Retreat 2k19 (Last one!)

Bitter sweet feeling to know this is most likely my last blog as a chaperone to speak on my behalf of how the retreat went. Coming into the class, I would’ve never imagined to be where I’m at now...especially as a chaperone for 3 years in a row for the retreat. As a student within the class, it was completely different as I was always told what to do and knew what was expected of me. Didn’t think much of what the chaperones had to do for us besides them helping with guiding us as a whole class. I was younger obviously so I was more immersed into the moment of everything, if things had to get done then it had to be done immediately. I was building more relationships with the people in my class of 2 years & understanding one another, never really thought much of what it took to maintain my relationship with leadership in general until my last year when it was time to graduate from middle school. If I had to think back of what I knew was for sure, it was how the retreat helped bring us together as one. 

Now, being a chaperone of 3 years...it’s completely different to be on the opposite side. We were always providing for the students in any way and made sure they were getting what they needed. Like always, the students come FIRST. Of course over the time, we managed to prioritize better to be able to relax also for ourselves. Unfortunately this year, Ing was more sick than usual so we (chaperones) knew we had to step up together to be able to help him in any way possible. Although we had a last minute adjustment of switching to another house, we made it work! It was a great experience to try something new and different. Might be a little difficult in the new house if we had boys in the leadership class since we have to separate them but i know we could make it work somehow. We definitely managed to complete our lessons in the way we imagined it to be...my lesson turned out to be better than I anticipated it to be, the kids were very intrigued by the way I structured everything myself and how I applied every riddle to leadership. Everything just fell into place smoothly, so it was a huge gratitude to the retreat house for being a huge help for us to disconnect to be connected with one another. I enjoyed every bit of it although I was in denial that it’ll be my last year as a chaperone ),: time went by super fast & I was not ready to leave. Thank you to everybody who made my last one memorable!! Off to new beginnings now! Thee Mexican is out lol!! 

Retreat 2K18 Chaperones

Another year back to the retreat as a chaperone again. I’m Tiana Julian, an alumni of the Leadership Program & former SBG President of that class. I’ve been around for about 4-5 years as a student & contributing to the class itself on my own time once I graduated middle school. This would be my 4th year at the retreat, 2 years as a student then 2 years as a chaperone. As a middle schooler, attending the retreat gave us a new perspective on how much better we could be as a whole along with finding our weaknesses and strengths. We would go into depth with the class & it would teach us different aspects to why we do things the way we do. Also, really benefitted us when we would clean up the house for the care taker & for the next people to come by which taught us to always give back to those who give to us. As a chaperone, this is my second year as I’ve said, way better than my first year now that the chaperones managed to gain something more from this activity besides helping the students individually. Got to be more occupied which resulted us in more bonding time since we would be there for three days, finally got to do the chaperone activities that we never got to for 7 years. Overall, the house got to help expand and immerse us to be more connected amongst one another, especially with technology not around. The house was definitely an escape from reality. Biggest benefit would be how not only did the students get to be more in depth with one another but it gave that opportunity to the chaperones, basically everyone overall to understand the importance of understanding others to help collaborate efficiently. My growth developed a lot overtime, I gained a few things teaching a different group of kids as I tend to learn more things everyday from them as new students come through the program. Every year we have this activity, it does improve how the students are and how they work together which is tremendously useful. I got to see two different perspectives as a student and as a chaperone, I got to self evaluate on how I did as a chaperone and what I could to be better from before. Along with being a student there, it improve me as an individual in general to apply the lessons learned for future references. I appreciate what the house has done and continues to do for the students.

Omg I’ve been so busy lately and I didn’t even get to turn my blog cause I had tahitian practice then I had family over. I’m so bad at managing my time so apologies for not making time for my last blog. But this month went by super fast, I need to keep up w everything while I can. Mainly I’ve been tryna maintain my grades at a good average but this trending system is messing me up to the max. But I’m pretty sad I didn’t get to run track since it’s too late and my parents won’t schedule my physical which means I didn’t have enough practice to qualify for the next three track meets ugh. Regrets regrets regrets. February was sorta hectic in a way, I’m finally selling old clothes to make some money on the side hahah until I’m 16 and able to find a job easily. Which is in 2-3 more months!!! I’ve mostly been all over the place, still going beach as usual but no surfing time this month ugh. I really want a new board and this time just a long board maybe, depends for a short board. Not much I could say this month tbh since it was short and the endless cycle of school repeats. But I did go on a SF trip for a family reunion of my niece’s 18th birthday party . It was nice seeing my family since it’s been way too long, I miss them and the babies in the family are growing up. My dream college is UCSF tbh and I wana go there so badly, I wana live there in the future if it’s not hawaii. Or somewhere in the mainland where I can still do many things in one place like here! But I’ll always be an island girl at heart. 

Some advice for anyone is that, don’t waste your time on things that shouldn’t even matter. Do what’s best for you despite anyone’s thoughts, you’re trying to grow mentally as a person to lead you to your destination in life. Don’t dwell on things that you wish you could’ve done and start making a change for yourself. I need to ponder on that thought because lately my heads been everywhere...which is why my blog is late and lost track of time doing things that I shouldn’t use my energy on! 

If I could change anything right now, I wish I ser an agenda for myself to straighten out my priorities. But then again it  would be a cycle over and over again which I wouldn’t want. I rather do something new once in awhile to gain more experiences while I’m young. I’m about to get my permit soon when I have time and I’ll start looking for a job soon! Which means I’ll have a lot on my plate tryna play a role in society!

Last day of January and this year in my opinion is off to a good start despite starting February in a bad way but not the worst way...I’m joining track again finally after one year trying to find a different sport and failed lol, I’ll stick to running since it did keep me in shape and I loved the adrenaline while racing other people anyways. I figured I could do wrestling or paddling but I heard the practices are far for paddling and wrestling..sorta hard to come in new when everyone there already knows what to do and you’re the nube hahah, little bit out of my comfort zone. On the other hand, I did get back to Tahitian again so that’s the best thing that could ever happen this month cause I’ve been waiting for years to dance again. I want to be in tahitian for quite a long time because I want to be really good that my body flows so gracefully with the music automatically as if it’s singing. I can honestly say dancing tahitian has been a passion of mine since I was 4 despite me being off and on with it. But anyways, I’ll be running and dancing tahitian in the meantime which is what I want to help me get back in shape, to feel satisfied with myself in a way because I haven’t been productive lately. I want a new change, a very big one and I guess you can say I’m currently seeking for it right now. I have to check the mail for more college letters but one of the ones I received was George Mason University which is on the east coast, they wanted me to enroll for the NYLF program to come and experience a hands-on learning based on medicine, I really want to go but I have to search how long I’ll be gone for and how much it’ll cost because I need to enroll by the deadline ugh. I believe this is one of the best accomplishments I’ve gotten recently. Also, with my new classes, I have 3 new ones and I can finally say I love my teachers because they make things so much easier for me! They’re truly teachers and now I can’t complain if I’m doing bad or not, but I really need to compete against this stupid trending system because there’s no way I’ll let it make me have a bad grades this semester. Also, this probably sounds insane whoever is reading ALL of this but...me and my friends got pulled over for racing illegally lol. It sounds crazy but there’s this car cruise every Friday at the ending of each month I think and they do a meet-up, there’s some really badass cars not gonna lie!!! I’m a truck person but damn these cars would tell me otherwise but we went and we hopped into a convoy. Hahah it was so stupid but we were racing and following them the whole time. We went onto the freeway and we split up into different lanes and starting gassing it then a cop was on the side that we didn’t see and pulled the car I was in over, it was fun while it lasted but the cop was such a dickhead. Can’t blame him but still yet, he was swearing at my friend calling him a “fucking dumbass” and etc. But I’ve been going Beach A LOT and I need to take a break cause a sis is getting too dark and I ain’t tryna get super dark before summer comes.

Advice for the students in the class, please don’t give Mr. Ing a hard time...keep in mind there’s under 80 days left of school! Hard to say but this school year was probably the best one yet (personally LOL don’t worry Mr. Ing). But let’s just sit back and appreciate how fricken life is great. I’m blessed to have the life I have and forgive me God if I showed otherwise. Things happen for a reason and there’s some things where if it was meant to be then IT will be. I came across so many things in my life that made me the person I am today and still going through things that is making me stronger. So thank you god for the countless blessings because I know that he doesn’t just extract something from your life without replacing it with something better. Hes rebuilding me into the person I believe that will quench my satisfaction. Trust the process, always but I will pray for those that brings unnecessary negativity to their life. It isn’t hard to be a positive person so why is it easy to let someone get under your skin?? Today has gotten to be one of the days in my life where something brought clarity to my perspective. You live and you learn but how you get through it is what matters. Props to those who are in my life currently and show me unconditional love and never did show anything different. So I guess what I’m tryna say is that, keep this in mind: move forward in your own best interest because God has plans for you, and don’t let anything disturb you in any way that shouldn’t have. 

What dowant to work on? That’s a question I don’t get asked daily but self-reflection is very important in my eyes. Knowing what you have to improve on and what you need to maintain is significant while it plays a role in your life that can be applied for future references. I guess you can say for me, trying to straighten myself out...I believe things for me is so frantic that my mind has been all over the place that I try to do so many things all at once I get distracted with one thing and I forget about the other thing. I NEED TO GET THINGS IN CHECK. I’m trying to juggle things that seem as if I’m not capable of it but I do want to apply for early college, take online classes while I’m playing sports and keeping myself active. Also, I want to find out ways to help with surfing cause it sucks so much when I go surfing and I surf like I never did in my life, it’s been too long. But that’s just my opinion. Pushing myself to my limits is what I need to do in order to have a breakthrough knowing what I can do and that I CAN DO IT. 

2k17 THATS A WRAP!

Wow this is like the last blog of the year. This whole month was filled with new beginnings for myself and I’m glad to say I got to spend It with people that showed me positivity all around. I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS BLOG BEIG LATE I WAS CAUGHT UP IN THE HOLIDAYS.

But this month was basically me trying to get through this month for winter break!! I’m so stoked that we have two weeks even though I wish It was at least 3 cause now we have more school days than 1st semester ugh. But this month was amazing honestly, It had to be my favorite month of the year surprisingly. I looked forward to coming down to leadership at the ending of school because it truly was an escape from everything else. I became friends with new people and came closer to those I didn’t think I’d become close with. 

Some advice for the younglings is that hard work truly pays off. If you want it then go for it, it’ll all be worth it in the end if you persevere. Keep on striving for what you want and eventually it’ll work out. But remember things may not go your way so make the best out of It. 

Happy holidays to everyone! 

Novembuhhh

Damn another month went by and I can’t believe 2017 is slipping by so fast as the year is going to end. Anyways, lately I’ve managed to get my things together and start prioritizing my priorities better. But then again I’m still upset I missed the deadline for early college, so now I’m going to resort to trying online classes to get my credits done faster. I want to be able to cruise during my senior year and not be able to do A LOT of work so I’m trying to get everything set. But I’m happy in my personal life outside of school. Been about doing things that keep me happy and out of trouble. I’ve gotten closer to some people I wouldn’t imagine getting close to which was surprising. ON THE OTHER HAND, school likes to kick my ass plenty times as always so I have a lot of work to finish especially projects currently. I’ve been busy lately and it’s ruining my mooood. I never do have time to swing by leadership cause sometimes I’m rushing home to finish work that is due soon. Anyways, new things been coming my way and I’m very grateful for what life has to offer. Things are so good right and I happen to cherish life more than usual this month. Especially during Thanksgiving, that was definitely a change for me.

Some advice for those reading this, would be to stay focused. Sometimes you let things cloud your judgment which leads to you jumping to the wrong conclusions. But primarily, focus on yourself and getting things done. I had to learn the hard way and it definitely taught me to be better than what I was. Everyday is a new day for room to make improvement, remember that. Don’t doubt the process. But anyways, I’m so stoked for winter break!!! Finally dude, I love the holidays especially having someone that I could bring to the holiday parties. I’m just looking forward to to events with leadership because I have an excuse to make time out of my schedule. But anyways, not much went on since this month slipped by FAST

Alumni Blog #1

OKAY IM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE, I tend to take long naps and it’s Halloween so I wasn’t thinking of the things I HAD to do. Anyways, to sum up this whole month....would say it went by super fast and still caused me stress like always. I swear, some of my teachers have no structure of teaching whatsoever so I’ve been trying to keep myself up with the lessons by learning on my own 🙄. AND ON TOP OF THAT, this is my lowest GPA ever thanks to my Geometry teacher ((: so props to Ms. Kong. I know I could’ve done better but everything was just overwhelming, last term was really an eye opener. I refuse for my GPA to be this low again, also I missed the deadline for my early college...I really do feel like I’m behind on a lot of things. Although this month went by fast and I’ve been trying my best to maintain A’s, I’m slowly getting it all back. Like Mr. Ing, “if it’s important to you, you’ll make it important” and personally, I want to do good and succeed in anything I’m doing. Whenever I feel like I have a setback, it encourages me to try harder because I know myself my capability. Plus, I feel like I wasn’t that much involved with the October spirit ugh. I LOVE FALL so it really sucks I didn’t get to do a lot of festive things this month. 

Anyways, you guys should know by this paragraph my main focus I’d want to focus on is getting my grades up BIG time. It means a lot to me to know I’m doing really well academically because it does impact my own being outside of school and what I do in my personal life. Please, do not withhold the habit of procrastinating, DONT. But I really do want to get myself involve in more activities, unfortunately my sport season isn’t ready until Spring so I need to find something to occupy me. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been surfing, and I really do think I need to get back in the water again to relieve some stress. Overall to whoever is reading this, think thoroughly about what Mr. Ing tells you and the advice he shares. I could really use a talk with him sometime soon because whenever I feel like things are going downhill for me, I know who to go to. Don’t forget Mr. Ing is here to guide you in the path where you want to be/need to be, he may not be your favorite teacher or whatever but just know you’re in good hands. Unlike you guys, I don’t have a teacher like him anymore that helps me whenever I’m struggling so don’t take being in the class for granted! Again, sorry for this late blog but I do hope you guys had a very safe and blessed Halloween!