Greetings and Salutations viewers, today in this blog I will be talking about my experience during my stay at Tech Steam! So come with me on this Science and Planting journey of Steam!

In the afternoon at 12:00, we started to migrate towards Papakura Intermediate. So when we arrived, we got into our lines and my group was Steam! When our teacher Erika came, she started to greet us with an energetic smile. And so we followed Erika back to our normal tech classes. I put my bag down, and sprinted towards our plants, surprisingly, Haji had the best plant in both hydroponic and traditional soil planting. So, as a class we congratulated haji! So then we sat down and started our session.

Erika told us that we were going to build a Epo-8 construction/electric kit. And our mission was to create a cube with a trap door, to trap something inside. So we got straight to work in different groups that were decided by the random wheel of names. And so we looked at the kit on the ground and we started to grab the poles, unknowingly we didn’t know what to do with the medal poles, so we didn’t use the screws as we were meant to. So as we realized that we were supposed to use the screws 30 minutes ago, our cube was starting to look complete, until we saw that the wheels were untouched. So as my brain started to think, I screwed on the wheel with ease, and made our cube moveable.

But most of the screws, were unable to hold up the cubes weight, so one metal pole fell decisevely. And we screwed it back up again, with more durable force. But then we only had two more minutes to finish this project. And once the timer was over we put our hands up and sadly, our cube wasn’t finished, but we couldn’t blame ourselves because the time we were given wasn’t big. So we peeked over at the other teams cube, and basically was finished to the point where they even added a trap-door in the last 2 minutes. So I would say that our teamwork was spot-on during the making. In conclusion, our construction kit project, and I hope to come across this kit again and build another interesting kit like this once more.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Nga Mihi –

Pantaleon Natoealofa.

Today, we got the opportunity to go to Food Tech once again for a short session. For this day, we got to make ‘rice bubble cupcakes’! Throughout these sessions in food tech, we are learning to follow the right ingredients so that it could have a fantastic outcome! Although we had to wait a long period of time to wait for the food to freeze, I cherished the activities we shared during the wait.

Firstly, we made our way into the classroom, we put our aprons on and set off to follow the ingredients on the TV. One by one we poured in the ingredients; rice bubble, Coco pops, maple syrup, melted sugar, and melted butter. It was amazing to see how Ruth and I worked together to create a yummy outcome. After we waited for the food to freeze, we finally got to try our delicious creation. I ate too much so it unfortunately gave me a sugar rush and a headache.

Moving on to my highlights and lowlights: I enjoyed mixing and forming the ingredients together, especially with impeccable teamwork. However, it was difficult for us to turn on the stove, considering it was old and we didn’t really use common sense, though we got it in the end!

I enjoyed this session because it was a short and an easy recipe to do!

Kamusta,

I did reciprocal reading yesterday with my reading group Kereru. We we’re reading about “The rise of the Mau movement”

Summary: With the rapidly rising Mau movement being two thirds of the Samoan population and the establishment of a supporting newspaper in direct opposition to a pro government newspaper the Mau was represented in all but two districts within anticipated visit within from the New Zealand external affairs that caused tensions to rise.

The Mau movement is a group of Samoans, that helps balance a different mix of ethnicity. A powerful widespread support with Tupua Tamasese leolofi III  becoming an important New Zealand tried leader. To stop the movement, but instead of giving up, the movement organised passive resistance. Supporters refused to cooperate with the government by avoiding meetings, withdrawing children from government schools, refusing to pay taxes and ignoring some government rules organ.

The Mau movement was a powerful, non-violent campaign for Samoan independence that rose in opposition to Western colonial administration during the early 20th century. The concept began on the island of Savai’i in 1908 as the ‘Mau a Pule’ resistance against German colonial rule, led by the orator. It protested the loss of traditional authority and decision making power for local chiefs.

After world war 1, New Zealand took over administration of Western Samoa under a league of Nations mandate.

Overall, the reading was very interesting for me as someone who’s not Samoan. In other words, I have learnt something new about Samoa history over the years.

Imagine navigating above the clouds, steering a multi-million-dollar piece of machinery, and holding the safety of hundreds of lives in your hands. While many dream of a standard office job, my eyes have always been locked on the horizon. Recently, our class toured KPMG. It is an incredible firm, packed with brilliant minds, but walking through those doors only clarified my own path. Where others saw a future in spreadsheets and boardrooms, I saw mine in the sky. Stepping into that corporate environment was the final proof I needed: I belong in a cockpit.

Visiting KPMG was an incredible opportunity, but it ultimately proved that a desk job cannot match my true passion. The panelists expertly addressed corporate strategy, accounting, and consulting. While those pathways are vital and suit many of my peers, they did not spark any excitement in me. Instead of feeling persuaded to change my mind, the visit made me realise how much I value dynamic, hands-on leadership over office-bound routines. My strengths lie in spatial awareness, quick decision-making, and calm under pressure. These are skills that are perfectly tailored for aviation rather than auditing financial statements.

Some of my peers have asked me, “What if the plane crashes and it is your fault?” It is a fair question, but it stems from a misunderstanding of how flying works. No one is handed the keys to a commercial airliner overnight. To get this job, I will go through years of tough training, earn proper license rankings, and practice for hundreds of hours in flight simulators and training planes before ever flying passengers. I need to learn important science and math skills, including advanced navigation, meteorology, aerodynamics alongside crucial soft skills like communication and teamwork. I would never agree to fly a plane unless I was fully trained and completely confident. Safety in flying comes from preparation, not luck.

However, some people might argue that Year 7 to 8 is too early to choose a career path, or that flying is too risky compared to safe office jobs like those at KPMG. While it is true that I am young, finding my interests early gives me a big advantage. It allows me to pick the right high school subjects, such as physics and high-level maths, and build the mental strength needed for flight school. Flying is not just a job choice. It is a long-term goal that gives my current schoolwork a clear purpose.

To sum it up, the sky is not the limit; it is my destination. The visit to KPMG was an eye-opening experience, but it only proved that my heart belongs in the air. With hard work, dedicated training, and the right skills, I know I have the focus to become a successful pilot. Teachers and classmates, look up at the clouds in a few years because that is where I will be leading the way.

Greetings and Salutations viewers, today in this piece of writing I will be discussing the summary about a article ” The Mau Movement ” so come with me on this journey of reading!

Firstly, the mau movement is a group of Samoans that help balance widespread support with Tupua Tamasese leolofi the third becoming on an important leader. New Zealand tried to stop the movement but instead of giving up, the movement organized passive resistance. supporters refused to cooperate with the government by avoiding meetings, withdrawing children from government schools, refusing the pay taxes, and ignoring some government rules. With the rapidly rising may movement being two thirds of the samoan population and the establishment of a supporting newspaper in direct opposition to a pro government newspaper the mau was represented in all but two districts within anticipated visit within from the New-Zealand external affairs that caused tension to rise.

In conclusion, this is a short yet powerful summary of the history between New-Zealand & Samoa, and how they have differences in politics towards each other. And I’ve learnt about Richardson, the guy who wanted to keep balanced towards the two countries because he believed that the pakeha were an irritation towards the native people of Samoa and New-Zealand.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Nga Mihi –

Pantaleon Natoealofa

Kia ora,

Yesterday in tech, we had to first check on our hydroponic and traditional soil plants and make a second observation on each one. My traditional soil plant is going well, it’s growing a little tall and vegetating. Secondly after that, we had to make a trapdoor for an alien, 400 meters wide and 700 meters tall and we used the kit Epro-8. Next week we’re gonna use the Epro-8 electric construction kit for it to be able to move away from 2 meters.

I enjoyed what we did in STEAM, during the make for the trapdoor, we successfully made a move-able trapdoor using these blue Lego pieces alike. It took us around 10-14 minutes and we’re continuing it again next week Monday I think? It was a really interactive and mind strategy.