The Manhattan Project (Kaboom)

Posted on by christianl

Hiya!

This is a pretty late post due to the blog site not being up when we finished this project.  This is “technically” my first blog of the year, where we focused on the Manhattan project and its effects on the world.  Not only did we learn about atomic bombs, but how to take effective notes using Zettelkastens and Axioms.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy reading about my journey!

“How did the Manhattan Project’s scientific breakthroughs change the world?”

This project focused on atomic bombs, and researching it during its devastating effects on us today (more on that in a different post).  Before that, we had to learn how to take great notes, using a system that combined Zettelkastens and Axioms.

Think of Zettelkastens as a “brain”, a place where you can access all of your information through a couple clicks.  The system originally came from a man named Niklas Luhmann, a person who created vast amounts of knowledge bases by reading books, and creating small notes to place them in different boxes related to the topic.  This allowed for him to basically have a second brain, a place where he could access all of the notes that he had previously taken.  This system of tagging each document allows for you to create connections that you may not have been previously seen.  We have taken up this system and are required to tag all of the different notes that we have collected throughout this project.

Axioms are a way of taking notes.  They involve cutting off all of the unnecessary words and summarizing the point within a couple of sentences.  Each axioms has to have one clear and concise idea that involves multiple key headers, like why it matters or by the numbers, that is further broken down by using bullet points.  We tag each of the axioms, so that we can see connections related between each idea.  Have a look at the document with all the information I collected throughout the entire project:

https://christianl.craft.me/manhattanproject

The actual final product that we had to create was a 2-3 minute explainer video that covered a main topic related to how we are affected to it today.  I wanted to focus on the ethics of its use, and how it both prevented wars, and allowed for wars to happen.  Enjoy watching!

Well, to answer the driving question, we are still facing the consequences of nuclear weapons in our lives.  Wars between major nations cannot be fought, in fear of the destruction of the world.  This has allowed countries like Russia to take advantage of this, and invade Ukraine whilst the rest of the world can’t support.  This is more of a brief summary of my answer, and is further described in my video.

Though I believe that my creation of the Zettelkastens and Axioms were quite good, I believe that the explainer video could use some work.  I went with a very simplistic approach, having super simple drawings that did not look super great.  I really enjoy creating videos that involve covering a topic about the past, but drawings are not my strong suite.  This is evident in my video, and I feel like it could have been improved.  My overall idea throughout the video was pretty strong, but could have gone deeper in some aspects.

Thanks for reading!

-Christian Lo

Road to Rights #2 – The Opening of Residential Schools

Posted on by christianl

Good day,

This blog post will be focusing on the dark injustices of Indigenous people in the past, and their road to rights throughout our history.  We are part of the reconciliation, and this course helps us achieve the goal of creating an even playing field for all Canadians.

How might the acknowledgement of rights impact Indigenous peoples now and in the future?

We began this project by first understanding what we were creating, and an example of what Ms. McWilliam envisioned for this project.  We would be creating a road to right, a timeline that showed all of the significant events that Indigenous people were affected by, ranging from the initial establishment of residential schools to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.  Each person in our class was responsible for one of the dates, creating one infographic that covered the topic that would eventually be shown in a display case located in the hallway outside of the PLP room.

Before actually starting, we had to research and understand what we wanted to focus on, and the direction each person would like to take within this project.  We started of by creating a mini infographic on one of the topics chosen above, and I had to decided to focus on a major topic that led to the development of many more issues related to Indigenous people, the establishment of the first residential school in 1831.  This was the second topic of our timeline, and marked the beginning of the mistreatment of Indigenous children.  I believe that I did a great job in encapsulating the key ideas in only one page whilst still keeping it visually appealing.  After finishing this aspect, we focused more on building our knowledge on things like the United Declaration of Rights on the Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and learning about Indigenous woman’s rights.  I built a craft document that encapsulates all of the research that I had done in this project, and all key information needed to know.

https://christianl.craft.me/RoadToRights

Later down the line, I realized that I really liked this topic, and had built a large amount of research regarding the topic.  I decided to stick with this idea, and continue down the same path as before.

This slideshow shows off all of the different revisions made before finally creating a version that I was proud off.  They were mostly minor changes, but definitely added to the overall product.

This beginning of BCFP has already allowed for me to understand the part we play in reconciliation.  We as a collective are part of the long journey that Canada has to walk in order to regain the trust in Indigenous people, and Canadians have a responsibility to learn about the injustices we made in the past.  The best way in recognizing that we as a collective was wrong, is to educate our future generations to prevent another mistake like this to be repeated again in the future.  This course spreads awareness, and allows us to break the cycle of trauma that has been led throughout our generations.

Overall, this project was a great start to the course.  I really enjoyed creating infographics, and Ms. McWilliam was able to summarize the point very well.  It was rather short, but it served as an introductory to this course.  The creation of the panel outside went well, and I think passerbyers will look at it whilst going to their next class.

And of course,

Thanks so much for reading!

-Chris

The tPOL of Grade 10 – The Halfway Mark of Highschool

Posted on by christianl

Good Evening.  

The transitional presentation of learning, the reflection of the year and our evidence of growth.  Why do I believe that I am ready for Grade 11?

Driving Question:  How can you showcase evidence to demonstrate that PLP Success Behaviours have prepared you to advance to the next grade?

“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

It’s already the end of grade 10, and it’s time to reflect on what I’ve learnt, and what I still need to do.  As I progress into grade 11, I hope to meet new people and improve my work.

“You don’t learn from experience; you learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey.

I’d like to start this presentation on a high note, one of the main things that I have improved on myself.

Confidence

Confidence is key, so they say.

I really struggled to connect with the PLP teachers and students last year, I had an inability to express myself confidentially, and always put up a mask, both figuratively and physically.  I believe this stemmed from when I moved to Canada, everyone was different, and I felt like I smaller and more vulnerable than the others.  Even when I had friends, I still lacked the confidence in myself to truly express who I was.  I felt scared when communicating with teachers, and was afraid how others saw me.  This year has really allowed me to understand and express who I am, through conversations with friends.  With the help of others, I slowly regained self-confidence, to take of the mask.

With confidence, comes the ability to improv and be comfortable on stage.  The confidence in what you know, the confidence to speak from your mind.  This is something that I most definitely improved on; going without a script and just speaking what I think is best in the moment.

I always enjoyed preparing scripts, making sure I was ready, so that there was no chance for any mistakes or errors in what I am saying.  I hated the feeling of when an awkward silence takes the conversation and I am unsure in what to say next.  Though it was usually effective and complete, whatever I presented always seemed to be robotic and uninteresting.  I believe that the implementation of a system where I memorize the content, and make the words on the spot has allowed for more of a conversation including audience participation.

This has significantly helped with my presenting skills, and be able to propose something even if I am unprepared.

I believe that this is demonstrated through the Pecha Kucha and Shark Tank project.  These two projects heavily relied on knowing your content, and presenting something to an audience.

The Pecha Kucha project was where it all started; I decided to make up my words on the spot, instead of memorizing a script, like I usually do.  I believe that I did a good job, but still had lots of room in improvement.

The Shark Tank project was a way to understand how to sell ourselves, and what we bring to the work world.  I really enjoyed this project, and find it to be one of my most favourite projects since starting in PLP.  It really allowed me to understand how to sell myself, how to pitch myself to employers and know what they want to say.

This also helped with things outside of school, business and engineering competitions where I had to pitch an idea to a panel of judges.

This was my main success of the year, and hope to grow in other areas of growth.

Instead of splitting up the success behaviors, I have opted to focus on the three success behaviors that I think that I have growth in.  Apart from the success behaviours I have shown, I believe that I uphold each and every other one.  I always look for rooms to grow, and want to become better.

Reflection

I thought that reflection was one of my strong suites as of last year, but it has come to my attention that I have become a bit lazy in this area.  I believe that my blog posts lack the depth that it once had, the passion and carefulness of what I once had when I joined PLP.

This may be due to a lack of motivation, always getting checkmarks and never pushing myself to do better.  This could have caused me to put out the bare minimum in terms of blog posts, and focus more on the actual project.  This could have been shown in my last project, where I poured all of my time and effort in the project and was to tired to write a quality post.  I hope that this post does not show this.

Self Care

Though I always care for myself and try to have free time, I tend to sign up for as many things as possible to fill up my schedule.  This may result in sleeping late, lack of motivation, or worse of all burn out.  I want to do as much as possible, sign up for as many extra-curriculars and become the best in what I do.

My want for more is shown in my work, in the Romeo Romeo project I always prioritize quantity over quality, which results in a large amount of work that I have to do.  My theme book had about three times the required evidence, I chose to try to find as many themes as possible, even if may not relate to the topic.  They all fit the requirement, but none really stood out.

Not only that, the schedule that I chose for next year may result in me being very tired or demotivated.  I chose to take 10 academic courses, 2 being online.  This also does not include all my extra curriculars, positions, and musical courses.

Goals and Self Assessing   

My goals are usually generic and boring, often plaguing a large amount of people.  Though they are usually relevant, I believe that I could go more in depth and break down my ideas further.  I have a clear path that I would like to take, but setting goals for to achieve success is pretty vague.

Not only that, I sometimes give up on goals, and never end of finishing things that I want to do.  An example of this was the awards that I said I had wanted to achieve, but never ended up accomplishing it.

My Learning Plan

The last part of this presentation that I would like to cover is my learning plan.  The learning plan, a document we make every year that shows of our strengths and weaknesses.  I believe that I had completed most of my goals, and was successful in achieving my plan.  I look forward to making another one next year.

PLP Learning Plan 10 – Christian Lo 20232024

Though there were many successes this year, I always have growth.  There are always ways to improve, and I will always be far from perfection.

Thanks for listening to my tPOL

-Chris

A Shark’s Den – Back to the Future!

Posted on by christianl

Hellooo people!

After completing this long awaited project, it is time to start the reflection and examine the work that I built along the way.

Driving Question: How do you set yourself up to become the person you want to be?

The learning journey involved not only allowed me to grow as a person, but understand what I want to do in the future. These everyday skills that I learnt are vital in the work world.  Lets get right into the skills I learnt!

Stress Management:

Everyone faces it, everyone needs to deal with it, stress is part of everyone’s day to day life.

Under the short duration and pressure we had during this process, it has really allowed me to understand what calms me down, and what I need to do to in order to prevent it.

I enjoy taking long deep breathes, reflecting what I have done, and try to maintain a calm composure when under lots of stress.  Realizing that is all okay, and that I have had a lot of experience in this type of things allows me to realize that I can do this.

Knowing who I am and what I want to be:

Before starting this project, I had a rough understanding of what I wanted to do, and where I want to be. Along the journey, I realized that staying in a job and not starting anything of my own is something I do not want to do.

My parents, my motivation and inspiration, has made me come to a realization that I would like to start something of my own in the future; whether it has to do with technology or not.

Understanding who I am and where I want to be has become clearer than before.  This project gave me the time to reflect and think of what I want to do.

What it takes to get there:

Realizing that not everything is easy and having to work to be able to achieve the goal you want is what people often overlook. Everyone wants something, but nobody has the courage and determination to actually start.

To achieve my goals; to be able to enter the technology industry I need to be able to have the skills and knowledge to start. Doing side projects and creating what I want is something that I need to work on. I believe that I have the fundamentals, but lack the evidence to show for it.

A lot of companies and universites would actually like to be able to see your skills, and how you have implemented it into your work.  By doing projects it shows that there are things that you have created and they know what you were doing.

Here is a link to the document I created throughout this project:

https://christianl.craft.me/HmgTiNEsF2ADbt

During the process of creating my pitch, I tend to create a full script for my projects, which leads to a static and robotic type voice that people often get bored with.

In this case, I made a script, but refrained from using it. I had memorized the contents of it and tried to not use my cue cards at all. I didn’t follow what was written, thinking of words on the sport and from past experience. This process had allowed me to keep eye contact with the judges, and have a certain flow to my words.

Practice was my key to success.  The phrase “practice makes perfect” encompasses my idea and purpose for this project.  Friends, family, even teachers listened and watched me practice my pitch to them.  I made sure that I had all the concepts down, and focused on creating interactivity with the audience.  I made sure to smile, maintain eye contact, and most of all, ask them questions to keep them engaged.

Cover Letter – Christian Lo Resume – Christian Lo

Answer to driving question:

I do not need to have everything planned out for the future, just taking it step by step and achieving my goals is what I need to focus on. Planning out each day and making sure that every passing day is better than before is something that I want to be able to do. Having not everything planned is okay, and people our age should not have to stress about knowing where they want to be in the next couple of years.

Along with this, just having a couple clear set goals that you want to be able to achieve is what most should strive for. These goals should better you as a person; whether it is to eat more healthy or start going to the gym.

Overall, I genuinely really enjoyed this project. I found the idea of a shark tank pitch to be really effective, in not only being able to present yourself, but understanding who you are and what skills you offer. In my recent years of PLP, I have to say that this was one of my all time favourite projects, and would love to do something similar in the future.

Thanks for reading!

-Chris

Imagining the Destination 2024 (Provincials)

Posted on by christianl

Good Afternoon and welcome back to our second Destination Imagination (DI) blog post for the year.  Unfortunately, this will be my last year of doing this competition in PLP, but might sign up again for next year.  Stay tuned!

 

So… Destination Imagination… if you have read the previous post, I mentioned about how it is an annual competition that PLP partakes in until grade 11.  We get paired up in random groups, usually in our grade level but this time across the years, and get put into a subject of our choice.  Like the last time I did Destination Imagination, I was put into the Scientific challenge and had to base our story on puppetry and archaeology.  I worked with Gino, Esther, Belle, and Lila to create our best possible solution to our challenge.

From last time, we had to make very drastic changes.  My entire group, except me, was not planning to show up due to having other commitments on the same day; which left me in a really tight spot.  However, before the actual day came around, two other group members, Belle and Gino, told me they were able to come.  This put us in a very bad spot, we hadn’t met up at all since the regionals, and had to make major alterations on the day of the tournament.

Instead of me just playing the role as the puppet, I was a scientist and was part of the team.  To be able to play the role as the puppet as well, my character left the stage after not wanting to continue, which allowed me to change into the character of the puppet.  Gino and Belle’s role stayed the same, but were given a lot more lines which were originally the other group members.  It was quite stressful, but I think we were able to pull of a pretty decent performance.

During the Instant Challenge, the worst possible situation happened.  We were tasked with creating a tree, that has to be as wide and tall as possible whilst also being in a box.  We were doing really well, and I was confident that we could beat all the other team members.  We maximized our height, used different materials to make it bigger, and also were working well together.  Unfortunately, at the last moment, one of the pins fell, and I tried to put it back on, which ended up toppling the structure.  It was very unfortunate, and we only realized that one side was imbalanced after the challenge was over.

Unfortunately, our team came last in both the team and instant challenge, due to being down two members and having to improv a bunch of the lines on stage.  I think that our team could have definitely done better, but some things did not go as planned.  Overall, it was a good effort, and we tried our best to win.

Thanks for reading,

– Chris

Yay Yay Cray Cray (Part Two)

Posted on by christianl

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the end of post for Cray Cray Yay Yay!  We made it to the end, persevering through presentations, adventures and essays for two months.  It was a really valuable project, and I actually really enjoyed learning about the crazy people, and going on the field study to Seattle.  Overall, it was a really great journey that changed me into a “crazy person.”  Hope you enjoy.

Driving Question:  Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?

So… What is crazy..?

The Performance Learning Program (PLP), defined crazy based of the 1997 Crazy Ones ad by Apple.  They defined crazy as being unique, different, and doing things that no normal person would do.

I think this project was a real major success for me, I learnt a lot and made memories that would last a lifetime.  I am proud of the work that I had created; they answered the questions, and I tried to go above and beyond with it.

The trip really allowed me to bond with friends, and experience the crazy ones effects in person.  I was able to see their contributions to society, which really allowed me to connect on what I was saying in my presentations, to be able to see how different the world be with them.  The field study gave me time to gather evidence, to be able to support the thesis that I was trying to create.

One thing that I felt negative about throughout this entire process, was that I was really busy and overloaded with work, which led me to being quite tired.  I still tried to make sure that all of my work was up to the PLP standard, and supported my group with my leadership.  This may have been a bad thing, but I was able to endure it out, and push myself to keep going.

What have I learnt from this?

To take the risk, to take that one step that you have been putting yourself off.  It only takes one day to change your life, to be able to change the world.

How did we put show our understanding of this topic?

We used PechKuchas, a presentation style that has a twenty by twenty format with no text or script.  In total, there are twenty slides and we only get twenty seconds for each of them.  This made us have to think on the spot, and time it right so that you have just the right amount of time so that you don’t spill over a slide.

For this section of the project, I worked with Jupiter, Callum, and Jasper to create and present the slides we were going to display to our parents.  Like in Destination Imagination, I was not super close to my group members, which led to us doing our own things, and sometimes the others would get distracted.  Even through this problem, we still managed to continue working, and create a pretty successful PechaKucha presentation to our parents.  To give work to my teammates, I decided that implementing their skills could greatly benefit our work.  I got them to draw out different images that supported the image on the slide, which really enhanced how it looked and made it stand out.  It was a pleasure working with them, and I thought that we did a great job.

 

To conclude this project, I had a really great time learning, understanding, and working in order to create an understanding on what it takes to be crazy.  Being crazy means taking risks, doing this that could potentially end all your hard work. Being crazy means thinking outside the box, seeing ideas, and sticking to it so that you are able to see the benefits of it after.  Being crazy means being you, we are all crazy in some way, and know how we individually can change the world, but we are to scared to actually do anything.

Thank you for reading,

-Chris

Imagining the Destination 2024 (Regionals)

Posted on by christianl

Destination Imagination.

What is it?

Destination Imagination (DI) is a provincial tournament that we do every year, which builds our communication, collaboration, and building skills.  We have been doing this since grade 8, and have learnt to work with new people.  Overall it is a really cool experience where we gain a lot of valuable experience.

We started off by getting put in a random groups and topic.  It really allowed us to connect with people we did not know, and might have never met without this project.  I got put into a group with three grade nines (Esther, Gino, Lila), and one other grade ten (Charlie R.).  They were people I had not really interacted with, which led to an awkward start within our group.  I felt like our group chemistry was not the best; some of our group members did not get along the best and there were some arguments.

I worked a lot in the development in the story, and creating the script.  I also helped with the development of the puppet (I brought the RC car), and finished some of the forms.  I was a valuable asset of my team, and I think that I really helped with the success of our teams results.

We based our entire project on Ancient Egypt and how their was a race of “Meta Humans” who lived before them.  Since their were multiple stories about the Sphinx being built before the Egyptians, we decided to take that idea and made it so the Meta Humans were the ones who created it.

I played the role as the puppet, and was supposed to be a meta human from the past.  Each “Meta Human” has an enhanced human characteristic, which means they can either have enhanced speed or strength.  My character has an enhanced lifespan, which explains how the puppet had survived for so long.

My other team members played the role as an archaeological group who stumbled upon this discovery, and ended up discovering this meta human.

What did I learn?

The most valuable lesson that I have learned through this project was being flexible.  “Flexibility is a tortoise trait.”  I had to do things that were unplanned, and solve problems on the spot.  Some of our group members did not do their work; which sometimes made me have to finish what they were suppose to do.  Though it made made me irritated, I had to understand that people were busy, and that they had others things to do in their life.  These were things that I learnt in the process, to be ready for the unexpected, to support team members when they were unavailable.

However, I felt like our prop-making and some of our group member’s artistic background really allowed us to come second in the competition.  It really showed us how we are unique in our own way, and that we have skills and talents of our own.  Like mentioned previously, us coming in second was a major highlight of the day; it really showed us how much could be done in one dedicated morning of building and rehearsing.

This competition was a very valuable experience that not only made me grow as a person, but understand different things.

Overall, I would say like this project was pretty successful, and were able to place pretty high on the rankings.  We came second out of four teams, and was the highest in the instant challenge aspect.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Yay Yay, Cray Crazy!

Posted on by christianl

Good Afternoon People!

For this past couple of weeks, we have been learning about crazy people who changed the world.  Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos; these were individuals who have changed their respective field from doing others won’t, and seeing things through a different lens.  I have written a full essay on this topic, that will be shown later in this post.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy reading!

Driving Question:  Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?

This project was made halfway through this project, and will be a showcase of what I have accomplished so far.

We started off our research, learnt about crazy people, and watched multiple videos.  A key component in this project was the 1997 Apple Crazy One’s Ad, a video that highlighted the significance of crazy people.  We did a mini pechakucha that delved into one of the people, and how they changed the world.  I got assigned Ted Turner, and had to research multiple things about him.  Overall, it was a really fun presentation, and I got to learn a lot.

After learning a bunch from our research, we could finally go on our trip to Seattle, to further our learning and gain media.  Here’s a bunch of photos:

Like mentioned prior, I wrote an essay dedicated on crazy people, and what made them crazy.  I focused my topic on seeing through a different lens, a vital part of allowing for the success of all of these people.  Enjoy reading!

Seeing Through a Different Lens

By Chrisian Lo

Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, what do these billionaires have in common?  These people are billionaires changing the world through their observation and power to see things through a different lens while also revolutionizing their field.  The ability to notice novel opportunities, interpret these ideas, and put their own creative twists on them are traits that allow the mavericks to not only be able to achieve success but also change in the world.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a non-profit company that donates over 4.1 billion dollars to places in need (Bill and Melinda Gates Tour).  They counter and attempt to fight modern-day problems, succeeding in many of their ventures.  With the Gates family’s immense wealth and the support of billionaires like Warren Buffet, they have been motivating other people across the globe to support their cause of making the world better.  The educator who gave us the tour around the foundation talked about how his passion for helping, teaching/spreading awareness of problems that we are currently facing.  This job perfectly fit him, motivating him and others to help change the world by teaching the newer generation.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation not only fights problems through research, but spreads awareness to others.  Another major venture that Bill Gates had go into was Microsoft, a company that had changed the digital empire.

 

Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975, between a Harvard dorm and an apartment (Wikipedia).  It started with two young friends living their lives and attending university classes like any regular people.  However, these people were different; these two individuals had an idea which could change the world.  After reading the monthly tech magazine and seeing the first-generation computers, they realized that they had the power to change the tech industry.  This resulted in the formation of their first company, Microsoft.  They embarked on their journey by creating the first operating system for the first commercial computer.  Previously, this PC could not intake any commands due to not having a proper operating system, which led to its not being used much.  When Microsoft came and developed this operating system, it ended up being a success and was the first stepping stone for the company’s future.  Both individuals, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, could use previous inventions, see the flaws and build off that.

 

Another great example of this was when they saw the need for proper business-related applications that could be used to make lectures, essays, and spreadsheets.  They developed it and turned it into the next major hit that allows most people to create high-quality items that anyone can use.  That was the start of their journey; their ability to see what was missing and fill that gap with ideas was what led them to make major hits that revolutionized the digital world.

Another large part of the Seattle culture is the stadium that hosts all of the biggest events around the city, the Climate Pledge Arena.  The Climate Pledge Arena was a stadium that had been the home of the largest Seattle sports teams for over 55 years (Climate Pledge Tour).  It was long overdue for renovations but lacked the funding to change it.  Bezos saw an opportunity in the stadium, and could notice a considerable amount of potential for success.  He decided to fund the arena and chose to name it after an issue we have all been facing, instead of naming it after his company.  He named it after the world-wide problem: climate change.  Climate change has been an issue we have been facing, leading to the destruction of entire ecosystems and heating in our world.  This motivated Bezos to create not only an arena of the future but a completely carbon-neutral stadium that spreaded awareness to this issue.  He saw this as the first step into the future for stadiums around the world, and that making the first one would allow similar places to follow.  Jeff wanted to better the world, step by step, doing his part and leading a generation.  He had an idea and decided to change a place with great potential, leading to his investment to supporting his hometown and turning it into a giant advertisement for Amazon.  He continues to try to do his part and protect the world by making not only his workplaces carbon-friendly but his entire ecosystem of assets. 

All these places are locations that we visited and are connected to my main idea for this essay: seeing through a different lens.  Taking ideas and making them their own, as well as the ability to observe things in a way that no average person can.  Crazy people are the ones who shape us, the ones who take things to the next level and change the world.  One day, I hope to reach this level, to be able to predict the next biggest hit and use it to change the world.  Throughout this learning adventure, I have been creating my own ideas while building it on the key points that I have processed and been exposed to.

Thanks for reading,

-Chris

The Future of Christian Lo

Posted on by christianl

“Who are you going to be?” -Michelle Obama

The question I wrote above was what we centred our entire project on. Who do I want to be? What do I want to do? Where do I see myself in 10 years? These questions I encountered throughout the project made me curious about what my future holds for me.

What type of person do I want to be?

I read a book named “The Ordinary Man”, which was about a hotel manager in the Rwandan genocide in 1993. His name was Paul Rusesabagina, and he managed the two premium hotels when the Rwandan genocide started. He saved a thousand people, both civilians and tourists, with absolutely no weapons in his possession.

Though he had no gun or physical weapon, he had something more substantial which had allowed him to stay alive throughout the Civil War: his words.

Generals, lieutenants, and officers had all visited him during the war with words that threatened him and his family, which would generally make any average man flee or go into hiding. However, he stood his ground and always repelled them without any physical harm.

Book notes:

https://dodos-win-hw2.craft.me/eEyyrW6WYpb0VQ

How was he able to do this?

He had connections that stretched to multiple government officials, from people working at the parliament in the UK to people from the White House. He also knew multiple local Rwandan government workers who had much influence in the army. He gave them favours, always treating them with the utmost respect and ensuring they had gifts worth thousands of dollars.

When high-ranking officers visited the hotel, he could manipulate them into not attacking the hotel by giving them multiple bottles of wine and treating them with care, even after the atrocities they had previously committed. Though he faced fear, he was able to exploit their weaknesses and turn them into friendly people.

“If you stay friendly with monsters you can find cracks in their armor to exploit. Shut them out and they can kill you without a second thought. I reminded myself of this over and over.”

“I have since thought a great deal about how people are able to maintain two attitudes in their minds at once. Take the colonel: He had come fresh from a world of machetes, road gangs, and random death and yet was able to have a civilized conversation with a hotel manager over a glass of beer and let himself be talked out of committing another murder. He had a soft side and a hard side and neither was in absolute control of his actions. It would have been dangerous to assume that he was this way or that way at any given point in the day. It was like those Nazi concentration camp guards who could come home from a day manning the gas chambers and be able to play games with their children, put a Bach record on the turntable, and make love to their wives before getting up to kill to more innocents. And this was not the exception—this was the rule. The cousin of brutality is a terrifying normalcy. So I tried never to see these men in terms of black or white. I saw them instead in degrees of soft and hard. It was the soft that I was trying to locate inside them; once I could get my fingers into it, the advantage was mine. If sitting down with abhorrent people and treating them as friends is what it took to get through to that soft place, then I was more than happy to pour the Scotch.”

– Paul Rusesabagina

He also called in multiple of his previous friends to support him in his time of need. With his connections in Rwanda, he could buy protection and guards to stand at the front of the hotel.

These factors helped him survive throughout the genocide.

What have I learnt from this process?

The first thing that stuck out to me was the power of words. Words are one of the most fundamental things a human can learn. We learn it in school and use it every day. However, most people cannot effectively communicate their points, which could result in less credibility. Though the content of your words is essential, I think the delivery of what you are trying to say is just as important. If you could perfect this weapon, you would be able to command and manipulate the people around you however you want.

The next major lesson I learned was the influence of your parents and the people around you.

The friends around you also greatly influence the type of person you grow up to be. If you grew up in a rougher environment with people harming others, you would highly likely grow up to be the same way due to you thinking it is normal. These factors caused lots of young teenage Rwandans to join gangs and harm others due to peer pressure. It became normalized to kill other human beings like it was part of a job that they had to do. If everyone else in the gang is doing it, what’s wrong if I do it?

Parents are your life’s most significant role models; they bathed, fed, and kept you warm. When you grow up, you indirectly become a mirror of them, most of your ideals and hobbies coming from them.m

Who are my role models?

As mentioned previously, parents are your most outstanding role models and inspirations. They help form the basis of your childhood and mostly turn you into who you are today. I also look up to seniors and my older sibling, who have guided me throughout my academic semester.

To help me understand who my role models are, I interviewed two people who have significantly impacted my development as a person. First, I interviewed my father, then my good friend and senior, Jonathon.

Interview Notes:

https://dodos-win-hw2.craft.me/fckZ74flOcwTn8

My role models

My father, a man named David, grew up in a small, humid, and tropical country in South East Asia. He grew up relatively poor but slowly worked his way up and eventually started his business that specialized in high-end furniture. Like me, his most incredible role model was his father, who began his very own printing business when he was growing up. They both had to face many hardships and persevere through them. I learned a lot throughout the interview, and I will try to implement what he said.  

He mentioned about how adversity is a common thing you will have to face while growing up.  Everyone faces it, it is part of growing up, and helps make you learn on past experiences.  The worst thing you can do while facing hardship, is to give up.  

Jonathon, a senior in PLP, and a friend of mine, moved from Taiwan at the age of 13.  Although his English was not the best at first, he was able to endure and become one of the top students at the school I currently attend.  He has been accepted to multiple universities across the world for computer science and will be continuing his journey in the US.  

Perseverance, a key element in achieving goals, is not the only trait you can have when trying to achieve success.  Leadership, communication, collaboration, are all key elements to achieving what you want in your life.  

What are some common themes between both interviews?

Being a good person is a very important trait when trying to be a successful person.  It boosts self esteem, and makes other people like you.  

How does all of this information tie together?

Like the main character in the book, I look up to my father, for he is a man that I have learnt a lot from.  He has made me into a better person, and made sure that I learnt from my mistakes if I ever do anything wrong.  

We watched a Ted Talk, and one of the main things that I learnt when watching it, is the ability to move on.  Mood usually depends on the place, time and people you are with, however, if you can look forward and not pay attention to the past, your life will be a lot more happier.  Looking forward to the future and knowing it will get better is something that everyone can use.  My father continued to persevere through hard times during his business and looked forward to a brighter future for himself and his family.  Paul, from the hotel, continued to move forward, despite the despair he had in his mind of losing most of his friends and family.  He knew, if he didn’t move forward he would there would be a chance for his children and his wife not to survive.  

Though reflecting on the past is important, if you are to stuck up on something that you did or missed out on, then you will never be able to move on.  You will be stuck with regret and will always remind yourself what could have been.  The best thing you can do for yourself when going through hardship is to look forward to a better future and see what it holds for you.  

So then who am I going to be?

I hope to be someone that enjoys life, and only see things for its good.  I want to be joyful, and be positive around the people that matter most to me.  

I want to persevere through hardships, but want to also excel in other aspects.  Leadership and communication are things that I need to work on currently.  Overall, I think that I am on track to become the person who I want to be.

Thanks,

Christian