AP Computer Science

I have never tried doing computer science before in the previous school years. In this year I decided to do AP computer science.  This is a move for me because taking advance placement means that I need to put a lot of time and effort to it and might distract me from other classes. But I think I could do it and I want to experience something new, but so far I really like the class.

We use BlueJ as our learning tool

Grant-Writing

I and another two friends of mine are working on a grant writing project. In this project, we are focusing on making the grant template which the Liger Leadership Academy could use when they write for the grant. In addition, we are working on a grant to fund our project that is trying to build computer science lab for the remote school in Cambodia. 

Creative Technology

I am not a person, who in love in doing art neither technology but when these two ideas combine together, by using technology to display art, I really like it. This is my new expertise of the school year. Currently, in Creative Technology class, we are learning how to program javascript using Johny Five and working on a project of building a robot car. 

This is the 3d design of the robot car: 

 

 

Basketball Competition

I have trained basketball for about 2 years with my coach and all of my Liger’s friends. Most of Liger students are really athletics. A day before the holiday, we had a basketball competition against an international school called ICAN. We tried really hard, and every one of us was doing great. Although we tried really hard, we still lost the game.

A year later we had a rematched and I hit three points winning shot. The score was 17 – 16. Everyone was so excited and, I was so excited. 

 

Training for the game!

 

 

ISPP Model United Nation

Liger Leadership Academy has offered many opportunities for students to participate in the Model United Nation conference (MUN) and I forsook many of those opportunities in those previous years. This year I took a calculated risk and applied to participate in the ISPP MUN. The event happened on 20th-22th, and it was my first experience. To be honest, when I first started I was really excited and nervous at the same time, but when I was doing the MUN I was really into it. I love to hear the different perspective from different teenagers my age on the topics that we were debated on. I made a lot of friend from different schools and also the different country. Even after the event, we still communicate with each other using social media. Overall, my first experience of MUN is fabulous and I wish to do it again next time.

Narrative Writing (Coming of Age)

 

In the past two months, we learned a lot of grammar and writing techniques in English literacy. The biggest part of Literacy for me was writing a narrative essay on the theme of “becoming of age.” I wrote about how coming out of my comfort zone and keep experiencing new things. You can read my narrative below:

 

I wish I could travel back in time. When I was younger, I felt weak and scared and preferred the safety of my comfort zone. I wish I could have changed myself and had the confidence to allow for new experiences. I wish I could have been better than who I am now.

I am a little kid who likes to play just like the other kids, but I was distinct of being shy and scared. I used to be that person who tried to hide in his comfort shell and scared of taking risks in any situations. I used to try to avoid any situations that involve talking to strangers. When I was in 2nd grade, a volunteer came into our class to spent her day with us, my classmates were introducing themselves to the volunteer and while my classmates were introducing themselves, I sneaked out, ran to the bathroom and waited until everyone finished. Moreover, I was always a shy student in the class. I don’t ask questions,  also not answering any questions even though I knew the answers. I wouldn’t be so shy to answer or ask questions if my friends had stopped laughing at me when I try to ask or answer any questions.

My parents recognized the problem about me as well, they knew that I am a shy kid. One evening, when I was about to leave the dinner table, my father said a few words that stuck in my mind since then. He said “ It’s not bad to be laughed at, and you don’t have to be scared of anything because you are a strong kid. ” These words from my dad have changed my life and inspired me to live without regrets. When I go through fear, there was one thing that always came to my mind, my family. Whenever I think of them and the words from my dad, it is like a beacon that guides me through the dark and gets me to do things that I scared of doing.  

In addition to my family, Liger changed my life. When I first came to Liger school, I saw the other kids, talking to each other and having fun. I was scared. I didn’t know those people. I talked to only one kid on my first day at Liger, and it was Chhoue. But after I saw the other kids having fun talking to each other, I was jealous. I wanted to be like them. After a few months observing the other kids, it encouraged me to be brave. I saw the other students stood up and answered questions, and talking to foreign teachers. I was really scared to talk to the teachers because my English was terrible, so I scared of people making fun of me when I talk, even though I knew that Liger’s students would not laugh at me. I talked to my family about these issues I had and my father keeps telling me the same things. “It’s not bad to be laughed at, and you don’t have to be scared of anything because you are a strong kid.” It was a tough night for me, I was promising myself and my family that I will go up to those foreign teachers and try to talk to them. On the next morning, I was so prepared. I came up with different lines such as: how are you? I am fine, thank you. Where are you going? etc. I walked to school with some of my friends and I wanted to be the brave one to go up and talk to the foreign teachers. I was really nervous so I messed up the words that I prepared and mumbled through the whole conversation, but the teacher was really nice she helped me corrected all those words. After the conversation, I felt like I just a billion dollar lottery. It was not hard and bad as I thought. I built my courage since then, I became less feared talking to the teachers.

Even though I got less scared talking to the teachers at Liger, I was still scared talking to strangers. It was my second year at Liger when I walked home a lot of friends were talking a Sharation at a place called DI. It was really strange because Liger never had a Sharation outside of school before. On the Sharation day, we were preparing our materials and loaded onto the bus. When we arrived at DI, everyone was busy setting up tables for their booth. Our teachers told us that it was not just a Sharation, it was also for students to talk to businessman and different people. I was shocked and my heart was beating faster the speed of light. I was nervous. I did not want to get out of my comfort zone. I did not want to talk to strangers. After 30 minutes into the event, there were tons of strange faces around me. I went and sit down behind my booth for the purpose of hiding from talking to those strangers. I looked around and saw my friends talking to strangers, I felt nervous for them but they seemed fine and they looked like they were having fun. Finally, I decided to go up and talk to a guy, and he was a foreigner. I talked to him and the whole conversation was me asking him questions and he telling me about his experience in his life. Soon, my friends joined me and I just get more comfortable. I learned about that guy, it was a breathtaking to experience talking to a person I did not know.

 

In the time that I turned 12 years old, till now I don’t even want to get out of my comfort zone. Even though I experienced through lots of things but sometimes I can’t do it and I’ll be better than who I am today if I did a lot of things that I was not good at. “You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new,” Brian Tracy. Sometimes not getting out of things that I’m comfortable with doing and not try doing things that I’m not good at, limited my skills and also opportunities. Things could happen all the time. I was a shy person and I was not comfortable to go up to strangers and introduce myself and start conversations. Getting out of my comfort shell is part of who I am today, it is my becoming of age. It helped me grew confidence and became more mature by experiencing new things.

Trip to Kratie

Our exploration traveled to Snoul, a district in Kratie to learn and interview different farmers. The first day of our trip was unbelievable. We went to an immense farm that fills with different plants, such as banana trees, carrots, passion fruits, etc. Furthermore, the farmer manager shared his innovative idea on how to create organic pesticide. We learned tons of information from the farm owner and the farm itself. On our way back, we stopped at CEDAC to learn more about the organization. We also went to a CEDAC farmer, who use only organic pesticide for his farm. It was a good trip overall learning about different farmers had unique ideas on farming their organic farms.

Spray or not to Spray

Spray or not to Spray? This is the essential question of my first exploration in the 6th year learning at the Liger Leadership Academy. In this exploration, we learned about different pesticides and the effect to the public health. We did a lot of online research and traveled to different places to further our understanding of the topic. As a final product, our exploration created a magazine with 11 unique articles that related to the pesticide in Cambodia and effect of it. I wrote one of the 11 articles on the nervous system. My article is about how pesticide (pyrethroids) affect the nervous system of the insects. I am really proud of myself and the whole group that we have created a magazine that people can read and learn from it.

Trip to Enviro-cam

Our exploration took a trip to Envirocam, which is a company that comes to spray pesticide for our school campus. We went to Envirocam to further our understanding of the two types of pesticides. The two pesticides are Maxxthor EC and Pymethrin. My main question was if the insects get sprayed twice a week will those insects develop mutation. The answer was yes, some insects eventually will develop mutation and the company needs to change the type of chemical.

Khmer Class

Currently, in Khmer class, we are learning on how to conduct a research and turn it into a book. We did a research on the definition of the word “research” from different sources and websites in Khmer. This research assignment is a group assignment and it will take us effort and hard work in order to achieve the outcome, which is a research paper or a book.