Our STN trip to Florida this year was very bitter sweet for me considering that it was my last trip with the CKTV Ohana. But, I didn't spend the whole trip mourning about it, I had a great time going to parks, competing, meeting new people, and so much more! We have made so many unforgettable memories!

I always enjoy going to STN because I get to meet so many different people who have the same interest as me. I also love seeing our pen pals from Castaic. It's so cool to meet them after emailing them for a long time. But, I wish we got to hang out with our pen pals more. Last year in California, we went to Six Flags with our pen pals and got to spend the whole day with them. This year, we only had time to eat dinner with them and see them in the halls occasionally. So I wish we got to spend more time with our pen pals.

One of the best parts of the trip was participating at STN. Competition is always so tiring and lots of hard work. But when I look back at it I realize how much of a great experience it was. This year, we represented Kauai and Hawaii very well, we came back with 5 awards. STN is very exciting and such a thrilling time with all of the ceremonies, showcases, and people walking around with cameras and tripods everywhere you look. I have learned so much from STN that will definitely help me in the future.

Another great part of the trip was going to all of the theme parks. We got to go to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, and Magic Kingdom! We went on many tours while visiting the parks, we got to see how the roller coasters and rides are made which was really cool. It was also really fun getting to go on all of the rides. I found out how much I like Rollercoasters (I used to be terrified of them). We walked a lot while at the parks but I didn't like how we took really long breaks after practically each ride.

Two weeks seems like a long time to be away from home, but the trip just flew right by! It was an awesome trip with great experiences. I hope I will be able to go to STN next year with Kauai High! I don't know what I would do without media, other wise!

I have Oceanography for Xblock and we recently watched a Documentary called "Blackfish" on Netflix. This is a very recent documentary made in 2013 about a Killer Whale who has caused several deaths while in Captivity. It is a very fascinating documentary documentary that kept my attention for the whole time. They obviously couldn't interview people at Sea World so they compromised and found out different ways to get the story from Sea World's point of view. I also think they did a very good job at telling the story, it is very well organized and you were never lost or confused. This documentary has five stars on Netflix! I suggest that you watch it! You won't regret it!

  This years STN trip was an awesome trip filled with memories that I will never forget. Although we were having lots of fun, we were also learning a lot. I have learned everything from how much I like roller coasters to how a News Channel Station works. I would say that the most valuable lessons I have learned on the trip was that everybody has a story, versatility is key to success, and hard work pays off!

  Being part of the Spot Feature and Broadcast team has made me realize how important it is to have a good story. During Spot Feature, you can't make up your own story, you have to find one, having a good story is what separates your video from others in the judges point of view. At STN, I probably talked to about 25 different people, listening to their stories, and asking them to interview them. Out of those 25 stories, I used two in both broadcast and spot feature. I find it really interesting that everybody has a story. It may not be that interesting, but everybody does. I think this will help me in the future be more open minded about who I talk to and how I think of them.

  During a breakout session, I learned about versatility and this lesson has already been helping me. Being versatile is a great skill to have. You have to be open minded and be willing to try different things out. This will heIp you appeal to jobs and have a higher chance of getting one. If you just stick to one thing, you're limiting yourself to go above and beyond. I recently had to do a video for a science project but I didn't have Final Cut Pro on my computer. I was about to give up and just do a poster instead but I thought about the breakout session about versatility and decided to try to edit on Vegas Pro. Now, I know which editing program I like better and which one I need a little more practice in. So, being versatile can help you to be successful.

  Another valuable lesson I learned on the trip was that hard work pays off! Spot Feature and Sweet 16 Broadcast (categories I competed in) won 1st place and 2nd place. Hearing our school name being called at the closing ceremony is the best feeling in the world! But we didn't automatically win, a lot of hard work was put behind the magic. We had early mornings, weekends spent fundraising or practicing, stress, and lots of fundraising. It may seem like a pain at the time, but in the end it is all worth it!

  There are so many more lessons that I have learned on the trip that are also very valuable to me! I know that I will remember these lessons and use them to help me in life. Maybe these lessons could also be valuable to you! Who knows?

It is already 4th quarter! This year has flown by! I can't believe it! For my 4th quarter project I am doing a Songs In Real Life video. You're probably wondering what the heck that is, it's basically where people use a part of a song in their conversation. For example, in my video somebody fell asleep while studying so their friend tells them to wake up. They respond "I'm wide awake!" which is from the song Wide Awake by Katy Perry. So throughout the video, they will use parts of songs in their sentences. The only thing I worry about is that the story is too random. It's kind of hard to keep things on topic when you're singing. But I'm trying to keep the video focused on the story line. I'm working on the script right now and hope to turn it in early to get feedback and start filming.

  Competing at STN has been a great experience in these past three years that I have been in media. It is both fun and hard work combined into one event. This year, I competed in Sweet 16 Broadcast and Spot Feature. These are both very difficult and I can tell you that it is not easy. To give my wisdom to next year's students I would say that teamwork is crucial, staying on task, and motivation is what will help you to succeed at STN.

  Teamwork is very important for all categories. If your team does not work well together, you will not be able to produce a good video. It is important that everyone on your team cooperates, everybody needs to have a say on things. Everybody's opinion matters, who knows? Somebody's thought about something could make something even better than it already is! Without teamwork, your team will fall apart. I know from the past that no teamwork kicks you in the butt at STN.

  Staying on task is also very important while competing at STN! At STN, time is very tight and every second counts. During Sweet 16, I pushed the teams to finish their separate videos by 6 PM. But all teams failed to finish their videos on time and ended up finishing them about an hour later. That pushed our early deadline back by an hour which makes it hard. So it's important to stay on task, for me it makes it easy to make a schedule and aim for a time to finish things. Besides your given deadlines like 2 hours film and 3 hours edit, aim for other deadlines. For example, during Spot Feature we would give ourselves half an hour to find a person to interview. While Kaden and Brandon were filming broll I would start writing the script and give myself half an hour to do voice overs and film stand ups. And during editing, we would export what we have about an hour earlier than the actual deadline.

  Motivation is another big factor to succeeding at STN (and anywhere else). I learned about motivation from Cameron Quan, STN's student of the year. Motivation is what is going to push you to strive toward your deadline. My motivation last year was to place because we didn't the year before that. This year, my motivation was to do even better than last year because it was my last time competing at STN with CKTV. If you don't have motivation, you have nothing to work towards. And there is no greater feeling in the world than accomplishing your goal. Motivation will help you reach your goals and succeed.

  In conclusion, teamwork, staying on task, and motivation is what will help you at STN. Take it from me, you need these things to succeed. With these things it will give you a smoother ride through your competition. I hope my advice was helpful and will be token into consideration by future students/competitors.

Today was our last full day in Florida! This trip has gone by so fast! Time really does fly when you're having fun. I have made lots of memories, met so many new people, and have learned many things. We spent the day at Magic Kingdom, we didn't go on any tours,we just went straight on rides. First we went on Space Mountain which was a roller coaster in the dark. It was a pretty long ride with sudden turns and drops. We also went on Thunder Mountain which was also a roller coaster but outside. It was fast which made it fun. Then we went to the Haunted Mansion. I didn't really like the ride, it wasn't scary at all. We all ate lunch and I had a giant turkey leg! I wonder how they make so many turkey legs in a day and it takes people a whole day to cook a turkey. Then we went to a show about Stitch, it was kind of like 4D without the 3D effects. We also wen to a Buzz Light Year ride where you have to shoot the targets while moving. You even got to control whether you spin or not. And for our last ride of the day, we went to splash mountain. It was really fun, we all made weird faces in front of the camera. Surprisingly, we barely got wet! Then we ate dinner at Friendlys. They have really good desserts and ice cream sundaes. We have to wake up super early tomorrow morning for a long day of traveling ahead of us.

Woohoo! *happy dance*. Today was an awesome day for me! We had the closing ceremony this morning to find out who won. Drum roll please.... Spot feature got first place! When they started announcing the schools that won my heart was pounding and my legs were shaking. Broadcast sweet sixteen also won second place, I was really surprised because I didn't think we did that well. We came out with a total of five awards, first place for spot feature, second place for sweet sixteen, second place for anchoring, second place for music video, and honorable mention for PSA. All of the Hawaii schools were sitting together and our whole state won a lot of categories. What a great way to represent our state! After the ceremony we went to Five Guys to eat lunch. They're burgers and fries are huge! We went to Gator land after we ate to see alligator exhibits and shows. First, we went to an alligator wrestling show where the guy held the alligators jaw with his chin. People had the opportunity to sit on the alligator, but I didn't want to spend $10. We saw some more alligators and went on a train ride through the back of the park. I learned that the difference between a crocodile and an alligator is the size of their nose. We didn't do much at the park because it closed at 5 but we still had fun. After that, we went shopping at the Outlet mall where I finally got to really shop. I would say that today was an awesome day. I'm so proud of what this class has accomplished at this convention. I couldn't be more happier. I can't stop smiling!

Today Spot Feature Team competed! After all of that hard work and practices on the weekends, it all came down to that 5 hours we had to produce a story. Brandon, Kaden, and I went to the briefing this morning to find out what our topic was. The topic was " Making it look easy". The briefing ended early so we had a 20 minute head start to brainstorm ideas. At first we went into a store at the Hotel but nobody wanted to be interviewed because they had done so many interviews before. So we walked across the street to the mall and asked a person who worked at a restaurant. He was busy so we weren't able to interview him. We decided to go back to the hotel and talk to people. We finally came across Kristen who was willing to be interviewed. Her friend was also in the High School Spot Feature so she was sitting around waiting for her. We based the story around how making things look easy takes lots of hard work and you may not always work alone. She mentioned how she turned to god when she struggled (I hope there are on rules against religion in the competition). We went to the editing room about ten minutes late but still managed to turn our video in 22 minutes early. I would say that we did a pretty good job, we remembered all of the things we learned from practices and put it into our final project. I was so proud of our team for making the deadline and creating a quality video. After competition I ate lunch and went to break out sessions. I went to one about being Versatile. Versatility is an important thing when working in media, being able to do a variety of things makes you more valuable to jobs and makes you a well rounded person. I also went to a breakout session about finding a compelling story at a park which is like what Spot Feature does. We ended up just watching videos that the guy showed us. We then went to dinner at The Sizzler with our pen pals from Castaic. We had a gift exchange and Mia really liked it. After that, we went to the STN Showcase, they showed a bunch of random videos picked by the judges and had games involving the audience. I'm really nervous for tomorrow and can't wait to see who wins.

As you can see from the title, STN has officially begun. This morning was the opening ceremony to start off the competition. The student of the year, Cameron Quan gave us some advice about how to succeed in STN. Teamwork, Humility, and motivation is what will help you achieve at STN and do well. There was another speaker, Andrew Jenks who makes documentaries. He started off with a low quality camera from eBay and now has one of his documentaries owned by HBO and had his own TV show on MTV. After opening ceremony, we went to different break out sessions. The first one I went to was "Hits, Missses, and Strange Fun" with Les Rose. He asked the simplest questions such as "What's your favorite animal?" to find someone with a good story. He also told us that the best sound bites are also the least unexpected. So tomorrow during spot feature, we will keep the mics on to get all of the sound we can! I also went to an editing breakout session. I learned a trick to use sound before the visual to lead the viewer not the next shot. Sound is the most important thing to a story! The last breakout session I went to was "Work Flow" which was about the life of a reporter. Reporters have to understand both sides of the story and be the first ones to know about it. Reporters also have to be a people person and talk to lots of people to make connections. So if you ever need anything, you would know somebody that would be able to help you. After that, we had a middle school mixer to meet new people. We we're put into groups for a scavenger hunt. I was with Mia (my pen pal from Castaic), Faith (my pen pal from Florida), Trey, and Yasha. Surprisingly, we won first place and got a Starbucks gift card for $10. Then we went to the showcase which showed all of the winners of the fall nationals. Brandon, Kaden, and I double checked our equipment for our competition tomorrow. Can't wait!

Today was the big day! Sweet 16! I had to wake up earlier than everybody else to go the prompt and get our topic for Broadcast. The topic was "International Drive" which is where we our staying and where we have been driving for the past week. This was a pretty rough topic because everyone was going to the same businesses. My separate team got rejected a lot while trying to find a small successful business. We talked to an electrician, a security guard, a helicopter business, a mechanic, a competitor at STN, and about ten taxi drivers. We were finally able to interview Jason, an employee at Redi to Pedi which is a company that gives people rides with their bikes. It's a pretty cool business and luckily we were able to interview him and get some broll. After we were done filming, we went back to the editing room and I helped edit for about an hour and a half before I had to work on the whole script for the full show. It took me, Haven, and Marlena about 2 hours to film all of our stand ups. All teams were supposed to finish their stories by 6:00 pm but nobody did so that pushed our schedule back. Once I put all of the anchoring shots on the timeline, they went offline which was weird because it was in my capture scratch. So I has to put everything into a new sequence. I finally put the whole show together by 9:20 ish. But we still had to render, export, and watch the video. We turned it in with about 15 minutes to spare. Cassia was cheering us on and everyone in our class. It's a great feeling to turn in your hard work on time.