Blogs:

09/09/19 through 09/13/19 ​
Building from the Last Dynasty
This week, I began the true work of a Finance Minister: accounting. Throughout the week, I troubleshooted the process of making quotes and updating financials. Whether it be trying to find the correct materials based on what is already in the lab, finding the best deal and quality for an upcoming order or calculating the revenue based on the total costs of production, the role had plenty of challenges in store. By the end of the week, I had a better idea of my job and renewed excitement for the commissions to come.  

09/16/19 through 09/20/19
Let's Get This Started!
we have back to school night looming over us this Thursday afternoon, so the pressure is on! I have full confidence in our current products (acrylic FTHS key chains, Lanterns and coasters). Back to School Night is first and foremost an opportunity to get the good name of Saaje out there to parents and students alike. The beside picture is the sign I laser engraved for the occasion which turned out well on the mATTE aCRYLIC.
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09/23/19 THROUGH 09/27/19
B2SN RESULTS AND CONVERSATION AMONG MINISTERS
AFTER THE RUNNING OF BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT, IT WAS TIME TO CRUNCH THE NUMBERS FROM THAT NIGHT'S LOG TO SEE HOW MUCH WE EARNED IN TOTAL. WITH ALL OF OUR MATERIAL AND MACHINE COSTS PAYED, WE ENDED UP WITH A LITTLE OVER $25 IN PROFIT! WITH A COUPLE COMMISSIONS AND A BETTER IDEA OF OUR AUDIENCE'S PREFERENCES IN PRODUCTS, WE GREW AS BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS.
I WAS ABLE TO GATHER MY FELLOW FINANCE MINISTERS TO CONSIDER A QUOTE CALCULATOR I CREATED OVER THE WEEKEND. IT CALCULATED THE PROFIT BASED ON THE COST PER PRODUCT AFTER SUBTRACTING THE BASE MATERIAL AND MANUFACTURING COSTS. ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE GROUP DECIDED AGAINST UTILIZING MY CONTRIBUTION, I AM GLAD THAT I WAS ABLE TO HELP A FEW AND THAT WE WERE ABLE TO ESTABLISH OTHER IMPORTANT TOPICS SUCH AS THE MATERIAL BASE COSTS FOR VINYL. 

09/30/19 THROUGH 10/04/19
FORMING IDENTITY, UTILIZING THE SCRUM TECHNIQUE
STARTING THE WEEK OFF, WE BEGAN TO BUILD OUR TRELLO PLATFORM SO WE HAD AN EASIER WAY OF MANAGING OUR MEMBERS. EASILY ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL DEVICES AND ABLE ASSIGN CERTAIN MEMBERS TO THEIR SPECIFIC TASKS, IT IS EXCELLENT TO HAVE A WAY OF EASILY KNOWING PROGRESS WITHOUT GOING ON A CHASE FOR TEAM MEMBERS. IN ADDITION, WE SPENT MOST OF OUR CLASS DISCUSSING THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR COMPANY'S BRANDING AND MARKETING. AS A GROUP, WE DECIDED THAT OUR PRODUCTS WOULD FOCUS ON PROMOTIONAL MEDIA AND LIFESTYLE ITEMS. WE ESTABLISHED THAT OUR HIGHEST VALUES ARE TO CREATE PRODUCTS PERSONALIZED TO OUR CUSTOMERS EFFICIENTLY.
10/7/19 THROUGH 10/11/19
ORDER IN PROGRESS... 
Set a cart up for our valued customer: Miss Page! Our shirts were ordered to arrive this Wednesday, and we were excited to reach the production phases of this commission. This week, I plan to focus on completing our invoice for this order and do tasks however I can be helpful in the finishing of Miss Page's shipment, most likely with packaging and delivering the goods. I even created a cardboard shirt folder to speed up the packaging process! In addition, I have used a scanner to scan our financial documents to save them online should anything happen to them within the shared drawer. This ensures better convenience for our superiors to check the validity of our current or future projects. 
10/21/19 THROUGH 10/25/19
COMMITMENT AT ITS PRIME 
Ready to start the shirts, we found time would be cut short if we spent the day gallivanting with our fellow classmates at Changemaker day while the other grades completed their PSAT. To remedy this, we worked quietly in the lab and outside to practice printing our shirts, finding that the best way to use our plastisol was with a thinner. While the two did this, I remained at the computer to work out all of our finance documents due to the numerous changes that are made in this developing program. After hours of working and scraping leftover adhesive and shirt fibers to clean off the boards, we felt accomplished. By the end of the week, we had over a dozen shirts finished and aim to keep up the progress.
10/14/19 THROUGH 10/18/19
ORGANIZED AT LAST! 
This week, although the Santa Ana winds persisted at the week's start, we were able to make progress with our shirt commission. Committed to our craft, Shea, Emma and I were able to use our full school day this Wednesday to practicing and making progress with our shirts. To add to that, I have at last created the five required forms for every order in progress and will go about getting signatures asap.
We are all ready to devote our senior year to progress towards a healthier future for the students of Nepal, and are excited to deliver our first order. 
11/11/19 THROUGH 11/15/19
BE OUR GUEST, BE OUR GUEST (SPEAKER) 
With the job complete and a happy customer made, house Saaje as proudly produced 132 shirts for the students and teachers of Avid as of last Friday. We started the week with a lecture by one of our peers' parents: Liz Donnelly. As a realtor, she showed us the importance of giving gifts. Yes, there is reward in giving to others, but that's not what I mean. In a business perspective, giving out merchandise with your branding is the best way to leave an impression on people while still being personable rather than coming off as a greedy salesman. Showing us examples of what she would purchase for prices that didn't match the product and gifts received over the years, my fellow classmates and I have absorbed the message about the importance of getting your name out there despite the cost of gifts. Another speaker visited on Thursday, and we are incredibly fortunate to have a small business' Electrical Engineer present to us. 
11/3/19 THROUGH 11/8/19
RECHARGED AND READY TO ROLL 
Fall break has ended and we needed to discover the magic formula to avoid cracked shirts! Most of this week was devoted to that, experimenting in the heat, but the rest was finishing off the long-awaited finish line for the job that would net our house over $700 dollars. However, before that could be done, I needed to fix our finance documents once again. The developing fetus that is D-Tech has made another development and as a finance minister we came together in a meeting to ensure document uniformity and ease for the master finance document. Thus, all that is left to do is rename and fix the documents this weekend while juggling homework.
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11/18/19 THROUGH 11/22/19
HOUSE JOUST #2 - START!
At long last, we begin another house joust. A battle for a battle-themed sophomore project: the Soldier Project. We have been instructed to reach out to the teachers of CP World History, but something about the numbers struck me as wrong. Spending my day at the board, I carefully calculated how much we could charge given the district's budget to these 4 teachers only to find that it truly was too good to be true. The former estimate of at least $5 per trophy for the project lowered to being about $4.50 at most. However, these calculations have been corrected yet again as I am notified that there are 5 sets of trophies to be made under the same budget. At this point, the trophies will be done practically for free based on the costs to use machines and replenish materials, so I wait to see how the other houses will react once they realize the true cost of this project trophy-wise. I can only hope that posters for the project will fall under a different budget, but we shall see!
11/25/19 THROUGH 11/26/19
MESSAGE RECEIVED, DESIGNING ENABLED
The end of the month is here and we have received a clear response from the district regarding how payment is dealt with when paying through their departments. Yes, jobs will take longer to be paid back, but money is money and a commission is an opportunity to grow as an entrepreneur. With only one class in D-Tech, I aim to spiff up my finance documents and make them uniform, but I need to fix another thing first: the sales order process forms. They give credit where credit is due, and there have been some dreadful mistakes since our class grades are dependent upon the number of times we are involved in a job. So I must make haste and fix the errors before it slips my mind and the end of the break arrives.
12/2/19 THROUGH 12/6/19
VOTING FOR A TEST AND A NEW CLIENT
 Practicing democracy, we got together on Tuesday to decide on our final of the semester: A test on business. Given the option of a multiple-choice, student-made quiz or a written response, the vast majority decided that we would take a multiple-choice test. I continue to question the necessity of this test, as I believe the best test of apprehension is application. We should incorporate the lessons into our businesses to give it meaning rather than simply taking notes and stuffing facts. However, it appears that is unrealistic. On a better note, I have a new client! My coworker from Community Memorial Hospital has responded to my offer and we are now designing a table runner for the other company that she works for: Color Street. This upcoming commission requires the use of the vinyl cutter and screen printer as well as an understanding of emulsion, so it is through this task that I will gain a deeper understanding of our equipment.
12/9/19 THROUGH 12/13/19
TALKIN' BUSINESS
This Tuesday, our business lessons by Ms. Tessa began. We learned not only about currency management though means of Credit and Debit cards but also through stocks and bonds. In an engaging activity, we went through a simulation of the stock market and learned what kind of investors we were. Each stock was represented with a casino token, and the simulation spanned 7 years of company development. However, I wished to facilitate the process and volunteered to become a banker to exchange the money and stocks as necessary. With this in mind, we have learned that there are more ways to earn money than to simply work a job and profit. There is making money through saving money (i.e. coupons, promo codes, etc.), investing in stocks or bonds, or by creating a savings account. 

1/6/20 THROUGH 1/10/20
WINTER BREAK'S REPERCUSSIONS...
It was an unfortunate combination of events. I lost much sleep during the break due to volunteering for the Cal Poly Rose Float team because of my brother. With a co-leading role, Jeremy was an integral part of the process and allowed my family and I to marvel at the magnificent float. We were able to help him by attaching petals and processing flowers and other vegetation for the float. My main job was to work on processing statice flowers for the jellyfish and octopus on the float. However, having been working relentlessly on this float, the Cal Poly Rose Float team were worse for wear and likely carrying a sickness. Thus, since I also gave up sleep to go to the Rose Parade, my weak immune system and less than optimal surroundings lead to me catching the flu. Was it worth it? I cannot say, as I missed much school work but received an enriching experience where I could understand my brother's devotion to his craft. Although I was put out of commission for a week, it was incredible to see the mechatronics I had heard about in action. 




1/20/20 THROUGH 1/24/20
TURNING AWAY A JOB?
Unfortunately, we were unable to accommodate the wishes of Team 3925's business department regarding their shirt, so we no longer have their order. Therefore, I moved on to working on a job commissioned by my coworker concierge at Community Memorial Hospital: Ileana Camara. As an artist working at Color Street, she has ordered several slides to fit into an eight and a half by eleven frame. In total, she is ordering 3 slides of transparent lexan with vinyl cut to make words. This investment will allow here to switch out the background of the frame according to the occasion, and the text can be changed for better visibility. 




​#2.) 2/3/20 THROUGH 2/7/20
THE LEARNING NEVER STOPS
I started designing the slides for Ileana on Inkscape this week, but ran into an issue: the text that the business requires their employees to use are unable to be downloaded onto school computers in order to type in the font. I was unsure what to do, as I had finally collected all of the font files. However, after seeking advice from Emma, I was able to see that I could accomplish the task by individually creating the letters by using the trace bitmap tool. With that in mind, I proceeded to outline the individual letters of the alphabet in Opificio and Dancing Script. It was a valuable reminder that asking for help is better than floundering alone. 


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​#4.) 2/18/20 THROUGH 2/21/20
PHOTOSHOP HOUSE JOUST AND MORE PICS
This week, I spent most of my time straightening out my finance files, I need to learn how to better communicate with my team about putting all of the trello links into the finance document rather than simply making the files and saying nothing else. Although I would consider it laziness on my part, I now know that it is better to be proactive about this kind of situation. On a higher note, we took the picture of all of D-Tech's people: Dynasty 2-4. It gives you a warm feeling, to see that there are so many of us. Luckily, I was not in the front, so the skirt that I was wearing, the article of clothing that would make me the black sheep in the photo, was obscured by the row of people before us. Now all our documents are, fairly, organized, and I can focus on working with catching up on work that I missed when I went to Washington during the weekend. The house joust poster is behind us, so we can continue working on our respective jobs.









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​#6.) 3/2/20 THROUGH 3/6/20
FUNDRAISING GALA
It was this week that we began to make baskets for the fundraising gala baskets. The goal is to raise money for Gravity Water, true, but more importantly to help the parent association for Foothill raise funds and to gain publicity. We plan on having 6 baskets of several categories. More than the previous benefits, however, this gives us the opportunity to finally work with other houses on a common goal. Before, House Jousts and projects were focused on internal bonding, on cooperating with your fellow house members. With this project, we take one step towards a more inclusive environment and build a culture of togetherness. My fellow teammates have gone out to purchase supplies and bond, and I wish I was able to go with them to help and share in the experience. It is my greatest wish that we help one another to thrive as a program, not just as individuals in the same industry.
12/16/19 THROUGH 12/20/19
SIX MINUS TWO
Although I was sick for nearly half the week, I returned to find that Mr. Li had made the executive decision to remove two of our group members from Saaje. It came to me as a shock, as these two individuals were key players to our group and great with outreach. However, I understand that despite this setback we will need to do our best to keep it together and finish the jobs that have planned. A former member of D-Tech's House Vanguard returned from college for the break this Thursday and, with that, heard a snippet about what college was like and how much D-Tech helped him become deeply involved in the building of a 20-foot rocket. It brings into perspective the sheer degree of impact that knowledge on how to 3D print, CNC, etc. had on each of us even as we move forward in life to a new place.




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​1/13/20 THROUGH 1/17/20
BACK AGAIN WITH A NEW ORDER
I am healthy and well once again! This week has been a scramble to get back up to speed before next week: finals week. I have been notified that there will be a final in this class that is not able to be studied for. It is an assignment that will test our knowledge of the semester, as expected from any end of semester assessment. Despite this, I am less worried about the final and more worried about a new order that just came in and finishing an order that's been dragging since the previous winter. This new commission is a tricky one, as it tests my lines between personal and business ties. I wish to make the t-shirt of my team's dreams, but there is only so much that is reasonable. Therefore, I will have to consult Adeline, our business manager, whether she still wishes to go through with a test print since our designs, if you push it to it's maximum size, is 11.5x18. 

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​#1.) 1/27/20 THROUGH 1/31/20
TRELLO TEMPLATES
This week was mostly updating the format of our Trello cards with fellow finance ministers. We created a template channel and began the process of weeding out what was unnecessary in the card and what needed to be added to the cards when dealing with Ventura School District payments. The checklist is longer for the district, but the only additions would be forms that must be sent to the district. When all was said and done, I spent the rest of the class updating our current Trello cards to the same format. With this format, we will be able to more easily fill in cards so we can continue onto the next steps more efficiently.




#3.) 2/10/20 THROUGH 2/13/20
GROUP PHOTOS AND FIELD TRIP NOTIFICATION
Our class received field trip forms to visit CBS Studios for March fourth. The plan is to spend our day there, but not when the set is live. Even though we are unable to see them film due to our large numbers and the strict timing of a news studio, it is definitely exciting to consider the benefits of this opportunity, as we will all be able to observe the professional filming environment. Other than this, however, we also arrived to school prepared to take a D-Tech Dynasty 2 photo in our 2019-2020 shirts. Although seniors were not included in the design process, it is refreshing to see the logo in a cleaner form. 






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#5.) 2/24/20 THROUGH 2/28/20
NO WHERE NEAR SIMPLE
This week I am faced with a predicament: the price of shirts as a finance minister. I will admit it: I spend a significantly smaller amount making products and so much more crunching numbers, handling metaphorical situations and amounts. So when I am told that we have to bargain out amounts with a customer, the gears start turning more than usual. On one hand, you want to please the customer. You want to meet their demands or surpass them to increase your reputation as a company. On the other hand, you need to satisfy the needs of the company. You need to accurately figure out costs. That is why it is not a matter of wanting, but needing to know how many people are making shirts and how long it will actually take each of them to complete the job, as these are factors that are required to know for any job. It's ridiculous that by this time I don't know enough, and most of that is due to neglect. I feel the utmost guilt: how could I abandon my house for so long? How could I be so ignorant as to believe that someone else would understand that they needed to keep track of the time spent working projects? On one hand, I know we must charge more since so much time is spent printing on 36 shirts in 2 colors, front and back. On the other hand, I know that this is unfair to the customer to charge them above a certain price. They were the ones who payed for materials, so putting aside the fact that I know it takes such a log time to screen print, it doesn't make sense to charge the amount that my house wishes to deal out. I need to talk more with my fellow members...




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