Grand Challenge #3: "Understanding the Impact of Global Change on Marine Ecosystems."

Hello, all, and welcome to a course called Frontiers! In this course, we discuss the three specific frontiers of scientific understanding which include our seas, our universe, and our current advancements in technology. As of the last month, we have been learning about the importance of regulating populations, ocean acidification, marine technologies, and most importantly, humans and our impact on marine life. From all of the information that we gathered, the one thing that stuck with me is the topic of coral reefs. I will be expanding more on coral reefs in my paper, but until then, let's get into the Action Project! The mission of our AP is to write a research paper on one of the Grand Challenges. The Challenge that I wrote about is Grand Challenge #3: "Understanding the Impact of Global Change on Marine Ecosystems." I decided to do so because I find the subject very important, not only in marine ecosystems but in human ecosystems as well. So, check it out below for more details 👇

12HoE: My Room Redesigning Process!

Hello, all, and welcome back to Endurance! If you missed my last post, this course is all about diving deeper into who we really are as well as how much we are willing to endure to impact the world, and more importantly, ourselves positively. As of recently, our class has just finished a book called Night by Elie Weisel. It is based on Weisel’s Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, toward the end of the Second World War in Europe. I, personally, found the book extremely eye-opening because of the way Weisel wrote it. He wrote this in a way that made me feel as if I were experiencing the Holocaust with him. Like, when his father was killed by Nazis, he expanded on being emotionally and physically numb to everything
as well as him feeling as he is not a person anymore, but a machine that is working for others. In the end, the book made me come to the realization that there is a lot of hate in this world and all it takes is one person’s opinion to start something terrible. But let’s not get into that topic too much! Let’s get into this Action Project, shall we?

The mission of this Action Project was to create a vlog that showed us devoting 12 hours to something that is productive while following our guiding question: How do you document the pursuit of your mission? For my 12 hours of endurance, I decided to re-design my room! I have been trying to re-design my room for the last couple of months, but I have never had the time nor energy to do so. So, I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and finish it now. With the help of my mother, I cleared my room, cleaned the walls, shampooed the floors, and relocated some furniture.

But if you would like to see the full process, please take a look at the video down below :)

Below, you can read the more thorough and explained version of my video 👇

On 5/12/2021 at 1:00 PM; I started cleaning out my room. I did this because I needed to be able to have a fresh start. I cleared mostly everything out of my room except for my bed and wardrobe. I did that because, one, they are both heavy, two, my bed was only going to be rearranged to the opposite wall, and three, my wardrobe was only going to stay where it was in the end.

1:15 PM; I began to clean the room. My mother and I have not got around to spring cleaning yet, so I started that process by doing a deep cleaning of my bedroom which meant sweeping my floor, cleaning the walls, spackling the holes in the walls, dusting the corners, and later, shampooing my carpet. But since I could not reach the walls up near the ceiling, my mother made a crazy suggestion that I use our Swiffer's, and if you do not know what that is, it is a cleaning device that you use to clean your floors. I was a bit surprised with them as they made great results on the walls.

Once I was finished with doing the deep cleaning of my bedroom, it was around 5:00 PM. I was pleased with the results, but I did not think that it would take that long. I realized that the walls were painted poorly, not to mention that the walls were filthy. But after finishing the deep cleaning, my mother and I started to place my bed on a smaller wall on the opposite side of the bedroom. I wanted to do this because my room is not very spacious. So, moving my bed to a smaller wall would make my bedroom seem bigger and more spacious than it was before.

5:30 PM; my mother started to hook up my television on the opposite wall where my bed was placed. I asked her to do it because I am not good with tools or leveling things on the wall. But after about 15 minutes of her putting the television up, I started screwing in the shelves that went below my television. In the end, my Apple TV and Roku Box were on the top shelf while my three cameras were displayed on my second shelf.

5/14/2021 at 1:00 PM; my mother and I started building my desk. I wanted a desk because the desk that I had before was ruined from box cutter cuts, glue-gun bumps, and I had a lack of space to do work. Also, I was doing schoolwork from my bed which almost always resulted in me falling asleep in online classes. Anyway, the desk that we were building was supposed to be a corner desk which meant that it was made to give me more and take up a corner of a room. It ended up being bigger than we thought. My mother reassured me that it would fit, but unfortunately, I was right, it did not fit. But my mother's building talents saved us from throwing or giving away the desk. We saw that we could reconstruct the desk and turn it into a regular one by getting rid of half of it, and it turned out to be exactly the right size. Though, after we finished putting the desk together, I asked myself, "What could be an alternative project for the remainder of the desk?"

3:00 PM, I began putting my plushies and other forms of collectibles on top of my wardrobe and shelves. I did this because I did not want my plushies scattered around my room like they were, so to save some space, I put them on top of my wardrobe. After that, I placed my BTS dolls on my top shelf which is next to my wardrobe. After some time struggling with making the dolls stand up, I finally got them to do so.

4:00 PM, I chose which tapestry that I wanted to put up on my biggest wall. I decided to put up the tapestry that showed an astronaut and a time traveler meeting in space. I chose this one because it complimented the colors of my bedroom and every time I looked up at the tapestry, I could not help but think, "What are they talking about?"

5/14/2021 at 2:00 PM; I wanted to put up a variety of artwork. I wanted to display photos that I either took myself or photos that I bought offline, but unfortunately, I did not get around to it. So, instead of the artwork that I will eventually be putting up, I put up some 'invisible bookshelves' for my many books. I find them really fascinating because they give you the illusion that your books are floating in mid-air. The only downside about them is that I can only put five to seven books on each shelf or else they will collapse. I only bought four of them and I could buy more, but it is around the time of year where I start to donate items anyway.

In the end, I am very pleased with my room re-design work! I have more space which is what I wanted all along! And I am pretty sure that I will be making more changes in the near future, but not now. I am very pleased with the results. Also, while finishing up this vlog, I finally understood my guiding question: How do you document the pursuit of your mission? I learned that you can do this by owning your pursuit. What I mean by that is, with enough dedication and passion, you can get through any rough patch that you come across, you just need to think about what you want your ending result to be.

But anyway, thank you all for watching this awesome transformation, but I would especially like to thank my mother for taking time out of her studies to help me with this long process since I would not be able to finish without all of her help and support.

Again, thanks to everyone for watching, and do not forget to like, comment, and subcri- oh, wait I am not a Youtuber. That was kind of embarrassing. Okay, bye now!"

Coming To Terms

Hello, all! This is a class called Endurance and, sadly, it is the last Humanities course that I will be taking before I take part in with GCE. But let’s not get sad just yet, I need to explain this AP! Endurance is a course in which we dive deeper into who we really are as well as how much we are willing to endure in order to impact the world, and more importantly to impact ourselves. I am enjoying this course because it allows me to think about who I am as a person as well as what I would like to do in the future. I am not usually fond of speaking about myself let alone my future because it reminds me of how quickly my teenage years are coming to an end and how adulthood is rapidly approaching, but let’s not dwell on that. Let’s get into this Action Project! The mission of this Action Project is to create the first chapter of our own autobiography. In this autobiography, we have to explain a challenge that we had to face at some point in our lives and discuss how we overcame that challenge. I decided to write about mental health and how I came to terms with it after all of these years. So, without further ado, please enjoy it :)

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Coming To Terms

Growing up, I lived a great childhood. For the first nine years of my life, I was raised in the countryside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by my mother along with my grandparents who also played major roles in my life. As a child, I was as brave as a cheetah yet as oblivious as a puppy. I did not know that much about the world, but I was always ready to explore anything and everything. My mother and I moved to Chicago a few months after I turned nine and those first couple of years seem like a blur now, but I vaguely remember the complications that occurred once I began approaching high school. 

S.S., Home, 2020

This is a photo that I took in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania near my old home.

It was not until my mid-freshman year of high school where I started feeling distant from the world, but I had no idea why, I just did not feel happy anymore. I noticed my attitude becoming colder, I lacked motivation, lost my brave inner cheetah, and struggled academically. Like a sloth, all I wanted to do was stay in bed all day and sleep for hours at a time. My mom would try getting me out of the house, but I would always ignore her. I felt bad for shunning her away, but I could not bring myself to speak or get up. I thought that I reached the “angsty” teenage stage, however, it turned out that I had anxiety and depression. Apparently, I have had it for a while, since I was ten years old, to be exact. 

I hated the way I felt and there were not many things that made me feel any better, but one of the only things that made me feel somewhat better was music. There was one specific song that never failed to bring me back from my thoughts and it was called Born This Way by Lady Gaga. It would always make me feel like I was being hugged through my headphones because it would remind me that I am who I am and nobody could ever change that. In an interview, Lady Gaga expounded on her battle with mental illness to which she said, "I've suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life... I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me. You just have to go back to that greatness, find that one little light that's left." 

S.S., Freshman Mask, 2020.

This is a photo of the mask that I created in art class during my freshman year which symbolizes depression.

When I attended school, I would always put on a happy mask for my friends. Like a therapist, I wanted to act as a strong support system for them, and I enjoyed that, but it was not healthy because I needed that for myself. So, around that time, I had an art project coming up, we had to create a mask and paint it in any way that we felt. So, after some serious brainstorming, I decided that I wanted to paint my mask in a way that would be meaningful to me, and hopefully other people. I ended up painting half of my mask orangish-yellow like sunny daylight - symbolizing happiness and brightness - and the other half of my mask bluish-black like the dark night - symbolizing sadness and loneliness. I, as well as my teacher and fellow peers, was proud of the outcome of my mask because it allowed me to help others understand the way depression felt and how quickly it could ruin your mood. 

But as of recently, I have done another activity where I interviewed a few family members and friends asking them to describe me, my strengths, and my weaknesses. From that activity, I managed to learn a little more about myself. I learned that I am very caring and sincere, but sometimes a little too much. I tend to act as a support system to others so that I can distract myself from my own problems which is not healthy at all. I need to start thinking about myself and what I am going through instead of focusing on what everyone else is going through. I am learning that I need time to reflect and reset because if I do not start prioritizing myself, things will only get worse. My Mom told me that I need to put on my own oxygen mask and save myself before I attempt to save others. I appreciated the people that I interviewed because they were blunt and honest with me. And as for accuracy, the answers given by my interviewees were spot on and pretty accurate. So, again, I appreciated the activity along with those who participated. 

S.S., Candid, 2019.

This is a candid photo of me which my cousin took, I liked it because I looked calm and collected.

Throughout this journey, I learned that mental health can be like walking around with an invisible rainy cloud above your head. It influences my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It impacts every aspect of my daily life as well as my ability to cope with stress, take on and overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships. But I also learned that it does not control me unless I allow it to control me. Today I understand that depression and anxiety are conditions that I have, but they do not define me, nor are they my whole existence. Famous lawyer, author, and activist Bryan Stevenson says, “I believe that each person is more than the worst thing they’ve ever done,” and this quote really resonates with me. Being ashamed of the things that make me unique, hiding my struggles, and pretending that I was okay are definitely some of the worst things I have ever done. For years, I wore a mask which was like committing a crime against myself, but coming to terms with my mental health freed me from that self-imposed prison. While this may not seem like an accomplishment to some people, it is to me and it is a sign of my growth and development. I wholeheartedly believe that had I not taken steps to address my mental health, I would still be wearing that mask and would have been eaten alive by my despair. Full transparency, I still have my moments when I do not feel my best and like a sloth, I slowly withdraw. However, today I recognize that my moments will pass, and being supported and loved by my family and friends reminds me that I am okay.

The Fallon Faith Impact [FP Edition]

Hi, if you're new, welcome! Recently, I shared a post about the 'Fallon Faith Impact' which was one of our Action Projects where we were to create a time capsule from 100 years hence. I decided that I would like to fictionalize a powerful woman president. Her name is Fallon Faith and in the slideshow below, you can see her journey leading up to her presidency.

Kamala's Impact

Hello, all, and welcome to Equality! This is a course where learn about the importance of, of course, equality, but to be more specific, we've been discussing women, gender, as well as African-American history. I really enjoy this course because I love hearing everybody's opinions on topics that make them feel particularly "uncomfy," not to mention, we see each other's anger towards certain issues such as slavery, segregation, homophobia, etc. But, to get back on track here, let's talk about our Action Project!

The mission of this AP is to create a textbook that is focused on a historical event related to race, gender, and/or class. I decided to make my chapter about Kamala Harris' Vice Presidential electing. I wanted to write on that topic because her election made a huge impact on my family. Like Kamala, my family is black and Indian so you could guess how ecstatic we were to see that someone that looks like us can have such an important job in the White House.

Please read my chapter for more :)

Overall, this Action Project was super cool! I enjoyed learning more about Kamala and her journey leading up to her becoming the Vice president. I also loved writing about something that interests me along with my family.

Fulfilling Flex Days :)

Hello, again! Happy belated holidays and welcome to Entrepentuership! This is a course where we discuss the importance of creating a successful business. This past month, we've done many things revolving around psychology. Our instructor had us take multiple personality quizzes because it is actually a known fact that understanding entrepreneurship from a psychological perspective determines whether or not you have the healthy characteristics of improving yourself along with your business.

That's not all, though! Last Friday, we spoke to Maren Rosenberg who told us about the ups and the downs of owning a business. She spoke on many things regarding that topic, but she said one thing that really caught my attention - "do not start a business if you are afraid of failure." - It really made me think since I can be afraid of failure at times, especially when it comes to school or work, and that really showed in many of my personality quiz results. In fact, one of my results mentioned that I tend to be concerned about steadiness which is pretty accurate even though I am pretty far from an over-achiever, I just have a terrible habit of trying to do things perfectly which leads to me getting carried away, and doing everything wrong. 

Okay, but anyway, let's get back to the project, shall we? 

The mission for this AP is to pick an aspect of our school system in which we think needs improvement. Since our school has Flex Days on Wednesdays off where we can work asynchronously. In my opinion, on Flex Days, we should be selfish and do something for ourselves so that we can start back up fresh and prepared for future events. So, in order to do that, we should do something that makes us feel productive, whether that’s knitting a sweater, making playlists, trying out new recipes, or whatever! The point is to reconnect with yourself, however, you would define that.

So, please enjoy this slideshow where I explain my reasoning :)

       

Overall, this Action Project was pretty cool. It gave us the opportunity to fix or change something about the school system or how it operates, and like every other class taught by this instructor, we are looking into the future of ourselves as well as others.

Chapter Eight: Afforable and Clean Energy

Welcome back to Economics! Previously, we shared our thoughts on whether college was worth our time and money while using the principles we learned in class. But, as of right now, we just finished a book that goes by the name of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist by Kate Raworth. It mostly explained the history of economics and how it has changed over time. At first, we read the first three chapters by ourselves, but about a week later, we did an activity where we divided into four different groups, each read a chapter, and presented our take-aways with the class. But once our Action Project was announced, we were asked to write an additional eighth chapter to Raworth’s book while following our guiding question, “how do we view the economic world?”

Noun Project, Work From Home Outline, Nikita Kozin (2020)

The additional chapter to Raworth’s book would be about affordable and clean energy. In Raworth's book, she explained that “EARTH, which is life giving—so respect its boundaries Far from floating against a white background, the economy exists within the biosphere—that delicate living zone of Earth’s land, waters, and atmosphere. And it continually draws in energy and matter from Earth’s materials and living systems, while expelling waste heat and matter back out into it. Everything that is produced—from clay bricks to Lego blocks, websites to construction sites, liver pâté to patio furniture, single cream to double glazing—depends upon this throughflow of energy and matter, from biomass and fossil fuels to metal ores and minerals.” In other words, affordable and clean energy is something that should be sustainable but reliable, not for the rich or the poor, it is well-deserved for everyone. According to UNEP, "three billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating." So, when we use those types of fuels such as charcoal, for cooking, it increases indoor air pollution, which is responsible for killing four million people every year.

Reflecting on my research, I came to the conclusion that renewable energy sources are powerful and that it is very important for the future generations of the world. And if we continue to invest in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and thermal power, then by 2030, there will be universal access to reliable energy services. 

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Works cited:

“Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy,” United Nations Development Programme, 2020. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-7-affordable-and-clean-energy.html

“Icons And Photos For Everything,” Noun Project, 2020. https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=energy+saving&i=929080

“Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist,” Kate Raworth, 2017. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YbD2-9_jhNHhRInxmcHJFdTXWZhPSYaa/view

"Mom, I'm chatbot-ing!"

What's up?! Welcome back to Computer Science! Previously, we discussed the basics of Python using the specifics of print and input functions and did an Action Project that revolved around that. But as of right now, we are digging a bit deeper into that and mainly focusing on the if statements which are when you only want specific things to happen when coding.

So, the mission of this Action Project is to create a chatbot about a topic of our choosing. If you're wondering what a chatbot is, it's a computer program that is designed to imitate a human conversation. Anyways, we are supposed to make one using “if” statements, user input, and randomness to create a chatbot.

 

In conclusion, this project was cool and efficient. It didn't take me long to complete it, but I believe I did fine on it. If I could change anything, I would change the "simple" questions that I asked, but at the time, I wanted to play it safe. I guess that's not a terrible thing, but I would still change it if I could.

What is the meaning of life?

Hi! Welcome back to Journalism! Recently, we have been discussing the importance of photography and how every photo that is taken can be worth one thousand words. We've studied many different photographs from the earlier years including Windblown Jackie (by Ron Gallela), Migrant Mother (by Dorthea Lange), and V-J Day in Time Square (by Alfred Eisenstaedt). Last week, we each uploaded photos that we have taken to observe how much aperture and focus we had in them. So, the mission for our Action Project is to find or take a photo of something/someone and interview them to get a little insight into what they think the meaning of life is while also following our guided questions:

"What are the essential skills, values, and concepts of photojournalism?"

"How do you lend voice and eyes to your interviewee?"

S.S., Original Photograph (2020)

S.S., Black & White Filtered Photograph (2020)

My photos are more subjective than objective because they were based on my own observations and interests. I captured this moment between my Mom and my Pap-Pap, in front of his house, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I took this picture on a chilly October night, from the front seat of the car. We had already said our goodbyes and were headed back to our hotel when I noticed I left my AirPods in my Pap-Pap’s house. I was exhausted so, my Mom went back upstairs to retrieve them, while I waited in the car. My Pap-Pap always greets us at the door with a smile so even though we had just said goodbye he came back out and hugged my Mom again. The combination of the lighting on Pap-Pap’s porch and the night sky made me want to take a picture so I pulled out my phone to capture the moment. I tried to take the picture of them hugging, but my camera was too late, and this image was the end result. Having missed the hug I almost deleted the picture but kept it because I thought it was cute and sweet. 

I took the picture with my iPhone 11 the camera works very well especially, at night. However, I was surprised by how well the picture came out because it was really dark outside. I was sure that the lights from Pap-Pap’s living room and porch would have created a glare, but it did not. Instead, the light allowed the photo to have a smaller aperture because very little light came through the darkness. I admit that the lights are what immediately catches folk’s attention, but I was focused on my Mom and Pap-Pap and their moment together. More specifically, my Mom was my focus because she rarely takes pictures and I wanted to capture that moment for her. 

"What is the meaning of life? And why do you believe that?"

My Mom is a live-in-the-present type of person, so I was not sure how she would answer this question. She answered, "to me the meaning of life is to live. So every day I aim to live lovingly, vulnerably, empathetically, and listen intently. A younger version of myself spent too much time searching for meaning. Today I choose not to search for meaning and simply acknowledge and appreciate the people, feelings, things, and places that are meaningful to me. I’ve learned that assigning value to things and/or attaching meaning to people drains me. So, I live a life that drives me and I believe it is working in my favor because I’ve never felt closer to myself than I do today." 

I was not surprised by my Mom’s answer because she says variations of this to me all the time. However, seeing her words in print really resonated with me because I really understood what my Mom meant. When I was younger, I was always searching for something to make me feel whole; a friend, social acceptance, or the meaning of something profound like life. But as I got older and a little more mature, I noticed that I was the one assigning meaning to things, people, and places. My Mom is right because when I was constantly searching but never finding what I was looking for, I felt drained and lost. So, I am going to take a page out of my Mom’s book and live in the moment and expand my thinking about the meaning of my life. 

After the mini interview with my Mom, I started to think about what is meaningful to me. Capturing moments and expressing myself through images is so important to me because pictures say things that words cannot express. I’m so moved by photos and would love for my passion to be my career, but I’m learning that being a photojournalist is hard. 

Last week, our instructor told us the story about photographer Kevin Carter. Carter’s photo titled, Starving Child and Vulture depicted a vulture staring at an emaciated Sudanese child. Once the photo was published, it created such controversy. Carter received a lot of hatred and threats because the public was angry that he did not help the child. Carter became so distraught that he committed suicide. However, the public did not know that, due to the rampant disease, Carter was not allowed to touch the child. Prior to learning about Kevin Carter, I was ignorant about the consequences of a photo. Carter’s story revealed to me the unknown challenges that photojournalists can encounter. 

In conclusion, this unit has also given me a lot of insight into how to make my photos better by using important things like aperture/shutter-time and focus. I plan to learn more about photography and eventually turn my passion into a career. I am not sure if I’ll become a photojournalist because a career in journalism requires me to take non-biased objective photos. And this unit taught me that I prefer subjective photography, like the picture of my Mom and Pap-Pap over objective photos. Overall this AP was really cool because I gained a new perspective on life, learned more about perspective in photography, and feel very confident about a career in photography. 

Is College Seriously Worth It???

Thank you so much for watching!

So, the mission for this Action Project was to share our thoughts and research on whether college is really worth our time and money investments using the principles we picked up from class. 

Please take a look at the slideshow below to see the details and calculations.

 

Overall, this project was difficult but cool. I am not always too keen on talking about my future, especially since college is involved at this point. But this project gave me the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into my interests and the colleges that have them. Oh! And I've also found a few college choices that I may apply for!

The Coding/Python Affect

Hi there! Welcome to Unit 2 of Computer Science! You may be wondering what happened in our first unit, right? Well, I'm explaining it anyway! So, in the first unit, we were introduced to the concept of Computer Science which is where we learned the basics of how computers worked and where they came from. After that was discussed, we had a mini-project where we created something called pseudocode! And if you're wondering what that is, pseudocode is a specific, detailed way of explaining something. For example, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or how to play checkers. That's basically all of Unit 1, now moving on to Unit 2!

In this new unit, we moved on to something more complicated: coding. But once we've established the basics of coding, we moved on to a more difficult, advanced version of coding which is called Python. So, for this project, we were instructed to create something called an Advanced Calculator where you use some sort of STEAM equation and ask a user for a number, plug them in, and print their final answer.

Here is an example of that :)

a.

b.

This second part of the project instructed us to make a form letter to a politician/representative but in the form of Python.

Overall, this project was pretty cool, but also difficult since I am not too familiar with coding, I only knew a bit about before this. But I overcame that difficulty by looking at my resources. At the same time, this experience helped me understand what computers really are, and that's probably the coolest part.

Our America: "Homeless - In Their Shoes"

NDTV, Salvation Army Director hugs homeless Alvin Henry, 2019.

Welcome to the first unit of Journalism! During this first unit of this course, we read a book called Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. It's a story that takes place in the 90s, and it's about two young teenagers, LeAlan Jones, and Lloyd Newman, living in the ghetto. Last week, we even had an FE with Mr. Jones! It was really cool since each of us had the chance to ask any questions regarding his journey and how his life has changed after publishing this award-winning book. That Fe helped with the AP since it gave us an insight into what we were actually doing.

For our first AP, we were asked to interview three people who live or lived in our neighborhood about what they like about it and what they are concerned about. And when we are done interviewing those people, we were instructed to compare their responses with one another and see what each interviewee talked about the most and write an article about that topic. 

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I live in Downtown Chicago. And as of right now, the population is 37,647, but if you live in Chicago or even visited, you probably know that there is a big problem with the number of homeless people living there as well.

I interviewed all three of my people, and they all seemed to be concerned about that same topic. The homeless population has increased in the area and it is alarming to see so many people out there on the streets, especially when COVID-19 is far from being over and the weather is gradually getting worse.

The three people that I interviewed were my mother, friend, and cousin. Not only because they are close to me and I enjoy talking to me, but these are some of the most opinionated people I know and I just knew they would have valid responses.

I was right! Please read what my interviewees had to say and my response to it, thanks :)

Interviewee 1

Tommorrow Snyder, Stand For Children, 2019.

Name: Tommorrow Snyder

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Relation: Mother

"There are a lot of homeless folks on the street and sidewalks which brings to life the wealth disparities in our country." 

I agree with this statement, without a doubt. Not only did she bring the country into her response but it is the truth! Like every other place, Downtown Chicago has a problem with disparities, not just racial disparities, but in terms of those who are homeless. People in Downtown Chicago are living in condos, paying $2,000-$5,000 a month, with their new iPhones, and Gucci shoes, but can't even give a homeless person a dollar. Instead, they walk right past. I have to admit, I use to be scared to give them money since you never know what they would do with it, but if you look at the joy on their faces when you give them a little something can lift a giant weight off of your shoulders that you probably didn't even know was there.

Interviewee 2

Jazmin Monroy, Instagram, 2019.

Name: Jazmin Monroy

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Relation: Friend

"It can very alarming to see homeless people trying to find shelter as the weather gets colder."

I agree with Jazmin's response. I actually used what she said in the intro since it is true. The weather is slowly getting worse and it can be really scary since we don't want to be in the cold, but imagine homeless people have to go through to get through the winter. Last year, it was so cold that a homeless man named Marshall passed away while wrapped in a blanket, he lived right outside of a pizza place called Rosati's which happens to be right around the corner from my home, and we found out from another homeless man that also lives around the area.

Last, but not least: Interviewee 3

Samar Carmack, Instagram, 2020.

Name: Samar Carmack

Pronouns: he/him/his

Relation: Cousin

"The population is getting bigger ever since the pandemic started and I worry seeing them out there since some of them have children."

I agree with Samar's response as well. I said this in my intro as well. The pandemic is getting much worse. Major cities such as Chicago, Las Angeles, and Chicago have especially been hit the hardest in the beginning. But anyway, many people have lost their jobs and homes due to COVID-19. You can see many people and their children holding up the cardboard with it saying lost my job, no house, please help us, or I am just hungry. It is truly heartbreaking and when you see a child on the street along with the parent, it is even more heart-wrenching because the children need a proper meal, a proper education, a stable house to sleep in.

I got the information from the following two paragraphs from here.

"I would have to go the bathroom at maybe 3 o'clock in the morning to do my homework because I still wanted to be that student I knew I could be," Kaleyah says. Kaleyah's mother lost her house, it was devastating, but she gained support from others in the shelter they were living in. She says that "they became like a second family because we embraced each other's struggles."

There is an estimate of 40,000 homeless people living in the city including thousands of public school students in shelters, tents, parks, etc. In 2014, there were over 22,000 students who were homeless, 2,500 students growing up in a house with no adults and raising their siblings, but still went to school. Since 2003, Chicago donated $5 million towards homeless shelters, but Chicago's Department of Family, Support services, or Rahm Emmanuel would speak about it.

Next time you see a homeless person, my task for you is to at least give them a dollar, get them food, or something simple like starting a conversation with them. They are human beings just like us and that is all they want you to treat them as. Think of how you would feel if you were in their shoes.

Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed it, if you would like to learn more about Downtown Chicago and my interviews, please click this slideshow :)

MENTAL HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GRADES!

For the second Action Project in A Nation's Argument, we were asked to take a look at our Code of Conduct, choose a rule we disagree with, and argue to change that rule. We connected this to concepts we discussed in the course such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and, of course, the Amendments. The purpose of this project was to amend our rules to make a stronger argument in support of the school's goals and I decided to amend our attendance policy. Specifically, allocating a certain number of mental health days to be considered excused absences instead of unexcused. Throughout this quarter, I learned how the smallest details can make your argument more convincing.

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"How can we solve the teen mental health crisis," Dazed, 2018.

This photo is a metaphor for stressed-out students who attend a school where mental health days are perceived as "missing school "just because."

GCE’s Code of Conduct includes various beneficial rules. These rules allow students to take ownership of their education, feel like an active participant in their education and feel less like a prisoner. In our open and oftentimes negotiable rules lies the “Attendance” section. After thoroughly reading them, I noticed that this Code of Conduct mentions nothing about mental health days, so I assume they are perceived as "unexcused absence." There is a small segment about student absence recommendation that reads; "in the case of unplanned, non-emergency absences, students may not be eligible to earn credit for work due on the day of the missed class." Additionally, if this rule is violated, you would have to meet with the Head of the School and your guardian, so I rewrote this as a formal syllogism to make sure I have everything correct.

These are my deductive syllogisms:

P1: Schoolwork is important.
P2: Mental health days aren't allowed.
Conclusion: Schoolwork is more important than your mental health.

Mental illness or mental health is one of the most complex issues in the world, especially for children and teens. It is often ignored and young people are often told to "get over it" or "you're fine" and "it's just a part of life." However, navigating childhood and adolescence can be extremely challenging and it is easy to become overwhelmed, especially when they're handling things like schoolwork, hormones, peer pressure, extracurricular activities, etc. In my experience, teenagers are held to an even higher standard and expected to be something or someone that they are not. More times than not adults and even their peers cannot see all the pressures that that teenagers are under. Due to fear of embarrassment and shame, teenagers tend to hide their issues with humor or mask their true feelings by telling themselves and the world that they are fine.

The Attendance Code's attention seems fixated on excused and unexcused absences, but it doesn't mention anything about mental health days. GCE should know that part of being the kind of school they push to be, includes letting students take a break every once in a while. I think every student should be given a minimum of five mental health days without penalty to provide them the time to regroup. To be fair, the days cannot be used during Action Projects and Final Presentations. This rule does not apply to students who are not actively working to maintain passing grades or who have fallen below 85% attendance. I contend that if GCE continues to works towards preparing students for the "real world," then allocating mental health days could be earned like PTO (Paid Time Off ) days and could help reduce stress.

These are my inductive syllogisms:

P1: Schoolwork is a priority.
P2: Mental health is your top priority.
Conclusion: Schoolwork is not as much of a priority as mental health.

To get to my point, mental health days aren't trivializing absences, they are simply allowing students to take time to start off fresh and regroup your thoughts. I believe they should count as excused absences because many students are dealing with issues that call for some downtime and to be frank, they deserve time to hit a pause on life's demands.

Creating this amendment will teach each student that it is okay to not be okay and feeling less than your best is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a fact that addressing mental health means better mood, improved school performances, and less physical pain. Additionally, taking a day to yourself can improve your focus, allow for more sleep, and increase performance strength. This amended Attendance policy will allow students and school staff to have more conversations regarding mental health, reduce the stigma, and increases acceptance of students' emotional states. When I showed this amendment to my fellow classmates, they agreed and made a comment saying, "mental health days are definitely something every school should approve of."

Those who signed my document:

THE PINHOLE CHRONICLES

I am taking the course Light, Sound & Time, in which we study the aspects of the human eye and how it connects to a camera. So, it turns out, a cornea acts kind of like a lens since it starts the process of the eye focusing on light. The iris and pupil act as the aperture because it controls the amount of light entering the eye. And the retina acts as the film because it makes up what we're seeing. That leads me into our Action Project which was to create our own pinhole cameras and develop our own photos :)

Overall, creating pinhole cameras was a very fun and fascinating experience. I'm used to taking photos on my phone or digital camera, but this was different. From this experiment, I learned that you need to have patience and tolerance, and our photos may not turn out the way you want them to and that's fine, it's something that I would definitely do again one day.