First Day of PILOT!

Monday, March 30th, 2015

Hey everyone!

Today was my first day at the PILOT Program in San Francisco. The place is near the Bay View of San Francisco. We went through a rough neighborhood in order to get there, so I wondered how I was going to make it through the day.

When I got there, I met some of the other people in the program. Loni, Hine, Jen, and JJ were all pretty cool people. 3 of them were from Sac and one of them was from Stockton. After about 15-20 mins, other people in the program showed up. I'm pretty much the only high school senior in the program. The oldest person there is 26. I guess thats what you get for enrolling in a college leadership program. We went upstairs to eat breakfast and socialize. It was still kind of awkward, but we played a small game that broke the ice.

Our first activity as to share our "Lifeline," which is our story in 5 mins.  I somehow shoved most of my life within the time limit, but I was able to be open and vulnerable and get people to sympathize and understand me. At the end of the activity, it felt like we were all friends.

In our second activity, we talked about the things that stereotype us and limit us. Such things would be, age, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, class, and more. I was able to effectively express myself, as did others, which caused the group to become family like. After the 2nd activity, we had lunch.

During the 3rd activity, I was pretty sleepy, so I did miss half of it. (P.I. food puts you to sleep!) But when I was awake for brief moments, I did contribute. The conversation was about Imperialism, and how the Euro-American influence pushed away and destroyed so many cultures. One or two people became really passionate on this topic, and shared their experiences from their life.

The last thing we did was a small presentation on a Pacific Islander. We don't often hear about P.I.'s in the media, especially for positive things. Little does the world know that its full of P.I.'s that have made changes in their communities to preserve their culture and better the world. My friend Ono and I made a presentation on a man named Frank Rabon.

I will shortly upload some pictures from today. The event is Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm.

Hours Completed: 9

Total Hours: 9/25

Update #2

It has been quite sometime since I started the blogging part of the capstone. I would like to apologize for not being as involved as I should be.

I have still not completed any hours as of today, March 16, 2015. I have had a lot going on this past school year, but this is no excuse. I am going to start my hours during spring break in a program called PILOT, or, the Pacific Islander Leaders of Tomorrow. Its a NPO Leadership program that will help me develop skills and learn about the struggles of a community, specifically the Pacific Islander Community.

I would also like to thank Mr. Pine for having patience with me in this troubling school year. Thank you for your support

Hours completed: 0

Hours overall completed: 0/25

Update #1

Hello!

In the following post, I will be discussing what has been going on in my Capstone Project.

I have contacted Ms. Becca Lovano several times over the past few months regarding times to complete my hours and the project as a whole. She has been very flexible with me, for she has taken into account that I am a senior and I have school things to fulfill like college applications and tests like the SAT and ACT. Also, Ms. Lovano has been busy on her own; she has had to prepare for a big location move and has had to prepare for the holiday seasons, which is St. Anthony's busiest time of year. Thus, we concluded that it would be best if I start doing my hours in January. I would also have to attend an Orientation that the Foundation provides for new members that serve over a certain amount of hours.

The Capstone also requires I take pictures of what I'm doing as proof that I am completing my hours. I want to take pictures of people eating, and interview some people for the research paper portion of the project, but I may run in to some trouble with that since its a privacy issue. Nevertheless, I know I will be able to complete my project at the best of my ability.

Thanks for Reading!

Alexander Hernani

Hours Completed: 0/25

Greetings! (First Blog Entry)

Greetings!

Welcome all viewers to my blog page! My name is Alexander Hernani and I am a senior at El Camino High School. I have created this blog page for my teachers, classmates, and random viewers to follow me on my journey with my Capstone Project.

The Capstone Project is a project that all seniors at El Camino are required to complete. The point of the project, in my eyes, is to grow and experience the world around us by fulfilling 25 hours of community service. We seniors have been instructed to contact an organization and politely ask them to lend us a "Mentor," who will guide us and instruct us as we complete community service hours for that organization.

For my Capstone, I decided to contact the St. Anthony's Foundation by email and ask if I could do my project with them. A kind lady by the name of Becca Lovano received my email and contacted me back. To my joy, she agreed to work with me and help me complete my project.

If you would like to follow my adventures and experiences with the St. Anthony's Foundation, I suggest that you follow my blog. You won't be disappointed!

Many Thanks,

Alexander Hernani

Hours Completed: 0/25