As a group we decided to stretch outside of the upper campus and see the problems the elementary and middle school campuses had. We contacted Debbie Uwaine which is the K-3 Science teacher, and she came to us proposing a problem that we could help her fix. She was given a little piece of land located by the K-3 playground area where she planted different plants that herself and her students tend too time to time. She thought that it would help her and ourselves if we were to make a sprinkler system that would make watering the plants a lot easier.
Our group originally went to Lowes in search of PVC pipes and the different attachments needed. As we were searching we found a sprinkler kit that we thought would work a lot more better then PVC pipes. We came to find out that the sprinkler kit had no instructions and we had no success in setting it up. So we came back to our original plan to use PVC pipes by drilling multiple holes in them, connecting them to the hose and placing it in back of the box.
We constructed to PVC pipes that is about 5 ft. each and we used attachments so that the hose could connect to them. We also used other attachments to put at the end of the PVC pipes to ensure that the water wouldn’t leak from the end. Little holes were also drilled into the PVC pipes so that water could travel from the pipes and water the plants. We didn’t face any problems in constructing this sprinkler system and we discovered that it is really easy to construct.
Our project is used to help water the plants at a small garden at the Elelmentary campus and also stlightly lessen the work of watering the plants manually. It helps Debbie Uwaine and her students by decreasing the number of times they need to come and work on the sprinkler system on their own time.
Our group has learned many lessons from this project. If you want to make a change, you need to do something about it and voice your thoughts or opinions. By doing this you open the doors for more people wanting to make a change for whatever reason or situation. We also learned that time management is very important. Without setting dates and timelines for yourself, you are really going to have a hard time finishing whatever you need to finish on time. The last thing we learned was that when you work in a group you cannot be the nice guy all the time. If you don’t take a leadership role and face the people who are not doing work, your grades will reflect your actions. If our group were to do anything differently it would be managing our time a lot better even though everything was turned in on time, it would have been better if we didn’t need to rush. For a group project to be successful, the main thing you need to have with all your group members is communication. Without communication you will fail.
In conclusion, this project has not opened up the eyes to our group, but also the many people who are currently doing the project and the people effected by these projects. It shows that we as students are not powerless, we can make a difference if we set our minds to it and if we believe in it. Step by step we are making Kamehameha Schools a better place.
