Thanks, Vinny and Anthony

Thanks, boys, for the letter and the kind words. I had Vinny for Geometry two years ago and for Pre-Cal this year. He is a key member of the culinary program on campus and have baked me many treats over the years. It my first time having Anthony, he helped produce a beautiful yearbook this year. They are both great kids who are always eager to help.

Day 8 - Departure Day

Special limited-edition button. Thanks, Thomas.

On a relatively cool and dry morning, I went out to grind through a slow 10-miler in a hilly area. I went north to the river walk for a 5-mile loop, then I ran south to the World War I Memorial for a second 5-mile loop. As I walked to cool down, I ran into Tim and we decided to get breakfast at the farmers market. We each had a crepe with loads of nutella and bananas, he also shared with me a beignet. I rehydrated with a mange peach smoothie as well. We walked around the farmer market briefly and took the KC Streetcar back to the hotel. 

After Tim boarded the bus, I checked my carry-on suitcase at the lobby and watched Wonder Woman at the Alamo Drafthouse Theater. I had Protein House for lunch and got a couple more postcards at Raygun before retrieving my suitcase and Ubering to the airport.

It was a long returning trip with minor delays and crying babies on planes. But I enjoyed my second year in Kansas City as much as I did a year ago. My friends Tim and Daryl and I explored more of the city. We didn't have the stress of preparing for the acorn skit. Overall, it was a week spent with great people as we combined our efforts to successfully score over 1.3 million questions.

KC humble brag #1

KC humble brag #2

KC humble brag #3

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 7 - Funstravaganza

Our one-of-a-kind distance sticker

We gradually wrapped up some more boxes of folders of exams in the morning. It was encouraging as some of the readers receives breaks when the room is not receiving any more boxes. We were told to bring our belongings to lunch and meet at a hall as a group at the convention center. During lunch, I attended a briefing of Question 5. The meeting after lunch gave each of the six question leaders a chance to share with us some of the things that students did well and didn't do so well. The end of the meeting concluded our reading and we were excused thereafter.

Tim and I did some shopping at Raygun, a local novelty shop.  We also stopped by the Rally House before returning to our room for a quick rest prior to dinner and the Funstravaganza. The Funstravaganza was great fun. The new readers (Acorns) put together some humorous skits. Other skits include Family Feud, Holy Son of the Majestic One, What Goes on Downstairs in the Alternative Test Grading Rooms, and Fun Run Awards Presentations. At the end of the night, Tim, Daryl, and I enjoyed a great conversation. We wish Daryl the best as he begins his new journey to earn a doctorate in statistics at Ohio State University.

A street sign nearby after shopping at Raygun

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 6 - Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kansas City collectibles.

I ran with Nick (a computer science principle reader) and other morning runners to the river for a solid 5 miler. Tim, Daryl, and I are understandably somewhat drained mentally from this week's scoring. Today was my third day of grading question 4. On my walk to lunch, I caught up with my table leader Jennifer from 2016. I thanked her for being the an inspiration for me to improve as a classroom instructor. I also attended a debriefing of Q2 during lunch. By the end of the day, we enjoyed our dinner at the cafeteria and took a break at the hotel. Daryl enjoyed a presentation at Professional Night. Tim and I visited the The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I've been wanting to go see the badminton shuttle sculptures as they were a part of the main attractions. Unofficially, the shuttles are symbols of Kansas City. We weren't much in the mood for the arts galleries inside, but appreciated the building nonetheless.

We Ubered our way back to the Union Station, our driver played some interesting music of choice and warned us to not stay at the WWI Memorial past 10pm.  As we approached the Street Car Station, Thomas gave me the "Finding Normal" button! It was a complete surprise. I've been wanting the button since I first saw it. It was a limited edition button. Thomas won the Fun Run drawing and got an extra one the next day. We chatted briefly the day before and he remembered to save it for me. I feel so lucky. Tim and I walked back to the supermarket and our hotel. At the social lounge, I chatted briefly with Daryl and Sam as they shared their experiences at the Professional Night presentation.

Birdie # 1 of 4

Birdie # 2 of 4

Birdie # 3 of 4

Birdie #4 of 4

Tim and I exploring a different side of Kansas City

The museum staff was preparing for a special evening event

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

ASAP - Mile 32

A Shoe Adoption Project Update: Six more pairs of shoes will go to Kenya this summer. As of this writing, that's a total of 15 pairs that we will send to children who are starting their own soccer program. I'm in Kansas City this week for AP exams reading. I plan to deliver these to Christ's Church of the Valley or have Emily, the student leader of Chosen Children of Promise, pick these up from school next week. Thank you to all of the donors, supporters, and friends of this project.

Diadora Monaco Evo in Kids Size 1.5

Diadora Monaco Evo in Kids Size 2.5

Adidas F5 TRX FG in Women Sizes 6.5 and 10

Nike JR Bravata FG-R in Kids Size 13.5

Lotto Campione in Kids Size 10

Day 5 - Prediction Fun Run

This year's Fun Run shirt

It was our second full day of grading Question #4. I also attended Tabor's Question #6 briefing during lunch. Most of us skipped dinner since it was the Fun Run at 7pm. Tim and I walked to the River Walk by the Missouri River as warm up. In a normal distribution, about 95% of the data fall between 1.96 standard deviation below and above the mean.

Erica is amazing, she spearheaded this Fun Run and organized all the necessary details to ensure that we had fun. It was a blast. A time of 13:01 was my ambitious prediction on a hot 90+ degree day with humidity. (I later found out that 13:18 was my official time. I under-performed by 17 seconds.) Since we modified the race last year because of extreme heat, this was a new experience for year one and year two readers.

On this evening, we're lucky that there was an overcast with a nice breeze. The shade bought the temperature down to the 80s to the lower 90s and the humidity more bearable. I thought I had came in 6th. Volunteer Gina told me that I had finished 9th. I read the finisher's card upside-down. That tells you how coherent I was at the end of the hard run.

Tim and I ventured to the Power and Lights District and walked by a country music concert with a solid crowd. We decided to have a burger at BUGR for dinner. It rained a little with heavy wind on our way back.

Tim and I on the right, Daryl on the left.

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 4 - Dine-Out / MLS Game Night

This year's gift from the College Board

Today is our median day. A group of six of us ran southward to the Union Station and a quick loop around the World War I Memorial Park. On our way back, it rained heavily. Tim and I used the tunnel from the hotel to the Convention Center. My partner Karen and I graded Question #4 from 8am-5pm. I'm able to stay engaged throughout the long day since I'm in a room full of fun and amazing statistics teachers. Our conversations over the details of the question are thoughtful and they provide great learning experiences. Jim, Erin, and I joked and poked fun at each other every so often to break the monotony.

At the end of the day, I was joined by Daryl, Richard, and Claire as we Ubered to watch Kansas City Sporting vs Minnesota United play at the US Open Cup at the Children's Mercy Park. It's a beautiful stadium that is only a few years old. The home team won 4-0. Kansas City is filled with great people. The evening is a little warm and humid, but we all had a wonderful time. We extended our conversation as we waited for our Uber on our return trip.

Inside an exclusive all-you-can-eat/drink area at the Children's Mercy Park

Home team won 4-0

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 3 - Negro League Baseball Museum

This year's Fun Run Towel

I again joined the informal running group in the morning. I ran with Jim from Michigan. Today was the third day of grading. Our reading group continued scoring Q1 and so it was refreshing to be trained on Q4 in the afternoon. 

The Negro League Baseball Museum in KC usually closes at 6pm. One of the readers contacted the museum to grant us extended visiting hours. Some of us decided to skip the College Board Open Forum this year. We followed a museum tour guide for a special private tour, allowing us to stay until 8:30pm. The tour guide, Bob, started to narrate some of the stories and instantly brought the spirit of the Negro Baseball League to life. I didn't know that this league was such a huge part of US history. His final point was that the museum is not a story about the struggles of the league, but how the men overcame the struggle of the league. He emphasized that the fighting spirit is the American spirit. Tim, Daryl, and I took a two mile walk back to our hotel, chatting about our experiences in our second year of AP scoring.

Taking a private tour of the NLBM.

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 2 - Best Practice Night

Year Two

I started the morning with a morning run with a group at 5:45am at the Crown Hotel. I ran with Karen who teaches at a small school of about 250 students from the New England area. It was a full day of scoring Question #1. In all, I've scored about 320 by the end of the day (and close to 1800 for the week). Tim, Daryl, and I joined many other AP Stats teachers for Best Practice Night. We enjoyed listening to 16 teachers present some of their best practices. The two that I can see myself implementing are 1) the number of letters in your name and the Scrabble point value of your name correlation and 2) the rigged card distribution activity. The presentation ended around 8:50pm. The group headed back to the Marriott Muehlebach Social Lounge and just hung out and watch game 5 of the NBA finals.

Kansas City Convention Center

The four iconic Sky Stations that support steel cables

Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Day 1 - AP Stats Reading

This year's AP Stats shirt. (It was white last year.)

The first day of training went well. Learning the rubric of the questions is one of the most engaging times of the week. I also appreciated meeting my table partner Karen along with table leaders David and Alan. The tables next to ours is Jim/Erin and Gretchen/Ben. We have a fun and passionate group of teachers in the room. At my table were this year's fun run shirt, fun run towel, and the new button for this year. I also picked up my new blue polo shirt at the end of Day 1. (It was white last year.)

At the end of day one, Tim and I walked around Light District and later jogged to Missouri River. It's a humid season in Kansas City with temperatures ranging mainly in the 80s and 90s.

Power and Light District

Power and Light District

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Arrival Day - Kansas City 2017

This badge must be wore at all times inside the Convention Center.

This is my second year reading AP Statistics exams for the College Board. I'm to read and score Free-Response Questions 1 and 4. Two good friends (Tim and Daryl) and I have messaged each other during this past week and we are looking forward to this year's reading. We had a great experience last year. It's a long travel day for me. I had to leave Chino Hills before 6am and did not arrive to Kansas City until after 7pm. The long trip was worthwhile as we all arrived safely. I hung out with Tim and Daryl at the Yardhouse in downtown Kansas City for dinner. Great to see these guys again.

Thanks again to the leaders for the fun stickers for our badge. Our room scored a question relating the length and weight of wolves (paw sticker). The other question we scored was on boxplots of three chemicals (elements sticker). As was the case over the years, the reading week included Flag Day. This year's button was also at our tables as we arrived on the first day of scoring.

A rare moment when this table in the social lounge wasn't used. 

This year, Tim and I were roommates at the Marriott Muehlebach, making it easy to visit the AP Stats Social Lounge in the lobby throughout the week.

(AP Reading, Kansas City)

Thank you, Andrea

The morning after graduation, graduate Andrea sent me a surprised email with these images attached. She created them for an art class project. It took me some time to recall that she took this photo of me months ago. I had Andrea last year in Pre-Cal and this year in AP Stats, she's always been a smart and creative student. She also gave me indoor soccer tickets last year. Mr. Wes and I know she does her AP Calculus homework in my AP Stats class and vice versa. The images are generated from a corner of my classroom. Andrea told me that she simply used social media filter to show that cool images can be made without fancy graphic softwares. In the original picture below, I tosses the paper origami that Theodora gave me (see this post).

The original photo.

ASAP - Mile 31

A Shoe Adoption Project Update: Thank you again, Jon, for your donation and support for this charity. Jon's previous donation (see Mile 15) helped us deliver more shoes to those in need. Your kind words inspire me to continue to do more for others.

Thank you, Debbie

To me, Debbie is Bonita!

Debbie is the wonderful secretary to our assistant principals and athletics directors. She is exceptional. None of us have any idea how she does all that she does everyday with such a positive attitude. She always made sure that we are welcomed and have everything that we needed. Earlier this year, when the faculty was asked to dedicate an inspirational video to another member on campus, I picked Debbie. At that time, I didn't know that this would be our last year working together. I said to Debbie in the video: "You are smart, organized, and full of positive energy.  You are who every Bearcat should be." Debbie is retiring at the end of June. Congratulations and thank you, Debbie! We will all miss you very much, you better come back to visit early and often.

Debbie is the best.

Mr. Pizzolo listed the Top 10 things that we'll miss once Debbie retires.
At #1 - We'll miss Debbie!

Graduation c/o 2017

Commencement program, candies, and a commemorative pen.

Congratulations to the Bonita Bearcats class of 2017. It was a beautiful afternoon in La Verne on Wednesday. There was a new set up this year, the faculty gathered in a classroom before walking into the gym together as the graduates awaited and applauded us as we entered. Then, we were approached by the graduates to take honorary faculty photos. Thank you, Heather, for selecting me. The faculty and graduates spent some time together before we lined up and walked out to the field. We wish the graduate the best as they move forward onto the next chapter of their journey.

Standing in front of the 475 graduates

Swimmers Lauren and Mary 

Anthony aspires to be a director

Two trouble makers: Ramsey and Eric
(with c/o 2018 Class President Cole in the background)

Baseball star Matt

AP Statistics Outstanding Student Recipient Sydnie

Valedictorian Anders

Anders, moments before taking center stage

Anders delivered an excellent address

Pre-Cal Outstanding Student Recipient Morgan delivered a classy Farewell Address

Heather selected me as her Honorary Teacher.

Top: Isaiah, Yip, Kevin, Li
Bottom: Edgar, Nathan

Top: Kayla, Heather, Yip, Priscilla, Mary
Bottom: Marisol, Megan