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Hi, I’m Charles Feldman and I am the peer mentor for ACE cluster #9. Despite their demanding classes, the students of cluster #9 have always come to class with a positive and energetic attitude. We are a general education cluster which means our class is comprised of students with a variety of different academic interests, which range from Marine Biology to Spanish. I feel that this truly enriches our class atmosphere as well as discussions since there is such an array of view points that can be found in our class. Even though many of the students have a major and career pathway in mind, cluster #9 provides them with an assortment of interesting classes from various fields that not only help them complete general education credits but also expose them to concepts and knowledge that they would not normally come in contact with. This is why it is so great that cluster #9 requires students to take OCN 201, OCN 201L and HWS 107.
Our class is comprised of students from a variety of different states such as California, Hawaii and Illinois. However, we have learned that despite our different geographical points of origin, we all share a number of common goals and values such as getting good grades, graduating on time, meeting new people and attending sporting events. Furthermore, our class has truly become a community due to our common goals, the interactive lessons and the numerous ice breakers. So far nearly every student has had the chance to attend a co-curricular activity, has completed their write up assignment and has shared their experiences with the class. Next weekend we plan on doing a beach clean up, which will provide students with another write up opportunity and will further develop our sense of community within our class.
Now to share a little local knowledge, I have provided a map that pinpoints how to get to the Phuket Thai Restaurant at Mccully Shopping center. Thai food is my favorite food on earth, and this particular Phuket Thai restaurant is both the best Phuket Thai restaurant that I have ever eaten at, and the best thai restaurant I have ever eaten at in general. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone, plus its pretty cheap.
-Charley
http://www.yelp.com/map/phuket-thai-restaurant-honolulu
This is Michelle reporting in for Cluster 24, Pre-Nursing! I can’t believe it’s been a month of school already. Time is flying by so fast! Exams are creeping up on us but we can do it! My cluster has shared some of their horror stories of their classes (ex. writing the diffusion equation 500 times!!!) but I know they’re BRILLIANT individuals that will persevere on.
I am so fortunate to be the peer mentor of these awesome possum freshmen! They all have very unique personalities with so much going for them 
The only thing they have the most in common is that most of them are from the West side of the island: Waipahu, Kapolei, Pearl City, etc. I found that really cool. These guys really make my week!
With that said, here are a few pictures of my amazing Cluster 24 
we always use our resources!
cool kids on the block!
All right guys, have a great week! Don’t forget to work hard and play hard!
For all you with a future in the medical field, you can’t be afraid of a little bluuuuud!
This is a picture of all the flags that students made. They represent things about them including: hobbies, ethnicities, and future aspirations.
Hey all it’s Mercedes! Ryan and my cluster is full of fascinating freshmen. We have a future diplomat, artist, journalist, lawyer, and screenwriter. They have awesome hobbies which include: poetry, dancing, playing the piano, photography, and surfing. We have 12 students from all types of backgrounds. They are all taking POLS 110 and ENG 100 together. We have students from Hawaii, the mainland, and even Korea.
By the way….if you want to know the BEST ramen shop on the island it is Rai Rai Ramen in Kailua. I have been to over 15 different ramen shops on Oahu and quite a few on the mainland and it is, by far, the best. I highly recommend it!
CAS tips:
Play music before, after, and sometimes during class. It really sets the mood and makes everyone feel relaxed!
My favorite quote:
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
- Mahatma Gandhi (I love him)
This is the building where I work at the Manoa Advising Center. If you ever need help deciding on a major or want to change out of the major you are in come and see us! We are in room 101.
Mercedes 
Here’s a great music video…..of my favorite and, I think, inspirational song.
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening from Cluster 21! We are one of the Pre-Education ACE clusters! Cluster 21 has such a unique blend of individuals! I always have a great time during class. Being a smaller cluster of 8, the discussions are always lively and fun. Fortunately, they don’t seem to mind that I’m strange and jumpy, which is a definite PLUS!
We are over a month into the school year already! How is everybody holding up??? With midterm season rapidly approaching, it is crucial that you start on those readings and study guides! But everyone needs a break now and then. So, here are some suggestions for TV shows that Cluster 21 watches and enjoys during our “down time!” Maybe you’ll find something new to watch this Fall Season! (But don’t let it become a distraction!!!!!!)
Note: Descriptions taken from imdb.com
CSI - An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases.
Big Bang Theory – A woman who moves into an apartment next door to two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.
Friends – The lives, loves, and laughs of six young friends living in Manhattan
Grey’s Anatomy – A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.
House - An antisocial maverick doctor who specializes in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way using his crack team of doctors and his wits
How I Met Your Mother – Egged on by his best friend’s upcoming nuptials, Ted believes he finds the woman of his dreams in Robin — though destiny might have something different in mind.
Planet Earth – A visually impressive and memorable look at the world that we live in
Scrubs – In the unreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, intern John “J.D” Dorian learns the ways of medicine, friendship and life.
So take a breather once in a while! Study hard, but study SMART! We could all use a good laugh instead of constantly worrying about grades and projects! Until next time!
- Luke Y
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- THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN- PINK PALACE!!!
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- Me at the Royal Hawaiian
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- Waikiki Beach!!!
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- Me and some people from my cluster and other clusters!!!
So during this time of the year, here in Hawai’i we have a special event occuring called the ALOHA FESTIVAL!! This has to be my most favorite time of the year. WHy??? Will on one weekend, there is a big block party that is called the Waikiki Ho’olaule’a, which pratically covers the whole Kalakaua avenue. There are lots of local entertainment, traditional Hawaiian singing, Hula, and not to mention all the GRINDZ!!!! CHEE PONO!!! But yea, this year it will be on September 19th, 2009. So come if you like. I will be there, and probably some of my cluster. BUt I gotta hele!!! Love you all!! Take Kea and have one awesome semester….SHOOTS!!! -Poki
...this truly captures the essence of our group...
Aloha Cluster 4 and Fellow Peer Mentors!
This is Mel, currently the esteemed captain of the always wonderful Cluster 4. Throughout our 4 weeks together, I have discovered a side of them that has slowly emerged with every meeting. Just this past week, I tested their “theater skills” by giving them scenarios based on the critical thinking lesson. I couldn’t believe how funny they really were! The creativity level was simply indescribable and I could do nothing but laugh the entire time! These were the timid freshmen that walked in the first week and blankly stared at me throughout the majority of the class, and here they were, throwing themselves into a different persona. I honestly didn’t see that coming, especially in regards to a “critical thinking” lesson…
Our goal as a class for this semester is to avoid procrastination! It was something we felt was an achievable goal and an important aspect of college, especially among incoming freshmen. I hound them, I send them numerous e-mails, I bug them to turn stuff in, but it is my hope that they will always have a little voice in the back of their minds to get their work done on time. It’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way, but a well learned lesson at that.
Overall, I am relieved to have such a cooperative and genuinely sweet group. They are always attentive – even when they are giving me the “please shut-up, I’m tired” face. (I think it has to do with the breakfast I provide each session…) We are looking forward to a beach clean-up as our community service project, but they don’t know that I’ve got “something up my sleeve.” (I pride myself on being sneaky like that…)Other than that, they are continuing to forge ahead through the semester and I couldn’t be more proud!
To my wonderful Cluster 4: good luck throughout the semester and into your future endeavors. I have faith that with a little bit of hard work, you all will all succeed! And to my fellow Peer Mentors: you are making a great difference in these student’s lives! I wish all of you the best of luck this semester! Don’t forget to smile =)
Yours Truly,
Mel
This video goes out to all of the hot pocket lovers! (…probably the #1 food item cooked by college students…)
Copyright of KUCIC PHOTOGRAPHY 2009
Above is a picture taken by one of my friends, who is an aspiring photographer/ international business major and Japanese minor. He takes awesome photos!
Aloha Everyone! This is Brenda on behalf of my wonderful Pre-TIM/Pre-Business Cluster number 14! This cluster includes SOC 100, ICS 101, and ECON 130.
The past 3 weeks have been wonderful so far! We have gotten much closer since the first week and everyone is starting to open up to one another a lot more. The first week, I noticed that everyone was a bit timid and quiet, and didn’t say much to one another. However as the weeks have passed, our students are more open, way more talkative, (in a good way) and willing to form study groups as well as join a club with one another.
Another thing my students are looking forward to the Shidler Success Seminar coming up later today as well as next week! They are excited to learn a little bit more about their major. Also, students have given me feedback on an extra-curricular activity that they have enjoyed, and the main response was the first UH Football game! They said they enjoyed it especially because we won, the weather was nice, and getting to meet a lot of other people at the tailgates before the game!
My freshmen are still learning and adjusting to the college life. They come to me about certain challenges that they are facing, like if they will have enough time to study for their midterms, etc. I am always happy to help them and enjoy helping them along the way in their first semester of college.
Since day 1, my freshmen cluster has set a lot of goals for themselves before they graduate from college. Most of the common ones were:
-getting only A’s and B’s
-getting a 3.8 or higher
-joining a club
-go to sporting events
-meet new people/make friends
-study abroad
-gain work experience
My group of students are very ambitious and outspoken which I know will help them succeed in attaining these goals.
With that, I would like to share this video, it’s a “spoof” but it is quite funny as it had to do with recent happenings in our media world… Enjoy!
-Brenda Imada
Aloha!! The wonderful cluster I am team-teaching is cluster 6. They are a group of 10 fun, smart, energetic students who make my Wednesdays not so dull. They are all enrolled in AMST 150 and ENG 100. A lot of them are local, but there are a few from the mainland (like me!). The first few weeks of school have been rough, but we are starting to get settles into our classes and I can tell the rest of the semester is going to be GREAT!
On the first day, we went around and said what we think our best class is going to be, and what we think our worst class is going to be. Some of the students took an interest in things that I would never find fascinating (like math). I can’t wait to hear what everyone’s opinions are after the semester is over.
Sometime in the future, I want to try to get everyone in cluster 6 together and go on a small trip to an amazing food spot on campus (most likely Da Spot or Govindas) and have class there, just to get out of the room.
-Kelsey Kaplanek
I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.
–Langston Hughes
Hello freshmen! Congratulations on surviving two weeks of university life! The withdrawal deadline has passed, so you are officially chained to your classes for the next fifteen weeks. “Yay!” Well hopefully that’s what you’re saying.
That is certainly what I’m saying – this being my last semester at UHManoa. My name is Mari and I’m a senior majoring in Political Science (also a part-time Manoa Maniac and a part-time peer mentor for cluster 001). As you begin your journey through college, I am ending mine, and I believe my six semesters of college life has equipped me with a few morsels of wisdom. So I draw your attention to the quote by Langston Hughes at the top of this blog. If there is anything that you should take away from this blog (or really, from this semester), it is the sentiment captured in Hughes’s quote.
So pause for a moment, and read it again.
Now stop, and think about what you want out of life.
Right now is a ripe time for reflection. You are starting university, and have thus just opened a new chapter in your life. The pages are still blank, the story still unwritten.
So dream big. Even if your dreams are crazy, don’t dismiss them. You are still young, so allow yourself the liberty to envision your most perfect life. Let your mind explore. Don’t talk yourself out of anything, because no dream is too big, or too crazy, or too impossible.
Dreams would not be dreams if they weren’t challenging, and it takes courage to follow them. So find your champions–the people who will support you no matter how crazy your passion may be. Make your plan—your one year plan, your four year plan, and then go even beyond that. Think of the obstacles up ahead and what needs to be done to overcome them. What can your friends do to help you get to where you want to go? What can your parents and mentors do? What can you do yourself?
Always remember that there are resources here on campus to help you in your journey. There’s the Career Development and Student Employment office, the Study Abroad program, the International Student Exchange program, the Honors program, ASUH, the Service Learning office, and of course the rhyming acronymed MAC and PAC (Manoa Advising Center and the Pre-Health and Pre-Law Advising Center). There are people here too who are eager to help you succeed—your professors, the ACE staff, your peer mentors, your classmates. All of these resources are available to you—they are your shovel, your weed wacker, your tools to blaze a trail to wherever you want to go.
Pull your resources together and find the courage to take the first step—you might well find that it’s a lot easier than you thought it would be!
Yes this advice is cliche, but cliches live through time for a reason. Dream big. I guarantee you won’t regret it.
Since I started with a quote, it’s fitting to end with one too. So I leave you with the words of Mark Twain:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw the bowline. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
**Now on a completely separate note, I figured this blog could use some snazzy multimedia. In the spirit of our first football game this year (which was awesome, minus the first half!), here’s a clip of one of the cleverest (or dirtiest, if you’re a glass-is-half-empty kind of person) plays ever performed on a football field. UH is too classy to do this right? Ha, well enjoy anyway!
Don’t forget, the next home game is October 10th vs. Fresno State!
This is Jovana Shigetani, here and on behalf of my awesome cluster I just wanna say welcome to ACE and we hope you had an awesome first week like we did! Our first day was great! We talked story a lot, we ate a little snack and got to know each other a little better with the Star Profile sheet. I played a little trivia and read a fun fact from each students profile and it was interesting to learn about my students. We never guess that one of the GIRL’S random fact is that she burps real loud! A couple of my students have a little OCD (LIKE MEE!) and they ALL have awesome goals to accomplish before they graduate college including meeting loads of friends, getting good grades and making the best of their college experience. =) It was really awesome!
In our class we decided on our menu items that we wanted to do together and we all realized that we all like sports games and wanted to do the co-curricular activity. You should check out the various sports games that UH is a part of. There are also intramural sports that students like us can sign up for! You can get a group of friends, register your team and even win money! They’re really fun to watch too!
Ever just crave a snack after a long day at school and want something refreshing to eat?! Let me tell you about this place called YOGURTLAND! Guys, seriously, YOGURTLAND is awesome!! =) many different flavors of frozen yogurt, CHOOOKE different toppings and its close to campus! CHECK IT OUUUUTTTT! =)
I hope the rest of our semester is awesome and just remember: Play hard, Study Harder! =)
CHOKE LOVE,
Jovana Shigetani (the GREAT- ‘cuz GREAT is always GREATER! =))
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- whats your flavor?!
