With our current globalized world the best thing to do in life is to create relationships and meet new people since you never know when you may cross paths in the future. Here in Guatemala I was able to meet a film director, her name is Cecilia De Orive. She is actually very famous in Guatemala! Her films are successful and she has had the opportunity to take Guatemala to the "Festival de Cannes." Actually, she came by on Tuesday just after school ended in order to talk to me about her life as a film director. Before I go any further, I must say that the reason I wanted to talk to her is that sometimes I feel interested in studying film as part of my career. I have specially considered animation like Disney movies but the idea of being a produce or director really calls my attention... So getting back on track she came to my house to know a little bit of my interests and passions and since there give me some tips. After quite a long conversation there were many details that were very interesting. First of all, I mentioned to her that my real passion is digital creation (I don't know if that word even exists but its true I like to create and design things in the computer) and my idea of a possible career was between Animation and Graphic Design. She was definitely excited but said that whatever I decided to undertake was good but also I needed to take in consideration a traditional career, "una carrera técnica," as a base. With this she meant that now a days students wait until they graduate to pursue their passion. For example there are teens that love photography and they wait until they graduate to enter a Photography Career. Cecilia isn't against this but she only wonders why kids don't take photography (or classes of the interests) classes while they are still in High School... Therefore, as soon as they graduate they already have that knowledge which is a huge benefit as a life long learner. Sometimes you don't need to wait for the opportunity sometimes it's just your own motivation that will lead you to learn and explore more. Currently there are many examples of people I know that have already started a business or have taken courses they are really passionate about. So as soon as they apply to college they can show universities all of their work and motivation. Aside from all these messages that really left me thinking, Cecilia recommended me to talk with an animator and also suggested me to come by on thursday and witness what it was like to be behind the scenes in filmmaking. Talking to professionals are some of those valuable experiences that you only get one opportunity in life to absorb their knowledge and get tips on deciding your own future.
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So TODAY was THE DAY. I can't say I wasn't nervous. I was totally nervous. Actually I had planned to practice during the week but with so many stuff going on we didn't have time. Our presentation was during second period but in the morning and during first period I was stressed because I didn't get the chance to see the presentation. So in first period while we watched a movie, my friend and I went over the Micro PPT. My friend had missed some details but overall I felt a relief. Also my classmate planned that meanwhile we presented we could open our videos in YouTube. It was a good idea but why not just incorporate it within the presentation... Also since we hadn't practiced I decided to write the names of our group members beneath each slide so that way we knew who needed to talk. For this part I wasn't so nervous since we had cooperated as a group and everyone understood the service. The clock was ticking but I felt somehow ready. First period was over and I ran to the class in my elegant outfit ready to present. With an unexpected surprise we were first to go up and we hadn't sent the teacher our file. Those first minutes were kind of a mess. Since we spent some time searching for 2 missing group members and then we had to connect to the internet in order to e-mail the powerpoint. After 10 minutes we were finally ready to start or so it seemed. As we began, the idea was to have the second slide play the TV advertisement in order for the class to get an idea about our service, however, we encountered a problem with the teacher's computer. Apparently, she didn't have Quicktime installed so the video didn't play. After my relief I suddenly felt some sort of stress but decided to continue with our plan and the information. The rest of our slides unfolded neatly and my group did a great job presenting. After the final slide we searched for the videos and they were very enjoyed by our audience. I guess it wasn't a total mess up but I definitely learned my message... "PRACTICE BEFORE THE PRESENTATION" and also "MAKE SURE THE FILE (IN THIS CASE PPT) WORKS IN THE COMPUTER IN WHICH IT WILL BE DISPLAYED." After quite a day we were finally over and just waiting for the results :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm just editing this post since the past Friday in order to tell you that we WON! Our presentation received the majority of the votes and we earned 10 extra points in our final grade! After everything we suffered during the presentation I guess it is a relief and I feel very happy and excited of our accomplishment. An unforgettable BIG PITCH! I guess I just realized that tomorrow is the presentation and we don't even have the TV commercial nor the TV advertisement. On top of it all, we need to decorate the folder, finish the presentation and complete the questionnaire! And guess what... TOMORROW IS THE PRESENTATION! Wow, so many things in mind and now that school time is over we didn't even have time to talk during break about it. Our generation is so lucky to have the social media that exists today, specially FACEBOOK. As soon as I reached my house I contacted all the group in order to make sure that everyone finished their tasks. After a lot of brainstorming I was wondering how to make the video. On Wednesday, we had seen a group use PowToon, an online cartoon program, where they advertised their product. I wanted to use the same program but on the other hand, I felt like I was copying the idea so I decided to make something different. Nevertheless, we still decided to make a TV commercial and a TV advertisement. I was in charge of the TV commercial and the purpose was for it to be more visual than informative, meanwhile, we decided to use another cartoon program to make the TV ad. Our service is really hard to advertise but most challenging of all is to create a van with all the services we wanted to include... So why not use the resources I already have a develop a video. Therefore, with my Adobe Flash skills I animated a moving van across a street while it pulled a large advertisement car trailer. Additionally, with my online skills I was able to download to videos that belonged to beauty commercials. Since our service is directed towards both genders I had to find a video that promoted female and male beauty salon. After quite some time of researching I finally found the videos. I exported all my files to Adobe Premier and transformed every piece of video, image and audio to create a TV commercial for our BEAU-VAN. After having the videos ready I realized that I hadn't decorated the folder nor printed the questionnaire nor created the flyer. So I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the questions and designing a cover for our folder. Also I spent some time creating the flyer. It had to be simple, briefly descriptive, catchy and understandable. So I came up with these designs. Below is the TV COMMERCIAL I created: Below is the TV ADVERTISEMENT we created as a group: I clearly remember when I was in fifth grade and we read "Frindle" by Andrew Clements. I guess as a kid it was really inspiring to read such a story. Not about Nick Allen being a troublemaker but his inspiration and desire to create a new word. It was after learning the origin of words that Nick decides to come up with a new combination of letters to craft a unique name for a pen, like, Frindle. All along the book the author unravels the journey of this 5th grader that his stubbornness and determination leads to a chain of events that go beyond his control. It is definitely a motivating story you should read! Since then and over time this topic has intrigued me a lot, but specially now that you can hear new words every day that are surging and spreading so fast like a wicked virus. Have you ever wondered the origin of words? Who came up with the idea of creating a language in order to communicate? How can people keep up with all the words? Why do we continue to create words? Do you think this is part of a revolution? My parents always say that the words used today are totally damaging our traditional language. This is because we are speaking spanglish, or they say it when we mention new words they are not familiar with, but are we really damaging the language? I believe that things have changed over time and they must adapt to the new technology and the words that have surged since then like iPhone, iPad, tablet. Can you believe that selfie is part of the dictionary?!?!?!?!? Have you heard about #Twicktionary! It is a place where people vote for words! Not only that but have you taken a look at the New Words page in the Merriam Webster Dictionary http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_recent.php?last=0 What can you notice?!?!?!? most of the words are merged from two words isn't that weird but cool? So will the future language will contain words that originate from a mixture of 2 or more words? With our idea finally approved, today we basically spent the day organizing our ideas and filling up a questionnaire about our service. Since this project is our final exam for our AP Microeconomics class the questions were mostly based on the type of market structure, the resources we would use and implement in our service, the type of competition our company would face, within many others. As part of the one-year course we learned that when countries trade they have certain absolute and comparative advantages in their production. Therefore, in order to make it more efficient, countries trade and specialize in the activity that results in the smallest opportunity cost. Similarly, instead of having all of our group working on the questionnaire we divided the tasks depending on our abilities. Throughout the hour and a half we concentrated on our tasks and as a result we almost finished answering all the questions and also brainstormed ideas for the visual aids. Part of the requirement is to have at least 5 visual aids, so our choices are:
With the name of our service selected, "BEAU-VAN," we had to create a logo that was simple and easy to understand from a single glance. After many sketches and ideas we came up with a very simple but catchy drawing. Class was almost over but then I realized that with my designing abilities, why not suggest my group that I could be in charge of transforming the 2-D design, we had drawn in paper, into a digital one? So they accepted. After spending the afternoon working on ADOBE Illustrator I finally made it. This was a totally successful day. Today we arrived to class so excited to present our idea. As we explained our proposal to our teacher she seemed very interested until she asked us:
It was so stressful for us to be bombarded with so many questions but she had a point. We hadn't taken into consideration all of those questions and as we answered each of them we became more doubtful of our idea. It was that moment when I realized that sometimes as much as you seem so excited for with you product, but actually, it is very challenging and many factors are simultaneously involved. We received a partial sticker but our proposal wasn't approved. This was definitely the hardest part... being rejected and suddenly there were lack of ideas. As a group we spent the rest of the class trying to brainstorm another possible good or service, but unfortunately everything seemed to be already invented like:
It was so difficult because all of the ideas we came up with already existed, or didn't really make sense so we were starting to give up. After some time we suddenly realized that some of the ideas that we came up today didn't exist in Guatemala... The idea we liked the most was the instant beauty salon and as a group we felt that it was a great idea to implement here in the country! So, instead of proposing a totally new idea we convinced our teacher by explaining that this type of service didn't exist in Guatemala so why not implement it when it felt really necessary? ... The good news was that she approved just before class ended! With the idea approved, next class we just need to develop our visual aids and all of the steps involved in the process for the final presentation which is in 1 week!!! It's so cool to see that a year ago I had the opportunity to learn about IDEA LAB and the process creating a prototype with Randy from High Tech High; now, a year later, I'm using those entrepreneurial skills for a final project in my AP Microeconomics Class! This project is called "The Big Pitch" and today was our 1st day working on it. We spent the whole class (1 hour and 20 minutes) to brainstorm. The challenge behind it was to come up with a totally unique good or service that could be realistically implemented in Guatemala. Then we had to apply all of our skills gained throughout the year in order to sell the idea, make a proposal, create visual aids, and analyze it through the economic perspective. 2 minutes where set in order for us to write as many ideas as possible in Post-Its. Time restriction makes it hard for me to think but after a while you just start to write so many things without even noticing. After the stopwatch beeped as a group we analyzed our ideas and these are some that we came up with:
The major obstacle was to come up with a good or service that didn't exist until now. As we searched through Google all of our previous ideas where already invented except for the software. Or at least we couldn't find a program that offered what we wanted to provide. We spent the rest of the class filling papers to present our idea. As a group we felt really confident of our product we even began to brainstorm cool names for the software like:
We hope our teacher approves our idea! Just 1 more year to go and what will be my future? I have no idea. Today I had to opportunity to visit one of the top universities in Guatemala called "Universidad Francisco Marroquín." I can definitely say the campus is beautiful. It's like a university hidden between a forest, full of green and a sense of innovation all around. I was definitely impressed with the installations. At the beginning they gave us a brief tour around the campus showing us the library, and the cafeteria. Our next stop was the business classroom which looked so professional with a screen at the top showing the different companies and their status in the stock market. Later we had a small presentation about admission, costs and the programs they offered. It was that last detail that caught my attention. While they read all the common courses I focused on one named "Michael Polanyi College." Below the title it said Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences. After the presentation we headed down and out into the main cafeteria to meet experts in the field in order for us to ask any questions. I was partially interested in entrepreneurship where I got some interesting information but I wanted to know more about the other program. I asked the woman that was giving us the tour and she lead me the way to a classroom. The first thing that came to my mind as I saw the structure of the "classroom" was the INNOVATION ACADEMY from Peru. Something inside me told me they were very similar environments. After some waiting I was taken to the office of Albert Loan, the Academic Director of the program. As we talked, I felt like talking to Mr. Topf in Guatemala. "We don't focus in grades but in feedback" "independent learning" "internships" "innovation" "rigorous program that allows you to explore your passion and who you really are" "greatest piece of work" "interdisciplinary" It was unbelievable, I was really impressed. Whether I choose to take the program is definitely not 100% sure but what I definitely know is that it left me motivated and intrigued! Check out their website: UFM MICHAEL POLANYI " Students at MPC are exploring the concept of the “one world classroom.” In a rapidly expanding and dynamic technological environment new opportunities are presenting themselves every day to connect to, communicate with, and learn from people across the globe. This allows MPC to collaborate with many entrepreneurs, artists, writers, and scholars in other universities and organizations. Virtual sessions are conducted where students have the chance to discuss with and question these thinkers. - See more at: http://mpc.ufm.edu/faculty-staff/who-are-we/#sthash.B5RItunx.dpuf" When you least expect it, an opportunity will soon appear. As time passes I believe there's always a door waiting for you to open it. With the success in my designing abilities I was asked a week ago if I could make a possible design for the swim team jacket! It was a great opportunity. It took me a while to brainstorm. I had recently done the baseball calendar, but that sport was easy to add accessories to the mascot. The hornet is our school mascot and I incorporated a bat and a baseball ball, but swimming it just seemed more challenging. So I began by brainstorming what things related to water and the first thing that came to my mind were waves, and goggles, and towels and swimsuits. But the thing was how to transform it in a cool design? I spent hours looking at pictures. The essential piece to this situation was to grab a paper and a pencil and hopefully ideas would start flowing, and just like that images began to appear. I was reminded of that day we spent with Randy from High Tech High were we learned about prototyping and not just staying with the first idea that comes to your mind. It was all a process that lead to this creation --------------------> I was just about to send it to my friend when I decided to select the logo of the wave and it suddenly turned into a selection of colors due to the different layers. The color design wasn't even planned but accidents may lead to innovative inventions. Sometimes the unexpected turns out to be cool. My friend was really amazed and excited with the design I had developed but he had to share it with the rest of the team members. It is not a definite decision that they will use my design or even my logo. Even though it would be exciting to see my logo on the jacket maybe they decide to choose another design. But the most rewarding part of all is that I was given the chance to create a design and I took the challenge. However the most important thing is that I feel proud of my creation. I really enjoy sports but sometimes I hesitate when reaching the competitive side of games. What I love about sports is that they disconnect me from the academic stress, it is a though I freeze time and enjoy the play. I've practiced many sports like tennis, golf, swimming and surf. About a month ago I heard a friend say they needed people in the baseball team. I had never played baseball, well actually you could sort of count P.E. but still it wasn't as though I was a real baseball player. Since then the idea never left my brain. As I reflected I decided, why not? It was then that I decided to go to the after school trainings. I was nervous at the beginning of the first class, as the teacher introduced me to the sport and briefly summarized the rules, positions and strategies. It was time for me to hit the bat. Thousands of questions rushed through my mind as I placed my feet on the side of the base with the bat on my hands. I didn't have time think twice when suddenly the ball was attacking me at such speed I made swing and swooosh.... the ball when flying beyond second base. I couldn't believe it. Since then I realized that you can't say "I can't" until you try. After 4 practices I was told that a tournament was coming up soon. That day had been today just after school. During my classes I was so nervous because I hadn't gone regularly to class I had quite some difficulties grabbing the ball as it rolled toward me. Finally it was time. We didn't win but I believe I played my best to be a beginner. A that moment I felt proud, a sense of victory and a feeling of risk-taker I hadn't experienced this in quite a while! I learned that PRACTICE LEADS TO SUCCESS and that sometimes you don't know your abilities until you try something totally new. |
Sara Cadena"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose." - Dr. Seuss Archives
May 2014
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