1. Summer
Projects
By Danya

3. Reading
This summer I read the Heroes of the Olympians series.
The first book is called The Lost Hero. It is about three kids who
all meet at the Wilderness School, which is a school for trouble makers,
and go on a quest together. The kids’ names are Leo, Piper and Jason.
All of them are demi-gods. That means that one of their parents is a god
and the other parent is regular or a mortal person. Leo’s father is the
god of tools and fire. Piper’s mom is the goddess of love and beauty.
Jason’s dad is the god of the sky. All of the kids have two things in
common one is that they are all demi-gods, and the other is that they all
have a problem. Leo’s problem is that he keeps seeing vision of Gaea,
who is the evil goddess of the earth. Piper’s problem is that a giant
kidnapped her famous father who is an actor. Jason’s problem is that his
memory was taken away and he can’t remember anything from his
past including his name and age.
They all got moved from their school and transferred to a
Greek camp for demi-gods. At camp they get put on a mission to save
the queen of the gods. When they go on the mission they run into a
whole bunch of monsters, saved Piper’s dad and Hera and became
better friends. When they saved Hera, the queen of the gods, she gave
most of Jason’s memory back. When Jason gets his memory back he
finds out that he is not from the Greek camp, but that he is from a
Roman camp.
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT THE END!

4. Reading Continued
The second book is called The Son of Neptune. The three main
characters are named Frank, Hazel and Percy. It is also about kids who
meet and go on a quest together. Except this time they meet at a Roman
camp. Percy Jackson has the same problem as Jason had. He can’t
remember anything either. The other two had worse problems. Frank’s
problem was that his life depended on a piece of firewood. Hazel’s
problem was that she was brought back from the dead. It all started when
Percy found himself running away from gorgons, monsters with snake hair,
who couldn’t die. Whenever Percy killed them they would turn into sand
then reform back into them self. Then Percy finally escaped from them. He
ran down to a highway and found an old hippie lady who needed his help.
Percy took the old lady to the place that she told him to go to. It was a
Roman camp for demi-gods. When they got to the camp the old lady
transformed into a warrior with a goatskin cape. It is Juno, a Roman version
of Hera. Juno tells a prophecy and what needed to happen and then left.
That is when the friends meet.
The next day they all get put on a quest to go rescue Death from
a giant. They all go on the mission, rescue Death, kill a giant, come back to
camp and win a war all in one week. Then Percy gets his memory back,
and he also gets a letter from the Greek camp saying that a war ship is
coming with four of the people from the prophecy of seven. They were
coming to pick up the other three people.
READ THE NEXT BOOK TO FIND OUT THE END!
(It is coming out in the fall)

6. Create and Construct
For my create and construct project, I helped start building a shower enclosure, with my
dad, at our friend Mitch’s house. I had to be careful with all the tools. I also had to be aware
of other people and space around me. To be safe I had to wear a hardhat.
Below is the order of how we made a shower:
 Read the plans
 Layed out and snapped chalk lines
 Cut existing floor and floor framing
 Built the stem walls
 Framed new shower floor
The Plummer will then come and install the rough drain. There are many more
steps to finish the shower but I had to go back to camp.

8. Exploring
I went to a dance school in Philadelphia for two weeks this summer. The school is called the
Rock School for Dance Education. I stayed in a Jack and Jill dorm at Cabrini Collage with
two teenagers, without my family.
Every morning I would go to breakfast at a dining common, then after breakfast I would go
on abus to downtown Philly. That is where the Rock School is located. The classes started at
8:45 Eastern Standard Time (it is three hours ahead of California time). I did a ballet class for
an hour and a half and then I had a point class for an hour. We then had a nice long lunch
break in the school cafeteria. After lunch I had another ballet class for an hour and a half.
After that long day I got back on the bus and drove back to the dorms.
While I was in class. I met and learned about my teachers. Most of them taught
at the Rock School year round. I had eight teachers that were all special in their own ways.
They all taught differently but they taught the same style of Ballet. Most of my teachers
have taught at the Rock School for over ten years. They were all fantastic!
One of my roommates got promoted to a higher level, so she left later in the
morning than me and came back laterin the afternoon. Her name is Gianna Nale. She is
thirteen. She is also from California. I have known Gianna since I was five weeks old. Gianna
goes to the same Ballet academy, in Carmel, as I do and she used to go to ISM. My other
roommate’s name is Ally Chumney. She is fourteen. Ally was in a level lower than Gianna.
Ally is from South Carolina.

9. Exploring Continued
To leave Philadelphia we had to travel with a grown up. Gianna’s mom,
Jeannine, flew out to pick us up. Jeannine toured us around Philadelphia for a couple of
days. We got to see the Liberty Bell, walked by the United States Mint, toured the
Independence Hall, tasted a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, and did many other things.
When we got on the airplane in Philadelphia, to head home, we had to wait on
the tarmac for two hours because of lightning. When we started flying, that also took a
couple hours and when we landed in Houston our timing got worse. We couldn’t get to
the gate for an hour and then when we did get off the plane we had to run to the next
flight. Jeannine was in her high heals trying to keep up with Gianna and I. I was getting an
asthma attack. When we got to the gate we found out that the flight was delayed an
hour, which meant we would miss our connection home. I almost cried. We decided that
instead of taking a long flight to LA and then having to find a hotel there late at night, we
would just stay in Houston. That is what we did. The next day we left to go to Denver and
then on to Monterey. On the flight to Monterey we almost did not get to land, because of
fog. I was really nervous, but the pilot was able to land in Monterey and we all cheered. I
went in to the airport and saw my family. That put the biggest smile on my face.
By going to this school I have learned many things. I have learned how to be a
better dancer by improving my technics and posture , and how to live by myself without
my family. I also learned how to make friends and how to stand the “wet” heat. Now I
understand how responsible you have to be to live by yourself, and why you don’t move
out when you are a kid.

10. Getting My First
Point Shoes
To dance en pointe, in
Philadelphia, I needed to get the
shoes. I went with my mom to
Prima Dancewear, in San Jose, to
get my pointe shoes. The owner
helped me pick out the correct
ones. The company that makes the
pointe shoes is called Russian
Pointe. The type of shoe is called
Diamond. They were 80 dollars for
the shoes and I had to get toe
pads and tape so the total was
112 dollars! I was SO excited to get
them.

11. Arriving at the Rock School

13. Drawing by Danya

14. In Philadelphia I went
sightseeing, shopping,
and Cheese Steak
tasting. I rated my
Cheese Steak, 6 out of
10. I also went to a
dance school, saw
fireworks and the liberty
bell.

16. Give Yourself Away
One weekend my neighbors had a nursery liquidation to raise money for
charity. I went over to their farm and asked them if I could volunteer. They
said that I could. So, I showed people around and sold some plants. It was
fun.
My sister also came but she didn’t want to help. She really likes
succulents so I helped her pick one out. It is really cute and you hardly need
to water it.
It felt good to help someone without personal gain.

18. Dinner
For my multiple course meal project I chose to make a three course dinner at my
cousin’s house in Clovis.
First I decide what to make. I went to the store and got all the ingredience that I
needed. Then I went home and determined how much time it would take to make it.
I washed my hands and then started to cook. I started with making the stuffing
for the turkey. I cut up celery, pulled apart bread, cracked an egg and added spices. Then
I stuffed the turkey and set it in the oven with help from an adult. I set the timer and let it
cook for four hours. While the turkey was cooking I set the table and started making
croutons for the salad.
To make the croutons you need sourdough bread, olive oil, garlic powder and
garlic salt. First step of making croutons is to cover the bread with olive oil then put garlic
salt and powder on. I did this on both sides of the bread. The second part is to let them
bake at a low temperature for a long time.
Next I made a salad. In that salad were some tomatoes, that I picked from the
garden. I also made zucchini, mashed potatoes, and bread rolls. Then I set the table and
set the turkey, stuffing, bread rolls, zucchini, and mashed potatoes out as the first course.
Then we had the salad, with the croutons for the second course. The third course was
strawberry shortcakes. I cut up strawberries and made a yummy whipping cream with
cream, sugar and vanilla.
I used all the food sorts. Dairy, vegetables, fruit, fats, grains and poultry. It was a
great meal that everyone enjoyed.
After dinner, I cleaned up all the dishes spotlessly.

19. My Three Course Meal

21. More Summer Fun
 I visited my cousin in Clovis for 4 days. We went swimming, took their dog to
dog training, spent hours jumping at the Sky Walk, went to the movies and saw
Ice Age, I cooked a 3 course dinner for them, and we got to hang out with
Louise Mandrelat a theater.
 My mom got some free passes to the Rodeo in Salinas . I went with my family.
My favorite part was the parade. I also liked the barrel racing. I really didn’t
like the bull fighting, or when they would ride the bull, or when they would
make the horses go wild and see how long the rider could stay on the horse. I
got mad and almost cried because I thought that it was really cruel. One of
the things that a Rodeo Clown did while fighting a bull was that he ran away
from the bull and jumped on a fence. Then he jumped on the bull’s head and
ran across it’s back. That made the bull mad and so the bull knocked the man
over and started trampling on him. His clown friends got the bull away. They
had to get doctors to have a look at the man.
 I am attending a theatre camp at the Hartnell College for the last two weeks
of summer. We have done dance classes, singing classes and plays. It is great
fun!!! It is the second time I have been to a college this summer. We even got
student IDs.

22. Hanging out with Louise Mandrel
Rodeo
Hartnell Students