HOW CAN WE BRING AWARENESS TO SOMETHING SO SERIOUS?

Hello, welcome to my first digital final presentations at GCE! Unfortunately, final presentations were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the show must go on! For our Final Presentations, we were asked to create our very own guiding question based on one of our core classes. So, for my presentation, I am going to explain the importance of mental health and how we can try and bring awareness to that.

My guiding question: how can we bring awareness to something so serious?

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.

(This is somewhat what I want the stickers to look like.)

S.S.,  Semicolon, 2020.
 Grammatically, semicolons are for authors who want to end a sentence but decided not to. 
 So this semicolon is a metaphor for people who wanted to end their lives but decided not to.

My desired outcome for this project is to bring more awareness to mental illness, not just as a school but as a society. So, I think passing out stickers would spread the word faster since they are trendy, popular and they easily express a person’s views. On any given day I pass people on the streets, buses, and trains with stickers on water bottles, phone cases and/or laptops. Additionally, many activist organizations pass out stickers as a visual expression of support. I even have several stickers of support for various organizations on my own belongings. And I believe that stickers are small tokens of appreciation to advance the message of big issues.

THE M00D WATCH!

This is the last unit of Light, Sound and Time and we focused on the concept of time - what it is, if it's real, if we're just imagining it, etc. I've learned so much about time, but one thing that really caught my eye was that time is relative meaning it changes depending on the speed of light. Interesting, right? But anyway, our class went on a Field Experience to the Planetarium where we learned more about the understanding of the universe, more specifically the Bigbang and how it came to be. After that, the class focused on the history of time-telling devices such as sundials, pendulums, longitude, and latitude. I was inspired by these time-telling devices to create my very own which was the mission of our Action Project!

Please watch this video to understand this magnificent device:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP8MLIhXvCM&authuser=0

Overall, this unit was by far one of my favorites! I really liked how the concepts we learned in class relate so much to reality. I also liked making this video, it was super fun, but it took so much patience because your video may not come out the way you want it to.

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:

STREAM MAP OF THE SOUL: 7!

This is a class called A Maker's Lab Art! It's an art class where we learn how art is created to a certain extent. So far, we've been learning how to create our own masterpieces with machines like 3D printers and Carvey's. With this project, we were asked to create something that utilizes either the 3D printer or the Carvey answering the following questions and that's why I created this:

    


“What did you do?”
As we all know, I love music, but my favorite artist(s) at the time is BTS. So, I decided to create a 3D carved version of their new album! It’s called Map of the Soul: 7, it’s a heartfelt story that is revolved around the band and all of them finding their “real selves” throughout their journey as a group. It’s also a follow-up to their 2019 EP, Map of the Soul: Persona where all five songs ended up on this most recent album.


“What did you use to create this project?”
I used a website called Easel Inventables (Carvey). Easel Inventables is a solution for 3D carving machines and it’s an easy way to get started in the 3D carving world.


“What did you do well?”
I believe the design is solid itself because I tried my best to have it look exactly like the album and I think I succeeded pretty well.


“What would you do better on this project?”
I would definitely plan this earlier. Originally, I was going to create something basic, but once BTS’ album came out, I felt inspired by their music and wanted to make something revolve around my love for them and their album.

IMAGINE BUYING A GUITAR, couldn't be me...

For the second term of Light, Sound and Time, we studied the concept of sound - what is sound? I learned that sound is just a vibration in which sound waves pass through a medium to the ear. Cool, right? Maybe not, but anyway... the class went on an FE to the Chicago Hearing Society to learn more about the deaf and hard of hearing. When we spoke with them, they explained how living without being able to hear was like living in a society where nobody understands you and vice versa.


For this Action Project, our mission was to create our very own Diddley Bows! If you don't know what a Diddley Bow is, it's a single-stringed instrument that consists of items that can easily be found in your home... hopefully. Anyway, here's a slideshow on how to create a Diddley Bow, how it functions and so much more:

Overall, I had a lot of fun creating my Diddley Bow because it's revolved around music and I absolutely LOVE music. And just to think that you could make this in the comfort of your own home is the coolest part about it. Although there will be some frustrations while creating it (mostly the math part), it will totally be worth it in the end!

MEDIA MADNESS

I am taking a course called A Nation's Argument, in which we learn about arguments throughout history and how they evolved into the way they are today. When people hear the word "argument" they automatically think of two people screaming at each other while trying to get their points across. But I learned that's not necessarily an argument. An argument is simply trying to explain your reasoning for something you believe in, sort of like a debate. The mission for our Action Project was to create our very own class to study and write about why we should be able to study that specific subject or activity. I chose to write a declaration on social media awareness. Social media was created to maintain connections, create a sense of community, engage in virtual networking, and acquire information. However, many Generation Xers and Millennials use social media to distract themselves from the real world. I decided to study this because people should think before they post something.

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Topic: MEDIA MADNESS

Guiding Question: Can social media be displaced as more than entertainment purposes?

Introduction: If you can imagine social media being created for people to maintain connections, create a sense of community, engage in virtual networking, and acquire information at the speed of lightning, you don't have to. It's intended for all of those things to happen. However, like a lot of things when you do not have the necessary tools, it is easy to break and misuse something. Social media is no different. That is why students would benefit from a yearlong interactive class that provides then with the tools to skillfully and successfully use social media.

Personal/Logical Evidence: Many Generation Xers and Millenials use social media to distract themselves from the real world. Social media was created for people to network with others or stay-up-to-date with current events. I created this declaration because having a social media class could change that by teaching students different methods to use social media as a tool to make connections instead of using it as a competition to see who gets the most likes and followers.

Syllogisms:

• P1

Social media was created in order for people to network with others whether it's family or opportunities.

• P2

Generation Xers and Millennials use social media to distract themselves from the world.

• Conclusion

People are using social media for the wrong reasons instead of what it was originally made for.

Historical Revolution: In 1997, SixDegrees.com was one of the first known social media sites. On this site, users could set up a profile page, create lists of connections, and send messages within networks. Although SixDegrees.com was a social media that promoted connectivity, it was very different from the sites that we have today. Specifically, sites like SixDegrees.com were limited within their reach because users had to remain mostly stationary. 

Fast forward a couple of years into the new Millenium, the internet went crazy over sites like Friendster and Myspace. Friendster had its private profiles which were short-lived while Myspace had public profiles with millions of users and lasted much longer. It was the go-to site for teens and music fanatics, plus the site allowed you to customize public profiles.

Between 2003-2006 social media sites began to look a lot like they look today. In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facemash, a Harvard University gossip site, but Zuckerberg's most successful social media venture "Facebook" followed in 2004. In 2005, "The Facebook" became and continues to be the most popular social media site. Youtube.com also launched in 2005 and today it remains the go-to site for DIY projects or video game tricks. In 2006, Twitter launched which went from users saying nothing to now being a top place to check for breaking news.

The historical revolution includes many dot-com sites that did not last a year and some sites that remain active. The origins of social media stretch further that I know. Although it seems like a new and emerging trend, sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter are a part of the natural progression of technology and technological advances.

Resources: 

• Books

- The Dark Side of Social Media

- Influencer

- Connected

• Movies

- Cyberbully

- Reality High

- Unfriended

• Places

- Optimizing Social Media

- Social Media for Business Class

This will be a year-long course.

Unit 1: The what, why's and how's of Social Media!

• Discuss how social media has been designed to give students the tools required to develop responsible social media habits and behaviors.

Unit 2: The Risk of Social Media: Is it worth my future?

• Understand the long-term consequences that irresponsible social media usage can have on a student's educational, athletic and professional careers.

Unit 3: The benefits of Social Media: Can I make a career in Social Media?

• Shows students the way to which they can use social media to promote their own team, school, community, and brand.

Desired Outcome: A clear understanding of the importance of knowing what you are posting on social media.

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.