Giant cocktail of stuff going on

So there is a lot going on. My passion project is finally finished!!!! All that is left is the TED talk that we are doing in front of a lot of people. SO because it is less than a month away, we have been learning about how to do a good TED talk. We have been outlining our talk, learning how to talk and how to move and also how to make good powerpoints. It has been very boring but very educational because without it I feel like my talk would be very ill prepared. The TED talk is going to be so exciting because it symbolizes our final end of DigCit. It is going to be 

Another thing that is going on right now is PROM!!! Today is prom and it is going to be pretty lit. It is my senior prom and even though I am dateless, I am going to have a blast with my boys. The prom theme is a little ehhhh. It is midnight masquerade but it is still going to be so much fun. Also afterwards we are going bowling and hopefully that I won't lock my keys in my car again like I did last prom. 

One of the most exciting things that is going on at the moment is our teacher is back. She has been on maternity leave for the past two months. We have missed her a lot and we are so happy to have her back. 

Last leg

So this is the last leg of the school year. It is April and there is only basically two months left. Along with it being the last leg of my senior year, this is the end of my passion project. Digcit is almost over. The last thing that I have to do is my last clothing drive and some video editing. This clothing drive is taking place next week April 11 and it is lasting the whole week. I am trying to collect school uniforms for kids that can't afford them. I will donate them to crisis assistance ministry like I did the last time. I am not just limiting it to school uniforms though. Any clothes people would like to donate are welcome. I am also putting a box in my neighborhood as well as my moms work. I am trying to collect a total of 200 items. It would great to be able to gain this many clothes.

During this project I also did interviews with people that work at crisis assistance ministry. I am going to make this into a video to put on YouTube. After all of this is done we have our Ted Talk and it is going to be great.

What I have learned from this project is that I have a passion that I did not previously know about. I never knew that helping others, in particular the underprivileged would make me feel so good. Looking at all the clothing that people donated just puts a smile on my face. Also the thought of making someone's day when they get to pick up a new outfit.

My favorite teacher

When people think about having a favorite teacher, you have to have good reasons for them to be your favorite. For some people their favorite teacher is their favorite because they don't care, they are super cool, or just like to have fun. A majority of these teachers, however, are not the best educators. Wouldn't it be great to have a quality educator be one of the coolest teachers you know?

These educators actually exist in life. Can you believe it? I have one of these teachers. This guy is named Mr. Brown. He is probably one of the best teachers in the school because he knows his stuff and knows how to teach. He also has one of the best sense' of humor that I know. He is always joking around and making sarcastic remarks. However he always does it at the right time. It is also not just him making it at the class, it is the class and him having fun conversations together. This is the second year I have had this man as a teacher. He teachers American History. Even though it is not my favorite class in the world, I always look forward to going to his class. 

The best part about his class though is the fact that I learn so much from his class and enjoy it at the same time. Usually when you get quality education from a teacher, they are normally have a zero BS policy. I remember that I had a math teacher junior year that was a great teacher however he was sort of a mean guy. He could be a cool guy but for the most part he was not as cool as Mr. Brown. I always got singled out because of poor grades. He never though I tried but that was not true. Mr. Brown makes sure you succeed. He gives you all the tools necessary to pass his class. When we do work sheets in class, he always goes a long with us to make sure we have the right answers. I believe that this is the best way possible to go about teaching. It gives a student every opportunity to learn. The only way they would not do well would be if they did not pay attention at all. 

Another reason that Mr. Brown is the greatest ever is the fact that he was named teacher of the year for our school. He is also nominated to be named teacher of the year for the state of North Carolina. I think that it is so col to have a teacher like Mr. Brown who is good enough to be the teacher of the year. 

No matter how many teachers you have in your school years, you will never have a teacher that can compare to the caliber of teaching Mr. Brown has. We need more teachers that have the drive that Mr. Brown has to teach the youth of our great and glorious cool school

Raleigh Conference.

So last Thursday Me and two other classmates, Taylor and Blake, went to this conference in Raleigh called NC Ties. It is a big teacher development conference of sorts where teachers from all over the state come and try to learn new ways to teach their classes. It was a huge honor for Taylor Blake and I to be able to go to this conference. We did two things. The first thing we did was we sat at a table basically while my teacher spoke about our digcit class at a session. She would occasionally throw some questions our way, but for the most part we were eye candy. That was really cool to be able to sit in front of a lot of people like that and have our teacher show some of the stuff that we did. The second thing that we did was a student showcase. This was a lot like the community pitch we did a while back where we had a little booth and we set up the stuff we needed and people walked by and we told them about our class and what we did. It was an amazing experience to be able to talk to all of these people about a class that I was in, in hopes of giving them inspiration to use some of things we do in our class, in their class.

Overall the experience was incredible because I felt like I gained more confidence in myself and my ability to talk to people. Also, I loved feeling like I was at a conference with the teachers like I was supposed to be there.

We also got Jimmy Johns. (Shoutout to Jamie)

World of7 billion

So this past week, we made a video for the world of 7 billion video contest and the whole point was to think of a solution to the problem of water scarcity, deforestation, or human health/population. I chose deforestation for my project.

I really liked this project because I got to learn a lot about deforestation and learn about why it is such a problem. My solution to the problem of deforestation was to contact your local government and put forth initiatives to plant trees whenever they are cut down. Also I put to join global organizations that advocate for the slowing of deforestation. If I were to change one thing about my video, I would probably change the solution because the music and the beginning were gold. The solution is not very thoughtful. For these kinds of projects I much rather work in groups rather than solo like we did. Video projects I believe have a better outcome when there is a group to work on it. 

service via video

For our service via video contest we are making a video for a local soup kitchen, me and my group. The question I am pondering today is whether or not the video production and the process of making it is more important, or is the actual videot the important part.

On one side the process is a good learning experience and it is very important to take time on the process. If you learn a lot from it and you learn how to do these videos, the next time you make it, it could be even better. However the product is what is helping your client. You are making the video for someone and it is benefiting them. If you make ithe video the best you can, the final product becomes more important than actually making it. It is your masterpiece, your final product.]]

So I think that if you look at the big picture, the final product is the most important thing. Your client is more important and the impact that the video could have on the organization is more important than the impact on yourself. 

For our project we are making a video for a local soup kitchen to help spread awareness and to tell people how to get involved as well as to tell what the soup kitchen is about.

Field Trip

So yesterday this digcit class went on a little fieldtrip. We have been assigned a project to create a video for local organizations. On this field trip we went and visited all of the organizations to learn what they do and what they are about and so they can tell each group what they want in the video we are going to make them. The first place was a rotary club meeting and we were there to listen about what they do and to help raise awareness and support for their club. They need doners and people to support them. Next we visited a local center that offers relief to people that need it, they have a food pantry doctors office dentist, welfare stuff, and everything that people need. We then visited by a women from an organization dedicated to help stopping suicide and related mental issues with that. Then we had lunch and made our way to a local animal shelter where we were able to pet the dogs and play with them but also get an idea of what they need in terms of videos. The best part was playing with the dogs though. There was a pitbull puppy named Bam Bam who was just a lover of everybody. The last place we visited was a soup kitchen that helps the local town. That is my group and my organization. It is a great place and they help so many people. After going to all of these organizations, I am ready to get started with my group on our video project.