The bebe kids...

The bebe kids are hard at work putting the final touches on their projects. Six weeks of shenanigans, and we are going to finish off strong. It has been an interesting summer. Most of the bebes have anger problems, for example, as I am writing this, Nicole is beating the keys of the computer and whining "It won't let me wriiiiite!"Amanda is making weird growling sounds, Marckenson has a deep eyebrow furrow, and the rest of the seeds of Chuckie are in deep thought. Oh, wait a minute... Amanda just tossed her computer to the side. Liz and Rithly think they are Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey but in reality, they sound like Ciara on crack. The struggle... I tell you.

PS: Don't judge the weird hats and wigs, I gave up trying to understand.

If you can't beat them...join them

Reporting Live From Tampa

Hey Guys! Its me again and like I said last week I was going to Tampa. Well I’m here! Today is our second day here and we are having a blast. Yesterday on the way up to Tampa we went to MOSI. MOSI is the Museum of Science and Industry, its not like most museums. Its really cool. At MOSI we got to watch a IMAX movie about butterflies. I learned a lot about Monarch butterflies that I didn’t know before. Monarch’s have a very hard life. Its a struggle for them to be born yet alone survive and have babies of their own. After visiting MOSI we checked in at the hotel. Then my friends and I got dolled up to go out to dinner at Golden Coral. Today we took a trip to Desto Beach. There we chilled and had free beach time. Some of my fellow peers even seen a sting ray. Meanwhile the poor Juniors were doing work, that “Senior Status” was finally kicking in. After that we went to Desto Preserve. At the Desto Preserve we learned a lot about Hernando Desto. He was a conquistador from Spain that came to Florida looking for gold. He didn’t accomplish anything! The native americans weren’t giving up ther land that easily. The native amearcians fought until the end, literally! Many of them were killed by Desto and his men. 


                                                                                                                     - Mystic 

Its Only The Beginning

So last week was the first week of my last offical summer. I'm finally a senior! Last week went just as I expected. Since it's my fourht summer nothing is really new to me. So far though the only thing I don't like is my summer project. Part of the project is creating this blog that I am writing now, making a website and writing a 5-6 page paper. I understand the mentors are making us write this paper to help us prepare for college but really? Who wants to write a paper during their last high school summer? I don't ! It's alright though; I'm going to pull through. I'll keep you all updated.

                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                   -Mystic

Caught on camera: Time Out

Bebe kids get time out...

New excitements

July 10, 2013

We emerged onto the bus, teeming with excitement for our up-coming adventure. The juniors and seniors, nuzzled up, with crust still in their eyes. Yawning and gathering their sugary and salty snacks. We prepare for a 5 hour bus ride towards Tampa. Bugs splatter on the windshield of the bus, our eyes glued to the multiple T.V. screens, socializing our lives away. Our lunch consisted of either healthy, brown bagged lunch or greasy, unknown lunch from a red and white bag, gold ol’ McDonalds. Lovely. Soon, we were on the bus once again, headed to a museum, full of science stuff. Over flowing with dinosaur bones, butterfly fields, and a beautiful, mesmerizing film about an expedition on butterflies. I was amazed by the dome-like screen. After the movie, I was challenged by a fellow senior to an epic battle of air-hockey in the movie theater lobby. Sweat was beading down our necks as we barked out offensive slurs at one another, in a good-natured friendly competition kind of way. We were tied, one win to one win, when we realized we were short on time. Raymond and I tossed our strikers to a couple of juniors and dashed towards the gift shop, to meet up with the others, and for I to get something for my significant other’s birthday. Soon we left for our hotel. All in all, our first day going to/ in Tampa was phenomenal and by the time we got settled into our rooms, I couldn't wait to go to sleep, then awaken to the next breath taken day to come. 

-Leandra

Density lab....Colorful liquids man

So its the second to last week and every thing is going pretty smooth. On Tuesday we had a speaker by the name of  Lisa Pitman and she was a middle school teacher that has taught in Miami-Dade for 12 years and such. Even though she is a teacher she volunteers to the University of Miami whenever she can, which is a lot of time on her hands, and she talked to us as if we were some kids but in my opinion it is nice to be treated like a child you know like you don't have to think about world hunger or like which clothes will I wear that day. Back on topic, Ms.Barbara took us to the wet lab and she gave us this very simple brake down of density and told us we were going to do a lab on it. The lab was very simple, I mean a third grader could do it and not mess it up, all we had to do was pour some liquids into a Beaker and stack the liquids  on top of each other by pouring them slowly into the beaker. The liquids we used were, in order from top to bottom, alcohol, baby oil, corn oil, alcohol, water, dawn soap, Karo corn syrup and honey. It was a very colorful lab and very interesting. Later on in the day we simply worked on projects and went home so that day was very......dense haha see what I did there.....ahhh whatever.

                                                                                                                                       -Raymond Pache

In Tampa

Beep Beep! Now there goes the sound of my alarm 5:30AM alarm clock. Knowing that it’s soon to end with our trips with our class of 2014. Gathering together in the breakfast hall seeing it all go back quickly. Saying good bye to Miami yesterday was fun to leave everything back behind. But as the day go by and we filled with adventure. Our first stop at MOSI (Museum of Science Industry) was quite interesting. Coming from the Miami Science Museum and going to another one was different.  Seeing the difference and similarities of the two was a learning experience.  Coming from De Soto national park and preserve was very informative. Learning about the history of Tampa and a greedy man that use to walk through the streets that we now walk on. Later ending the day at the pool talking as one as we reminisce.  Oh Boy, What a day!

-Rithly

Mark's aquatic adventure

Every year in IMPACT we have guest speakers that come and talk to us about their careers and the different things they do. Some of the guest speakers are mind-boggling boring and some are refreshingly interesting.  One of the guest speakers that was interesting was Mark Tahulka.  He started out by explaining to us the different tasks he did as a marine biologist, he explain the proper ways to dive.  After, he went on to explain an aquatic adventure he went on. There’s an undersea laboratory by the name of Aquarius that’s 100ft deep and 4 miles off the shore of Key Largo. The purpose of it is to do research, observe the undersea environment, assist in the development of undersea technology, and it’s a national training facility and a place for ocean education. Mark always wanted to go there but the chances of going there is  0 unless you have research to do at the bottom of the sea that would requires you to live there.   A couple of years ago he had an opportunity to do go since marine biology teachers could apply to get a chance to dive there and be able to stay for couple of  days to observe the behavior of certain marine animals. Mark saw this was his only chance so he apply he was chosen to go on the trip. Since he really wanted to do it, he had to train and get ready for the dive. Especially since he had to go through a set of training and test before he was sure he would be going on the aquatic adventure.  He had to learn to use the equipment, learn the safety drills and be able to do a set of task with and without a face mask.   Good thing he pass all the tests,  and  was  fit and prepared because if not he was not going to be one of the few who had the opportunity to go on the aquatic adventure.  His overall opinion of the adventure is that it was very interesting he really enjoyed the different task and the only thing that was not so good was the food.  This shows you that anything can happen and when you get an opportunity take it. -Claudia

Grateful

Three years later we find ourselves sitting here with people that once were strangers. Where has the time gone? Tick Tock Tick Tock. As we remember all the good times. We all grew together as one young, niave, confused, and scared into wise, intelligent young adults in a blink of an eye. Upward Bound Math & Science... who would ever think that I would be here? Six long weeks in the summer dealing with new and old mentors, seeing old friends and making new friends. Then there’s the Saturday Academic school year. Rather than sleeping in on a Saturday we here learning something new.  Where does it end? Is it all worth it? Yes indeed, having mentors that’s always there for you and support from a group of friends. As it all comes to an end all that’s left to be done is to be thankful that I ever joined.

-Rithly

Monkey Jungle

To start off the experience at Monkey Jungle we did something quite perculiar. We went snail hunting. I thought we wouldn't find any because snails are pretty small and we were in the woods. But surprisingly we found about 10 snails, but we didn't just spot them and walk away. We had to measure their distance from us by using pre-calculus. But after the snail hunting we went to see the monkeys! To be honest some monkeys were kind of cute, others were so repugnant that they reminded me of a girl I know. But we almost hands on with the monkeys, they were that close. We participated in a behavioral activity involving the monkeys, we had to jot down what they were doing every 30 seconds for 12 minutes. It was a rather boring activity but the overall experience at Monkey Jungle was enjoyable. - Marckenson B.B.B.J. Dumelle

Pot luck XD

In our class we had pot luck; we would all agree to bring food that is traditional. At first we were going to do it at Bill Bags. Sadly there were mosquitos and they were attacking us like crazy. Especially when we’re setting the food down. While we were agreeing where to go next, we wanted to go to South Beach but our mentors pointed out that there was no time because we shared the bus with the juniors who had to be picked up from RSMAS and plus, there were no picnic tables. We finally had made a decision, so we packed up and went to Virginia Key Beach. Once we made it there, we had our pot luck. The food was delicious...Leandra's chicken, the rice and etc. Later we went to the water; everybody was having an amazing time. There was the usual, people being thrown in the water, the nice sandy sand in the sand (lol). With the hot sun here in Miami, normally it would rain but it didn't- we were lucky. After being there and having a good time, we all were tired had to pick up the juniors. Mainly we had a good time and enjoyed it especially that is our last summer.

-Denise XD

Pennekamp Key West

Early morning wakeup call ready to leave for John Penne Kamp! You would imagine after the first few time one would get used to it but not really. A long 45 minutes’ drive to Key Largo with experienced swimmers and newbies. You could just picture the faces of the freshmen: excited and eager if only they knew what was in store for them.  Third time is the charm with me being there my third time was no problem. I was excited to get back out in the deep sea to explore the life underneath surface.  When we finally get there we get are gear and set out into the ocean in the boat ride.  A 10- 15 minutes boat ride to a designated location where we will set out to explore the ocean. Were finally here! 1, 2, 3 Jump! With that said me and my swimming buddy was out in the ocean ready to adventure the sea. With a slight current swimming against us made it a tad bit tiring but surely wasn’t a challenge for us. Coral, fishes, and a statue was all pleasant to see all over again. Sad to think that it will be are last year doing this. Boom! Boom! There goes the sound to return to the boat. All settled and getting ready to go back to shore I just sit back and relax. Laying down thinking about how three years went by so last and the summer even quicker. What’s in hold out there for us the class of 2014? Where will I be few years from now? Many questions ran through my mind as the summer come to the end with the boat setting back to shore. Hmmm…    
-Rithly

Day of dolphins

July 25, 2013

Everyone drags their feet along down the hallway of the RSMAS campus. No one is ever excited for lecture day. Ever. The day started out with the usual craziness around the museum. A big blur of energy coming from kids 9^th through 12^th grade.  Felix was rocking Amanda’s spunky purple wig, which really didn’t look too bad on him.  We all hopped on the crispy, sizzling cheese bus. Our lecture consisted of the world’s favorite, adorable aquatic mammals, dolphins and whales. Though the presentation didn’t really have the typical pictures of trained, happy dolphins, jumping out of the water.  No, it was much, much more heart breaking. So much that one of the Junior females almost busted out in tears about 5 times in a row. Gladly, she pulled herself together.  We discussed the rehabilitation process of beached whales and dolphins. But our hearts just kept getting crushed when we found out that only 10% of the animals that are “rescued” make it out to sea once again. Then we experienced what the cadaver looks like for these animals. Then came 10 brutal minutes of blood, guts, tissue, scars, gashes, and dead animals, which was a little too graphic for some of our younger juniors. However, we didn’t end on a note that was too gruesome, after words the presenter gave us tips on how we could reduce beaching’s of these animals that we claim to love ever so much. All in all, the day was very informative, even though the presentation messed with all of our emotions at some point, it was still very enjoyable.

-Leandra J

Pennekamp

On Friday we went on a field trip to John Pennekamp. This in my opinion is the second most anticipated trip of the summer. It's definitely one of the most memorable. I say this because it's the only snorkeling we do with all four classes at once (freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors).
To clear things up, John Pennekamp is a park where you can go snorkeling, kayaking, and on boat rides. It also has a beach. When we went we were taken to snorkel around and see The Christ of The Abyss. This is an 8 1/2 foot 4,000 pound sculpture of Jesus in 25ft deep water. It's AWESOME!! If you like you can even dive down and touch the hands of the sculpture.
When we got to Pennekamp we all got our rental gear and got on the boat to our destination.

On the way to the site we're told about all the safety and emergency procedures and such, and what to do if you feel the need to puke (Yuck!). Once there we all got our gear on, buddied up, and jumped in. Again, it was awesomness... even though one of my buddies kept getting lost *cough cough*. Anyways, we all had fun, I didn't touch the statue this year but I did have fish following me and such. All I have left to say is awesomesauce :)

-Aminah

Scared Freshmen

Friday was the day of our annual Pennekamp trip. I had only been once before; I wasn't able to go last year. So I was excited to give it another try. The only downside was waking up so early. We had to be at the museum by 6:30 am. Ugh! Why so early? Don't answer, I know. It's a far ride up to Pennekamp.
        We arrive at Pennekamp and are told to run off the bus. I just woke up from a nap like many of the others so we're mostly just speed walking. We get our gear and make sure the fins fit and everything. After that we sit on a bench for further instructions. Everyone who's been to Pennekamp before immediately start putting on tons of sunscreen. We know from experience that the sun is our enemy while on the boat and in the water.
       We get on a boat and are driven out to a spot in the ocean. We get in the water and most of the freshmen are terrified. They have only snorkeled in the ocean where all they have to do is stand up and they'll be alright. You can't do that at Pennekamp. The water is like a bazillion feet deep. Their feet don't come close to touching the ground. They were in for like ten minutes before giving up.
        After watching the frightened freshmen, I went to touch underwater Jesus. Unfortunately, I got distracted by a school of blue fish. Blue is my favorite color; I couldn't help it. They were beautiful. When I finally decided to go back to the challenge of touching Jesus, they blow the horn calling us back. I never got to touch Jesus.

        --Nicole

Wigs! Dolphins! OH MY!

Today was a very interesting and questionable day. It all started with this purple wig; well it was my purple wig. Why did I have a purple wig at the program? It’s a long and unimportant story...the story here is that in the morning, I was rocking out that purple wig until Felix saw the wig and asked to put it on. Now, you need to understand that Felix is a grown man with a mustache. A mustache people!!! A mustache plus a purple wig and a museum equals a lot of questionable looks and laughter. It’s like when your parent drop you off for your first day of school and shouts out your childhood embarrassing nickname as you are in the middle of a crowd… and they have rollers/hair net on. Funny but somewhat embarrassing to say that is your dad. Alright, it wasn't that bad but it was just too much to handle for the day. Yet, it created an interesting morning as he went around the museum greeting all the impact students. The wig-scapades was short lived because it was getting too hot underneath all that purple hair for him. So, with some help from my friend, Kaitlin, I put my wig back on and we all headed to RSMAS. Just my luck we had a speaker. I was scared that she would question me wearing a purple wig but she didn't and to my surprise the talk wasn't as bad as I expected. It was really interesting, though it’s hard to top off an undersea Aquatics lab Mark talked to us about last week. Our speaker was Ruth Ewing and she is a veterinary medical officer. She worked with a government program to help stranded mammals. That means those poor animals that get washed up on the beach shores sometimes and the ones that are way too far from their habits. She showed us some cases she had, even the ones that didn't end so well. It was kind of sad but she didn't let it end that way.

She even told us about getting ahead during our college year, the importance of taking internships and doing volunteer work. That it will help and may even get us a job at the place we volunteer at. Out of all the talks, I felt like her talk hit home with me. Probably it was because she also gave us a life lesson from her own experiences. -Amanda 

Senior Pot Luck

        This week is the last week of IMPACT and mostly my last post. Here at the Miami Science Museum we are a family so last Wednesday we had a Pot Luck. This pot luck was just for the seniors. Everyone was assigned to bring a dish and I brought cake and brownies. The morning started off kind of rough. The person who was supposed to bring the plates, spoons, and forks didn’t bring anything. Once we got that problem solved there was another problem. Everyone wanted to go to South Beach but we didn’t have time. So, we went to Bill bags Beach first and we were there for literally 10 minutes and already getting bit by mosquitos. The mosquitos were so serious and we had a limited supply of bug spray so we had to find another beach to go to. We ended up going to Virginia Key. From there everything was good. There weren’t many mosquitos and we had a lot of food.  Once we finally got everything settled we all were able to sit down and enjoy the food that everyone brought. Then we got in the water and had a good time. This was a good summer and I will always remember our first pot luck. -Mystic

                                                                                                                       

Yummy for the Tummy

Being a part of the Miami Science Museum Upward Bound Program means that we cooperate as a family. When one falls we all fall. If one is in trouble then we all are in trouble. That is our model; and this week we had the privilege, well the senior class, to participate in a potluck. A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people may contribute a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group. We planned this diligently so we can make this an enjoyable event. We brought dishes from our culture so that we all can get a taste of each of our backgrounds. Though we are a family we all know we come from different cultures and background and this potluck allowed us to receive a taste of that. The morning of the potluck it was a little difficult finding an exact location. Each beach had its own pros and cons but finally we decided on Virginia Key Beach in Key Biscayne, Florida. Once we unloaded the bus we set out to work. We established an enclosed area where we would set all the food out like a picnic table; sort of a buffet style table. Our mentors Laura and Amanda then decided to start a fire to keep all the flies and bugs away. This was also beneficial because we were able to reheat the food. Once the food was heated and our table was decorated with the delicious food brought by the seniors we made a line to start serving the food. Our servers, Laura, Rithly, Me (Elizabeth), made sure the plates were filled with food. We had a variety of food. From homemade BBQ chicken to Publix’s fried chicken. We also had roasted potatoes that Nicole brought, Mushroom rice that I brought, Chips and Dip that Rithly brought, Pastalito’s that Anthony Brought, Baked Beans and Veggie Salad that Amanda the student brought, and Laura with her great tasting Empanada’s and much more. It was truly a buffet. We also had our mentor Amanda bring some vegan brownies that had some interesting ingredients to substitute milk and eggs; But in all it was pretty good. It was truly time to crack jokes and have lots of fun. One of the funniest things done at the time of the potluck was when we realize the lack of spoons to serve. So our mentor Laura thought of this brilliant idea to stick to plastic spoons together with aluminum foil and mold it into a spoon. Lol. It was indeed a struggle spoon; but it was our struggle spoon and I wouldn’t have it any other way. After our feast we all congregated to the water were we gone deeper than we usually do.  We were so far out that me, the tallest person in our class, barely could stand on my tip toes; but it was so much fun. Amanda brought her daughters float device board thing (lol) and made rithly and mystic float on it. In the water we splashed, laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Our day was truly successful; and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This being our last year has opened our eyes to show that we’ve been on this journey for four years now. And through all the hard aches and struggles and situations and ups and downs and good times and bad times to even horrible times we have stuck together to come down to this moment. We’re seniors. We’ve been through it all and it has been a much enjoyable ride! -Liz

Going in!!!

Monkeys and Snails

One of our Friday field trips was going to monkey jungle. In reality it was a pretty great experience because we, well I got to physically interact with them even though I wasn't supposed to. I put in $0.25 into a machine and it gave me sunflower seeds and when I held up my hand into a little opening in the corner, the monkeys grabbed the sunflower seeds from my hands. Their fingers were amazingly soft, but don’t tell ANYBODY because I wasn't supposed to, and I can be charged with a crime!!! At the end of the day, we actually learned more about snails than monkeys which I wasn't too happy with but at least I learned some interesting facts about snails which include that snails are hermaphrodites, which in layman's terms means they have both male and female genitals. That really gross its like a human being a boy and a girl like Lady Gaga!! :D Another activity we did was use math to figure out how high a snail was up on the tree. We also taped the trees wear we found the snails. Each species had a different tape color assigned to it.

                                                                                                                            -Anthony 

Here we are using math skills to record data

Fun over! Time to get to work

     I am sad to say the trip to Tampa is over. A summary of the trip was that it was nonstop fun and entertainment from beginning to end. The places we visited were really nice for example the Florida aquarium, the beaches, national parks and more.  The day before the last we visited De Soto National Memorial. We took a walk on the memorial trail that takes you through a mangrove swamp out to the manatee river. We had a tour guide while walking through the trail we learned about the different incidents dealing with the native Indians that took place around 1953 that left a great impact in many of the Indians lives. After we came back from the national memorial, we headed back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours. Then we got dress real and went to Apple Bees for a nice fancy dinner.  In general the trip was well organized, everything was nice, and the thing that made it even better was the foods. I could still taste the ribs, pork, Chinese food, fast food, and pasta... etc.  For a person that likes to eat I was in paradise for a couple of days.  Since the trip is over, it’s time to get back to work, and get darker in the sun.  Good bye Tampa, goodbye delicious food, I’m going to Miss yawl!  Hello beach days in the hot sun, hello box lunch! Time to get to business and get everything done! Since the summer is almost done.  -Claudia

What a trip!

Home sweet home. I cant believe we just spent four days and three nights in Tampa, Fl. It was one of the best trips I have ever been to honestly. But it had its ups and downs. For example when we came back from our nature trail and we were all sent to the pool area where we were forced to write “blog entries” so they call them. But in reality our sweet loving sneaky mentors were parading our hotel rooms making them smell like hot boiled eggs left out since breakfast time and spraying shaving cream in all of our beloved shoes!! Can you believe the audacity of our mentors; Trying to play off writing our journal entries with destroying our rooms. You may ask who dare go against the mean girls; the seniors; the big bosses of the children portion. Well the corporates are none other than our senior mentor Amanda and the Junior mentor Jullian. See the funny thing about the whole situation is that they thought we would stay defeated. Hahaha little did they know that they won that battle they didn’t win the war. We would win and I was as sure as I would graduate class of 2014? So we set out to work. We were already strapped so getting supplies wouldn’t be necessary. As night drew we recruited some of the other victims of the shaving cream and hot eggs pranked to work with us. We decided that we would attack jullian first because he was the most vulnerable. It was around 10:20 when we saw Jullian engulfed in a conversation on the phone. So we called our rebels and set out for battle. We snuck behind cars and crawled till we reached him. We were armed with heavy gun power. 5 water guns, baby powder and water balloons. We was about to get it; and indeed he did lol. So we attacked jullian and left him battered and shattered. Hahahahaha.  On to the next one was what our motto was. Amanda thought baracading herself in her room would save her but little did she know we had her room key since earlier that day lol. In the morning when she left me and the crew went to work. We poured water and ice on both of her beds , silly stringed the room, poured baby powder and water on her clothes and made the stankest stank bomb I have ever smelled. It’s been waiting to be put to use for two weeks. With ingredients like water, lotion, honey nut cherios, milk and other unmentionables it was perfect for the occasion. Many people ask , “what were you guys thinking?” Well our response to that is we must set an example for those who want to prank us. Just don’t because at the end of the day you will surely regret it. - Liz

Over night adventure

So here we are, the last day of the epic upperclassmen overnight. Over these past four
days, it was filled with laughter, bonding, love, hate, and just pure amazingness. We awoke at the
crack of dawn, 6:30 AM! And after having all life sucked out of you between nature walks,
mono tone documentaries, swimming with sting rays, and pranks that could last a life time, just
getting up alone was a mission. Last night, we had our big family dinner at Applebee’s.
Everyone (except one of the more retro mentors, Julian) dressed in their best possible attire, as
some may say “we were stuttin’.” After a delicious meal, we headed back to the bus where the
rap battle between Mr. Torri White and Marckenson Dumell occurred, and let’s just say, no one
will ever forget it. As we said our final goodbyes and goodnights of the evening, among
approaching the hotel, a sudden bitter sweetness overcame the atmosphere.
This morning, once on the bus, we settled into our cozy corners, suffocated with oversized stuffed
animals, and soft blankets as frosty, artic air swirled around the bus, grey, gloomy, and heavily
raining outside, perfect for napping. Which was what almost everyone was doing until we
arrived at the aquarium. For an hour and a half to two hours, we were engulfed by the majesty of
graceful stingrays, misunderstood sharks, mesmerizing jellyfish, and tons of playful fish. Not to
mention the uncomfortable amount of screaming children.
Back on the bus once again, on our way to grab some grub at a local fast food chain
restaurant. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water, but it also makes my heart hurt. The
rest of the day was basically cuddling with more teddy bears, our bellies full, and our minds
swimming about these past four days. Finally, we arrive, worn out, sleepy, and hungry once
again, sad, but glad to be home. We say goodbye once again, hopeful to meet up once again, on
Monday morning. -Leandra

Impact+ Tampa= Randomness

 After a four day long trip to Tampa with the program, I learned three things:
1. Not to trust Anthony,
2. Mike needs some help with finding bus safe areas
3. Nicole always finds a way to look weird

Let’s go in order by which lesson I learned first and that would be Mike with the bus situation. It was the third day of our four day trip and I wasn’t all too sure about our stop. Mostly, because from the very beginning of the trip we weren’t all too clear about what were the plans for the days. But it was all good and sometimes it worked out. Yet, back to the story. We were heading to our nature walk area place thingy and the bus driver kind of passes the entrance. This is where things mess up. The bus drove up to this round road with a puddle grass cover area which didn’t look like a puddle. So the bus tried to drive on this round road. Picture it, a big coach bus, narrow round road and a puddle acting as a grass area. All equals death or at least a stuck bus. And that what happened. After some failed tries of getting the bus out, with leaning to one side of the bus and some crazy ideas of pushing the bus out, we gave up and walked to the area building for the nature walk, just leaving the bus and its driver, all alone in the Florida Heat.

This led us to the not trusting Anthony part. After resting a bit, we headed off to our nature walk without much help but just a map and bad directions. We all broke into groups and my group consisted of Marckenson, Aminah, Raymond, Leandra, Me, Nicole, and of course Anthony. After a few minutes of Raymond’s bad map-reading skills and hopeless walking, we were kind of lost. This is when the son of evil Anothony, thought it would be funny to pick up a branch and toss it into a bush. Funny for him but it scared us. So much that we all jumped and Marckenson clung onto Raymond...such a manly move. After some anger and getting even more lost, we started to head back. This is when Anthony scared us again by hiding in a bush and jumping out. He scared me half to death and for a small second, I was going to hurt him. When you add in the silly string prank (earlier shenanigans), I learned not to trust Anthony and to keep a close eye on him. Later, near room check time, which is when the mentors check if we are in our room by lock in, Nicole always finds a way to look funny. Think of an old lady getting ready to go to bed and that is Nicole. From wearing a shower cap and face mask to brushing her teeth with a cap on and fuzzy socks...can you say Granny? It was just all kinds of funny. So, one night, I joined in and put the face mask on. We took a silly ghettolicious picture and created ghettolicious names to go with it. My name was La’Tanyoya “Tampa” O’Riley and Nicole’s name was Carlessa de la Quinta Zhou. It was just all to funny that now the picture is my lock screen picture.

-Amanda

Tampa Trip Whoo Whoo

Ok so last week the upperclassmen went to Tampa which was very fun. While we were there, we mainly were on the bus just laid back however; even on the bus can things get a little wild. On the first day everyone simply socialized talking joking and a little bit of arguing when it was time for dinner Amanda, the student, keep on trying to party for some reason but it was all good. On the second day it was just like the first however, the movies they placed were pretty darn epic. For example we saw movies like the expendables ll, the losers and much more. Even though we were only then bus for the rides to and from they were pretty nice and everywhere we looked there was some sort of beauty. Whether if it was the sky with its rainbows after the evil dark clouds fly away. To the water of tampa bay which was very pretty and blue. Even though these nice things all happened on the bus….we still had some type of mishaps. For example on the third day we had gone to a park reserve that had a horrible map lay out. But when we got there we had to hit a U turn and the bus back left wheel fell in a giant puddle. This left us walking to the actual preserve. The third night we had a wonderful rap battle bus between Marckenson and Touri in which my boy Marckenson won and is now the champ. That was our trip on the bus which was very fun :)
                                                                               

                                                        -Raymond

Home Sweet Home !

Home sweet home!  Oh boy does it feel good to be home in my own bed. After four long days with our friends and mentors. Who would ever imagine Tampa, FL for a place to be? Well I guess  its what you make of every situation. Oh did we make the best of it by pranking our mentors. With my partners and crime liz and Claudia we were ready to take action. Since day one as we left Miami we were plotting our very first move. Restocking and reloading supplies every chance we get at different rest stops. Now were ready set and all geared up waiting for the mentor first move so the war can begin! On Wednesday, July 10 mid-afternoon while setting near the pool side at the hotel the mentor makes their move with us not knowing.  Later as we head us to our room one by one we figure that they pranked us. Our rooms smelled like rotten eggs, we had shaving cream in our shoes, and stuff animals went missing. This was officially the start of the prank war. Claudia prepared her stank bomb, Liz had a bucket of ice, and I took the baby powder  and we were ready to attack. Waiting for the first chance we get to make are move we just sit and wait. Early Thursday morning we manage to get her room key and attack! Claudia planted the stank bomb, I threw baby powder on her clothes and Liz put ice on her bed. Now few may wonder don’t housekeeping clean up the rooms in the morning? Well we took care of that problem by letting front desk know that housekeeping is not needed in her room. As the day go on we laugh and joke at our accomplishment.  As were half way through the day we make are way back to the hotel and wait for the reaction on her face. Mad, frustrated, angry at we had done we just sit in the room waiting to see what happen next. Will she get us back? Did we win the war? Will she get us back? What will her next move be? Unknowing of what’s next to happen we just sit in our room and wonder. Then we got a phone call that change are home game plan. There was damage to the room and we will billed and have to spit the bill between the three of us. We were billed, we couldn’t believe it. Was the damage to that bad? Well the next question that came to mind was “How much”? Well our question was soon to be answered when mike sat us down and gave us the news. The hotel damage was 1000 dollar. Jaw dropping with the news we talked things over and figured how it was going to going to get paid. Devastated with thee news we just decided to back down form the war. Soon to find out the billing was a joke and the war has yet to be continued. 

-Rithly

What happens in Tampa...

Last week we went to Tampa for our overnight trip, we went to MOSI museum. It was
one of the first places we went to. During the trip we went to Weedon Island Preserve. Over there we
had a nature walk. It’s basically confusing the path...especially the map. After we went to
the museum. After that, we had dinner, everybody dressed nice and everything. We went to
Applebee’s. The food over there is delicious. My friend and I had basically tried 5 different types
of lemonades. My favorite is the blue raspberry. The blue raspberry is really good, and sweet.
Another thing is we also had a chocolate overload. But mostly me. When they came with the
chocolate cake and ice cream we attacked it. It’s really good, like chocolate heaven. Things went
down at the trip also. There are some things that have to be stayed between the juniors and seniors
and the mentors and at the trip. What happens at the trip stays at the trip. But one of them was
pranking. Almost everybody pranked the mentors. The mentors got some of us. But we also had
revenge...muahahaha.
-Denise

Simulator machine at the MOSI Museum

Two essentials on any trip: Hydration for our bodies and our phones :)

It's Just a Little Log

Last week the upperclassmen took a trip to Tampa. On Thursday, we went to Weedon Island State Preserve. We split up and went on a nature walk. On our walk Anthony, one of my friends, decided to scare everyone. He found a broken branch which looked more like a huge log. He picked it up and threw it into a bush. Leandra jumped at the sound. The funny part is that she saw Anthony pick the branch up, but she still jumped. Marckenson, another friend, jumped and screamed. He ran away from the source of the noise and movement. He later told us that he thought it was a giant animal. I believe I was the only one besides the perpetrator Anthony, who didn’t get frightened a little. After that mishap we continued on our nature walk. Anthony continued to try and frighten us but it but it didn’t work after the first time. At one point we believed we were lost. We were searching for Observation Tower, where we would be able to see all of the State Preserve. We were convinced we got lost but refused to turn around. So we continued on our journey to a destination unknown. When we finally reached our destination it was just a bay, not Observation Tower. After a minute of looking at it we just wanted to get back. We made our trek back to the building we started from. It was over. Later that day, we had someone who actually made it to Observation Tower show us the way. In the end, my journey wasn’t in vain. I eventually got to my original destination after some sweat—scratch that—a lot of sweat and a little bit of pain. -Nicole

Learning on the go

Today we awakened to undiscovered treasures and fun excitement waiting for us. We gathered at La Quinta breakfast hall and ate as the big dysfunctional family we really are. We later departed to this beautiful beach with marine animals we only see on TV or elaborate tanks. Being the responsible and knowledgeable seniors we didn’t have to do “Book Work” or “Activities”. My crazy and outgoing mentors Amanda and Laura decided to let us explore the beach and go out and explore the beautiful landscape. With that being said I and the rest of the class of 2014 graduates went in the water only to be swimming with wild Sting Rays!!! Can you believe that; well we sure didn’t, we only realized that we were swimming with these big birds until one hoped out the water to show his/her dominance and because I’m so smart that I got the clue and banged it out of the water.  Well after all the crazy excitement we went on this really cool nature walk were we heard the story of how the Englishmen came and destroyed 2/3 of the Native American population. The British accomplished this when they brought unknown and incurable diseases to the Native Americans and because they had no defense against these diseases they quickly died off leaving a poor and battered Native American population. What was really interesting though is we seen their living conditions and all the things they used to survive. The plants the fish the supplies, it was all there. I guess it was a real eye opener for me because living in the 21 century, I couldn’t imagine myself walking through thick forests to find food and supplies to make it to the next day. But it also was an inspiration to show how we as people don’t need a GPS system or a gas/electric stove to make it through the day. These Americans did everything without what we have now and they did it well. But enough about the Native Americans, we then proceed back to the Hotel for some rest because Lord know we need the break before dinner! -Liz

Learning about De Soto and the Native Americans in the Florida heat!

Beautiful Tampa Beaches!

Conquistadores like De Soto killed off countless Native Americans in the search for riches.

Trip so far

Today was the second day of our wonderful trip. Waking up in the morning was kind of rough, but the
waffle I had, made things better. One this day, our first stop was at the Fort De Soto, which is actually a
beach compare to its name. The beach was really beautiful and I was looking forward to getting into the
water. That means a lot coming from me, who am not the biggest fan of beaches. I am more in favor of
rainy, stay in bed and away from the salt water, kind of person. Yet, the beach was nice, the sand wasn’t too hot and the water didn’t remind me of The Simpson’s Movie. The only thing that scared me was a sign we saw at the entrance of the beach area. ‘Stingray Season. Shuffle your feet.’ Now, the only thing that came into my head was the crocodile hunter, who died because of a stingray. I mean, if they can kill him and not a lion, I think we got a problem. Though, I wanted to get in the water, just for a bit. Shuffling my feet and half blind (being that I don’t have my glasses on), holding Nicole’s hand because I didn’t want to trip and die. Yet, Nicole is no help. Just when we really got into the water, Nicole screams about a stingray and shuffle out the water without me, so much for friendships. Even though, I did get out the water, I just went back in till I was tired. After I left the water, about a good minute or two, something made this huge splash in the water. That is when; Amanda the mentor shouts out that it was a stingray. At the point, I flew off the beach and just chill around the shop area. Battling with the evil blood sucker was a pain but I wasn’t going back into the water. Plus, the shop wasn’t cooler than outside. I thought that was some kind of rule, but whatever. I just chill up there with Nicole, Denise, and Aminah. So, the lesson is, not all gift shop are cool. -Amanda

Upper classmen trip........sigh

Welcome to my view of the upperclassmen trip! On this little excursion we took a trip to a different part of Florida, this year it was Tampa, and we go to national parks and such. So after the first day, drove and got situated, we woke up at a whooping 6:00 AM, at breakfast and we departed to....the Parks! so at the Soto national park and it was a BLAST! we got to see Manta Rays in the water however, I had a nice little scooby doo type of chase with one of them causing me to run out of the water...screaming.....after that we got on the bus and I got attacked by some mousse by my lovely mentor Laura because I messed with her while she was sleeping but seriously who would'nt mess with her while she is asleep.after the ride from the park we journeyed to the Soto National Park which was a stuggle. After the wal around the park we had to watch a very interesting movie on the native indians from around that area but I was too sleepy so it took all my energy in my body to actually survive during it. On the ride back we saw a interesting movie, I cant repeat the name but I will say it was very vaulger and offensive, and got to the hotel to do work and play some more.......well see you guys later I gotta go jump in the pool see ya!

                                                                                                                       -Raymond

Goodbye Miami

     Nothing last forever! I have been in the upward bound program for four years and I am very sad since this is my final field trip with the program.   This year the upper clas-man trip was to Tampa, Florida, I was excited since I love going out of town especially with my friends.  This morning I woke up extremely early so I could finish packing for the trip.    I was too lazy and tired to finish packing, but moving on, I packed my entire house in my duffel bag since I don’t really know when enough is enough. It was a nice sunny day, a perfect day for a trip; I was ready to have fun. I got ready and headed to the Museum, when I got there we got on the bus and off we went to Tampa. We took our sit on the bus and that’s where we stayed and conversed for a few hours until we got to Tampa.  The bus ride was fun, we joked around and we also made a few stop. We stop for lunch and also went to a museum called ”MOSI”   the exhibits were entertaining.    We got back on the road and didn't stop until we got to the hotel. The hotel was raggedy compared to the other La Quinta we usually go to so the hotel did not meet my standards for a nice hotel. We unloaded and got ready for dinner; we got real dressed up and fancy to go to Golden Corral.   When got there, we stuffed our faces.  The boy’s bellies look like fat Albert and all the females looked pregnant. After dinner we went to Walgreen to buy a few things and it’s just ridiculous how we were discriminated against. While we were in there they said “security watch the floor” I  thought discrimination ended years ago but I guess not since some people still seem to be ignorant by their actions. After that we went back to the hotel

room and just chilled until it was time to go to sleep. -Claudia

Stingrays, Mosquitoes, and Mistrust

Today we got on the coach bus and headed to Fort De Soto Beach. We got off the bus and were attacked by mosquitoes. We had to hurry and spray ourselves with insect repellent. It was Off Deep Woods, that good kind. Then after applying sunscreen we headed to the beach. I was in the water for no more than 5 minutes when I saw a baby stingray. I immediately got out of the water. I told others who were in the ocean but no one believed me. I still got out and then proceeded to make a sandman. It didn’t really work out. After that I just sat on the shore and later collected sea shells. On my journey in the search of sea shells Amanda, my mentor, screamed “Did you guys see that?” I turned and saw a huge splash circle. Amanda said that a big stingray jumped out of the water. Raymond, my friend, backed her up. He also saw it happen. I turned to another one of my friends saying “I told you so.” I bet people will start believing what I say. -Nicole

Okay...not really...

This one is cute..don't touch them!!

Blast from the past

The fourteen year old steps off the mild cheese, rusty, humid, bus. She looks around with bug-eyes, soaking up her surroundings. The chatter from the upperclassmen, the vegetation dancing as the wind plays its music. It’s the first day of impact. Fast forward, it’s her junior year. She’s
stressing. Trying to balance out how she’s going to find her perfect school. Many of her
classmates already gave up on their future, and chose a different path to take. She hops onto a
boat and rides off to sea. A day filled of petting sharks, laughing with close friends, good food,
and dealing with frozen fish heads. Another year passes, and here we are. Senior summer.
Almost the beginning of the end, but yet again, almost the start of a new beginning. I, myself,
have high hopes for this year. Trips, bonding, entertainment, but also finding the perfect school.
Getting as many scholarships as possible and improving my musicianship is what I’m going to be
focused on all year. I hope that this year will set off the big bang for the rest of my life, so I can
trace it back to the first day the fourteen year shyly stepped off that bus. -Leandra

Strong opinions

Three years and you would think we would know each other. You would think we would work well enough to strengthen ourselves and help each other to get through our weaknesses. We were faced with sort of a problem this first week. What and how do we do this research project? 12 motivated students in one class were asked to come together to decided one big topic to research this summer. Mind you we all have different mindsets and different ideas so you are bound to get some types of confrontation. But because we work well with each other we pulled through. It took some arguing, raising of the voices, and some attitude but we did it; and that’s what family is all about. We argue but at the end of the day we get whatever we have to get done. You might ask what all the commotion was about anyways. Well our project is to create a website to talk about an extreme environment and write a 5 page research paper about it. We decided to use the Dead Sea and talk about the impacts like the different organisms and the environment and all that good stuff. So in all we had a pretty hectic week but it was all worth it. -Liz

Senioritis

Last week was basically the first day of Impact. I didn’t want to come back... I would have liked
to stay in Guatemala a little bit longer. I came back to see all of my friends and mentors. It’s also my last year in the summer program. I want to make the best of it and enjoy it. I can’t
wait to find out what we will be doing and the overnight trip this summer. The only thing I’m not going to enjoy is writing the research paper. I’m already used to it, but its summer. In the summer, what we did last week was we went to the Everglades. We learned things new, and had a nature walk after lunch. I didn’t enjoy it, but I’m used to walks. Especially the ones that are unexpected. The blog we are doing in the summer is about the deep sea in the ocean. We are going to try to make it interesting!
 -Denise

TGIF

T.G.I.F.! (Thank goodness it’s Friday) since its summer on a Friday most teens are sleeping in. Since I’m not like most teens that does not have nothing to  do. I had to force myself to wake up at 6 something in the morning, to go to my upward bound program. It’s not that I don’t love the program, I just  don’t enjoy waking up really early in the morning. Moving on with my story, I went to catch the bus at Edison middle school. Then I headed to my second home: the Miami Science Museum. Once I got there I met up with the other abnormal participants of the program and off we went to the Everglades. The bus ride was ridiculously long but since I was socializing with my friends it did not bother me that much. We got to the Everglades an hour later. We went on a walk to appreciate nature, talk about the ecosystem and the creatures in it. I saw a few turtles and an alligator that reminded me of my friend Rex. The rough skin and everything I thought that was her twin. After we ate lunch (the best part of the trip) then we headed back to the museum. The trip was fun, but the last thing on my mind after the field trip was T.G.I.F. now I could go home and get ready for the weekend. -Claudia

IMPACT Field trip: Everglades National Park

Today we are going to Everglades National Park. I think it’s going to be
interesting. I’m not completely sure though.
(After Trip) Well it was fun I guess. I met some new people while walking the
different paths. I also saw a turtle and a poisonous spider that looked like twigs.
The spider sighting was funny though because once the mentors realized it was
there, people started freaking out like crazy. It was a pretty funny sight actually.
In the end, even though it was extremely hot, I think we all had and extent
of fun. The overall most exciting part of everyone’s day was probably the water
fight on the way back. We thought it wasn’t going to happen at first because Felix
came on the bus all serious saying “There will be NO water fight”. The thing is that
as soon as we were on the road, their bus (Felix’s) attacked us first. Then, it was
ON!! Next thing I know, there’s water going back and forth and the bus is all wet.
Yep, that was definitely the most exciting part of our trip. -Aminah

The Betrayal

It was a cloudy day on Friday and we were boarding the bus to head to the everglades. We were sharing the bus with the disgusting juniors and it was as hot as the Sahara dessert. We were sweating like if there was no tomorrow and we kept begging the bus driver to start heading to the everglades. We finally took off at nine forty three with sixteen seconds and thirty seven mini seconds. It has already been a long day and most of us are ready to head home already but there’s just one problem…. Were barely half way there. So I’m on the back seat of the bus and the air is flowing through my rock star hair. I’m jamming to some young money and the time has finally come, we have arrived. We get off and the first thing I see is a grown lady about the size of Rick Ross wearing a sports bra. The time has come to make jokes. Tori’s baby momma maybe? I still didn’t understand how a person can go out like that knowing there are blood thirst mosquitos everywhere. Ok let’s cut to the chase now and let’s talk about the best part in the trip…… the trip back home! Felix completely betrayed the freshman and seniors. He clearly stated that if we start a water fight that we would be in big trouble. But what do you think happens when we board the bus? We have our windows open and I see Felix coming by my peripheral vision with a whole water bottle and he launches all the water inside our bus. I got completely soaked. Traitor!!!! They were then convincing me to moon the other bus but what was the downside? If I moon them I might blind there bus driver and blam! They crash. So I couldn’t… and that was the end of a crazy but amazing day at impact . -Anthony

Everglades......GREEN EVERY WHERE

It was a Friday, if I remember correctly. I and a few others in the program visited the Everglades National Park. We took a bus there and we, the seniors, usually sit with the juniors however, on this particular day we sat with the freshmen! They were the most interesting bunch that had me so engaged into learning their background that it made my head hurt…….ok by the heavy sarcasm you can tell I was lying; in actuality only a select few would actually talk to me, while they were cool and all, the others were just too hard of a nut to crack. On the other hand, we were at the Everglades National Park and it was pretty “Naturey”. We walked through the everglades and we saw a lot of vegetation and Animal life which was actually interesting. Now after we ate lunch we took another trail, with the most mosquitos in the world by the way, and it was mainly trees and such. 

On the trip I learned that in the Everglades there is actually only two seasons….wet and dry. As many negative jokes popped into my head I kept it clean and listened to the ranger tell us more about this swampy place while we waited for the bus. This is when the main event of the day happened; Felix came onto the bus stating to not start a water war because of some ridiculous reason. Then out of nowhere while it was all tranquil then, Felix tossed a nice heaping of H20 at the bus. We all got wet and although we tried to put up a fight we noticed that no water was on our bus to retaliate with. So I, and the rest of the people on the bus, went home wet and grumpy……..Felix I hope you are reading this……I will find you…..and I will get revenge. -Raymond

It was a Friday, if I remember correctly. I and a few others in the program visited the Everglades National
Park. We took a bus there and we, the seniors, usually sit with the juniors however, on this particular day
we sat with the freshmen! They were the most interesting bunch that had me so engaged into learning
their background that it made my head hurt…….ok by the heavy sarcasm you can tell I was lying; in
actuality only a select few would actually talk to me, while they were cool and all, the others were just
too hard of a nut to crack. On the other hand, we were at the Everglades National Park and it was pretty
“Naturey”. We walked through the everglades and we saw a lot of vegetation and Animal life which was
actually interesting. Now after we ate lunch we took another trail, with the most mosquitos in the world
by the way, and it was mainly trees and such.

On the trip I learned that in the Everglades there is actually only two seasons….wet and dry. As many
negative jokes popped into my head I kept it clean and listened to the ranger tell us more about this
swampy place while we waited for the bus. This is when the main event of the day happened; Felix came
onto the bus stating to not start a water war because of some ridiculous reason. Then out of nowhere
while it was all tranquil then, Felix tossed a nice heaping of H20 at the bus. We all got wet and although
we tried to put up a fight we noticed that no water was on our bus to retaliate with. So I, and the rest of
the people on the bus, went home wet and grumpy……..Felix I hope you are reading this……I will find
you…..and I will get revenge.

                                                                                                                                    -Raymond Pache

Beach Day

Normally, I dislike beach days because that means sweat, bugs, and bad tasting salt water. We usually go straight to the beach from the museum and from then until lunch we work on an activity. After we are stuffed with food, so stuffed that you wish school would let out, we get in the water. Once in the water, it’s FULL ON TRAINING!!! NO BACKING DOWN!!!! NO BREAKS!! JUST YOU AND THE WATER…with snorkeling gear. It’s not as extreme as I make it out to be. For most people...but... since I have this near death fear of drowning which makes it hard for me to do anything in water. Yet, that Wednesday started off different. We had our speaker on that day and normally, we don’t have a speaker on a beach day. All that was going in my head was, ‘YAY!!! COUPLE HOURS FROM BEING OUTSIDE IN THAT UNBEARABLE HEAT!!!’ So, we went on our way to RSMAS, where A/C is nice and the seats are comfortable. The talk was alright until the speaker started to explain about one of the processes of surveying fishes. That was just complicated. After the talk we had to the beach but we had a problem... between the normal time for activities and training in the water, we didn’t have enough time. Lucky, having the speaker ahead of time, we were able to push the activity for the next time and went straight to training. After, a bit of training it was beach time. It was pretty fun, hanging around the water and stuff. So in all, it was an all then okay beach time…. For its first day. -Amanda