Welcome to Students Incorporated. I'm your host,
Mr. Jason. Join me weekly as my team and I produce
content that's informative, positive, fun, and
uplifting. This podcast is created and produced
with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok. Welcome back to
the show, everyone. Today's episode in segment
one is all about turning big ideas into real
impact. We're diving into the Capstone Project
experience with special guests who've lived it
from challenges to breakthroughs. And later,
get ready for part nine of Legends of the Yucatan.
Our story is reaching a whole new level you won't
want to miss. But first, let's hear our quote
of the day and get some headline news. Our quote
of the day comes from the one and only Capstone
man, Mr. Mike Houghton. He said the most important
part about Capstone is students learning about
others and themselves. This quote shows that
the most significant part of a capstone isn't
just finishing a project. It's also about growth.
Learning about others means working with different
kinds of people, understanding new perspectives,
and building real teamwork skills. At the same
time, learning about themselves helps students
figure out what they're good at, where they struggle,
and even what they're passionate about. In the
end, the capstone is less about the final product
and more about becoming a better, more self -aware
person. And that's the quote of the day. Now
on to some headline news. Thank you for our quote
of the day, celebrating our episode on capstone.
Here are three capstone -like projects across
the world. First off, in March 2025, the World
Bank launched a new project in Djibouti, Africa
to strengthen communities and support vulnerable
groups. The initiative focuses on providing grants
and low -to -zero interest loans for projects
that boost economic growth and reduce poverty.
This approach aims to empower local communities
by enhancing their capacity to manage development
projects and improve living conditions. Next
up, in India's Dong district, local communities
have initiated various small -scale development
projects to alleviate poverty. These efforts
include carpentry training workshops, village
green bank schemes, and hostels for young school
children. These projects aim to provide sustainable
livelihoods and improve education for impoverished
families in the region. Finally, in Senegal,
also in Africa, community members in Dakar have
undertaken small -scale projects to combat poverty.
During the rainy season, they work together to
prevent flooding in their area. And in the dry
season, they produce soaps to generate income.
These initiatives not only provide economic benefits,
but also strengthen social cohesion within the
community. And that ends our news for this episode.
Thank you for the quote in the headline news.
What's a capstone project? Maybe you've never
had to do one yet. Well, in this first segment,
we'll be talking with Mr. Mike, who leads the
capstone project initiative here at ICS. And
we'll also be talking with several students about
their experience in doing their capstone projects.
To go back to my question, what is a capstone
project? In a nutshell, a capstone project is
a big final assignment you usually do in your
last year of high school, college, or at the
end of a specific learning program. Okay, to
get us started, I want to welcome Mr. Mike to
the show. Hello and welcome back. Glad you can
join us again to talk about this very important
project. So to begin, could you please introduce
yourself and give us a brief explanation of this
thing called the capstone project and its intended
purpose? Glad to be here. Always enjoy the podcast.
Yeah, so my name is Mike Holden and I'm the service
learning coordinator here at ICS. I've been at
ICS since 2014 and I also lived in Malaysia and
Indonesia. So the Capstone Service Project, what
is this? Well, yeah, so this is a student community
service project where students identify a real
social problem. They implement an authentic solution,
and then they present their project. And so you
also asked kind of about intended purpose. So
I think that's kind of about the whys. And so
there are actually a lot of whys, and we explored
these actually in our first workshop together.
But a couple of the key whys I think from maybe
a school perspective is that ICS really values
making a difference. It's kind of core of being
a responsible citizen and a follower of Christ.
And so it's connected very closely with the mission
of ICS. And then historically, even before I
came to ICS, the school board wanted a clear
way for us to have students demonstrate those
expected school -wide learning results. So that's
a pretty core element of the project. I think
there's also a lot of, like, learning and stretching
that students do. And it is a bold experience.
And students are going to learn and grow and
be stretched as they, yeah, go through the process
and the struggles and the highs and lows of that.
And I think another good why for students is
it really does help you to stand out with universities
or even future jobs. Yeah, capstone, you know.
Can't say it's my favorite thing to do, but it's
definitely useful. essential skills that will
stay with you in life you know like for example
building discipline creating leadership skills
and connecting networking public speaking and
learning how to gather information and see how
what the majority wants now from the perspective
of the capstone project coordinator what are
some of the biggest challenges for recording
such a big and long -term project for around
100 students alternatively for the perspective
for students What would you say are some of the
biggest challenges for students? Yeah, nice,
Frank. Yeah, I think you've captured some of
those like great underlining lessons that students
get. Well, you talked about 100 students and
really it's actually more like 200 students because
I've got about 100 juniors and 100 seniors all
going through the phases of the project. So,
yeah, I think one of the challenges that I face
is just trying to keep 200 people on pace with
all the different things they have going on in
their lives. So it means I get to encourage students
and motivate them. And everybody requires, yeah,
a little different nudges. And honestly, Frank,
I really hate being the bad guy. So that's definitely
one of the challenges that I have. Also not having
like a dedicated time to meet with students every
week or every other day like you have for class.
I think that's difficult. Like when I was teaching
before, you know, a student was missing an assignment
or needed more help. And I'd see him every other
day or so. So I think kind of not having that
consistent face -to -face time is a little bit
challenging. A fun challenge that I get is that
because every project is a little bit different
and unique, so I get to try to think through
those projects and try to support students individually
with their community and kind of their specific
projects in mind. I think for students, Capstone
is, yeah, it's a big project. And so it's just
another element that they are working through
in an already like packed schedule. So it might
be exam time or AP time. And then this is also
something that's on their plate, which is tricky,
right? So it's tricky to balance those classes,
extracurriculars, ROTC for some. family stuff,
other things going on. It can just be a lot,
right? And so this is a big thing that's already
going on in a packed schedule. I think another
challenge for students is starting. So that can
be pretty tough, right? So it pushes you out
of your comfort zone right at the beginning.
And so if you haven't had a lot of personal community
service experiences and developed relationships
with an organization or different people, And
it can be pretty tough, and it requires you to
kind of do that cold call process. And so it's
like, hi, I'm a student, and I'm interested in
serving here. And I feel like that can be really
intimidating for a lot of students, right? And
it's challenging. So I think, again, it's a big
project. And so for many students, they've never
undertaken anything this big before. And so there's
a lot of learning and growing that takes place.
And some students have more support to help them
than others, which is also another challenge.
Yeah, thank you for that. I would say that trying
to help each student through the process, even
when the students are not always in the same
place in the process, would be a huge challenge.
So you have some students who are starting early
and are like ahead of the game and other students
who kind of wait to the last minute. I would
see that as a huge challenge as far as someone
who's trying to help them along the way. The
other thing I think. which is kind of cool to
point out, and I think you alluded to this, was
the idea that the students are learning things
and even some things they're learning, they're
not even know that they're learning them along
the process, like the soft skills needed, the
like approaching a stranger, talking to them
about a potential problem or issue they'd like
to like be involved with. And just some of those
soft skill things that we tend to learn going
through that process, I think are super helpful.
Moving on. Let's see. If you were to give advice
for students who are starting or in the process
of completing their capstone project, what would
your advice be? This is our last question. We
always like to ask for advice from our guests.
So what would that advice be for those students
who are just starting or also in the process
of completing their capstone? Good question.
All right. So some. My advice, I would say number
one, timing. So start and stay on track and kind
of knock it out quickly. I think for a lot of
students, it feels like it takes a long time
or when it takes a long time that it really feels
like it drags and it feels more burdensome. So
ride that momentum, get started and get going
on it. And yeah, try to keep up with your timing
and your schedule. I think another thing would
be like flexibility. So just being patient with
yourself and recognize that it's very likely
that things will not happen exactly the way you
think it's going to. So be ready to pivot and
be flexible in that. Kind of along with that
would be maybe your attitude. So there are going
to be some highs and there are going to be some
lows. There's days when you're going to be excited
and I don't know, things like your fundraising
is all coming in and you're like super excited
about that. And then there's other days that
are going to just be like difficult and challenging.
You just don't want to work on it. You got it.
And so like making the choice to stay positive
can really help you in that process. Maybe another
one would be. and kind of relate to that is focus
on the people that you're serving rather than
yourself. I know this is really difficult, but
I also know for me personally, this helps me.
So I know when I'm like really not wanting to
do some task or I'm kind of feeling grumpy about
something, then I'm often focused on myself.
And if I can make the choice to think about the
people that I want to help, then that helps me
to have a better attitude and gives me kind of
the energy to take the next step and to make
some progress on it. And maybe one last key essential
piece of advice. I would say, listen to this
podcast because there are so many great episodes.
You can learn about all kinds of ways to do a
great project. I mean, recently, Mr. Tim's episode
were super amazing. Or you had the episode about
ideas to execution. That was like jammed, packed,
full of amazing advice for Capstone. So listen
to the podcast, guys. All right. Yes. Thank you
for that plug for the podcast. And just like
Mr. Mike was saying, as we kind of end this segment
with Mr. Mike, the idea that these skills that
you learn going through the Capstone Project,
the Capstone Project brings the student into
real world examples, real world circumstances
where they have to do things to adapt, to be
flexible. They're meeting with. people that they
have to kind of like work around and so it really
gets them out of the classroom puts them in to
the real world and it allows them to learn in
ways that they just wouldn't otherwise so it's
such a helpful project and I know students are
scared to do it and I'm very nervous and it stresses
them out a lot but the skills that they learn
You will use those in university. You'll use
those in life, your first career, your job. You
can use them in your own neighborhoods when you're
talking with your neighbors. All right. Thank
you, Mr. Mike, for sharing about the importance
of this project. It's good that students are
introduced to this type of project in high school
as it can really set the foundation of how to
approach solving real world problems and working
with people in a very practical way. Alright,
we welcome several students to the studio who
will share some of their own personal experience
with this type of project -based learning activity.
Next, Mia will help us and get us started. Hello,
and welcome to the podcast. Could you please
introduce yourself and let us know what you'll
be doing after you graduate? Well, hello. So,
my name is Micah Chernai, and I'll be going to
St. Louis Misery in America, and I'm likely going
to pursue a degree in literature. Hi, my name
is Esther and I will be going to college to major
in child development in California. All right.
So we are on the topic of capstone for this segment.
So our next question for both of you is, what
did you do for your capstone project? And was
that something you were passionate about or was
it more of a strategic decision? Basically, I
designed a merchandise line for a nonprofit organization
as a way to add another source of revenue. And
I would say I had a mix of passion and strategy
just because it's a necessary thing for graduation.
And but it's still related to graphic design.
And I really do enjoy art. So I still had that
passion with the project. For my capstone, I
painted a mural at the Agape Youth Center to
really ignite hope and strength within the children
there. And since I enjoy doing art, I decided
to use my artistic skills to bless the youth
center. So I guess you could say that it was
something I was really passionate about. Yeah,
it's really cool how you guys both like art and
did incorporate art into your capstone projects.
you know, sort of making merchandise and painting,
how long did your capstone projects take from
start to finish? I believe it took about like
24 .5 hours. Don't quote me exactly on that.
But it was about in that range -ish. And I say
like a third of it was interacting directly with
my community and just getting to know them. And
like, what are you guys like? What do you guys
think of this too? Like having meetings and stuff.
And the rest of it was just like the actual action
of like designing work. Um, for my project, it
took around 21 hours within a span of like four
days. That's a lot of time. So since you guys,
you know, took like 20 plus hours for your capstone
projects, what was the most time consuming part
of the project for you? Time consuming? Uh, I
think I would say like, because what I had to
do was like, I had to design something that would
be able to sell that'd be appealing to people
in general and so what i did was i made my friends
sit down and force them to look at all my work
it's like what do you guys think like do you
guys like this like is this appealing would you
buy this please tell me help and i would just
like go through the process over and over again
like hey you're my new test subject now and i
would just like experiment and see like okay
i'll just this i'll try that i'll talk to this
person and see if different demographics would
be interested slightly different like Is it slightly
more appealing? You got to tell me. So just doing
it over and over again. That's a lot of time.
For me, both the essay part and the action part
were equally time consuming. But I would say
that since the action was more straightforward,
it was easier to do. All right. And what were
some challenges that you faced while doing your
capstone? Because I worked with a nonprofit organization,
but it's essentially just like a small business.
But like. And being in that, like, an actual
office setting is, like, I can be in an academic
setting. I can talk to teachers and staff and
other students, like, pretty fine. I have no
problems with that. But being in the office,
like, there's a weird, like, it's different enough
for, like, this is strange. Being professional,
like, it's, like, these are actual adults that
do things and don't, like, care about students
as much. Like, I'm just kind of, hello, I'm a
student. Please talk to me. It's, like, I had
to be, learn to be much more, like, okay, I'm
in office. Got to act professional, like, in
a different, like, more. genuine real life experience
so that was like i think i was able to it's not
super hard but just that that was a like initial
like weird challenge i had to get over with but
yeah um i would say not managing my time well
enough and honestly it was just hard starting
the project yeah i feel you esther so now that
you've completed your capstone what would you
say was the most rewarding part of it it's finishing
i think like both sides are like the Being able
to see all my work, like, as a whole, like, the
whole span of it, and just, like, being able
to be proud of what I did, like, wow, I did that
somehow, some way. It's, like, it's very, like,
it's just nice to see you finishing, like, your
own work, and you made yourself. But also, after
the capsule speech, I was like, yes! And, like,
it felt like chains had, like, got ripped off
from me, like, I'm free. But also, but yeah,
it was just nice. I would say, of course, completing
Capstone. It was very freedom inducing, but also
honestly just being someone that can make a positive
impact for my community. All right. And what
advice would you give to students starting their
Capstone projects, especially the juniors? Hey,
juniors. I think. Like this advice gets repeated
a lot already. I'll just be very brief about
it. Just like start early for any underclassmen.
If you can start as soon as possible, that would
be. But like that's already been said so many
times. And I think it's redundant. So I think
more useful would just be like talk to the people
here. A benefit, a major benefit of ICS, I would
say, is just the community that we have here.
And just everyone is just so willing to help
you out if you just ask. Just like ask and you
shall receive. please talk to teachers or staff
or even other students and families. They are
willing to help you. I didn't know what I was
doing at all in the start. And just talking,
getting a better picture, it helps so much. Talk
to people. I would say to start early as well,
like everyone says. But also not to stress too
much if you don't. I didn't really do a lot in
the beginning. It's not as hard as it seems,
so just don't stress too much. All right. Thank
you guys so much for joining us and offering
some advice to others as they take on this big
last assignment of their high school career.
OK, so we have two more students in the studio
to talk about their capstone project. So we welcome
Joseph and Elsa. So hello, guys, and welcome
to the podcast. First off, could you please introduce
yourself and let us know what you'll be doing
after you graduate? Hi guys, I'm Elsa and I'll
be studying biomedicine and technology in Taiwan.
Hi guys, I'm Joseph. I'll be studying finance
and estate. All right, really cool majors there.
So now regarding your capstone project, what
did you do for capstone and what was something
that you were passionate about? Like, was it
something more strategic or did you like actually,
you know, really like it and was just really
passionate about it? So I built an aquaponic
farm to increase vegetable intake education.
It was more of a strategic decision and my passion
combined because I knew the project was going
to take a long time. But in order to finish it,
I also had to keep on going as like my interest
in biotechnology that allowed me to persevere.
Thank you. I've been around because I used to
do community service there and I want to make
a lasting impact on the community that I used
to serve on. So what ramp was it? Like, what
did you build it for? And like, you know, what
was it? It was for disabled people. Wheelchairs?
Yeah, and also for people moving heavy objects.
Oh, okay. All right. All right. Thank you. So
how long did your capstone project take from
start to finish? On my paper, I said 58 hours,
but the entire process from start to finish was
in the span of two years. What? Yeah. It was
a really big plot. Two years. It was a really
good project. Oh. Yes. Okay, Joseph. Joseph.
It was definitely a lot less than that. It was
15 hours and a half on paper. Yeah, we should
let you start first before else. Okay, so now
that we're on the topic of time, what was the
most time -consuming part of the project for
you? Honestly, the community service hours I
put were not completely accurate because I stayed
overnight for a couple of days in order to fully
understand my community and the pain point. So
I think the most time -consuming part was actually
getting to know the people in my community. Yeah,
for sure. I'll say it was the booting process.
It took around 10 hours to put the ramp in there
and drive completely. All right, that's a lot
of... A lot of hard things that you guys did
in a very small amount of time. So props to you
guys. So, you know, on top of that, what were
some challenges that you faced while doing your
capstone project? Some challenges I faced were
mostly language barrier because the workers there
could not really understand each other. We had
Chinese and Thai workers that didn't understand
each other. And another challenge was that the
aquaponic company took too long to respond back.
I was there was like a span of like two months
where I had no idea what to do because they didn't
reply. And another challenge I faced was that
everyone had different opinions on the project.
Some people thought it shouldn't be professionally
built and some people thought that it would be
better to have it professionally built. So I
took a long time presenting my reasons on why
I thought it should be professionally built.
Yeah. For me, it was like weather issues. that
i've faced because since like it's a construction
project if it's raining it will be really hard
to put the project especially when i was about
to start it it was the raining season so i have
to wait to around august which capstone was almost
due to like start the project and finish it was
it like concrete construction set yeah it was
like a concrete oh yeah okay i see So now that
you guys are done with your capstones, what would
you say was the most rewarding part of completing
it? I have multiple things that I feel like was
really rewarding. One of the reasons was that
the vegetables actually turned out really good.
Originally, I was scared that the system wouldn't
be completed by the time I finished my presentation,
but it actually did. And another thing was that
people are consistently helping with the system
after seeing how successful it was. And I got
notified the other day that the kids are eating
more vegetables now, and their feedback about
the taste was really positive, which is a really
good thing. Did you get to eat the veggies? Yes.
Yes, I did. Was it good? It was so good. It was
really crunchy. I even had like a display on
my presentation place. Joseph? I feel like it
was just when I went back and I saw people using
the ramp and it felt really rewarding because
it made those disabled people more like they
had more access to the community. That's really
nice. So what advice would you guys give to students
starting their capstone projects like you guys
were like a year ago? I think the biggest thing
I would advise kids to do is to actually finish
your paper earlier. Because during that time,
we have college apps. Especially if you're applying
to American universities, then you would have
to balance the time to finish your paper and
also submit these applications. So finish your
paper first and you'll have a lot of time to
relax. I feel like just not. to stress about
it like it might seem really like intimidating
at first but like for sure like i i did 15 hours
of work and like i i still somehow passed this
project so i feel like if you follow mr mike's
instruction and uh listen to his uh all of his
like the after school sessions did you yeah i
did oh really and that's why i passed it you
know i was right behind you so like if i just
listen to him uh I think you're going to pass
the project. It's actually, I don't think it's
that hard of a project to pass. Yeah, for sure.
All right, so thank you guys so much for joining
us and offering some advice to the underclassmen
as they take on this big, really last assignment
of their high school career. So yeah, thank you,
Joseph and Elsa. All right, you heard it here.
The Capstone Project is not just a final assignment
for the sake of creating busy work for students
before they graduate. No, it's an important project
that challenges the students in so many good
ways. Critical thinking, problem solving, executive
functioning development, leadership, and last
but not least, compassion towards something outside
of themselves. Okay, that concludes our first
segment. We'll be right back for our second segment
right after this short PSA announcement. Ugh,
I have to do personal community service. Hey,
don't worry. It's going to be fun. And you can
help people or our planet. But I don't even know
what to do. There's so many cool places and things
to explore. You can work with kids, elderly,
animals, disabled, refugees and migrants, the
environment, rural communities. There's so many.
Just pick one and give it a try. Okay, okay.
But where do I even find these places? Well,
I would say like talk to your friends about what
they've done. Maybe research some of the places
near your home. Check with the posters outside
of Mr. Mike's office or even talk to him at lunch
or break. Get a couple of your friends together
and volunteer as a group. Remember, PCS is about
serving and learning. Commit your all to who
you're serving and learn about yourself and the
world. Jump in and serve. And we are back with
our second segment, and we will continue with
part nine of our story, Legends of the Yucatan.
Part nine is titled The Safe House. If you missed
parts one through eight, you can get caught up
by listening to episodes 87 through 94. Legends
of the Yucatan is a sequel to our season two
story, The Secrets of El Dorado. We released
last year during episodes 55 through 64 in audio
narration. It's also available in book form as
a downloadable PDF from our website, or in paperback
version on Amazon .com. Just visit studentsincorporated
.com to find out more. Okay, now moving on, Camden
will give us a quick recap before we jump into
Part 9. Recapping Part 8, The Passengers. Carlos
was caught with the jade jar, and Miranda hopes
to return it to the original place. The bus accidentally
picks up Maria and Renata on the way back to
Merida. Hawthorne forms a plan to get them to
tell where the golden mask is. And without further
ado, let's jump back into our story, where we
join our eclectic group of characters in their
continuing adventure. As the group returned to
their hotel in Merida and got settled back into
their different hotel rooms after a long day,
Hawthorne waited down on the main floor for David,
Miranda, and David's brother to return from their
little side errand. He knew his idea was a long
shot. The idea of David and Miranda getting the
location of the golden mask from the two bus
passengers before the police arrested them and
hauled them off. He also knew that if David and
Miranda did not get the location of the golden
mask, they would miss their chance of recovering
it and returning it to its rightful place once
again. The rightful place being the secret and
sacred Mayan treasure room inside El Castillo
where David had originally discovered it. Hawthorne
didn't consider himself superstitious, but he
did wonder if there was any merit to the idea
that whoever held the gold mask would find bad
luck, or be cursed in some way, until it was
returned to the place it was found. There had
just been a lot of unusual and weird things happening
over the last half week, things that were related
to the gold mask and the jade jar. Maybe the
legends are true. The legends of the Yucatan,
as Hawthorne remembered, were rooted in ancient
Mayan culture and regional folklore, where sacred
artifacts were believed to not just hold historical
value, but spiritual power as well. According
to the legends, artifacts that were gifts to
powerful leaders or were crafted by the high
priests were meant to remain in their ceremonial
resting place to maintain harmony between the
human world and the spiritual world. When these
artifacts were stolen, the balance was broken.
Misfortune and unrest followed every new possessor,
as if the artifacts carried a curse for anyone
who dared to claim that it was theirs. The legend
serves as a warning passed down through generations
that some treasures belong to the earth and disturbing
them invites consequences. It's a tale of reverence
and consequence and the unseen power of history
that still echoes across the Yucatan Peninsula.
Hawthorne had long ago rejected the notion and
practice of finders keepers when it came to antiquities
and artifacts. The practice of if you find it.
you get to keep it, was unethical and in some
cases immoral. Yet this practice was still being
employed by private treasure hunters, freelance
archaeologists, and of course grave robbers.
Hawthorne despised the intentions of these groups.
They were greedy and they lacked ethical and
moral standards. This was just another example
that power and money made people do dumb and
stupid things, and usually at the expense of
others. The three criminals who were picked up
and arrested today found that out, and the cartel
member who lost his life in the cenote for a
few old coins found that out as well. As Hawthorne
looks down at his watch, checking the time, David
and Miranda enter the hotel's front doors and
walk over to where Hawthorne is seated. As David
approaches Professor Hawthorne, he says, Well,
we have good news and bad news. What do you want
to hear first? Hawthorne thinks for a moment
and then replies, I'd like to hear the bad news
first since I can end my day with the good news.
Miranda adds, I like that logic. David, give
him the bad news first and then the good news.
David continues, we have a potential location
of where the golden mask is hiding and according
to my GPS, it's about 20 minutes from here. Hawthorne
then says, okay, what's the bad news then? My
brother disappeared while we were at the bus
depot. He must have just slipped away into the
crowd when we were busy talking with our two
passengers, who, by the way, were promptly arrested
a few minutes after they had purchased their
bus tickets back to Mexico City. David continues,
We were able to get a potential location of where
they hid the golden mask from the younger one.
I think she was quite scared and surprised to
get picked up by the police. Miranda then adds,
and I think we owe it to her to notify the people
in Mexico City and tell them that she helped
free your brother from the cartel. Maybe they'll
go light on her criminal charges. Hawthorne then
says, well, with your brother not sticking around,
that might be easier said than done. And chances
are, if your brother was the driver, he also
knows the location where the golden mask was
hidden. Timing is everything right now, David
adds. My brother is very resourceful and he could
very well be planning to go get the golden mask
for himself now. I'm going to book a taxi to
take us to the location right now. I know it's
late, but we need to try to recover that mask
before anybody else does, even my brother. Miranda
says, I'm going with you. Me too, Hawthorne said.
You could use the help once we get there. Having
three of us, we could split up and look for the
thing. It'll probably be dark once we get there,
so we'll need to keep that in mind as well. Hawthorne
watches as David goes to the front desk clerk
of the hotel and asks her to call a local taxi
for hire for the three of them. He overhears
David telling the clerk to inform the taxi driver
they need to go to Hacienda Tabek off Route 180.
About 10 minutes later, the taxi arrived at the
hotel. Hawthorne, David, and Miranda got into
the taxi, then confirmed with the driver their
destination. Hawthorne overheard the driver tell
David, who was sitting in the passenger seat
up front, that the name Tebek comes from the
Mayan language meaning the place of oak trees.
The driver seemed to know a lot about the place
as he was giving David a lot of information.
Hawthorne could pick up most of it in Spanish
and what he didn't understand Miranda would translate
for him. The driver explained that Tebek was
a small poor town that had less than 500 people
still living there. Some of the residents produced
eggs and honey, which they took to Merida to
sell in the markets and supermarkets. The quality
of the eggs and honey were well known in the
area. Tourists would sometimes venture out that
way and visit the old estate of Hacienda Tebeck.
This estate or plantation included a larger two
-level sprawling structure, an old church, and
several other older plantation outbuildings.
As Hawthorne was listening, he thought to himself,
searching for the mask might take longer than
what we had expected. With about 10 minutes to
go before reaching the town of Tebek, they exited
Route 180, southwest of Merida, and got onto
an old, rough, and bumpy road. Great, Miranda
said quietly. I hope we don't get car sick on
this road. David heard her say this and then
responded, you and me both. He then continued,
I know nothing about this place. I assume we
can get onto the property of the Hacienda? David
said this as sort of a question and statement
at the same time, hoping the driver would know.
The sun had already started to go down and it
was dusk. The evening's light would be dimming
soon and David knew they would be searching much
of the sprawling area in the dark, which wasn't
ideal. However, timing was everything right now.
As the car was bouncing closer and closer to
the front gate of the Hacienda estate in Quebec,
the headlights of the taxi illuminated the front
gate to the sprawling estate. The gate was wide
open and the grass was overgrown, well, in the
places that there was still grass. Most of the
open area was either dirt or weeds. The estate
did not live up to its name, and there only seemed
to be two or three oak trees still standing on
the property, or at least that's what they could
see from the car. Hawthorne overheard the taxi
driver say something about the plantation and
that it was not really a priority of the townspeople
to keep up with the maintenance of the grounds
or buildings anymore. The taxi came to a stop
right outside the front gate and the driver asked
if he should wait for them. David responded with
a yes and then said something about him and his
friends not being there that long. So the taxi
driver positioned the car facing back out the
way they came in so when the three of them, Hawthorne,
David, and Miranda, came back, they could then
leave immediately without having to turn around.
Hawthorne noticed the driver do this after they
had gotten out of the car and thought to himself,
I like the way this guy thinks. He positions
himself as ready. There was still enough light
outside for the three of them to walk through
the property without having to use their phone
lights yet. As the three of them were walking
towards the first building, which was on the
left side of the property, Miranda asked Professor
Hawthorne, What did you tell Prof. Tommy before
we left? Hawthorne replied, Well, to be honest
with you, nothing. He then continues, He's an
early to bed kind of guy and well, I didn't want
to bother him as he went right to his room when
we got back to the hotel and told all of us goodnight
as he got in the elevator. Also, I think we can
be in and out of here in less than 30 minutes.
What I could tell from the internet is that most
of the outbuildings don't provide enough cover
and are in very poor condition to want to hide
something as valuable as the mask. So if I was
to guess, we should look closely at the old church
and then the large main two -story Hacienda building.
David answered back as they were approaching
the front door of the old church and said, Those
were my thoughts exactly. We can rule out this
church building first, search it quickly, and
spend most of our time in the main building across
the way. Miranda immediately walked up to the
front church building doors as David was still
talking and yanked on them to open them and nothing.
They were locked up tight, would not even budge.
Miranda then said, maybe there's a back entrance
that's open? She then proceeded to walk around
the side of the old building towards the back
as David and Hawthorne were following and talking
to each other. Miranda was fine to take the lead.
She actually liked it. In a very male -dominated
culture, she often liked to bend the cultural
norms in this way. Most people her age and younger
didn't have a problem with gender roles changing.
but the older generation sure did. As she rounded
the corner of the back of the church building,
she had gotten lost in a few of her own thoughts
about how her desire to lead and be in charge
often got her in trouble. She was also thankful
this aspect of her did not bother David one bit.
He had actually told her that that was one of
the things that he appreciated about her. Miranda
stopped for a moment, woke up from her daydream,
and then grabbed the old wood latch on the back
door of the church and nothing. It was locked
as well. David walked up to the side of Miranda
with his phone light on and pointed on the latch
and door threshold to see if any of the dirt
and dust had been disturbed. He then said, I
don't think this door has been open for some
time. The front doors were the same way. The
dirt and dust had not been disturbed. Let's not
waste any more time here and head straight over
to the main Hacienda building. Hawthorne replies,
yeah, probably a good assessment. Maybe once
we gain entry to the other building we can divide
and conquer since the building has multiple rooms
on both the first and second floors. As the team
walks across the flat and open middle dirt area
of the estate, they notice that there are multiple
car tracks in the dirt. They don't think much
about it, but it does indicate that people had
been there recently. They reach the other larger
building structure which has two levels and looks
like an old style hacienda. or long plantation
house. The building footprint is a U -shape.
Two wings of the hacienda flank the center section
and create a courtyard area, which at some point
in the time had a beautiful outdoor stone water
feature and small pool. Much of the stone water
feature structure was still there, but there
was no water, only weeds and dirt. The building's
ground floor had a long outdoor patio, which
ran the length of each of the sections. The patio
had numerous arches which fit the classic Mexican
plantation architectural style from its time
period. As the three of them entered into the
courtyard, the daylight was almost gone by now.
Hawthorne suggested that he go up and search
the second level of the building while Miranda
and David searched the ground level. Then, if
either of them found something, a clue, or the
actual golden mask itself, they were to meet
back down in the courtyard and then head back
to the waiting taxi car. They agreed and split
ways, now armed with their phone lights and the
determination to get in and get out as quickly
as possible. David and Miranda stuck together
and walked through the main arch area into the
center building, first looking down the long
porch area. The outdoor porch area was in poor
condition. Broken old wood furniture and dirt
covered sections of the concrete floor. Nothing
to see there. So the two tried the front main
door and, to their surprise, it was unlocked.
David opened the door, and he and Miranda then
stepped inside. Miranda looked at David and then
said, Let's start in the central building first,
then we can move to the side areas after that.
Maybe they were lazy and stashed the mask here?
We could only be so fortunate, David replied.
Then he said, By the way, what do you do with
the J -jar? As Miranda and David start searching
the numerous empty rooms in the main center building
on the ground floor, Miranda tells David what
she did with the J -Jarge. She says, That makes
sense, David replies. He then says, By this time,
it was dark outside, only some light from the
half moon. Inside the hacienda, it was quite
dark, so David and Miranda were using their phone
lights to search each room. As David and Miranda
search the third room, right wing, David then
says, I wonder if the professor is having any
better luck than us. Hawthorne was having the
same results as David and Miranda. Each room
he searched was practically empty, besides the
occasional broken piece of furniture and graffiti
on the wall. Professor Hawthorne was moving quicker
than David and Miranda. He was already searching
the final wing on the second level, which is
right above where David and Miranda were searching,
down below him on the ground level. After another
few minutes, Hawthorne had canvassed the entire
second level and was empty -handed. There was
virtually nothing in the old building on the
second level. The taxi driver was right. The
professor thought to himself, the local townspeople
have really neglected this old historical site.
Hawthorne came to the end of the second wing
and found a flight of stairs that led back down
to the ground floor. He knew that these stairs
would take him back down to the ground floor
in which he could then exit the hacienda and
go back out into the courtyard and wait for David
and Miranda. So he took the stairs down to the
ground floor. turned the corner and ran right
into David and Miranda, who were just about to
enter the last room on the ground floor in that
wing. Miranda got startled as she walked towards
the last room and then almost ran into Professor
Hawthorne as he turned the corner coming out
of the stairwell. Hawthorne was standing right
in front of Miranda with his face all lit up
by Miranda's phone light. Miranda jumps and says,
Whoa, Professor, you startled me. Sorry about
that. Any luck on the second floor? No, nothing,
the professor responds. He then asks, What about
you guys? David replies as he walks through the
middle of Hawthorne and Miranda and into the
final room in this part of the Hacienda. He says,
let me check this final room and then we can
all check the other wing on the ground level.
David walks into the room and quickly scans the
room with his phone light, pointing it at each
wall and around the floor. Bingo, David says.
David looks down and sees a clearly outlined
square section of the old wooden floor. He could
tell it had been moved and put back recently
because the dirt and dust on the floor had been
disturbed. It did not have a handle and was set
flush with the level of other floorboards. David
reaches into his pocket to pull out his always
-goes -with -me pocket knife and then remembers
that he had to leave it back in Mexico City because
they flew by commercial airplane to Merida instead
of driving. By that time, Hawthorne and Miranda
were standing over the same section of the floor
looking down. Yep, Miranda says, that looks like
a trap door. And it looks like it's been used
recently, Hawthorne adds. David then says, we
need to find something to pry it open. Help me
look around here somewhere. The three of them
then walk around the larger corner room looking
for anything they could use to pry open the square
wooden floor section to see what was inside.
As Miranda is walking slowly with her phone light
over by the back wall of the room, she then says,
um, guys, what are the odds of us finding an
old crowbar? Hawthorne was the first to respond.
Well, I'd have to say about zero, but by the
sound of your voice, I'm guessing that is exactly
what you found over there. Miranda turns around
and faces both David and Hawthorne with an old
crowbar in her hands and says, I think these
artifacts really want to be returned to their
rightful place, and something or someone is helping
us. David then says, what? Where did you find
that? Miranda replies, it was just laying over
there in the back corner of the room next to
this old wooden chair. Miranda walks over to
David who's now standing over the what looks
like a trap door in the floor and hands him the
crowbar. All three of them watch as David pries
the old wooden square section of the floor up
with the crowbar. Miranda, along with Hawthorne,
hold their phone lights over David as he works
to get the floor section up and then moves it
out of the way. The hole in the floor is just
large enough to fit a small person into it. Miranda
knows it's got to be her since both Hawthorne
and David are much broader than her. She says,
watch out guys, let me shine the light into the
hole. It's not very deep, maybe four feet, maybe
less, but it does extend outward. I think it's
a crawl space under this room. Miranda, without
hesitation, then drops herself down straight
into the crawl space and says, I'll be right
back. David, along with Hawthorne, just stand
there, hovering above the now -open trapdoor
entrance. They are both just looking down to
the hole in the floor with their phone lights
on, hoping Miranda doesn't run into any snakes
or rodents. All of a sudden, they hear a dragging
sound and see Miranda's face look directly up
toward both David and Professor Hawthorne. Miranda
then says, Here, help me with this. It's heavy.
She then lifts up one side of a larger black
bag towards David and Hawthorne, who grab it
and hoist it up and out of the hole in the floor.
Miranda then grabs David's hand as he helps her
get back out of the crawlspace. Miranda brushes
off her clothes from the dirt and cobwebs, and
then says with a smile, Well, Professor, what's
in the bag? When David was helping Miranda back
out of the small crawlspace, Hawthorne unzipped
the bag and pulled open the sides to reveal an
object wrapped in a large beach towel. Of all
things, a beach towel that said, Welcome to Cancun.
As David and Miranda watched, Hawthorne carefully
pulled the beach towel sides off the object and
behold, the golden mask of Chichen Itza stared
right back at them, gleaming in the phone lights,
almost glowing. All three of them stood there
quietly just for a moment and looked at it. Hawthorne
broke the silence and said, That sure is a magnificent
piece of history. I think it's time we get out
of here. David then said, my thoughts exactly.
It sure looks a lot better now than where I found
it in the pyramid. The museum did a great job
cleaning and polishing it. Yeah, it's almost
mesmerizing in a way. The mask seems to communicate
to you when you are looking at it. I've never
seen anything like it and up close like this.
David reached down, wrapped the beach towel back
around the mask, and then zipped up the black
bag and said, I'll carry this out. Let's hope
the taxi is still out there waiting for us. Hawthorne
opened the side door, which led out to the courtyard.
They stopped for a moment to get their bearings
as the place was completely dark now. Hawthorne
then said, the old church is up ahead on the
right, so we'll need to walk back across the
open dirt and weedy area toward the front gate
where we entered. The front gate area is maybe
a good 60 yards away in front of us. The professor
started walking with Miranda and David behind
him. Hawthorne knew the bag had to be heavy as
he heard Miranda and David talking about it behind
him. He also heard them making a plan to return
the mask to El Castillo, the pyramid at first
light, before the main grounds of Tizanitza opened
to the tourists for that day. Hawthorne knew,
as David did and Miranda did, that the quicker
they could return the mask to its rightful place,
the better. As the three approached the front
gate, they saw that the taxi was still there,
parked in the same location. The driver was sitting
up front in the driver's seat, sound asleep.
Hawthorne opened the front passenger. door, which
awoke the driver. He sat straight up and then
asked if it was time to go back to Merida. Miranda
and David got in the back seat and put the large
heavy black bag between them on the seat. They
were determined not to let it out of their sight
now that they had recovered it. Miranda could
not believe that they had recovered both artifacts
on the same day. As the taxi driver turned on
the car, Miranda looked at David and said, the
legends have to be true. David replied softly
so as not to allow the driver to hear and says,
well, we're only half done with our mission.
As David and Miranda were talking, Hawthorne
and the driver, looking out the front windshield,
noticed headlights moving toward them on the
same bumpy dirt road they had come in on about
30 minutes earlier. Hawthorne knew this wasn't
a normal thing, especially this late at night
past dark. Hacienda Tebeck was not a tourist
hotspot, plus the small town of Tebeck seemed
to close up and shut down every night around
dusk. It wasn't really a happening place. So
this could possibly mean one of two things. Either
this was David's brother coming to retrieve the
mask, or it was the cartel. Either way, it would
be good to avoid either one. Hawthorne reached
over and stopped the taxi driver from turning
on his headlights. Hawthorne was thankful the
taxi car was an older vehicle, the kind where
you had to manually turn on the headlights instead
of them automatically turning on. By this time,
David and Miranda had noticed as well. David,
having the same thoughts as the professor, asked
the taxi driver in Spanish to move his car out
of sight. Miranda could hear the urgency in David's
request and then added, please hurry. The taxi
driver, without hesitation, pulled the car forward
a bit, put it in reverse, and then backed up
into some tall weeds off the side of the gate,
making sure the front of the car was hidden from
view. The weeds were tall enough to conceal most
of the car. The darkness helped, so with their
luck, this other car coming down the road would
drive right by them as they entered into the
Hacienda property. As the car got closer, they
couldn't see very well because of the tall weeds
and brush, but they could hear it getting closer
and closer. Hawthorne and the others could also
see through the weeds that the headlights of
the car were now shining brighter and brighter
on the front gate area, which was a mere 25 yards
away from where they were parked. Hawthorne looked
over at the driver who was just sitting there
in silence, looking straight ahead with a concerned
look on his face. Hawthorne noticed the man pull
the sun visor down, look at a photo, probably
of his family, and then make a cross gesture,
forehead to chest, then shoulder to shoulder.
Hawthorne knew the guy was a bit nervous. They
waited there for what seemed like forever, then
finally a truck, which they had thought was a
car, drove by at a high rate of speed through
the main gate and toward the courtyard of the
hacienda. As soon as the pickup truck had passed,
David said to the driver, Vamos, vamos. The driver
knew enough not to draw attention to themselves
leaving, so he kept the headlights off and slowly
drove the car forward, out onto the dirt road.
He pushed gently on the gas pedal, hoping the
sound of the engine would be very soft. David
reminded the driver not to touch the brakes either,
as doing so would light up the back of the car's
brake lights, which would surely be seen by the
other vehicle, which was now parked in the Hacienda's
courtyard. Lights on and music blaring. Both
Miranda and David were faced in towards each
other and were looking out the back window at
the truck now parked at the hacienda. The taxi
they were in was slowly moving and that's the
way they needed to be moving until they made
it back out to the highway. Miranda knew if they
could go undetected, then they would be in the
clear. As the taxi got further and further away
from the hacienda's property, the truck got smaller
and smaller. Miranda and David noticed that four
or five guys had gotten out of the truck and
two of them had what looked like assault weapons,
long guns. David nudged Miranda and said quietly,
that's not my brother. Those are cartel members
and they are going to be mad as soon as they
find their little treasure is gone. All of a
sudden they hear a faint rat -a -tat -tat -tat
-tat -tat echo into the night. David squints
and looks toward the Hacienda property again,
which is further away now. He notices, what seems
like, one of the guys pointing his gun into the
sky and squeezing off rounds into the sky. Hawthorne,
the driver, and Miranda all hear the gunshots
echoing off in the distance. Hawthorne turns
in his seat and looks out the back of the car
where they had just come from and asks, What
do you think? Are they shooting into the air
because they're mad their treasure is gone? Or
are they signaling to more of their cronies?
Neither David nor Miranda knew the answer to
Hawthorne's question. So, they just sat there
in silence looking out the back window of the
car into the dark, making sure there was no one
following them. However, David overheard the
driver tell Hawthorne that the cartel members
are signaling other potential cartel members
in this area by firing their guns into the air
using a certain trigger pattern. Miranda looked
down at her phone GPS and said, another five
minutes on this old road and then we'll be back
on main route 180 heading back to Merida. Another
burst of gunfire could be heard from a distance
behind them, along with tracer bullets streaming
straight up into the air like bottle rockets
in the night. While Miranda thought to herself
nervously, just another five minutes. and we'll
be back on the main highway and head it towards
safety. And that ends Part 9. Stay tuned for
next week as we bring you Part 10, the final
chapter of Legends of the Yucatan. And that brings
us to the end of another inspiring episode. Huge
thanks to Mr. Mike for breaking down the power
and purpose of capstone projects and to the seniors
who share their incredible journeys with us.
Stay tuned for our next episode, which will be
our season three finale and our final chapter
in our ongoing adventure story, Legends of the
Yucatan. And as always, this podcast will not
be possible without the hard work and support
of our international student production team.
All music and sound effects are courtesy of Pixabay
.com, a vibrant community of creatives sharing
copyright -free images, videos, and music. And
we are signing off until next time. We are Students
Incorporated, because your voice matters.