By: Ananya, Rudri, Sohum, and Aryan
Middle school. A lot of people think of a drama-filled place, with people who are still figuring themselves out. Some people also think about bratty kids with many mood swings. Middle school can be complicated, filled with emotions, even petty. But it can also be a place of fun, hard work, and excitement. When we asked one of the middle schoolers, ‘what will you miss most when you go to launchpad’, she said, “The balance between work and fun. And the very strong culture in MS.” “Middle school has its ups and downs with culture and friends. It’s not always easy to work with people, and sometimes they do things which you want to question. But, we also have a lot of fun with each other, and learn from each other.” Another warrior said.
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Starting the Session
After a week of break, relaxation, and peace, the middle school warriors jumped right into session 6. This session is sure to fly by fast with all the different things the middle schoolers have going on. But it will be filled with excitement as well, as they will be participating in a Children's Business Fair, staying together and working at a farm, and going on a trip to Crater Lake National Park!!
They started the week with reflection, taking time to think about how the last session went. They set their personal growth goals and session plans. Their new quest and genre were also introduced, entrepreneurship and writing blogs. The middle schoolers began preparing for the farm trip they are going to take later on in this session. All in all, it was a busy yet exciting week.
“Something that I enjoyed this week was thinking about business ideas and playing games like RoboRush and Lemonade Stand- these were really fun games that helped me learn more about finance,” One of the middle school warriors said in an interview. This week, the Entrepreneurship Quest was introduced. The middle schoolers are going to design, create, and sell a product, all by themselves. At the end of the session, there is going to be a Children’s Business Fair, in which they will all sell and advertise their products. This week, the warriors focused on two main things- thinking about business ideas and customer needs. In business ideas, they thought about-
What need does my product fulfill?
What else could customers buy to fulfill the same need?
What is unique about my product?
In customer needs-
How do you bring value to your business?
To learn more about your customers, would I ask them questions, observe how they buy my product, or observe how they use my product?
“I also enjoyed creating our first blog post. We thought about exactly how their culture was, interviewed, and observed the people we were writing about, which I found very enjoyable,” a middle schooler said. In this session, the warriors are going to write blog posts as their genre. They will write 5 different posts through the weeks, researching for, drafting, and taking pictures and interviews for each. A newer middle-schooler also said, “I’ve enjoyed doing interviews and working on my blog.” This week, the warriors started with writing a blog about one of the studios in THA. They began with looking at other blogs, brainstorming names, and figuring out roles for each person. Then they started interviewing, taking pictures of, and observing the studio they were writing about. This is also the first genre that they are going to work in teams for. One of the warriors, who is in their second year of middle school, said, “I am excited to work in a team because we all get to combine our strengths and weaknesses to create our own blogs. So, the style of writing is also different, and we are exploring new ways to write. Also, we haven't worked in teams for genre in a long time, so it is something new for us.”
“I am looking forward to LOL- farm trips and crater lake trips which look very fun,” a middle schooler said in an interview. This is something that a lot of people can’t wait for. In about a week, all the middle school girls are going to take a short trip to a farm. They are going to stay in a house close by, and drive every morning to a farm, and work there. They will be living with all the other girls, in one house with one bathroom, and many shared spaces. The week after, the boys will take a short trip to the farm, with the same experience as the girls.
Everyone in middle school is also looking forward to the Crater Lake trip! It’s a unique experience which they have
planned all by themselves. They will be taking the trip in 6 weeks. The middle school warriors will explore nature, learn about that state, and get to know each other better. They will take a plane to Crater Lake, and stay in a house they rented for four days. In these four days, they will go to Crater Lake National Park and do other fun activities around the area. Soon after, they will take a plane back home. There will only be 3 adults with them, so they will get a real feel of how it is to take a trip and live by yourself.
In civilization this session, the middle school warriors are going to explore 2 major wars, World War Ⅰ and World War ⅠⅠ. This week, they watched a Civil War movie called Glory. Everyone was very excited about it, they learned from it too. “Something that stood out to me was how the African-American men were tortured and went through a lot of hardships, but they didn’t give up and they fought for their freedom.”
War is something that has interested many middle school warriors. Overall, this session is going to be filled with excitement and the warriors are going to learn about many different wars.
All in all, this was an action-packed week, filled with work and excitement.