My Last Last Day in High School

I don't really know how I'm suppose to start this blog. But I guess a picture would be a nice way to do that. :)



My friend, Ryan, took this picture on March 11 (which was our last last day in high school) and at the end of this blog, you'll find out why this photo is important to me. :D

p.s.

DON'T SKIP TO THE END || READ THE WHOLE BLOG FIRST c(=


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LATE.




Yes, I was late. And I wasn't just late for any ordinary day, I was late for my last last day of high school. Obviously, this wasn't part of the plan. In fact, the plan was to be the first person to enter school --just like what I did on my last first day of high school. Unfortunately, I had slept late on the night before because I had to cram study review for my chinese exam. So I guess it was kind of a disappointment not to be the first person enter school. In fact now that I think of it, chances are, I was the LAST person to enter school. =_="


LAST LECTURES



But despite of being the probable LAST PERSON TO ENTER SCHOOL, I wasn't going to let that ruin my last last day of high school. I wasn't expecting any lessons that day, but I was expecting a lot of lectures --last lectures.

The first time I heard the term "The Last Lecture" was from my friend, Gio. He got the concept from a series of lectures in the United States where university professors were invited to speak to their students for one last time before they were to leave, either because of terminal disease or retirement. And the cool things about this lecture series was that no teacher would be talking about calculus, trigonometry, or theoretical physics. No. This lecture was to contain the last words of a teacher to his/her students. This lecture was about things that really mattered in life. And I guess as a fourth year student moving on to college, the last lecture is a nice way to wrap up the school year. I mean things like trig, grammar, law of diminishing marginal utility --these things are all important, but I know that they aren't the MOST important and I'm glad my teachers know that too. :D










THE FEEDING OF THE 5000 102

I guess one of the coolest things I got to do on my last day, was to participate in the feeing of the 5000 102. xD




Since I don't usually have my lunch at school, it was something I really looked forward to. The idea was to have our last lunch as seniors in Davao Christian together. It was a fun activity filled with bonding and a lot food. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long because after lunch were the chinese exams. And despite it being the chinese exams, no one really wanted to do bad on their last last day so it was STUDY, STUDY, STUDY. xD





THE BIRD

Oh yes, back to the bird. xD




Well, you see, not all of our teachers gave their last lecture on March 11. One did hers in advance because she had to leave on Thursday for Thailand. That teacher is Ma'am Jocy.




I've known ma'am Jocy since I was grade 5 and since then, I've grown to have learned from her a lot. She was the first person to teach me how to not speak gibberish and she was also the person who encouraged me to write more. She taught me how to write formally for theses and term papers and she also taught me how to write informally for essays. She introduced me to the Youngblood column in PDI as a way to share my writing with more people and throughout my four years in high school, she has been more than just a teacher to me, she was my mentor.

Two years ago, ma'am Jocy wrote an article for SunStar. I know that the batch she is wrote about here is not my batch, but nevertheless, the message she speaks is a message for all. I don't know how many seniors will be reading this, but I hope it touches you as much as it touched me. Here is her article:


View from the Faculty Office Window

By Jocy So- Yeung

IT IS a dreary day today. It's been drizzling since early this morning, and a chill has settled into our bones.
Today is the last day of classes and the weather seemed to mirror the slight sadness reflected on students' faces. For the seniors, it is time to close this chapter of their lives. High school will officially end on graduation day, but today will still be meaningful and important.

After days, weeks and months of complaining about the rules and regulations they have to follow, seat work they have to do, lectures they have to listen to, and quizzes they have to take, they will have to say goodbye to those familiar rituals of student life. As much as they claim to despise these activities, deep in their hearts they know high school would not be what it is if not for certain difficulties and hardships.

To capture the fleeting moments of their last day, many seniors are taking pictures on the stairs, inside the canteen, grabbing random teachers and students to pose with them. Others are circulating the undying slambook and asking for pictures, with dedication of course. Technology may have made sharing information and photos easier on the net, but on this last day, there is still something different about exchanging tangible items in order to remember all that the seniors can.
Today is their last school day. Today is last day that they will face this terror teacher or that boring instructor. Today is the last day that they will be able to sit inside their classroom and gossip about classmates. Today is the last day of what many of them will consider as the best years of their lives.

Other times its even students from other year levels looking depressed. Some are crying for friends who will be moving to another city, another country. Some are crying for teachers who will leave to pursue new dreams, new hopes.
A group of girls in long-sleeved sweaters walked past our office to their classroom. Their arms hung limply by their sides, chins tucked down, trying to hide their tear-stained faces. One of their friends just told them that she will fly to Japan immediately after the last exam day. She will continue their studies there. Other students stood against the wall, watching them quietly as they passed by.

It is a sad, dreary day today.

Still, sad as it is, the view from the faculty office window is also heartwarming and encouraging. One student told me she'd miss the corridors, the chairs, the white boards, the security guard checking their IDs, the canteen concessionaires, the boisterous grade one pupils running around the high school building during recess. As a teacher and alumna of this school, it is wonderful to see that the students have grown to love their time here, that for most, the school have become their second home, second family.

I hope their love for the school will strengthen them as they move on to college, so that no matter what new difficulties they encounter as they proceed to a new chapter in their lives, even if they feel rejected, undermined, inferior or out of place, they can take comfort knowing that there is an Alma Mater they can return to.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the bird that kept rebuilding her nest on the corner of our building's ceiling. Last week, she returned and went about her usual construction activities. Our janitor has decided to leave the nest alone this time. The bird has been there for more than a week, and more and more students have noticed its presence.

If I can leave a message for the flow of sad students passing by our faculty office window this dreary day, it would be to look up at the bird and remember that no matter how many times others might try to shoo them away, this school will always be their home. No matter how many times they fly away, no matter how many journeys they undertake in life, no matter what happened, they can always come back here. Always.

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It's a sad fact to know that I'm eventually going to have to leave Davao Christian. I've talked to some people about college, and it just seems so different. I've been to Manila myself and I know that I'm going to have to make huge adjustments in my life. I know that troubles will come and I know that there will be times when I feel like there will no where else to turn. Nevertheless, it is a great comfort to know that Davao Christian cares and that every time I come back home to Davao, I'm always welcomed at school. ^^

Anyway, I'm already behind schedule (see note) and I still have to prepare for Senior's Night tonight. So I guess this is all for now. Until next time! ^^


*BOW*



Current mode: Internalising my senior days..

note: THIS IS A LATE POST. I already finished writing this weeks ago but I think I saved it as a draft and forgot to publish it. My bad. v(//_^)v

Winning

WARNING: Now, that I'm finally done. I just realised that this is a long blog.. o.O

This is the story of how I won my first competition. Some of you reading this might think I'm lying, but believe me, this is actually the first time I've won first place. I was kinda hesitant about posting this, but I guess in the end, I've always got to go with my heart. So, here it goes. :)

Last last friday, my friends and I joined a robotics competition sponsored by Fischer Technik.




Our school has a robotics programme but we use NXT and not Fischer, so we had to sort of "adjust" ourselves for the contest.

Actually, NXT has a competition of its own, the World Robot Olympiad. But since our school bought our kits directly from the US and didn't buy from the Philippine supplier of NXT (because it was 3 times more expensive xD), we weren't informed about the WRO. :|




It kinda stinks that I wasn't able to join the WRO last year, but at least now our school knows about it and hopefully, we'll be able to send in some students to join this year's competition. :)



Now, to the competition blog proper! :D


GENERAL IDEA OF THE CONTEST:

Our competition was divided into two stages -the construction stage and the testing stage. The construction stage would be done in AdDu (Ateneo de Davao University) while the testing stage would be done in SM. The contest was suppose to start 8 AM sharp, but we arrived at 8:20 AM with a reason that you will know later. xD

We were actually expecting a scolding, possible disqualification, or a time disadvantage. But when we got there, it turns out that everyone else was late too! In fact, the competition didn't start until 9 AM! :)) :D

Oh yes, the reason why we were late. xDD

Well, you see, all robots have something that we call a CPU. This is the robot's brain and in order for your robot to function, you need to be able to programme the CPU properly with your computer.

Most robotic programmes are usually updated so that it can be compatible with Windows 7 or Mac OS X, unfortunately, Fischer Technik is only compatible with Windows XP.




This left us with a big problem --we didn't know anyone who was still using Windows XP! Fortunately, our coach did and after a lot finding and asking, we finally got two XP laptops and rushed to the competition site.


INSTRUCTIONS:

Build a robot and programme it to follow the black line --wherever it may go. Time limit: Finish before 12 noon.

The competition instructions seemed rather simple, but believe me, what we did for the next 5 hours was not even close to simple!


TIME STARTS NOW:




The moment the competition began, the first thing we got done was our inventory. Some of the people consider this as a waste of time, but it was important for us not to lose any of the parts because the kits were only borrowed. We predicted that when the contest would end, we would have to do a closing inventory and if the kits weren't complete, we would have to pay a fee for the missing parts. If we started with an incomplete kit, we could inform the person-in-charge and thus, our inventory requirements would change depending on the materials in our kit.

After confirming that all our materials were complete, we divided our group of 5 into 3: the engineers, the programmer and the IB or In-Between and began our 5-hour work.

The programmers were responsible for creating the programme for the robot to function.

While, the engineers were responsible for building the robot.

The IB was in-charge of coordinating the two --making sure that the robot was designed correctly to fit in the sensors for the programme and double checking the programme of the robot.

Oh yes, I'm the IB. XD


TIME CHECK: TWO HOURS LEFT

One hour in to the competition and we were done with our programme, back-up programme, and the back-up of our back-up programme.

The "car" wasn't done so I asked one programmer to help in the construction and the other programmer to come up with another alternative programme.

Here's a picture of our "robot" at 10 AM.

PROBLEMO NUMERO UNO

Things were going well until 11 o'clock. We were finish with our robot and we had an hour to test it and make adjustments.



To be honest, our group felt really confident because we already made a line follower with the NXT programme last September. In a way, you could say that there was this pride in us that we were sure that we were going to grab this thing.

Unfortunately, pride got the better of us.

After our initial testings, we found out that none of our four programmes worked. We tested, adjusted, tested again, but nothing.

It was 5 minutes to 12 and one school seemed to be happy with their work and began packing for SM. The proctor checks up on all the other schools and decides to extend the deadline to 12:30 PM because I think that he thinks that it wouldn't be cool if only one robot worked. xDD

Anyway, the point was that we got a 30-minute extension.

30 minutes in the classroom might seem long, but 30 minutes to configure a robot? I don't think so.

We came up with two more programmes but to no avail. It still didn't work.

By this time, the team was already fed up with not only each other but with themselves as well.

"Why can't the robot work!," we asked each other.


THE SOLUTION

12:25 and nothing. Our robot still wouldn't follow the line. By now, the team had already gone past the anger. I remember one of my teammates saying, "Well, we did out best. And the best is nothing short but the best. I'm still proud of what we did."

We had no choice but to enter a robot that wasn't working, but nevertheless, we were proud of it. :)

12:30 PM and the proctor has another look at all the robots. The one school that finished early? Well, you could say that a lot happens in 30 minutes. :D

After a talk with some coordinators, the proctor extends the deadline to 1:00 PM

We had another 30 minutes to configure. We tried all we could but like what happened earlier, it just wouldn't work. We were disappointed...

12:45 PM

By now, our minds were cooled from all the pressure and with 15 minutes left and one of my groupmates thinks he sees the problem. It turns out that we used the Yellow sensor (which sees brightness) instead of the Black sensor (which sees colours).

Our programme was right, but the sensor was wrong! We still had 15 minutes to make the change but we knew it was going to be close to impossible.

1:00 PM

Time was up and we weren't done. The proctor has another round of look and declares that the deadline is moved. We could still make adjustments but condition was that we'd have to be at SM at 2:00 PM sharp and this time, we couldn't and weren't going to be late.

LAST MINUTE CHECK-UP

We fixed our robot on the way and we were really just hoping that it would turn out okay. We got to SM before 2 so we bought some electrical tape to give our robot a test run and guess what..

It worked..

We couldn't believe it.. o.O

Our robot finally worked.. \(^o^)/

We were overjoyed and ran like idiots (at SM. Yes, we ran like idiots at SM. xDD). Our robot finally worked!! Our 5-hours of labour had finally paid-off!! Our robot was alive and working!! Waahoo!! xDD

One of my groupmates wanted to make more adjustments but I made it clear that no one could touch ROBOTICON (Yes, we named it Roboticon :D) or give it another test run. We had been using its battery for close to 3 hours and I didn't want our efforts to die out because the battery died.

All we could do now was wait..

Here's Roboticon's final design

|| Fast forward to 5:00 PM ||


COMPETITION TIME




Before the testing formally began, we actually took a picture with Roboticon and the smile on our faces should be enough to tell you that we were proud of our work. :)

From here on out, we decided that whether we would win or lose, we were going to be proud of the moment that our robot actually worked. Not many kids have the chance of touching a robot, much more making one, but at that moment, we actually had the chance to make a working robot.


The result?


Well, the result isn't important. :)


What was more important was the lesson I learned that day. :D


I haven't been given a lot of chances to compete but when I do, I always remember to give my all.

I remember watching MasterChef one day and I recall that that episode featured a double elimination (meaning two people would get eliminated instead of the usual one). A contestant was asked by one of the cameramen about how he felt with the twist and I like his reply.

"Oh the double elimination? It doesn't matter. Every time I cook, I always cook with my all. Single elimination, double elimination, it doesn't matter. When I cook I always give a 110% --competition or not."

His answer struck me a lot and I've never forgot about it. This man (even if he didn't win MasterChef) had definitely won my admiration and respect.

People who are truly successful in life don't always have the best skill or talent, but they do have the biggest heart. I remember a quote I read from Francis Kong which goes,

"In life, there will always be winners and losers. What differentiates the two is their attitude towards the game."

Not everyone can go home with a prize, but everyone can always go home a winner. :)

It didn't matter if my team ended up with a trophy or not, they are and will always be winners by heart. I don't care if their best wouldn't good enough for the judges because that day, I saw my friends play a different game -a game played and won by hearts.

Man measures success by putting the tape measure around the head, but God measures success by placing the tape measure around the heart. :)

And since everyone is insisting on the results..

We won. ^_^

But even without the trophy and the certificate, we'd still be winners anyway. xDD

So after roughly 3 hours of typing, editing and more editing, I guess this isn't my first win after all. Hehehe. :)

And now that I think about, it looks like I learn more when I blog. xDD

Anyway, I don't know exactly how I'm going to end this story, but I guess a good way to do that is to go back to how I started. :)

So...

This is the story of how I won my first another competition. Some of you reading this might think that I'm lying, but believe me, this is actually the first time I've won first place disagree with my concept of winning, but for now, I'll stand by with what I believe in. I hope that you guys would learn from this story and even if I was kinda hesitant about posting this, I guess in the end, I've always got to go with my heart..

.. and I'm happy I did. :)

You don't need a trophy to be winner. You just need heart. :)

Anyway, it's getting late and I still have to study for my p6 (physics) and economics exam tomorrow.

So, I guess this is all for now. ^^


*BOW*



Current mode: Dear diary.. writing my last last day of high school