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.