The toughest part about running a marathon is called “hit the wall”. It usually comes 20 miles in a 26 miles race. These are times when you feel like being punished, you want to give up, and every step forward is just utterly painful. Rough. But to complete a marathon, you just got to draw that courage to move forward. One step at a time.
We are at the fifth week. Translating that the six-week sprint that to a marathon, 5/6 point in a marathon is exactly the point of “the wall”. How did the week look like? It had been the heaviest week this Sprint thus far:
- Approaching the Wall
- Guides hit the wall
- Middle School (MS) Eagles hit the wall
- Elementary School (ES) Eagles hit the wall
- Let’s Sort Ourselves!
- Breathe! It’s Mid-autumn!
- All the Other Things This Week
- PE – Climbing Trees?!
- Auntie Mabel’s Sharing on Nutrition
- Uncle Ning’s Sharing on Sensory Science
- Friday Surprises!
- Courage. Find a Calling. Change the World.
Approaching the Wall
ES Eagles had been on the topic of being accountable for their own habits and how to develop better habits. So, they kicked off with the question:
There were different opinions:
“Have to! Else my mom would scold!”
“Want to! Because when I grow up nobody will tell me what to do!”
Meanwhile, the MS Eagles started exploring into Sensory Science in their Cooking & Chemistry Quest.
Both studios started off all sweet and tasty.
Well, the wall had not hit yet.
Guides hit the wall
The sugars from all our baking, cooking and glorious food had attracted plenty of ants in our kitchens, and in various parts of the house. So, we called for pest control. Our appointment: 3.30pm, treating downstairs after both studios have ended.
As said, our goal was to rid the place of ants infestation and we have not expected the pest control guy to treat our garden area. Especially not the septic tank! But it happened. Cockroaches escaped from the septic tank. Many of our Eagles screamed, and the Guides were also a little squeamish.
Was it Katsaridaphobia? Was ActonKL infested with cockroaches? Were the ActonKL Guides crazy to have pest control at 3.30pm? There were concerns about safety and trust.
The more important question that we constantly ask our Eagles: “What are you going to do about it?”. Well, I will tell you about it at the end of this post. So, keep reading 😛
Middle School Eagles hit the wall
This week, the MS Eagles took another round of the running challenge. They made deals.
“15 minutes is our goal. But we will get McDonald’s in 20 minutes.”
“You got to give only one time, for one specific reward.”
“OK. 17 minutes”.
The Eagles arrived within the span of 18.5 to 21 minutes. The final climb was hard. No reward. You just got to work harder the next time.
On Wednesday, the exhibition arrangements were revealed. The stakes were high. If Eagles were to submit their work late, they would have less time for the exhibition cookout. Some Eagles had been skirting off their work and this was the wake-up call.
Could they pull it off?
Elementary School Eagles hit the wall
The ES studios were no different. We had the worst intentionality in a long, long time.
On Tuesday, the ES Eagles left school for swimming 30-minutes later. They could not settle down and it was chaotic. Plates and food everywhere. Mess. Nobody cared. Everyone just started changing into swimming costumes.
“I want to swim. But I don’t want to take responsibility.”
It was a moment of truth for Ms. Caryn. She did the hardest thing in a Guide’s Hero’s Journey. She stepped back and trusted that the Eagles would step up.
It got worse. Even the mindfulness jar broke.
The picture of not being able to swim on Tuesday was too strong for some. Eventually, few Eagles decided to act.
Abhiram, the youngest Eagle stepped up and rallied the ES Eagles to focus to get things done. Later, the innocent sparkle of our young Eagle asked.
“Miss Caryn, I’m young but I am sometimes more focused than the older eagles right?”
At Acton Academy studios, leaders are not determined by age. Actions and intentions do. We mean it: really, every Eagle can be a leader.
Let’s Sort Ourselves!
The ES Eagles level of distraction and noise permeated even to Core Skills time. Again, the important question “What are you going to do about it?”.
They made two suggestions. The first one was a new role—Core Skills Checker. Second, they created lots of hideout corners/ fortresses to remove themselves from distraction.
Slowly and surely, intentionality went up.
On Thursday, the Eagles rebuilt the mindfulness jar! It was an unexpected and meaningful tribe building event. The Eagles were in a positive mood, and sometimes they say the darndest things:
“I love these autumn colors – I’m sure we can focus better now”
“Let’s shake it together. Everyone hold the jar together.”
The MS Eagles also stepped up eventually. For the first time so far, an Eagle led a close!
Breathe – Let’s Celebrate Mid-Autumn!
On Wednesday evening, the ActonKL community celebrated the mid-autumn festival with a potluck dinner and lanterns.
Why do the Chinese (Korean and Vietnamese too) celebrate this particular full moon? For our younger Eagles, they were curious about the meaning and stories behind the Mid-autumn festival. Apsie and Kimaya researched online and shared the story of Chang-er & Houyi and the tale of the 10 suns. It was not clear why lanterns were used in the celebrations. Maybe simply because it is fun. And it is!
There was fascination from their learnings.
“Where is the full moon? Is there really a shadow of the lady?”
At the same time, the community celebrated three MS Eagles’ birthday!
We’ve been talking a lot about responsibility. We were glad that both the young Eagles and parents worked together to clean up!! Thank you especially to the parents for being so considerate in doing the “studio maintenance”. These acts of service help us in organizing more events in the future :))
All the Other Things This Week
PE – Climbing Trees?!
We had Thursday PE surprise! The ES Eagles climbed trees and did yoga with uncle Ganesh!
As intentionality improved, the Eagles also played different games.
Auntie Mabel’s Sharing on Nutrition
On Tuesday, the Eagles had an insight to nutrition with Auntie Mabel, a dietician. She shared her journey and got all the Eagles to make veggie pizzas.
Some Eagles initially expressed “Ewww… veggie pizza?” But the fresh ingredients and the simplicity of her approach took the Eagles’ taste buds by storm.
Thank you, Auntie Mabel, for a unique experience and changing Eagles’ mind of vegetables!
Uncle Ning’s Sharing on Sensory Science
We were led to a contact to a passionate chocolatier, Uncle Ning. He came with Auntie Melissa and took the Eagles to a journey of sensory science and chocolate. First, the Eagles investigated different flavors in diluted forms.
Then, they explored freshly made chocolates. There was a moment of silence and attention as the couple took out their freshly-made chocolate collection for tasting.
Finally, the Eagles asked questions. They dug deep to their research and even asked for things like the Ruby Chocolate.
Thank you, Uncle Ning and Auntie Melissa for sharing your passions and expertise of sensory science and chocolates!
Friday Surprise!
The last moments of Friday were filled with surprises! Yes, surprises in both of the studios.
Let’s start with the ES studios. Mr. Jia was the ES guide for Friday. Acton Academy KL started out from experiments, so why not take this opportunity to do something different? Why not make today a game?
As Eagles stayed intentional and took up challenges at each block of time, they were revealed with clues about the surprise. One by one, like an onion peel!
It’s colorful
It’s something about Ms Caryn
It’s from your heart
It’s something where you got to use your memories
It’s something from love
It’s something about gratitude
It’s something beautiful
Can you guess what is the surprise?
We will keep this surprise until Monday. So, stay tuned!
Meanwhile, the Middle School also had its own surprise. Aqeesha’s Birthday!
Courage. Find a Calling. Change the World.
Earlier, we talked about the cockroach incident. So, what could we do about it? What did we do about it?
We admitted our mistakes. We learned from it. We asked ourselves what can we do to grow. We decided to have major repairs and maintenance works only after 4.00pm, and pest control work scheduled only after each Sprint. Then, we came to school early and do a cleanup.
This might sound mundane. But the process of asking “What can I improve? What can I do?” and paying attention to the answer that appears by asking this question is very much Acton Academy’s Mission. The answer that appears is the beginning of “a calling”. If one continually do that, it might just change the world.
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