gO grEEn!

Welcome back! Unfortunately, this is the end of the second term for Urban Planning :( I definitely learned many things about topics that I haven't even thought about. But just to recap on what focused on the history of electricity and studied iconic electrical engineers like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Later, we looked into types of circuits, more specifically, series vs. parallel circuits. Moving forward into the unit, we started thinking about how we could take all of this information and turn it into something bigger. So, the mission for this Action Project was to use the parallel circuits we created and make something sustainable for our environment. 

That leads us into the SLIDESHOW! Take a look at it to see what I did!

   

In conclusion, this project was difficult because I broke a few of my materials by accident :( Nevertheless, I still made it work regardless of how many things I broke. Be careful, everybody :)

$1,200 for 9 weeks? I think not...

Hello, again and welcome to Policy! In this class, we use Rhetoric and Argument to agree on a common good. In Rhetoric, we learned how to persuade with ethos, pathos, and logos, and in Argument, we learned how arguments are sustained to find and shape the nation. But in Policy, to agree on a common good, you have to know what it takes to make a policy good. So, the mission of this Action project was to propose legislation and write a persuasive letter to a legislator and mail it. And since we had to write it about a bill that is not passed yet, I decided to write it on the Emergency Money For The People Act and mail it to Congressman Danny K. Davis.

Who can live off of $1,200 for 9 weeks?

COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that impacts all our lives and for some their way of life. Whether it is the boredom from sheltering in place or fear of the unknown, we are all deeply affected by this pandemic. The total impact of COVID-19 is still unknown and in March, Congress attempted to address Americans' financial woes by passing a stimulus bill. This stimulus bill made it possible to provide Americans direct economic relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stimulus checks were one-time payments of $1,200 per adult - or $2,400 for married couples filing jointly - and an additional $500 per child. But my question is, what household can live off of $1,200 for 9 weeks?

A one-time $1,200 check barely covers the basic needs of a single adult and a $2400 check fails to meet the needs of married couples. It’s not fair to only get a single $1,200 stimulus check when prices have gone up drastically. For example, in the United States, health-related items and household necessities have doubled or tripled in price. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical mask prices have gone up 319%, whereas hand sanitizer increased by 73% and disinfectants have gone up more than 32%. This increase in demand has forced many people to overshop or hoard and make their own products. At this time health-related and household products are necessities and it saddens me to know that people are being overcharged and under assisted by their government. It is so important that the government sign the Emergency Money for the People Act bill which would extend stimulus payment for six months.

To date, over 20 million people have not received their stimulus checks and unemployment checks are delayed and not stretching from month to month. The Emergency Money for the People Act would eliminate a lot of financial issues for those affected by COVID-19. With this bill, individuals who make less than $130,000 a year, would receive $2,000 a month. If this bill passes, people would be able to get health-related items such as medical masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and groceries. 

I am sure that my opponents will make excuses or argue that the one-time stimulus check was a generous gesture. but one-time payments do not last long enough to meet basic needs. COVID-19 is more than just a global health crisis, it is also a financial crisis that impacts individuals, families, and corporations and I'd argue that the Emergency Money for People Act would help ease the financial strain felt by this pandemic.

Thank you so much for reading.

- Savannah

THE TRUSS BRIDGE THAT SAVES ALL

Hi! Welcome to my Urban Planning course! This is a class where we get to learn about different types of architectural designs and regulation of uses of space, whether that's revolved around economic functions or social impacts. In this case, we were discussing the concept of bridges - how many types are there? Why do we need them? Why are they useful? - we came to the conclusion that bridges are were created to safely carry cars, humans, animals, and other necessary materials that can be transferred. So the mission for our Action Project was to build a truss bridge out of popsicle sticks and glue while proving that it could support a gallon of water.

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.

↓↓↓

"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.