Favorite Place project

By Triston Waskul

My favorite place is a place I designed myself. It is located of the coast of Idaho, and it has a secret network of tunnels, a big forest, a lake with fresh water, a Hockey puck named Richard Parker, a big bonfire, a house on stilts, and a zipline. Before I started I had many different ideas, so I wrote them all down until I found the one I liked the most. I chose this one because it seemed like the one I could put the most creativity into when I drew, as I like that sort of thing. My big challenge was attempting to design the place, and make it into something that could identify me. I had to try different ideas, not knowing if it would work. Some ideas didn’t, and I had to restart a few times, but when I had my final result, I thought it was quite good, and I got an A. Asking for ideas was something that I didn’t really want to do, but I found that it made the project far more creative and special when I used some peoples ideas. I also do this in many other projects in school, such as the favorite foods project in mentorship. I also use this outside of school, in team sports like hockey or soccer. 

All in all I thought it was a pretty successful project that I had fun with by being able to draw and be creative. My goals for neext time would probably be to add more details and expand on the project a bit more.

Innovation artifact project

In this project we are suppose to design something using 3 different materiels we can find in class. We made a bow and arrow using tape, a pencil, and a paper clip.

What worked well

-We finished

-We used all the materials

-It worked really well

-We kept improving it so it kept getting better

-It shoots really far, and it’s not deadly

What didn’t go well

-We didn’t know what we were doing in the beginning

-I missed the class before so I didn’t have any supplies

-It broke

All in all I think it was a successful project. We collaborated together and we built something new, and I believe that means we are innovators. An example in school of when we are innovators is when we are designing our exhibitions of learning. An example of when we are innovators outside of school is when we do something creative, like draw, or write a story.

Innovation artifact project

In this project we are suppose to design something using 3 different materiels we can find in class. We made a bow and arrow using tape, a pencil, and a paper clip.

What worked well

-We finished

-We used all the materials

-It worked really well

-We kept improving it so it kept getting better

-It shoots really far, and it’s not deadly

What didn’t go well

-We didn’t know what we were doing in the beginning

-I missed the class before so I didn’t have any supplies

-It broke

All in all I think it was a successful project. We collaborated together and we built something new.

My role models

My role models are my dad, Richard Marcinko, and Morgan Freeman. here are my reasons.

My dad

My dad is one of my role models because he has always done what he has set out to do. He has been a pilot, a sniper, a police officer, and a founding member of a ERT team. He makes goals and he follows through, doing everything in his power to accomplish them.

 

Richard Marcinko

Richard Marcinko is one of my role models because he has always stuck to his guns in a bad situation, and is a fantastic team leader. he is one of the founding members of the navy seals. Before that he was a demolition diver, which was basically a navy seal. He was the best of the best. He actually infiltrated friendly bases to show them what was wrong with their security systems. Once he retired from the navy seals he began to write books about his missions. When he refused to market them as fiction, the government put him in jail for treason, but he didn’t back down, and was released later on.

 

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman is one of my role models because he is held in such high esteem by movie goers. Just the sound of his voice in a movie instantly brings respect to the movie. I hope to one day have the speaking skills of Morgan Freeman, who could be in the most confusing movie ever, but if give two minutes of screen time, he could explain everything. He has appeared in such movies as Wanted, shawshank redemption, and the Christopher Nolan batman movies. He even played god in Bruce almighty. He is awesome.

Hockey academy goals

Short term goals

Personal development

Be able to do a back squat, dead lift, and bench press with perfect form, and without struggling under weight.

I will achieve this by practicing the motions with weight and doing strength building exercises 3 times a week on non hockey days.

My goal is to be able to have a workout plan that I can do daily.

I will do this by learning exercises from hockey academy and designing my work out plan around that.

Academic goal

To get an A on all quizzes and tests in term 2

I will do this by completing all homework and studying 20 minutes a night.

My goal is to get an A on my exhibition of learning in mentorship

I will achieve this by putting time and effort into the power point and finding pictures and artifacts to show off.

Hockey goal

My goal is to make my wrist shot more accurate to a point where I can score in the pockets of my net 7 out of 10 times. I will do this by going out everyday after school and practice shooting on the net from different points and angles. 

My goal is to increase my skating speed from one end of the rink to the other by 5 seconds.

I will do this by timing myself and recording it, and increase my stride speed and strength, and then doing it again until I reach my goal.

 

 

Intermediate goals
Personal
My goal is to stop eating fast food and cook meals at home.
I will achieve this by striving for healthier options. For example, cutting back on desserts and eating more fruits and vegetables.
My goal is to start doing more chores around the house.
I will achieve this by doing more chores, and keeping the house clean, without being asked.
Academic
My goal is to have all A’s in my classes by the end of the year
I will achieve this by doing all homework and studying before supper.
My goal is to get all G’s in work ethic in term 2.
I will achieve this by always putting forth my best work on homework and assignments.
Hockey
My goal is to score or assist 3 goals in the play offs.
I will achieve this by practicing in hockey practice and hockey academy, and on my own time.
My goal is to increase my pass accuracy by 20%.
I plan on doing this by taking a hundred shots at a spot I am aiming for, record how often I hit it, and try to improve that number.
Long term goal
Personal
My goal is to paint my Camaro and have it ready to drive by next year.
I plan on doing this by taking time out of my day and working with my dad in our shop.
My goal is to get a part time job over the summer so I can earn some money.
I plan on doing it by committing to a job, whether its sorting bottles or walking dogs.
Academic
To continue to get A’s in grade 9 and not fall behind in any classes.
I will do this by studying, doing my homework, and asking for help if I need it.
My goal is to be able to go in to an advanced math and science class in grade 9.
I plan on doing this by keeping up my A average in math and science class, until the end of the year.
Hockey
To be able to back squat 100 pounds.
I will achieve this by practicing my back squat 3 times a week on non hockey academy days.
My goal is to make the tier 3 bantam hockey team next year.
I plan on achieving this by exercising, practicing hockey lots, by shooting out back on my net and going to stick and puck, eating healthy, and getting proper sleep.

Triston’s horror story

By Triston

January 13, 2014

 

 

“Now who’s idea was it to go on a vacation at the site of an Indian burial ground where the haunted toy factory use to be until it burned down and replaced by the summer camp where all those teenagers disappeared with a tough talking jock, a cheerleader, and a preppy teenager?” said Triston sarcastically, taking the situation less than what it is.

“I don’t even remember why we brought you along.” Said the jock.

“I used to be one of the campers here that you guys forgot about.”

“We weren’t the seniors at the summer camp! We said this a hundred times!”

“Well in these stories you’re all kind of the same!”

“What stor-“The jock almost finished saying, before the killer started pounding on the door again.

“Open up, and I’ll take it easy on you guys!”

“Okay.” said Triston

“Really?”

“No.”

“I’m gonna kill you all!”

“Not if I use my chain saw! Rea-re-re-r-re-r-r-r-r-r!” shouted Triston, imitating a chainsaw. The pounding on the door stopped.

“What are we going to do?” said the cheer leader.  

“We could always go to the second floor of the log cabin and hide with the lights off.” Said Mrs. Preppy.

“Well, since you have the survival skills of a lemming, and for some odd reason you’re probably going to be the only one that lives, so were going to ignore you and sit together in this room with the lights on, with our backs to the wall, away from windows, and tell stories to calm our nerves.” said Triston.

Where did you learn all this?” the three high school kids said in unison.

“Well, I read the Swiss family Robinsons a couple, and I also saw Castaway, but since we don’t have a volley ball that we can feel sympathetic for, we have to tell stories to calm our nerves.”

“Ok.” They said again in unison, reminding Triston of the Olsen twins from Steven Kubrick’s “The Shining.”

“Ok then.” said Triston. “I’ll go first. In school, I learned about the five attributes of a learner. “The first attribute is the attributes of a learner, which seems kind of weird because if there are five attributes to a learner and a learner is one of them… Don’t get me started on It.” said Triston. “A learner is someone who is becoming self-directed and resilient in solving problems, like the killer outside who is trying to figure out how to get inside the cabin. I feel that I used to use this while I played hockey, when the team did a difficult play and we had to overcome it, or solve the problem, but if this follows the pattern of the Evil dead, and I survive, I’m gonna be missing a limb. That kind of takes hockey out of the picture. I also used to use this in school…yeah, I know, learning in school, shocking! When we had a difficult problem in math or science or whatever, we had to use the attributes of a learner! Ahhhhhhhh! But the attributes of a thinker also goes along with this. The attributes of a thinker is a person who uses back ground knowledge, utilizes a variety of thinking strategies, almost like how the killer uses a variety of sharp, pointy things. Also, a thinker exhibits the attitudes of a careful and conscientious thinker. Unlike the killer, who just pounds on the door!” The group perked up their ears, waiting for a burst of anger from the killer, but heard nothing.

 

 “Using my survival skills, and my horror movie knowledge, it’s better to not learn your names as only one person, if any of us, is going to survive. So I’ve come up with nick names for all of you so we don’t have to learn actual names and feel bad about your deaths.” said Triston, who was excited to not talk about school. “You, my preppy young friend, will be Preppy

“Yeah!” said Preppy

“Our cheer leader friend here seems like the kind who walks against the crowd, so I’ll name you Rebel Yell”

“Whatever.” Said Rebel Yell

“Finally, our testosterone oozing friend over here will be named “Meat head.”

“Hey, I find that stereotypical!” said Meathead

“It’s a horror movie, were all stereotypical.” said Triston.

The effects of osmosis on potatoes.

By Triston

Hypothesis

Tap: I believe over the two day span of the project the potato will increase in size, but will become smaller and smaller as more salt is added.

Distilled: I believe that the potato will increase In size, but less than the tap water, as distilled water is stripped of its minerals.

5% salt: I believe it will increase in size, but less so then the normal water because the cell will put out more water because of the imbalance of the salt.

15% salt: Might grow in size but will be affected by the salt

45% salt: I believe it will decrease in size. Definitely affected by the salt.

Materials

-Safety goggles

-Potato cubes, cut into 1 inch pieces in length, width, and height.

-Salt

-Distilled water

-Tap water 

-5 Beakers (1000 ml)

-Rulers

-Triple beam balance scale

Procedure

The amount of salt in the solution will be the independent variable. The controlled variables are the size of the potatoes at the beginning of the procedure, and the amount of water in the beakers.

1. Record the size and mass of the five one inch potato cubes using a triple beam balance scale and a ruler.

2. Fill a 1000ml beaker with 400 ml of water. For one beaker only use tap water. For one use distilled water. For one use 400ml of tap water, then add 5% of that as salt. Next one use 400ml of tap water, and then add 15% of that as salt. For the last one use 400ml of tap water, and add 45% percent of that as salt.

3. Add one potato to each beaker.

4. Record data at the start of this class and next class,

5. Create a graph to illustrate information.

Analysis

After performing the procedure and graphing the results we were able to see that after the two days in the water or salt water that the potato cubes continued to grow but the more salt that was added, the smaller in difference their was between the potato cubes at the start of the project and the potato cubes at the end of the project. At the end we found that the salt that goes into the water affects the growth of the potato cubes. Please look at our graph for proof. If you did, you can see that the tap water was the best one to increase the growth, while the distilled water had a slightly less effect on the growth. When salt was added, this dramatically decreased the amount the potato grew. Even though we added more salt in the later mixtures, it was apparent that it would not have such a massive drop rate as the first salt water mixture did compared to the tap water and distilled water.

Conclusion

At the end of the project, we found we were correct with all our procedures except the 45% salt water mixture, were we thought it would decrease in size. Please look at our graph and chart for proof. The things hat we would do differently next time would be the time difference in which we took them out. Also, We would keep the potato cubes in their longer, and record more often.

Collaboration (Group juggle)

If you couldn’t tell by the title, this involved group work, and juggling.

This did not end well.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad game. It’s when half the class is baseball pitchers, and your standing point blank in their face when the game becomes more nuts than aunt Matilda.

She’s pretty crazy.

So, the idea of the game is to learn how to be more cooperative and vocal, as in “NOT THE FACE!” or the famous “I’m over here!” I was a fan of the first one, saying (more like screaming) that line everytime the picture made a shot at, you guessed it, my face!

YEAH!

Overall, it was a fun lesson that had us stretching our legs and not filling in the blanks with our number 2 pencil. Always an A in my book.

My struggle in the game was trying to catch the koosh balls (safety hazard) with my face instead of my hands. Thank god for critical thinking, am I right?

The next time we do this I’ll bring a hub cab for a shield. Off my camaro. which I can drive to school or work. So I won’t miss a shift.

I don’t think I could have been more obvious with this, could I? I’m no exactly subtle, with my 120+ pounds of muscle, and 20 pounds of chocolate.

So let me get down to the key points in this post, which is how I collaborate inside and outside of school.

Well, I play hockey, and that is a team sport, what with the many roles you can play. Like goalies, who were probably dropped on their head as a child more often than needed to want to stand in front of the puck instead of shooting it. Inside of school, their is always the group projects in school, like the stop motion project in my computers class with my friend Taylor Pich, who someone should totally hire. Hard worker. Hard worker. Anyways, it requires us to pose for pictures and take them everytime we move one inch.

Agonizingly boring.

But the project is fun, and I have to switch classes soon, so this will be the end of my post for now.

Thank you for reading.

Collaboration- Group Juggle

I hope you all know what collaboration is!

I certainly do. When you spend an hour every day for a week on it, you pick up a couple things! If you couldn’t tell by my atttitude, a class dedicated to “collaboration” and “working together with people” is not one of my favorites. I find it easier to approch a project seperately. Once in a while the class becomes quite ironic actually. We had a class dedicated to critical thinking and we spend 3/4 of the class explaining to us how to critically think.

But there are good moments in the class, like any class.

Today in the class we got to do an activity called the group juggle. The idea of it is that we have to learn to be cooporative and vocal. Basically, we all gather around and toss koosh balls (safety hazards) at each other, softly. But of course I got partnered up with the base ball pitcher, who thought it would be funny to throw 5 koosh balls at point blank range.

It was.

He missed all of them.

That was hilarious.

What this quote means to me

“Believe nothing you here, and half of what you here.”

This quote is one of many that I believe focuses on today’s culture, where everyone seems to have their own agenda and you have to take the lies like a UFC fighter takes a punch. As I progress through my years as a living person on this earth, I’m starting to see that these quotes are becoming more and more true by the minute. On that note, I have to agree with this quote.

People can obviously take this the wrong way, where they can become a freak, thinking there are conspiracies everywhere, like the shampoo company telling you to wash your hair twice, but you don’t really need too, or maybe the guys at taco bell lick the shells… that’s right, the people at the fast food restraunts may not be as smart as you think they are in sanitary care.

I view this as simply something to be cautious for. As long as there has been competition, there have always been liars. It’s just now in our society this has become more apparent. People are seeing this and thinking they can’t trust anyone. That’s not true. You can depend on people, just not everyone. Always watch out for the topic and try to determine if they are biased or not.

What do you think? I would love to hear your response. Please comment and check back for more rants.