Today was our last time in the expo hall. We got our own google cardboard  and we got our own magic 8 balls. The presenters at the google station took pictures of us and they printed those pictures out and put it on a huge board reading “Thank You Teachers”. It was so cool. Later on, everyone at their booths were giving away everything that had left. I got a car charger! We went to the closing ceremony but we had to leave early in order to get to the airport on time. Even though we weren’t at the closing ceremony that long, the ceremony was great.

Today is our last day in San Antonio. We went to a theater were we would see Leslie Fisher present on gadgets. She was really funny and her whole presentation was very interesting. I loved listening to her.

We went on a boat ride in Riverwalk. Our tour guide was really nice and explained many of the places we saw. There was a building that actually looked like it was going to fall down and it looked 2 dimensional. It was crazy! There was a place were couples would take a lock and lock it on a fence with their names on it and they would throw the key into the river. They symbolized that they would be with each other forever. There were many locks all over the fence. The boat ride was amazing!

Today is the day the grand Expo hall was open! In the expo hall there were many famous programs and technology being showed off. There was a google station, at&t station, brainpop station, and even a MIcrosoft station! Many other stations showed cool and unique 3D printers. There was even one station where they had a read laser and they used in to burn words into wood. It was so awesome! Eveyone got many different things from everyone station. I had a huge bag filled with different stuff (mainly stress balls). Everything had a logo on it so we would remember the station and the program we got it from. There was so much to see.

After the Riverwalk boat ride, we went to the Tower of the Americas. There was an elevator we took to get to the top the the tower. In the elevator there were glass windows so we could see the view while going up. There was an elevator operator that controlled the elevator and turned on a voice recording explaining a little about the Tower of the Americas. We got to the top and we came when it was dark outside and the view was amazing! We could see everything and I loved staring at the view. We went down some stairs and out a door and we got an even better view. I could feel the breeze and it was cool there. I really recommend going to the tower of the Americas in San Antonio.

We had a chance to present to the Jewish Federation. We first heard other people’s presentations and then Mr. Voskoboynik briefly presented what we were going to present in detail. After the main presenters were done presenting with the attention of everyone, the audience could go to all of the presenters directly and ask them questions in detail. People came to our table and we presented to them. I showed them www.tikitoki.com and how I used it to really understand the history of the Jews in Ethiopia. The people I presented to were really nice and they talked to me a little of what they knew about Ethiopia. I really liked talking with them. 

On the second day walking from our hotel to the ISTE Conference Center we ran into the creator of Scratch! At the end of my 7th grade year my class and I were assigned projects of animated creatures on https://scratch.mit.edu/. I never thought we would run into the creator of scratch! If you want to see a video of him with us here is the link, ​https://goo.gl/photos/pGCssqoJB5fc85DJ7.

Right after we got off the airplane we had to go to are hotels to prepare for our presentation in the ISTE conference. Everyone had shirts with our school’s logo in the front and a QR code in the back. The QR code would send you to our school’s website, www.hhai.org. After each family got their rooms. everyone had a 15 minute break. All the presenters met in Mr. Voskoboynik’s room to look over and practice together for one of the last times before presenting. We walked from our hotel to the ISTE Conference Center and from there we went to our table. That was our final time reviewing our presentations before the onlookers came.

There were a lot of teachers and people at this conference! Many people came and looked at our booth. We explained more in detail of what our booth was briefly showing using iPads and laptops. We presented for two hours straight and our mouths became dry. I presented mainly on www.tikitoki.com, how to use it for timelines and how I used it to show the line of history of the Jews in Ethiopia. The people I presented to where all teachers and they were really nice. I met a teacher that took a huge financial leap from marketing to teaching just so she could pursue her dream. She was very kind and I absolutely love her. Many of the people I presented to took pictures of my tikitoki timeline so they wouldn’t forget it. Presenting to so many people was a new experience for me and I learned a lot.

Here we are, 11772.6 miles away from Indianapolis in San Antonio, Texas! The plane ride absolutely amazing. I don’t know about everyone else, but I loved the take off, pushing against gravity in the air, and then letting gravity do its thing slowly. Though, a lot of me wanted the plane to go faster when it took off. The plane ride itself was amazing!