us took a lot of hits, that he had many reasons not to believe in us. We never really earned Preston's trust, but somehow he managed to let us do our own thing anyway. That was the entire point of the class though, to find out if we could lead ourselves, to see who would go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity and to see who would take advantage of Preston leading a class set up in this way.

 


A couple of works that I enjoyed and that I can connect to my own personal journey are "The Kite Runner," "Hamlet," and "Brave New World." All three of these had a battle against their inner selves, or in a sense had to struggle with making big decisions, decisions that affected them and those around them. I feel like this year was the year we were all forced to make HUGE decisions, not only college/school wise, but family and personally as well. Some of us had to decide if we wanted to move to a different state, whether we wanted to major in this or that, or whether we even wanted to go to college. All these things affected our family as well, emotionally and maybe even physically(moving). 

   


One of my passions is people, in a more specified manner, helping people. My masterpiece aided me in getting to know those around me, to know the people that I may one day attend to in a hospital, or a doctor's office, etc. My passion for helping people has lead me to my future career and job. My passion for helping those in need have led me to enroll as a pre-nursing student. My masterpiece fueled my need to work around people, and to constantly want to have people around me. 



A unifying theme that ran through almost all the presentations was the presence of the future. Most, if not all of the projects spoke and depicted a glimpse at the future for the student presenting. The presentations ran a full circle around majors, careers, and life goals. Five separate examples are Sean, Megan, Taylor, Connor, and Val. Sean spoke eloquently about his already sprouting plans, he talked about what he hopes to change in the world, and about his future job as a politician. Megan spoke about the hardships of being a journalist and of writing in general. Megan mentioned how the hardest thing about this is maintaining your credibility, she also mentioned how she hopes to maintain that truthfulness in her own writing, and how she hopes to remain true to the story and the facts not purposefully exaggerating a story for money.Taylor, who was the first to present, talked about her future job dealing with marine animals. She also mentioned how she hoped to compare the animals she learned about on our coast to those that will be around her school in Hawaii. Connor was a full on business man, he learned about starting up and managing a business. All in practice for his schooling and future career. Val gave us all a little lesson in history, and showed off his teaching skills. Most of the presentations in our class always related back to our future careers, or something we hope to work with/on in the future.


In a sense we are all our own and each other's hero in this journey we call life. My mentors have been the people, things, and situations that I interact with on my way to the "end." The call to adventure is having the guts to face this life day after day, and making the best of every waking moment. The call to adventure is the path each of us, as individuals, take. The obstacles or the challenges we conquer are things from completing every day tasks to getting a degree, to overcoming sadness/depression, to proving stereotypes wrong, and most importantly to changing the world. Because even if we simply take part or start a small revolution, that in itself is already working towards change. And even if we change and completely revolutionize the life of just one person in our life time, we have conquered one of the biggest challenges on this journey. 

Monday, June 8, 2015

Masterpiece Presentation Notes

06/03/2015

Eric, Lukas, Miles, & Emilio:
- "Inglorious Greetings"
- film made to be easy to relate to + humor
- continue film making throughout summer
- parody and satire

Jisu & Naiomi:
- Jisu > always had music in her life, plays piano, clarinet
- Naiomi > to get out of her comfort zone, stop being so reserved
- Korean & Indian culture showcased in two different music videos
- focused on the feelings the music and the accompanying video gave off

06/04/2015

Megan:
- journaling > future major/job
- "every day write about something new"
- biggest lesson = CREDIBILITY
- follow your passion
- interview video of a friend > formatted like the "60 minutes" show > never give up, triumpth over every challenge

06/05/2015

Chase:
- The Search For Stoke
- interview video; people's stoke
- love + passion = stoke

Terry:
- love for nature and connecting it his life
- focus on sustainability & independence

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Masterpiece Presentation Notes

06/01/2015

Sophia:
- gender roles
- rape, focused on the male perspective & statistics, geared to show that it happens to men more often than we think
- double standards concerning gender

Yesenia:
- embracing diversity YET finding the common theme that intertwines humanity
- human learning process > lived experiences
- wisdom through living

Millie:
- family tree & NBA history
- correlations
- mixing two things she loves

06/02/2015

Chrystal & Tia:
- education system, students opinions on school, the environment, and the teachers
- talking about disrespectful students in a classroom environment
- * also provided teacher's perspective
- formulated solutions to the problems students mentioned

Jhaicelle:
- woman leadership
- survival kit
- team building and leadership game