1st Place

Jacob Favela

Holomua Elementary School

“WHOA, have you seen the Challenger Center’s new 25th anniversary patch? It was created by Hawaii’s very talented Jacob Favela! I had the cool opportunity to sit down with him and interview him on how he came up with his unique idea, why he created the symbols he used, why he chose the shape and colors that he included, and most importantly what was the overall message he was trying to convey through his mission patch. Here is what I found out.

First off, I learned that his patch was no ordinary everyday patch, there was a lot of deep meanings behind every symbol he chose to include. Let’s start with that cool space shuttle right in the middle of his patch. Jacob said he chose that symbol because it is the vehicle that takes astronauts from Earth into outer space and that without a space shuttle space travel would never have been possible. He included the words “NASA” and the American Flag on his space shuttle because NASA is America’s space program that is responsible for every flight into outer space. The next symbol that is on his patch is an astronaut giving a shaka, which represents Hawaii’s greatest and known astronaut of all time, Ellison Onizuka who was an astronaut who was born and raised in Hawaii. This symbol is important because it shows all the kids in Hawaii that if Ellison could follow his dreams and become an astronaut then so can our keikis of Hawaii. And the colors he chose, those have some deep thought behind them too. First, he made the background yellow because it was attention grabbing and symbolizes intellect and happiness and that’s something we all should strive for everyday when working together on a mission. Next he chose green and blue for his words. The words Challenger Center Hawaii are green to show that the Challenger Center is a place of optimism, calmness and reliability. Optimism is important for space travel because you have to believe that it is possible and then have to show that you are reliable to get the job done but do it in a calm environment because if you panic you won’t be able to pass your mission. He made the words 25th Anniversary blue because the color blue represents the honor he feels for all that the Challenger Center has done for the keikis of Hawaii for the past 25 years. Also, blue represents peace and trust. For everyone to complete their mission they have to work together in peace and trust each other. Wow, that was some deep meaning behind those colors. Let’s see what he said about his shape he chose for his patch. Jacob said he chose to use a circle shape for his patch because a circle is the shape of the sun, the moon and all of the planets in our universe. That’s deep, who would’ve ever thought that all the things he included in his patch would have so much meaning behind it.

Finally to his overall theme of his creation. The message he wanted to convey to his team members through his mission patch was that great minds working together with optimism, peace and aloha. It can achieve anything and he wanted to remind everyone that you can achieve anything you can dream about if you are determined and work hard at it.

2nd Place

Nanea Lau

Moanalua Elementary School

For the drawing of my mission patch, I drew many things that relate to the 25th anniversary of the Challenger Center Hawaii. The main focus of my patch is the spaceship over the Earth, which represents the Challenger Space shuttle. I drew this because the center is all about space and its mission to inspire kids all over the world. Besides the space shuttle and the Earth, I drew kids holding their hands in the air to show children united and working together. I also included the American flag behind everything on my patch because I believe that we should all be proud to be an American and that is the one thing we all have in common no matter what. Lastly, I drew the state flower of Hawaii; the yellow hibiscus surrounding my patch. There are seven hibiscus flowers, each representing every one of the crew members that we lost in the Challenger disaster.

3rd Place

Leesha Bernabe

Holomua Elementary School

As a Space explorer, I will explain my 25th Mission Patch WriteUp and “How I Inspired Others.” I created my symbols because first is the Rocket Ship, an how others represent their own journey toward accomplishing their goals. The Rocket Ship also tells me that you can Explore and Dream Big to achieve your goals. The Shooting Star represents “Good Luck” because it is used to express wishes for success. They can also be a symbol of reaching one’s ultimate destiny. The Astronaut will inspire others to continue to work towards their goals. Just like how the Astronaut flies very high, you should reach for the sky! Go for it! You should always reach for the sky to achieve your dreams and goals. And if you reach for the sky, you are ambitious and try hard to achieve something very difficult.

Then I included certain colors like Yellow, Red, Orange, and Blue because they have different meanings. Yellow represents the “Shooting Star” because Yellow shines with happiness and positivity. But Yellow also tells me that my team should be positive when we do our mission because if we really want to accomplish our mission, then we should be positive! Red and Orange represents the fire from the “Rocket Ship,” this means to me that it is how you are very courageous to face hard challenges, like how my team and I will face hard challenges when we do our mission. Blue tells me that my team and I should work together and respect at each other, because the most important things that my team should do to complete our mission is to communicate and respect each other.

Then I started thinking the shape from my patch. The shape that I came up with for my patch is Circle because for me Circle shows “TEAMWORK.” T for together, E for everyone, A for accomplishes, M for more, W for with, O for organization, R for responsibility, and K for knowledge. But a Teamwork is also important, that it’s the only way anything gets accomplished with any quality.