Parent Conference Response

This portfolio is my last portfolio ever!!! It was about my work over my sophomore year and how my work meet up to the Hawaii General Learner Outcomes. I think all of my work met up with some sort of standard. It shows my skills that I've learned sense I've been in meneMAC.

Heres My Link:
www2.k12.hi.us/~dranon/intro-glo.html



Questions for Mom to answer!!

What did you like best about my portfolio and portfolio conference? What would you like to see me improve on in my portfolio?

From your point of view, which of my attainments of the 6 general learner outcomes is of most value? Please explain why you feel it is important and what about my documentation of it impresses you.

Which of the GLOs would you like me to focus on in the coming year(s)?

Project Infinity- Draft

When you engage yourself in an activity for pleasure, it’s called a hobby. When you have love for that activity, it’s called a passion. My passion started as just an activity, but has turned into my only passion. I started out in the tech team at church 3 years ago, as just a Sunday activity.
But after volunteering and attending church every Sunday, my love for church increased and so did my passion for church and God. Going into Junior year, also known as the most important year, I feel that I want to pursue my passion for church as a career, and become a pastor.

As a pastor, you lead and shepherd the church, along with other numerous rolls and responsibilities. For some pastors, the decision to become a pastor needs alot of convincing. Some pastors have to leave behind a good job, for example Pastor Dave Barr of New Hope Windward. When Pastor Dave was called to be a pastor, it wasn’t an overnight decison. He would have to leave his 6 figure paying job, but the desire to become a pastor tugged on his heart. It’s kind of like that scripture that says “seek and you will find.” Pastor Dave seeked for signs from God telling him that it was his calling to become a pastor. Eventually, he was convinced that it was time to surrender and become a pastor. To be a pastor, is different from many other careers. You don’t need a degree or college schooling, but what you do need is a pastoral license, but more importantly a heart for the Lord, a close relationship with God and your family, be willing to become a life long student of Christ, be willing to constantly improve, forgive everyone, and have a passion for God.

Before I started volunteering on the tech team at church, I never fully understood the hard work and time it took for a pastor, to be a pastor! Some people think that you just read the bible for a few minutes, then go up there and just speak. I learned that pastors actually have endless hours of preperation for a sermon. They spend alot of time praying, writing, and prepping. Being a leader of a church can get tiresome and drain your energy, not to mention the public speaking! Of course, after a while you get used to speaking in front of a crowd, but for some speaking can get real nerve racking. I got my first taste of the nerve racking experience when I made the decision to go to the high school ministry at my church, and encourage them to volunteer in the church community. I wrote my testimony about my experience volunteering in the church, and how it changed my life, and my relationship with God. Once I finished writing my testimony, I practiced and practiced and practiced! I prayed to God for help in encouraging my peers to volunteer in the church. When the day finally came, I was nervous and scared to go and talk to the high schoolers, but of course I went and spoke! The experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I know that I have alot of work to do before I can become a pastor.

Being a pastor is without a doubt, hard work! It’s like having a bunch of jobs at once. There’s always something that drives pastors to keep going though, it’s their passion for church and God. Without true, genuine passion I would make your career as a pastor harder. You have to be willing to give alot of your time and effort into your ministry. You have to have leadership, empathy, passion for church, faith in God and love for others.You have to be willing to be a brave “mighty Chrisian warrior” for God.

Journal #32 - "Learning"

My most memorable experience was in California at STN. I went to a breakout class with a guy named Jason Hanson. He is a photographer/editor and produces news packages that air on news stations. I remember how funny and interesting both of his classes were. When he explained his work to us, he got angry at one package, because he saw so many things that could be improved. From him, I learned how editing can turn a whole package around, and make it an interesting, eye-catching package.

My ideal school would be a school that took out unnecessary subjects, like P.E. and replaced it actual life skills. I would have more classes that would prepare students for many different career paths. Although most schools have career classes, I would add more to my ideal school, so that the students would have more choices, so they can better prepare for the job they want to pursue after high school. The school would teach students these skills, by bringing in trained professionals, and giving the students the chance to actually experience what kinds of things that go on in the field they want to pursue.

"Journal #31"- My Passions

My passion is God and church. Growing up I never went to church, let alone enjoyed it, but in the past 2 years, it's become one of my biggest, and one of my only passions. At church I volunteer on the tech team. We create and edit videos, and run all the multi-media things that are used on Sundays during church services. I personally run the mixer, which pretty much controls and directs what the cameras, DVDs, and laptops do and what the audience sees.And on my free time I help the team edit videos, that are shown on the church website and on Sundays. Through this passion, I've formed a family with all the volunteers, and has allowed me to grow closer to God. I look foward to going to church every Sunday, and speak with my church family daily. This passion has taught me how to not judge people and how to have empathy for others, because I've learned how to have love for other, because I've discovered the love God has for me. I believe that God and church has made me a better person. For this passion, I'd like to take it to college, and carry it the rest of my life. I've found two Christian Colleges that I want to attend, one in Hawaii and one in California. I'm still juggling three options that I want to strech with this passion. I want to either become a pastor, become a Christian counselor, or work with my cousin(who will major in Business) and open our own media business, where we will film and edit videos for churches, if they don't have their own media ministry.

"I Believe"- Draft

As a teen, I observe a lot of what my fellow peers do. One common thing that I've noticed that almost all teens do, is complain. We complain about anything and everything. We complain about our parents, our teachers, our school work, and even the food we eat. Anything and everything. I believe that we all should be thankful for what we have, because there's always someone that has it worse than you. I've come to believe in this very important belief, when I was growing up, from an experience that I'll never forget.

I walked along side my grandma and a stranger who rolled a cart full of food for us. We walked through various tables, each filled with what seemed like, mountains of food. At each table stood a friendly volunteer, that would place an item on our cart, and smile warmly. When we finished walking through the whole building, the stranger packed up all our things in a big box and walked with us to our car.

This was my first time at a food bank. When I was little, I always thought food banks were for homeless people, and usually I would be giving to the food banks, not taking. I would never imagine myself going to one! In fact, the way people talked about food banks, it made you seem almost hopeless and poor, and that was partially true for me. At that time my parents were separated, and we were left with little money. As my friends would complain about not getting that cute dress they saw, or about what they had for dinner the night before, I was thankful for everything. I learned the lesson, that take some people their whole life to learn, be thankful for everything you have, because someone always has it worse than you. At the food banks, I saw people that had nothing but the clothes on their back, and even though my situation was bad, their's was worse.

Too often, we all take for granted what we have in life. Now, even if I go through a rough patch in life, or even a rough day I don't sit in my own misery and say "I hate my life! I'm having the worst day ever!" because I know that someone out there is having a harder time then me, and I know that I should be thankful. My name is Destrie, and I believe in being thankful for everything.

Final of Allusion

Put down and doubted

Needing approval

From those who matter the most

Those with no hope, no trust in her

She's deeply in love with

Something she wants

All she's asking for is support,

The support of her hopes and dreams

She is put through task after task

Challenged to prove herself

Each one, she emerges victorious

She earns more and more

Maturity and Knowledge

Strength and Intelligence

With each experience

Her soul grows and matures

Ultimately she is left

Transformed.

Journal #30 - "Brainstorming for I Believe"

I believe that no matter what, you should be thankful for what you have, because there's always someone less fortunate the you.

I've noticed, especially with us teens, that we complain about ALOT, and about EVERYTHING!! School,our teachers, our parents, our lives and I've learned that none of us really should be complaining about anything, because we should be thankful we have a home, parents who care, teachers who are willing to teach us, even though their not getting paid much as other professions, and food on our tables. I've learned this lesson when I was growing up, because at one time we didn't have much&even now with the low economy we don't have alot, and it taught me to be extremely thankful for what I have, because some people have no homes, don't have the chance to be educated for FREE and go hungry everyday.

So we can't take things for granted, and we should be thankful for everything, even if we don't have as much as someone else, cause someone in the world is always having it worse.

Allusive Poem- Draft

Put down and doubted

Needing approval

From those who matter the most

Those with no hope, no trust in her

Little do they know

She's deeply in love with

Something she wants

Something she needs

Driven by pure passion

She cannot be stopped

She won't be stopped!

Her dreams are blocked

As negative thoughts from others

Dance throughout her young mind

Challenge after challenge

From victories and failures

She earns more and more

Maturity and Knowledge

Strength and Intelligence

With each experience

Her soul grows

Matures and Emerges

From a once dark place

Learning the ultimate lesson,

The lesson of Life.

Journal #26 - "Brainstorming for Allusions"

Psyche- Goddess of the Soul

Psyche was a mortal that fell in love with Eros, the God of Love.After he thought she couldn't be trusted he left her and she had to go to his mother, to prove herself worthy for Eros. She was put through a number of trails, to prove herself, and after each trail, no matter how hard the trails were, she grew and learned more, allowing her to mature. I think she is like me because after any trail I go through, I try to find a way to learn and grow from it!

Komodia- Goddess of Happiness and Amusement

Journal #20 - "Flames of Fun"

As kids were taught to never play with fire, and to call 911 if we ever see fire. Of course, there's always been two days in the year were these rules no longer apply, New Year's Eve and Fourth of July. It's been a longtime tradition to pop fireworks not only here in the Islands, but all around the country! Although fireworks oppose issues to those with asthma and those with sensitive ears, all the sound and smoke is worth the beautiful sights and colorful images that appear in the sky. Without a doubt, there are any safety kinks that should be worked out,but most injuries and deaths caused by fireworks are from lack of supervision, or careless handling of the fireworks. Lawmaker's shouldn't ban fireworks completely, but instead raise public awareness of firework safety through PSAs and add appropriate warnings on the packaging of fireworks. Fireworks have been a tradition of fun, and celebration, and those two days of enjoyment should never be taken away.

"Parent Response"

My portfolio shows all my work with the 5 traits this semester, and shows how I have learned and applied the traits in my writing and projects. It shows my progress as a student, and my goals for my own learning.

"Angry Letter" -Essay Draft

Connie Havest
Jeans Warehouse- Kaneohe
46-056 Kamehameha Highway #A111
Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744

Aloha Connie,

Like a lot of other kids my age, I love to find good clothes, for good prices. Your customer service is friendly, and a great environment to shop in. Without a doubt, I would say your store has been nothing less then satisfying to our needs, yet an incident that occurred earlier this year, had me, as well as others involved, have second thoughts about our interest in your store.

As usual when going to the mall, my two cousins and I always go to Jeans Warehouse, and in Windward Mall, there's not many other places that have our interest, like your store does. On that particular day, we weren't exactly dressy and as usual when we all get together, we were excessively loud, and we usually get discriminated against for that, but never in your store. We had just received money, and had high intentions of spending most of it on clothing. We noticed that your store was recently renovated, and the improvements looked great. Everything was neatly organized, and the cashier desk, was moved to the middle of the store. We walked in casually, pretty much staring in awe of the improvements made, since the last time we shopped. We walked around the store maybe 2 or 3 times, checking out the sales and took some time to decide what we wanted to buy. On our 4th trip around the store, we finally decided to start getting some things. As we came back to the front of the store, beginning to grab some items of the shelves and racks, a worker at the cashier desk, cleared her throat, loud enough for the whole store to hear, and it was an obviously sarcastic "throat clear." As she did this, her as well as another worker gave us a look, as if we were stealing. Their stares causes majority of the long line of customers, paying for their merchandise, to turn around and stare at us with those looks also. As everyone stared at us, we felt embarrassed by the actions of your workers, and felt we were discriminated against perhaps because of our excessive loudness, or the fact that we took so long to find the things we wanted to buy, as if we were "scoping out" the place to steal some of your items. We felt so watched, and hurt by the assumption made by your workers, that we put all of our items back, and left the store.

Since that day, my two cousins and I have sour thoughts about your store, and have since not shopped at that location. We felt as though we were discrimination against because of the way we act, or appear. I bring this issue up, so that the same issue, does not happen again to another customer, and they do not feel the same embarrassment that we felt. We honestly had no intentions of stealing a thing, and I hope this letter helps you realize the importance of good customer service, so that your store can maintain the reputation of good clothes for good prices, and great customer service.

Mahalo,
Destrie Ranon

Journal #18- Angry Letter Topic

Angry Letter:

Jeans Warehouse- judging teens on how they appear
Furloughs- grades getting worst from less teaching days

Journal#16- Risky Business Essay Draft

In our society today, it's not rare to have issues in many teenage relationships. These issues can vary, from small issues such as someone forgetting a 4 month anniversary, or huge issues like, abuse. Unfortunately, verbal,emotional, and physical abuse occurs in many relationships. Although abuse is wrong, because of the pressure from their partners, victims believe the abuse in their relationship is their fault, so they don't recognize the cycle of abuse and don't remove themselves from the relationship. 

 In teen relationships, it is not unlikely that abuse is present. The abuser has different methods of abusing their partner.  Abusers have a cycle of abuse that they follow. The cycle starts with the "honeymoon" phase. The couple seems to be "in love" and their relationship is perfect! The next phase is the "tension-building" phase. This phase is when the couple starts getting into small arguments over minor things, causing the abuser to become very frustrated. As time goes on, the abuser begin to blame everything on the victim causing more and more tension between the couple. The last, and most 

harmful stage is the "raging stage." This stage is when the abuser explodes on the victim, hurting the victim sexually,physically, emotionally, or verbally. After the abuse happens, the abuser goes back to the "honeymoon" phase, claiming they will change, and didn't mean what they did. They will use pressure and guilt to keep the victim from leaving the relationship, and their persuasion eventually works, and the victim stays in the relationship. From there, the cycle repeats

itself in the relationship, until someone finally ends the relationship. 

It is true that this cycle is reasonably easy to recognize and has many red flags, for a victim to recognize, giving themselves time to get out of the relationship. But the fact is, because of the pressure from their partner, victims don't see the cycle. When the victim is pressured, they cannot get themselves out of the relationship. The abuser in the relationship uses guilt  and threats to keep the victim in the relationship. Although some would say that regardless of pressure, the victim should remove themselves from the relationship immediately. But doing so is not as simple, as it may seem. Unless the victim knows the cycle of abuse, and knows how to resist the abusers guilt, then the cycle and abuse will continue, and abuse in teen relationships will remain to frequently occur.

"Journal #15"- Risky Business info!

Revised Thesis:

Because of the pressure from their partners, victims believe the abuse in their relationship is their fault, so they don't remove themselves from the relationship.

Con:
If the victim feels they are being abused they should remove themselves from the relationship, and not care about the pressure from their partner.

Pro 1:
Victims cannot always remove themselves from the relationship, because the pressure from their partner is too strong. They use things like threatening and guilt to keep the victim in the relationship.

Pro 2:
Because of the pressure from their partner, the victim cannot recognize the cycle of abuse their partner has. When the abuser has the cycle of abuse, the victim is somewhat brainwashed(pressured) into believing they are not being abused, and doesn't see the cycle of abuse.

"Journal#10"- College Essay Draft,For "Pacific Rim Christian College"

Pacific Rim Christian College-

“… includes a description of your conversion experience, an assessment of your current spiritual growth, and an account of your call to ministry.”

Sunday, May 30, 2009, the date still lingers in my mind, like a pop song that often gets stuck in my wondering mind. But not at all an annoying, wannabe pop song, it's kinda like a Michael Jackson song, something that you can put on repeat, and never get sick of! May 30 was perfect, blue skies, clear of gray clouds, the sun shinny as bright as ever. A perfect day for Him to change lives.

We sprinted across the hectic road, melting Jamba Juice yogurt oozing onto our hands, finally making it to an unfamiliar beach, Kailua Beach Park. I had just come from 7 crazy hours of volunteering at church, and surprisingly still had a huge amount of energy. I suppose it was the pure excitement that had me feeling like I had just drunk countless cans of soda. You see today was the day I had been anxiously waiting for, for awhile now. It was my water baptism, the day I officially become a Christian. When I first visited New Hope Windward, there was dancing, upbeat music, flashy lights, and attractive videos. After being there for about 5 minutes, I automatically thought, "There is no way this is a church!" When I was a newborn child, I was baptized as a Catholic, and I was accustom to being quiet during church, and singing songs off provided sheets of song lyrics. You see, most everyone that knows me, would describe me with one simple, 5-letter word, "CRAZY!" Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely mature, just like most high school students, but I love to have fun, and entertain others, so at the end of the day, everyone has a smile on their face. I've personally found that when I'm having fun, I tend to learn things easier, faster, and better. Growing up in a Catholic church wasn't exciting enough for me, and I personally didn't learn much. When I say this, I don't mean to offend anyone, everyone have different ways of finding Christ, and that just wasn't mine!

I was about 13 years old, when I first attended New Hope. Part of the reason my mom would take me and my siblings to church, was for a small meal after service. Now again, anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely love food! My mom often tells me that I should be a food critic when I finish school. Free food all day, everyday, sounds great, but I don't believe that's my calling in life, and I'm secretly always looking for the true purpose God has put me on Earth. So the true reason I started attending church, was for the food, but to get to the food part, I had to go to the church part. Eventually, I actually started listening, learning, and started understanding things about God. The services were so upbeat, crazy and funny, and of course entertaining. Our pastors, Pastor Dave, often reminds me of myself, crazy, energetic, funny, yet mature, loving and lovable, caring and wants to share his knowledge of God with everyone, kinda like me! Even though I was excited about my new understanding, I never really shared my religion, with my friends. I was too shamed, and scared that my friends would tease, or reject me for how I felt bout God. That was different in July 2008, when I finally got involved in church!

For about a month, the church had been asking for people to help on the Multi-Media team, I gave little thought about joining, but thought I wouldn't fit in, but I ended up volunteering anyway. My first day of volunteering had arrived; I woke up at 4 o'clock A.M., forced myself out of bed, and reluctantly, made my way to the movie theaters in Kaneohe, where the church was located. When I got there at 4:30 in the morning, I was surprised with the people; they were loving, and so energetic. I was puzzled, how could people be so happy to be at church at 4 in the morning? The whole day, complete strangers, as they call, "loved on me," and welcomed me with open arms. They expressed that it was the love, and spirit of God, that kept them coming every Sunday, and kept them so happy every morning. After months of volunteering, I soon experienced what all those people were feeling, and my relationship with God got stronger and stronger. I finally felt the strong urge to convert to Christianity, and begged my mom over and over, to let me get baptized, and when May 2009 came around, she finally granted my wish.

The experience was so spectacular. Getting baptized was one of the biggest and best decisions in my life. Words couldn't even explain the experience, it was refreshing, and I felt like a new person. When I came out of the water, I didn't feel ashamed of my religion, but proud. Maybe it was just my naive mind, but at that exact moment, I felt God was calling me to get into ministry, and that my calling in life, was to serve Him for the rest of my life.

Since my baptism, I have gotten even closer to God, and have continued to volunteer every weekend. I have learned to speak openly about God, and use Him and my religion in everyday life. I can now easily express my love for Him, without shame, or being scared of what others think of me, and truly love speaking about Him. I'm currently interested in sharing my love for God with other, which explains my interest in studying the bible and having have the honor of helping God lead people to Christianity, I guess you could say it's my passion and dream.

My friend once told me, "Destrie you have a lot of knowledge, and one day you'll share that knowledge with the world!" I believe that sharing my knowledge of God, is my true calling; to bring people to Christ, and change their lives, forever.

"Journal #9"-Ophelia Speaks

My novel is a "coming of age" story, because I takes the stories of teenage girls, that are growing up and "coming of age" and are telling about their experinces and trails. In the reading it tells about girls going through, abuse, diseases, intoxication, family issues, friend issues, sexual issues, and overcoming obstacles. In the book, theres a story called "A Sister's Tragedy" and the sister describes watching her older sister going through a disease and how she has to grow up and take care of her little brother. For this girl, she had to be responsible and take care of herself, and her sibling, so she could be strong for her parents and older sister, displaying her "coming of age."

"Journal #8"-College Thoughts

Since we've been talking about colleges, I've had my mind set on UNLV. I'm not sure if it's just my excited to leave the island and be on my own, but I have a really strong urge to attend school there. But because of my passion for church, I've recently thought also about attending Pacific Rim Bible College, here in the islands.

LINKS:
http://www.prbc-hawaii.edu/
http://www.unlv.edu/

"Journal #1"-Response to Mrs.S

Dear Mrs.S,
I agree with you on the ideas part, sometimes I notice that my ideas in my writing aren't as strong as they could be, and this year I hope to get my ideas clearer than clear!! Like you said I could make my my arguments stronger with incorporating sources, and I agree, I'll try to do that more this year. I'll work on improving my ideas:)
Thank You.

Destrie

"Coming of Age"- Poster Draft

For this poster, I thought of things in my life that are priority and that have helped me come of age. I tried to interpret that through the pictures I used, because all the things in the poster, have helped me come of age. I used one picture of when I was a child, to show the past, then recent pictures, to show how I've grown, and then my dreams,to show coming of age. I also showed Family,Friends, and God as my support system in helping me grow. As for the "photoshop techniques," I just layered things, and tried to find fonts that are fun, but stick out there.