In technology, for my second genius hour project, I decided to do Parkour. I decided to do Parkour for my genius hour because I have always had an interest in anything that deals with gymnastics or some type of acrobatic movement. I have had a wide experience in gymnastics and cheer since I was young because flipping around has always been natural for me. Therefore, when I discovered Parkour from watching T.V shows like American Ninja Warrior, I was instantly hooked. However, I never really knew a really history or technique to the sport because it does not get as much attention as activities like soccer or basketball. So, for this project I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to explore that world.

Through this genius hour project I have actually learned a lot. I discovered Parkour actually originate from a French military group to grow in efficency because the basic definition of Parkour is moving from point A to point B in the most efficient way. However, as the needs of efficiency became less important through the year, more creative movement began to blossom. Thus, the art of Freerunning was creatived. To continue, I learned from my Twitter resources that Parkour can be used as a way to make money and to devolep a career. Furthermore, the Parkour community is very encouraging with letting anyone, no matter the age or gender or ability, to try.

To be honest, this project didn’t really help me grown as a person, but so increase my interest in Parkour. In my opinion, it didn’t connect with me on such a personally level to make me change in any succificent way. However, what I learned in this project did my fellow students in learning more about the sport. Most people only know the basics or Parkour from either people just yelling the word or from movie stunts. Though I think my presentation to my class helped to expand their knowledge to more than just the surface layer.

Finally, for my last genius hour to help my community I want to bring people together, especially now in a time where people seemed to be torn apart. I want to use what learn from Parkour to possible create an activity for others. Maybe like an obstacle course or fun run. Then, the profits from that event can go to an important organization.

I believe that people don’t know the full possibilities that Parkour can provide, but with the help of others the word can be spread that this sport can help the lives of many.

DaPuglet via Compfight Sotiris Marinopoulos via Compfight

Swathi Sridharan. Donkeys. 2 Nov. , 2010. Flickr. January 23, 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/swathi-icrisat-esa/5686610090/in/photolist-9Evn4y-dtaKAV-8o2G7J-29938-31R8Hj-6wiyDm-4adbo1-9M3htt-5AYLxS-FqfdXk-65WFf2-fkmEy2-65WDWB-rNyLL-522qf3-5aTwmv-5MznSS-7zcwMs-5HAt5U-cmdHMJ-oMYdg7-9HE2Se-8GneyZ-5MtzW3-8Gqry1-7xCpLj-nxe41c-9ceFwp-7acgxC-7acfU7-8Gqpxb-bDvUfk-nXgrzF-9RWuXu-5Uciz8-8F7SUL-67DjeK-8AM8Jp-6oUYGy-7GfUBo-dBKNoB-8NUpHv-31M2TZ-5MeiQE-8GngDv-aKAgGk-2TbBnw-chifmj-4Yfqrh-fznHaV

Mathias Appel. Monkey. 1 May 2016. Flickr. 23 Jan. , 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathiasappel/26691814071/in/photolist-sjKAe-GEEwoT-pzatMX-9ECANn-e8mXSG-pcrKKf-5P96iP-f1rjLh-iZmgDo-bUPaq8-645EL4-4qMVon-ornBV3-88sYqX-9D6B6B-cnFuFo-jfxNGG-peKzKh-pxKsaf-aS8Kwp-rsfCnC-9t3k3c-e4LEQ8-nNKyaU-9t6jSA-qFXAeC-eAz8fh-8RzGPU-aWEQBZ-amwi3M-55iRqe-697WfV-avgbr6-cf8d5w-bzaJZT-fkMcwa-4UEFMS-bo2Dfz-bhWVeM-masSqZ-qkXgN7-qXGPRf-bZWfLs-4JbZu9-pvxKoH-eTSsiS-eeU4pS-arDBEE-nfgEt7-dnSyBw/

Over the past couple of week in my Digital Citizen’s class, we have been doing research and using Twitter, a social media website, find out information about a topic we have a passion in or found an interest in. For this project, I decided to focus on Parkour. I landed on this topic because I have a background in gymnastics and have watched shows like “ American Ninja Warriors” and admired how they effortlessly glided the air. So, I wanted to learn some background knowledge behind the sport, like how did it develop into the Parkour we know today and what it takes to do the flips and tricks many of the action stars do in movies. With that motivation in mind, I began my search for the world of Parkour.

Now, to begin with this research project was different from many other project I have done before with the added aspect of using social media. In this case, we used the popular platform of Twitter which only allows 140 characters for you to express what’s on your mind. Surprisingly, this became quite difficult later on in the process. My class’s first assignment was to follow at least ten people who were in our field of study or had some type connection with our topic. Below our my list of people I began to follow.

Jereme Sanders @jeremesanders – Parkour enthusiast (hobby)   

Andy Pearson @lonetraceur – Senior Coach of Parkour and Branding Designer for Parkour Generations

Parkour Generations@PKGenerations –  Professional Parkour/ freerunning company

Dan Edwardes @DanEdwardes –  Founder of Parkour Generations

Michigan Parkour @MichiganParkour – Parkour Club based in Michigan, USA

Blane @ChrisRowat – Manager and Senior Coach at Parkour Generations

Shirley Darlington @Shirtrix – Parkour Enthusiast and Coach

USAP College @USAPcollege – Parkour Club/ Company

Melanie Hunt @flipMelanie – Parkour/ Freerunner enthusiast

Carl Fantauzzo @BigC_ANW – American Ninja Warrior Contestant

After a couple of weeks of engaging in these people’s feed by liking, retweeting, and tweeting out to them, it started to develop a online relationship. Therefore, after that was established it was time to ask questions that would further my understanding of parkour. As stated early, the part was a bit difficult because Twitter only always a maximum of 140 characters, so our questions had to thought out. In total, ten questions were asked all dealing with how parkour affects their life in someway, the public view of the sport, or how to start out if you’re just a beginner. Here are the full length questions.

1. How do you suggest beginners get on the parkour scene?
2. What’s your opinion on how females are viewed in sport?
3. What impact do you think parkour has on mainstream media?
4. Why do you think are usually seen as the underdog in athletic situations? \
5. What motivates you to stay active?
6. In what way does Parkour bring people together?
7. What’s the most important life lesson you’ve learned from Parkour? Also, do you have any good source on parkour’s history?
8. What’s one thing you want the general public to know about Parkour?
9. In what way has Parkour affected your life?
10. In what way do you think Parkour has changed over the years?

Asking these question, would help me have a understanding of what Parkour means to people who do it in their daily lives. If you really want to understand someone, you asks them directly.

Now the responds were not as active as I hoped but the one I received was helpful. Jermeme Sanders in reply to my tweet, in what way do you think parkour has changed over the years, he said “many ways. More exposure, more diffusion in its meaning due to the nature of the expansion of the parkour. More economic opportunity.” In response I said, “ Thank you for the response! I also think that Parkour will continue to expand and change over the years,” and the conversation ended there. Though, he was the only one to respond with the help of other resources and looking at the feed of the other users I was able to gain a deep knowledge of how this sport has blossomed into what we know today.

The weeks have been a research unlike any project I have had due to added element of social media. I gained one new follow through this project from Parkour Generation. In the future I will use the process to get more info from people who are the field I am study, which is what is great about using not just Twitter but any other social media source you are able to go right to the source. The academic connection is certain new age method that will catch on the surge of technology.

There are many kids in the Edublog community and we all have different experiences in our international lives. For me, I spend more hours at school some days than at home. This is not just because my siblings and I engage in many different activities like basketball, karate, or soccer but our school is also a safe play where can hang out with our friends after school hours. To begin with my day on a regular basis starts like this; I get to school at around 7:50am and head to library to finish up any leftover from the night before or just to get some extra sleep. Then after 15 – 20 minutes when people show up, I go outside and find my friends talk until the bell ringing at 8:25am. Next, our regular school day is off. The bell to inform us our hard day of work is over goes off at 3:20pm. Finally, after a hopefully productive day, I head to Shady Shake, our on campus restaurant, and get a snack and have some down time before it’s time to go to my next activity. This season is basketball at my school so at about 4:15 it’s time to ball! After test, notes taking, eating, mental breakdowns, bar spitting, and footwork drills, it finally time for me to go home at 6:15 pm.

It may seem like a lot but I love beginning activity and having something to look forward to. What’s your school day like and your favorite part of the day?

For this week’s blog challenge we had to go to different three different blogs and then on the last one comment on the account.

I commented on 3 post in total. First on Aylssia who wrote 10 facts about herself. ( https://kidblog.org/class/vilasnieves/posts/8zp3wczsoye9z3jwzr5vr1ya1 ) I commented on the format of blog because it was really fun and inviting .

Then I commented on Georgio post about Images and Attribution (http://gzlin.edublogs.org/2016/11/08/week-3-images-and-attribution/#comment-6 ) He had a lot helpful information.

Finally, the last post I commented on was Molly’s post and she had a lot of short stories. ( http://molly45yps.edublogs.org/2016/09/15/the-dream-that-came-true/#comment-31 ) Molly is really talented at writing and I mentioned that to her.

This November I preformed in my schools art display night called Jagarts (our mascot is a jaguar). Each art class whether it be drawing, music, or movie making works on a project to present to their fellow classmates and parents. This is meant to be a night for the artist where they can show what they have been working on for the past 8 weeks. The process leading up to the night can be stressful, but the end result is usually very rewarding. Also, it is a fun time to see what your friends have been working on in other class.

For my performance I preformed the song “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Ray with my two other friends, Jennifer and Jagga. The process of selecting a song was tedious and experimental. We had to keep in mine our different talents, the ranges, and keep in mind what the background music would song like along with our voices. My group had probably went though about 10 songs before finally choosing “Summertime Sadness”. However, the day of our final rehearsal, we knew that we had chosen the right song.

The antipation was rising as the hour got closer to our performance. My group had got together to do one last rehearsal in the bathroom before it was time to go on, but their had been an interuption. The fire alarm had gone off and everyone, parents, students, and teachers, had to evacuate to the field. Lucky, it had been a false alarm, maybe some prank. By the time we returned it was time for us to stand center stage. Nerves were still filling my body but it was go time and the performance turned out really well. Overall, I would say that Jagarts was a success. 

My topic for the first Genius Hour was to research how commercials are made. Though this was my 3rd choice after a failed two attempts at other topics, I’m glad I choose this as my final topic.  I choose how commercials are made because I have always had an interest in the entertainment industry and want to become a A.E when I am older. So, researching how commercials is right along that type of profession. Also, I thought it would cool to learn how commercials are made since there are so many and their everywhere.Surprisingly, I learned a lot during this process. To begin with, I learned that all commercials are made in a similar way but just the amount of talent and funding varies. Also, that it could take a couple of months to finish a final product.However, even though I learned a lot about the industry, it did not help me grow as a person. I think this is because it was more for entertainment and I didn’t have the mindset of growing as a person. To continue, my project it didn’t really help the community. I think this is so because in order for it to help it would have to relate to someone in the film industry. However, since I presented to my classmates I think they found it interesting but it didn’t help them advance in any way. Finally, what I learn in this Genius Hour will help my community/ world because it will give me a professional way to express my ideas through commercials. Since,  I have learned the steps, I will just have to get the fundings.