Keep Calm and Curry On

Today's lunch was hamburger curry, which inspired the punny yet accurate nature of this blog's title. The reason why we have to maintain composure and move forward is due to the tasks that we still need to do. Class began with an announcement of the numerous assignments that need to be completed, most of them due next week. We went to the SPC in order to work on our banner. It features the words "Y u waste food?" in blue letters and a "rage" face, which is a known meme on the internet. Our final version of the project is going to be done this week. This school year will be finished in less than three weeks and we have even less time to complete everything. As long as we contribute together, we will be able to get everything done.

More Awareness

This picture is just of something I found while exploring the 'Akahi website. Who knew that you could sign up to get the lunch texted to you daily! What cool features we are offered. I'm sure most students are not aware of this feature, as I was not, but they would be if they were informed. This is our philosophy for decreasing waste. We will make students aware in order to create a change. We did not have class today, but our group did do some discussion on Facebook. We have decided that along with having the new signs that tell kids to only take what we are going to eat, we are going to make a banner to put about the carousel at lunch. This will be a reinforcement to make the students aware that waste is not okay. We still have not created the banner yet, but we will do so tomorrow in class. Once we get approval, this will hopefully make a difference in our quest for less waste.

CINCO DE MAYOOOOOOOO weekend ;)

This weekend really wasn't that productive as far as the project goes. This is mostly because I had an Economic Summit Convention all day on friday with Mrs. Fale (*dun-dun-dun <insert terrified scream>) Nah, Fale's cool. Sorta.

ANYWAYS. this means that I missed the physics test-thing that Amber posted about, and I missed any new developements/discussions that my group may have had (if there was time for that on friday.) However, I'll just recap on our project.
We've created the new signs, and I've noticed that the Akahi workers really like them and have taken it upon themselves to set it up each day. For all we know, perhaps they use it at breakfast and dinner for borders too. I think that'd be pretty cool if they did. So hopefully, the signs have caught peoples attention if the plates haven't been. Hopefully this coming week will be productive as well.

This is a pic I took at the Economic summit. That was the LONGEST day of my life. Even though school ended at 2:30 we had to stay til 3

Physics "Con"test

Today was an unusual day for our team because we could not work on our project during class. Instead, we had to take physics exams, which none of us have studied in depth for a while. Those who can get more than 30 correct can get a bonus on their multipliers. I only answered 29 questions, so even if I got them all correct I will not get any extra points. However, I doubt that I got 14 incorrect answers, so at least my multiplier will not be penalized by this single assessment. During this weekend we may add more to our finalized report in terms of what we have learned so far from the project. We will also need to figure out how we will present our project since the deadline for the first draft is approaching.

New Tray-day Thursday

   Today, our group, continued working on our project to better Kamehameha Schools. During 6th period we went to the SPC and created 2 posters for the Akahi food lines. We designed the information part of the posters on Friday and had them approved this past Tuesday by Mr. Morris of Akahi. At the SPC we created them. We created the posters with a yellow background because we thought it would be more noticeable. To make them more attractive we created small boarders around the edge of the paper. We also laminated the posters so that the Akahi staff could keep them and use them multiple times. If these posters prove to help reduce waste then we are going to create a few more so they can have some for the back lines. Once we finished the posters we went straight to Akahi.

    When we got to Akahi today we found that there were no more plates! They have been replaced with trays! This, fortunately, works in our favor. The trays have multiple sections that limit the amount of food that can be placed in each section. These trays will help students to take proper portions because of the sectioning. Hopefully it will also help to reduce food waste as well as its intended goal to reduce water waste.
    A few things we noticed today while in the dinning hall were that some students are starting to notice what we are doing, but some students are disregarding it. As I was serving myself lunch, a sophomore girl asked one of her friends if they had to take one hot dog or if they could take more. This goes to show that some students are actually seeing the displays we put up, unfortunately she had not noticed the sign or had not comprehended its words because it said to take only what you can eat and if you are not sure then take the proper portion (i.e. what is on the display). I also noticed today that there were a couple of male sophomore students who had 4 hot dogs on each of their trays. I was not around to see if they wasted any of them but I thought about watching them and seeing if they wasted them.

Continued Experimentation

These images are from lunch today. Sloppy joes and fries are the high waste items but I was told to put some veggies on the plate just for good measure. Mahea took the picture on the right of the waste today. It is clear that there is still a lot of waste. This is from the senior lunch and I saw the same during our junior lunch. However, we will not know for sure the exact amount of waste and if it has decreased until we get the numbers from the 'Akahi staff. Meanwhile, we are continuing to get posters approved to put up in 'Akahi as another means of reducing the waste.

May Day Deliciousness= ZERO to NO waste today (probably)

Today is May Day and today for lunch we had Hawaiian food. Of course, I seriously doubt that there will be any food waste today. If anything, they may run out of food before the last period lunch!
ANYWAYS, as mentioned in Amber's previous blog post, I emailed Mr. Morris, the akahi food director, asking for permission to display signs around the dining hall that will alert the students of our project and to be aware of the amount of food that they take. We were thinking about also making some of them funny and memorable, such as using the rage faces that are very popular among students and the internet world. Along with my email, I attached a draft of the poster we intend to display. I checked my email this morning and Mr. Morris said that the signs are okay but that we just have to make sure they they don't interfere with food safety.

We should have the signs done by the end of this week, and ready to be posted! :)