First Hive Orientation with Students at Ilihan Integrated School

Yesterday November 8. 2023, I together with @ybanezkim26 had the privilege to share our knowledge of Hive with the Grade 12 students of Ilihan Integrated School.

It felt like a full circle. From my first ever onboarding session with the teachers from the very same school last year in October and now to this. I kept on telling the Hive teachers to share what they've learned with their students soon but I wouldn't expect that near future to be now. And I am grateful to @callmesmile for her enthusiasm and determination to push this through by integrating this opportunity into her Master's thesis.

To be honest, I always come unprepared now for onboarding sessions. Just trying to wing it every single time. But this time around I was a little bit cautious as to whether the students would be able to grasp the ideas and concepts of what we were about to share with them but Kim did assure me that students of their age should be able to understand some of what we are to discuss to them.

We were scheduled at 9:00 am and eventually, we got to start around 9.30 am. It was a bit amazing to see the classroom full of eager learners. A little bit refreshing as they all stood up to greet us visitors, bringing me back memories of my school days. There was curiosity in some of the faces of the students and that helped me to give it my all despite the lack of sleep. The coffee helped a lot too.

I decided to have the flow of the program like this:

10 mins Welcome address c/o @callmesmile
15 mins Introduce ourselves c/o @ybanezkim26 and @indayclara
30 mins Web3 c/o @ybanezkim26
30 mins Navigating Peakd c/o @indayclara
20 mins Rewards System c/o @ybanezkim26
15 mins Do's and Don'ts in Blogging c/o @indayclara
15 mins How to improve writing skills c/o @ybanezkim26 and @indayclara
15 mins Advantages of Blogging c/o @ybanezkim26 and @indayclara
20 mins Q&A

I was anticipating a total of 3 hours. Fingers crossed we will be able to lessen the timeframe for the actual session.

@callmesmile started the program with a very short welcome address, the singing of the National Anthem, and a prayer. Then the floor was handed to both me and @ybanezkim26.

We proceeded to introduce ourselves, sharing a little bit of our background and profession. The gasps and awe the students showed after telling them I was a licensed civil engineer and registered master plumber years ago and all that amazement we went silent as I told them I ended up blogging in my current career. 😆 Still we do want to inspire them to better their writing skills as it will take them far longer in their future careers.

@ybanezkim26 in his all-formal speaker mode outfit was on top of his discussion with the Basics of Hive, all about the Web 3.0 blockchain, and cryptocurrency. I don't tell him personally but I am always in awe of how articulate he is and how he can communicate well his intentions despite him saying he is an introvert. And I wonder why he didn't end up being a professor. 😂

As for me, I show them how the interface of Peakd works, the basic terminologies, and what blogs look like. I wanted the session to be interactive as well so I asked them by a show of hands if they were interested in sports, photography, singing, etc to show them that there are communities for their hobbies or topics of choice. That there will always be something that they will be able to write about. Later on, we also dig into the Do's and Don'ts, how to make their intro blogs, their succeeding blogs, and curation.

@ybanezkim26 and I then shared why it's relevant to improve their writing skills or start blogging. As for me, I emphasized how blogging in Hive helped me land remote/virtual work as an admin assistant for an online coaching school. We also shared about the @ocd onboarding program and assured them that we will mentor them in their journey.

Most students were quite interested throughout the session however only about 3 students participated in the Q&A. I guess most of them were either shy or overwhelmed. 😅 We officially ended at 11:50 p.m. and had our group photo in those last 10 minutes before the students were dismissed for lunch.

photo from @callmesmile

Some familiar faces showed up at our event namely @naymhapz,@jobeliever, @ciadanmea, @redgemini, @dehai. It was also great to see @missleray after as well.

Overall, it was just an opportunity I am blessed to be able to take part in. I am hoping that these students will soon join Hive, inspire them to explore modern technologies, and help them with their writing skills. We do what we can to help them in some way and this is our way. To more orientations in the future with students.

And that's it for now.

P.s. It's great to be back writing here as well. I mean what is the point of sharing Hive and blogging if I myself have been far too long not doing it? So this is a comeback season for me. Expect more blogs coming up soon! Stay tuned.