It’s the second week of school and our Eagles are in full swing!
Because it is the animation sprint, guess who came? The creator of this iconic character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ireOC6hVoBE&t=1s
We had a Hero’s Sharing from the most iconic of Malaysian animators! The creator of Sang Kancil, En. Hassan Abd Muthalib.
The Eagles laughed, gasped and asked many questions as they heard of his story, of how, after failing school, he became the father of animation in Malaysia.
How many of us remember the monkey with the chilli in his mouth? The exploding gas tank? How about Sang Kancil jumping over crocodiles to cross the river? These are all icons of our childhood that was surprisingly, also known to some of our Eagles.
As it is the end of the week, we have a few more animation submissions:
Before heading off, En. Hassan said “When given the opportunity to do something new, grab it and say I can — then find out how to do it, because you never know when the next opportunity comes.”
Fired up by En. Hassan, the Eagles spent the day learning and using the 12 principles of animation in their creations.
This week, we introduced a Personal Maintenance challenge where elementary school Eagles learn to take care of their own things, simple things such as using a binder and organising papers into sections. Eagles were very excited and got to work right away. Buddies were helping each other organize and decorate their folders. Some Eagles even took time out from free time to continue organizing! “Let’s do this every week, maybe even at home too!”
Sometimes there are dirty dishes in the sink — when every Eagle is supposed to clean up after themselves. Kudos to the Eagles who courageously took responsibility, owned up and learned from these experiences.
Lots more examples of responsibility and ownership in our studios this week. Despite the commotion and excitement, the Eagle Council took her responsibility seriously and diligently logged her fellow Eagles’ spending in the Eagle Buck Store before she joined in the buying. Another Eagle saw that a trial Eagle wanted something in store, but because he didn’t have any Eagle Bucks, she offered to buy it for him. My heart just melted. Eagles have to work for 3 focused hours or take responsibility in the studio to earn one Eagle Buck, so giving Eagle bucks away is no small matter. Once a sprint, the Eagle Buck store opens and the Eagles can choose to spend some of their bucks on goodies! There are lots of different items and it is a wonderful way to reward hard work. This time though, something different happened — the Eagles actually saved some of their Eagle bucks when they usually spend it all. They’ve learnt to save!
At ice skating, some Eagles who could already skate, helped a fellow Eagle who couldn’t by guiding and holding his hand — for a long time.
Here they are laser tagging and ice skating, the Eagles’ PE activity of choice.
In this year, the theme is “Who motivates a Hero?”.
Following up from last week’s part 1 of “What motivates a hero?”, here’s part 2.
Every Eagle steps into our doors asking this question.
“Who am I?”
It’s a question that everyone searches for. There is no right answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FtkerlaEnA (Derek Zoolander)
Before we can answer that question, one needs to satisfy some basic human needs. And that is brilliantly illustrated by the Maslow hierarchy of needs.
Just like the Maslow hierarchy of needs pyramid, there is WiFi in Acton. Very important.
More importantly, The Acton studios are a safe place where children are safe, they belong in a supportive tribe and they regularly set and achieve their goals as well as receive recognition and call outs for being awesome. At the tippy top we have self-actualisation. This is where Acton Eagles discover and un-discover what their talents are and are given the space for creative pursuits — thereby getting to know thyself — one sprint, one day at a time.
It was also Kotowa’s first birthday with us! Happy birthday Kotowa!
At ice skating, an Eagle brilliantly caps off this week with, “Everyone needs to fall before they get better.” Are you falling enough?