SLA Class English 3 - Pahomov Blog Posts

This I Believe; Unfaithful Fathers

Rebecca Rainis — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:10:52 -0500

I’d never underestimate the struggles of being a parent, because I haven’t yet been one. However, I do believe that no matter the hardships a person may be obligated to go through with their children, extreme violence towards that child is unacceptable and unnecessary. It solves nothing; it only leaves that child to be broken in the end, especially when they justifiably did nothing wrong.

My dad isn’t a normal man, but then again, he is. He has no addictions to anything other than coffee and cigarettes, which wouldn’t give him the powerful outlook he has on himself. I can see right through him, but I’m unable to determine why he is the way he is. He honestly believes he’s better than everyone else, and what he says is right. There’s no talking to him; he may just be the most stubborn person I ever met, and fully realizing this, I unintentionally stepped into the beating of a lifetime.

I wasn’t a good student in my early years of high school. I always attended class, but what good does that do when you don’t do any work? Anyway, I had an afterschool commitment that I attended, against my will. I had to go to Grade Recovery, a program that brought an F on my report card to a D. I wouldn’t consider Science Leadership Academy to be a normal school, which explains why on Thursdays we got out of school at 3:50 PM. Grade Recovery started at 4:15 PM, and was over at 5:45 PM. My best friend at the time would always suggest going to Papa John’s after long advisories and Grade Recovery as a way to cool off and just hang out. That Thursday, I got home around 7:30 PM, which didn’t seem to late to me. However, my dad felt differently.

I came inside and tried to explain to my father why I had been so late, but he didn’t want to hear any of it. He threw me off though, because his tone of voice seemed so far from violent. I figured he didn’t mind, so I went upstairs to my room. I was sitting in a corner on my laptop, playing a game. When I looked up, I saw my dad. His face was redder than my face would be in a few minutes. I knew what was coming though, because as he came closer to me, I kept asking him to calm down. He picked my laptop off my lap and threw it at me. It hit me in the arm and bounced onto the floor. I was furious, because I didn’t have $1,000 to fix a laptop that wasn’t even mine, but before I had a chance to make that clear, he did something I’ll never forgive him for doing.

As soon as I saw his hand coming for my face, I tried to duck, but he was too quick for me. He punched me in my left cheek, right below my eye. I could feel my skin being forced off my face, then coming back to my bones, much like how it happens in boxing. I was hysterical. I kept trying to get up and leave the room, and every time I would he would grab my ponytail and throw me backwards to the floor. My stepmother was in the doorway, watching as if she enjoyed what she saw.

“If it were your kids you wouldn’t be standing there watching. You’d be going after him, making him stop. You’re really just going to stand there and watch this?”

She had nothing to say. She just shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing. Typical evil stepmother move; I felt like Cinderella, except with a father who was on her side.

I didn’t care if my hair got ripped right out of my scalp; I was getting out of that room. I got up again, trying to leave, knowing I’d have to push my stepmother aside, which would only land me in more trouble. I tried to run, but this time when my father grabbed my hair, instead of pulling me backwards to the ground, he pushed me forward towards the steps. My stepmother moved out of the doorway, as if they’d planned this out precisely for weeks. Although I almost fell down the stairs, it was better than being in that room.

I ran down the stairs, looked for my schoolbag, and headed towards the back door. I saw my little brother sitting in a chair, crying, asking me not to leave.

“I have to buddy, I’m sorry. I’ll be back soon, I promise. I love you,” I said to Storm, as I kissed his forehead reassuringly.

I didn’t have time to put on and tie my shoes, so I decided to skip looking for them. With my schoolbag and jacket in hand, I ran out the door and through the cold, muddy yard. I got to the graveyard, which was unfortunately locked. I didn’t have time to go around, which would give my father time to find me, if he even tried. I hopped the graveyard fence, and then swerved in and out of gravestones. When I got to the other side, I climbed over the fence and ran about 20 feet to my house. I ran inside crying, asking for my mother or brother. My stepdad said my mother wasn’t home, so I ran into my brother’s room. I fell on the floor, spilling out every detail of what had happened.

When I went to school the next day, a teacher had noticed a bruise on my face. I had been late to class because I was covering the bruise up with makeup, or trying to at least. The teacher kept asking what had happened, but I kept denying anything. Finally, I told him I’d gotten into an argument with my dad. I tried to make him swear not to say anything, but he told me he would lose his job, so he brought me to the office, where they called DHS.

DHS had come to my house a few times, interviewed me at school, taken pictures of my brother and I, making us all feel like criminals. The last time he came to my father’s house, I was present.

“You’re daughter keeps defending you, and we realize this is most likely a mistake, and something that didn’t mean to happen. However, hitting your kids, especially hard enough to leave bruises is not okay. The next time we get reports on you, your children will be taken away from you,” said the man from DHS.

As soon as he walked out the door, my father said something that caused me to live in even more fear of him than I already did.

“Don’t think because DHS came, I wouldn’t hit you again, because I would.”

He never hit me again, but we aren’t on the best terms. We hardly see each other, because I dread going to his house to visit him. When I do go, it’s to see my younger brothers and sister. I live at my mother’s house full time, which can be very hard at times, considering my father contributes nothing. Him being the violent, demented man he is left me broken inside, striving for a relationship with my father that will never exist. It wore me down inside, leaving me with a destroyed self esteem because my own father doesn’t try having anything to do with me. For this reason, violence from parents to children is a mistake. It’s wrong, and ruins more than it fixes, and should be viewed as unacceptable in all societies.

This I Believe: Girls and Boys

Olivia Smith — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:22:53 -0500

I believe that girls and boys can be just friends. Nothing more than that. They can keep it on that level. Many people think other wise but I never have.
When I was a kid my mom had a friend and her friend had a son. This little boy and I grew up together. He was the first one to know everything about me. My first pet. My first kiss. My high school acceptance. My family problems. Everything. But somewhere along the line we started getting comments about us being a couple. We understood where they were going but we never went out, frankly we were to much like brother and sister to even think about that. Then once we reached our high school years we really were getting drilled with comments. People would tease us all the time. He's had girlfriends, none of them liked me because of the friendship that we had.
Out of this, I don't think I would be the way I am around guys if I didn't have that friend in the first place. I think you need to have a friend of the opposite gender to really be able to get to know other ones. Honestly, I think boys are a lot more fun. With girls there so much competition and its not worth it. Boys are so much more comfortable to be around, not for the attraction, just to have fun with.
One of my other best friends, who is a girl, never really had a guy friend. She's 16 years old and she's practically afraid of the male gender. But if you think about it you could actually understand why she would be like that. If you aren't exposed to something then you most likely going to avoid it.
I still do talk to my first boy best friend. He is probably one of the closest people to me. I believe that everyone should have someone of the opposite gender to talk to, and to understand.

This I Believe: Harry Potter

Marley Utzig — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:24:10 -0500

I spent my mornings in second grade sitting in line reading Harry Potter. I had just moved to Philadelphia and had no friends. I would sit and read getting sucked into the story until the sounds of kids shouting and footballs being thrown would disappear and be replaced with the beating of owl wings and the chorus of voices in the great hall. I was an only child, going to a brand new school. So Harry Potter became my friend, and then more and more book characters began to come into my life to make me see things in a new light, to let me into their stories so I could see everything they were going through. I would often get in trouble for reading under my desk that year.

This thirst for books never died, I still spend most nights reading. When I am really sad or need to escape the world I grab a book and let myself slip from reality into this land of magic, or maybe into the ocean, or I can even explore the future. In the time that I am reading the book though I am free from the things that weigh me down daily. I can thank Harry Potter for that, for being there when I needed him and still being here when I want to go back to Hogwarts.

As I was in the theater with my mother surrounded by other Harry Potter nerds, watching the final movie I cried, I actually did not stop crying until I got homem because to me Harry Potter had always been there, had been my friend had been my first exploration of a world different from our own. Harry Potter had opened up my love for reading, and as I watched the last movie I could not help but feel like I was growing up and leaving my childhood behind me.

I believe in Harry Potter

This I Believe; Everything Happens For A Reason

Chelsea Smith — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:24:44 -0500

Ever since I was little my mom has always said "everything happens for a reason." This quote has always stuck with me. It makes it easy to fall back on.

About 3 years ago my grandma passed away. This was a hard thing for everyone in my family to deal with. My family is on the small side, with about 10 close members. So losing my grandma, which was the first person in my life to die, it was extremely hard. My grandma died on July 7. The last holiday we all spent together as a family was July 4th and we made sure it was special. From the day we found out she had cancer and that the cancer was slowly just going to kill her, we made every day amazing and with her.

My grandma had been on oxygen tanks for as long as I could remember and basic everyday tasks were a big struggle for her. She did a lot of sitting and eating and asking us to get her things from around the house. When we went out I use to roll her tanks around and everyone watched her close to make sure she was doing okay and wasn't straining herself. I know she had a hard life.

The doctors told us she was going to live for about 3 more months but within the following 3 weeks she got extremely sick and passed away, and she passed when she was alone in the room and soundly in her sleep. I know she was a strong woman and held on as long as she could.

She meant so much to us, and dealing with this is still hard to this day, but as my mom has always said, "everything happens for a reason." We try to keep this mind set when dwelling on the lose. It was time for my grandma to be put out of her suffering and to relax. God had called on her and wanted her to come home. The death of my grandma was suppose to happen and it had been planned from the day she set foot on this Earth that on July 7, 2009 she would part from us.

This lose is still hard to deal with, but knowing that this is how things are suppose be and that she is happy and enjoying herself, it makes me able to bare with the absents of her. I know one day I will join her and so will everyone in my family; we will, one day be a whole family again.

And that day I know is planned out and I will wait for that day to come.

This I Believe: The Different the Better

Chelsea Smith — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:27:49 -0500

Walking through the hallways in class you can tell that no two people are the same, but why are so many people judge for being so different. Whether someone dresses out of the ordinary or just they aren't afraid to be themselves everyone looks at it as a problem. I look at it completely different.
I strongly believe that people should dance like no one is watching, sing like no one can hear them, live like it's heaven on earth, and to love as though you never been hurt. In order to do these things you have to be yourself.
I remember at the start of wanting to come into high school I was nervous about whether I would be accepted or if people acted the way I did. As i went through my first week of high school I realized that no one is going to act the way I do, laugh the way I do, or in all just be me.
I learned that it is fine for me to be that different person, because with everyone being so different it makes the world go round. I was looking at a show The Fairly Odd Parents and remember a specific episode were Timmy wished that everyone was exactly the same so he could stop being bullied.Through out the show he was enjoying the fact that everyone was the same, but as time went on he started to realize how boring life was for the fact that everyone wanted to be the exact same.
America is made up of billions of people with no two people the same. People who have different opinions on the same topic, enjoy different types of music, or may be from the same culture and eat a different type of food. I look at it as though if someone has to change the way they are just to fit in a crowd they aren't being true to them self. As the saying goes rather be loved for who I am then who I'm not. Fitting in may same like the easiest thing to do but as life goes on I have learned the different the better.

This I believe; My Dear Cioci Stella

Kimberly Parker — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:03 -0500

I believe that influences from other people play a big part on who you are today. Who you knew or know and spend a lot of time with will unintentionally leave a little bit of themselves with you. When I was younger, my great great aunt Stella was still alive. She was what made my Christmas most enjoyable. Sure I would get excited for all my presents but I would be most excited to watch her open up her presents and watch her smile. After the Christmas was over at my grandmother's house, I would sleep over my aunt Stella's house. She was 95 years old when she passed away and I remember her last Christmas. She would wait for everyone else to open their gifts, then slowly open hers. She loved puzzle book and music boxes. She got the same things for Christmas ever year but was still so happy looking at all of the gifts that were simple and cheap, but so meaningful to her. Christmas was not about who spent the most or who got the expensive gifts, it was about the thoughtfulness and just happiness of being together and smiling. My family loved to watch aunt Stella smile and talk because she was always so happy. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she always told us stories about growing up during the great depression and how when her sisters were bad, her mother would put orange peels in their stockings. These Christmas stories and her presence was what brought me joy on Christmas. We would also crochet together after dinner and continue our conversations. Aunt Stella was so happy all of the time and made me appreciate the little things in life that sometimes, we don't notice. She made me realize that Christmas is not all about gifts or spending, it was about spending time with family and enjoying each other's company. I'm so glad that I can remembrer her last Christmas with us because I can still see her smiling, sitting on her little blue rocking chair watching everyone open up their gifts. Aunt Stella taught me many life lessons that I will never forget, I will cherish the memory of her for the rest of my life.

This I Believe: Talking About Death

Larissa Pahomov — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:08 -0500

In the last week, death keeps coming up at work. Not because anybody has died, or is close to dying -- because I keep casually bringing it up.

I should mention that I'm a high school English teacher, so each situation has involved me talking to a bunch of teenagers about death. And they don't like it. When analyzing a funeral scene in a novel, I was getting a lukewarm reaction from the class, so I appealed to their personal senses of mortality: "You guys realize that you're all going to die, right?"

This did no go over well. To try and improve the situation, I pointed out that I planned on dying before they did. They were equally dismayed by this statement.

Same thing when I made an off-hand remark in the office about a weekend activity: "So-and-so's got it all planned, so if I die before Saturday, everything will still run smoothly." I got a few surprised looks. "Why would you say something like that?"

I don't really mean it, of course. I have no intention of dying anytime soon. But I usually meet their reaction with a shrug. Why not talk about death like any other topic? It happens every day, all around the world. It has affected each of us in some way, and is the guaranteed shared experience that accompanies life.

When I told one class about my experiences this week, a few students agreed with my viewpoint. "I fear the moment of death, but not the fact that my life will end." A few people nodded their heads in agreement. I thought about all of ways our discussion could go on this subject: what happens after we die? what makes a good death? how should we honor the dead?

Another student reflected on the fact that she felt like she might be wasting her life sitting at home and playing video games, when she should be out making memories. "Life is short... I'm almost seventeen."

I know many adults would laugh at that statement -- but I think most grown-ups are trudging towards death with far less awareness than the students in my class. If we can acknowledge death, even in the background, then I think we can live a better life.

This I Believe: People over the age of 60 should NOT drive.!

Dre'quan Taylor — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:23 -0500

I remember one summer afternoon when i was nine years old. I was outside playing football with the rest of the boys on the block, and a few of my cousins.We were playing football in the big alley across the street from my house. When i was in elementary school i got out of school at 2:00 so i was out of school before a lot of older kids. So we were playing football for a little while. Then before we knew it, it was 3:15 and we saw the kids from turner high-school walking over the bridge. My grandma was across the street watching us, but when she noticed that the turner students were coming over the bridge she told us to come back across the street to my porch. She knew that they were typically delinquents, and probably wanted to start trouble. So we all decided to race across the street. We said " Ready, Set, GO.! Then we all took off and then out off nowhere a car came flying around the corner. All we heard was skuuuuuurt BOOM.! Everyone around me realized that i was hit. It took me awhile, but i managed to open my eyes, while i was crying and noticed that there was blood everywhere. The ambulance eventually came and so did the cops. I left with the ambulance, and the man got multiple tickets. The main one was driving with an expired license. The reason he hit me was, because he claimed he didn't see me running across the street. I strongly believe that once you turn 60 you should never control a motored vehicle again in your life. By the way the man was 62. I think that old people senses and motor skills are significantly worst than average age people, and it should be illegal to drive once you turn 60. Most older people have to wear glasses and or hearing aids, take medication, and don't pay attention to well.Now he has no license, so he should not be driving.

What I believe cool is!

Jordan McLaughlin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:36 -0500

I believe that people that do things that are commonly looked down upon do it for attention and to be cool. For example people that smoke cigarettes in high school I think that it is done for the pure reason to be cool and to look cool. I came to this belief because when I was in eighth grade the coolest kid in our school was considered a badass because she did things that weren’t like what normal teen would do. She would do all these things that were just not appropriate for young teens and she would share her stories. Everyone but me wanted to be like her because they thought she was cool, but I don’t believe that doing bad things is what makes a person cool because obviously the majority of cool people would be like in jail or a drug dealer.

Once when I was on a school trip we went to the beach and on the boardwalk, some of the guys thought if they stole something that they would look cool in the eyes of the women and be the spotlight of the trip, which they were. No, they did not get caught but when everyone looks back on that day we all think how much more stupid could one get? Now that we are in high school the idea of cursing to be cool and doing bad things to be cool are still around but people have learned that it is not cool to do bad things, except for the few who fall into the trap and have become a follower.

If a young adult were to look at everything they did through the eyes of an adult they would probably do about 50% of the stuff they did differently and think it through. A lot of the things I do I think of what the consequences would be if you do them and what you get out of not doing the things. I am a free person and can make decisions that could definitely ruin my future for good, but if you look through the eyes of an adult would it be something that they would do?

What makes an adult cool? I’m not exactly sure what makes an adult cool because I am not one yet but I know that I have many adult like ways of approaching stuff compared to my colleagues. I believe want makes an adult cool it their sense of humor their wits/wisdom and their person interests such as what’s hip or something like following a sports team. Men do take risks as adults such as going to the bar and getting wasted and maybe having sex with someone but it’s nothing they would do to look cool it just what they do. Don’t make your self do things you don’t want to look cool.

This I believe: Smallest Things

Matthew Walker — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:55 -0500

I live in a city where a lot of things go unnoticed or ignored. When I was little I used to not care about the world. It was all about me. I didn't care what people ever did for me, I just knew that people did it. Now that I have grown up my belief that everything should be noticed. No matter how small the action it should be acknowledged.
When I was younger my family and I would visit my grandparents every sunday. My grandparents are not rich, they live in a comfortable home, but they are not poor. When I was younger I used to just toss any loose change I had, if it wasn't a dollar bill I did not keep it. One day I was with my grandfather and I threw a penny up in the air. My grandfather father started yelling at me saying "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!". I immediately turned around and said "It was just a penny". He then said "Even the smallest amount will eventually equal something". This struck me because I knew it was true yet I never thought about it.
When I went home and thought about what he said that night I never let go of it. Eventually pennies will equal to dollars. Ever since that day I thought never ignore the smal things. That includes small things people do for you. Such as encourage you, cook for you, help you with an assignment, hand you your things you just dropped, anything. Now that I'm older I went back and thanked anyone I could for doing the things that they have done, my mother, my father, any siblings, and especially my grandfather for teaching me this lesson. still to this day I will thank everyone for anything they do for me because I feel if they go through the effort to do these things how hard is it for me to say "Thank you".

Do You Regret Your Decision? Welp I Don't =]

Ashyne Bright — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:30:10 -0500

I believe that everything happens for a reason and you should never regret what you do or say.. One day I'm sitting on the bus and i was just thinking of the way i chose to do certain things. like if i would have just sat there in the car with my grandmother and would have never responded to her last question i would still be living with her. i would have to pay my own phone bill and i wouldn't be on punishment, but at the same time i would have never met some of my friends. the fact that i see that i control and make the choices that affect everything that happens after kind of freaks me out. every single time ou do or say something there is a reaction to it from both sides weather it is good or bad.

There is always something else you could have possibly said differently. my grandfather came into the house and gave me and my cousins and brothers all ten dollar. my grandmother was like if you wanna spend that then go ahead to the store but you should save you money. so me and my cousins go to the store and get into a fight and end up at the police station. if i had stayed in the house i would have never been in the fight. i would have never lost ten dollars. i would have never been at the police station.

At the same time i would have never met my therapist who help me out with a lot of things and i would have never got sent to this other place where i met another women who is really cool. but in that i got ear of the school i am in now. so what i am saying is the decision you make play on later events and affect who you meet and what you end up doing. im pretty sure that many people can look back and say "damn if i only did this the other way i would have..." but at the same time you say "but then i would have meet..." or "i would have done..." and say well i don't regret that decision because something good came out of it.

This I Believe: Everything Is All In Our Head

Cecelia Baez — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:30:16 -0500

Heh. From the slightest physical feeling, to the strongest emotional break down... we allow ourselves to feel those things. From my fear of zombies eating me alive.. or the feeling of someone walking behind me as I go up/down the stairs. It's the approval of us giving our brain the "ok" to agree with those feelings or fears. Whenever I walk into the doctors office to get blood drawn, I know deep down I would rather not have a little needle stick into my skin. The single pinch freaks me out. But all my life I have lived in something called my "bubble", where I am NOT apart of reality. Where I can physically and emotionally step aside from my human feelings and allow an action to take place with no regard or thought about it. Ignore it's existence. It's not an easy task. It's not like someone can just become inhuman? We are all human. We all have to fear something and care for something.

I use this tacit a lot when it came down to my father. For endless nights.. hours on hours.. he would lecture me about who I am. How bad a daughter I was, how I'd never succeed.. MY GOODNESS IT WENT ON FOREVER. Homework was never able to get done in my house. Over time.. I stopped caring. I had to force myself to care less about my fathers opinions or emotions. Especially because I thought I was a pretty amazing person. Every time he would try to get emotional with me, I would give him a goofy smile and swing my finger around in a circle.. indication " Woooh best conversation ever!" Oh, how that would piss him off.

My bubble comes in handy a lot when it deals with emotional fights with people, physical pain I don't want to feel, sickness, laziness to do things... It comes in handy for everything! Instead of thinking too much about a situation.. just act on impulse. I have learned to believe life is a lot more enjoyable when you don't worry about the little things and just go. Go, go, GO. Go, don't think, don't feel.. do nothing that would make you connect with yourself.

Though.. there are those days when I sit in my bed.. and everything hits me. The moment I step back into reality... E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G hits me. It's not easy being heartless forever. I still need to show love to my best friends, my family, and my self.

My bubble: Optimistic
Reality: Downer

:) Happiness is greater. Much is also leaves you emotionless.
It's just what I believe.

This I Believe: Woman Should Be Classy

Longnu Nhan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:30:19 -0500

I believe that woman should be classy. When I was younger, I used to live in Camden, New Jersey. One of the worse place to live. There's so much negativity and people who are trying to fit into the crowd. Of course, everywhere is like that, but from what I've experienced, Camden has to be the worse. Everywhere I looked, I would see girls walking down the streets half naked, girls who are loud and obnoxious, girls who would do anything for some sort of attention from guys, girls who thought they were the business when they had a big crew of friends, girls who thought that they were better than other people. I can go on and on for days about girls doing things to get attention. But I won't. I wouldn't want to bore you just yet.

As I've gotten older, I began to realize what these girls were doing and why they were doing it. I came to a conclusion that girls do these certain things because they want to to get some sort of attention. For example, recently, I went over to my friend Eddie's house. He had some company there. There was one particular girl who was very pretty and she had a nice body. This was the first time I ever met her, and right off the bat, I didn't like the way she presented herself. Every time she walked, she would poke her butt out and every 5 minutes, she would put on lip gloss. Not only that, but when she talks, she's really loud and ghetto and her head would go in a side to side motion. She would suck her teeth while she talked about someone else. It's just not classy to act like that in front of other people. Basically, she thought she was the business, but in reality, she was making herself look like a fool. That's like seeing a mom on the Maury show getting all hype because she "believes" that they guy she had sex with is the father of her baby. "That's my baby daddy Maury. I'm 100% sure!" While these mothers are saying that, they're clapping their hands and moving their neck from side to side. It legit looks like they're about to break their neck. Yikes. Not a pretty view.

I feel as though that people should have to be all ghetto and obnoxious in order to get attention. At the end of the day, people aren't laughing with you, they're laughing at you. When you act like that, people don't have any respect for you and you're just making a fool of yourself. Keep it classy ladies.

This I Believe: Me time

Christian Gelbolingo — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:30:45 -0500

I believe that everyone should have a "Me" time. Take some time off you day to treat and pamper yourself, maybe read a book, or explore the city. I came to this conclusion when I was so stressed out that I couldn't so anything right. This happens a lot around the time a project is due or something and I bet it will happen more in the future. I had a negative attitude towards everyone and everything I did, I did with anger. I sat down, and thought to myself, "I need a break."

One weekend, I borrowed a bunch of book from a friend, bought a gingerbread scented candle. I know this sounds a bit whacked but this method works for me. Whatever works for me, might not work for you. I lay in my bed and just read. I play my "reading" playlist playing on the lowest volume, dim my lights just enough so that I can still read the books, and light the candle. This calms me down so much. No distractions, no work to do, just reading. The lit gingerbreak scented candle smells divine. It's like having a bakery inside my room, well of course, minus the bakery.

I just feel like when you're alone, doing what calms you down, you can really reflect on yourself and see what stresses you out.

This I Believe: Sexuality is Based off Attraction

Khalil Clark — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:31:25 -0500

I believe that from the time you have enough common sense to know the difference between gender's, you develop an attraction to one or the other sex, or both. No one ever thinks about when people choose to be straight. Everyone thinks that it's a choice to be gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender. It's not a choice, or something you know within the heart and mind of a person. If it's a choice to like the same sex, then it must be a choice to like the opposite sex.

From the time I was a little kid, I've always felt an attraction to the opposite and same sex. I've grown up and came to terms with the correct terminology, and what it means to be Bisexual, I realized I never made a choice. I just knew I was. It comes from the belief that god has our life planned out for us before we are born. Obviously he choose for me to be this way, so I'm not gonna change it because I like the way I am.

I believe that the world should be accepting of LGBT people. Judging us won't change our sexual orientation, and physically abusing us won't change it either. Grow up and move on. If you don;t support us, get on with your life. Life goes on and doesn't revolve around you, so get over yourself.

I'm growing up and I have a new attitude about life. I'm moving forward, and no one can change me.

This I Believe: Laughter can go a long way.

Catherine Nardone — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:31:27 -0500

The worst part about knowing a friend with lots of other friends? Getting to know theirs. Meeting new people can be stressful. To some, it can come so super naturally. To me... eh. Actually, this time it wasn't so bad.

So, its a warm fall day, and my friend Jael is moving into my cousin's apartment. My friend Amanda and I get there, and she's already all moved in. We laugh in the car, and then we see a whole bunch of people sitting on the porch eating pizza. Moving truck is gone, and we're just sitting there. Extremely awkwardly, we walk up to the porch and I do my "Heeeey guys... whatcha doin'?" They all laugh and say hi. We hug the ones we know and talk to the ones that we don't know so well. Already the group is in such a good mood.

We all decide to walk to the park, and I see this guy in the back talking to two of my friends. I make a witty joke, and they laugh... Then I introduce myself to the new guy. His name is Humberto. Cool. I got a new friend.

I think it's kind of funny how just cracking a joke can allow you to open up the road to make new friends. I'm hardly the person to just go up to someone randomly and say "Hey, what's your name? I want to be friends, because you seem like a cool person. Oh, I can also make you laugh." No. That's weird, and people don't do that. Unless, they do, then that's cool too. However, I'm not really one to do that. I think that when you're around people who can make you laugh, and you can do the same, its easy to open up and knock the barriers down that way the cool new people you're introducing yourself to can feel comfortable without even knowing you that well.

I made a new friend that day, and that night, I made even more. I think it's fun knowing when to crack a joke. Laughter can brighten people's days, and it can influence them to make a joke, and maybe they can meet someone new. Exploring new horizons is a part of life that can sometimes be boring. But, when you spice it up with some laughter... you never know what you might get. Laughter is an essential part of daily life. Laugh at yourself in the mirror, you might see something you never saw before. Laugh at someone else, they might be your new friend. Laugh at the world, and you might conquer something new. Laughter can go a long way. I learned how, it's your turn now.

This I Believe: Nothing is Scarier than my Epilepsy

Tyler Morales — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:31:44 -0500

There is nothing scarier than my epilepsy. Most people don't understand what exactly epilepsy is. To lose control of a body part is one of the most terrifying things that ever happened to me. My first seizure was the scariest since it was what would be classified as a Grand Mal Seizure which is the biggest and worst type of seizure known to humans. Through my epilepsy I have lost all fear of other things in my life.
To witness and/or experience an epileptic seizure is something that can scar you for life like it has for me. My first seizure I ever had was a Grand Mal seizure, the worst and biggest of all three types of seizures which go from smallest to biggest: Partial Seizures, Complex Seizures, then Grand Mal or sometimes referred to as Tonic-Clonic Seizures. Grand Mal seizures include the loss of consciousness.
The night I had my first seizure, I was sleeping and my mom suddenly woke me up panicking. In my head I was asking, "Why is she waking me up and freaking out?" Then I realized I felt something wet on my bed and I looked and I had thrown up. When I realized I had thrown up I tried moving my right arm to get up out of bed since my left arm was broken but I couldn't move my right arm at all, it was like as if the nerves in my right arm weren't receiving the messages from my brain to move and help me get up. As I realized I couldn't move my arm, my mom was telling me, "Tyler get out of bed so we can go to the bathroom and clean you up." I tried talking and telling my mom, "Mom whats going on? My right won't move no matter how much I try moving it." but all that came out of my mouth was gibberish since I wasn't able to put words together right, it was like as if I was a baby again saying random words. While I tried talking I realized that I was drooling and I couldn't focus very well like as if I was still sleeping.
My mom realized that I couldn't move my right arm and that something was very wrong since I couldn't talk and was drooling so she said, "Tyler hold on let me get your dad. MICHAEL COME HERE QUICKLY, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH TYLER, I THINK HE HAD A SEIZURE." My dad came rushing and helped my mom get me out of bed and change my shirt since it had throw up on it. I was still out of it at the moment after my parents changed my shirt, they brought me downstairs to the living room and laid me down on the couch and then my mom said, "Michael go call 911." My dad went to the phone and dialed 911 and told them, "My son just had a seizure and needs to be taken to a hospital." Within 25 minutes the ambulance came and took me to the hospital and doctors were examining me and when they were done they told my parents and me, "Your son has Epilepsy, specifically Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. From how he was drooling and couldn't put words together, his seizures seem to be focused around his mouth."
That is all I remember from that night. But since my first seizure, I have never feared anything besides the fact that at anytime I could lose control of my mouth and it could start twitching out of control. Just the thought of losing control of my mouth and not being able to talk for at least 20 minutes terrifies me. One good thing that came from my epilepsy though is it made me stronger emotionally and mentally. Thats why I no longer fear death or any other kind of fear people have.

This I Believe: Originality What?

Kenisha Hood — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:32:56 -0500

"Be Yourself" well, what if one cannot? Trends and "what's in" is constantly being built off what was "in" before. From 1980's and 1990's, snapbacks were the popular accessary and was apart of the people of that time's attire. As of 2011, teenagers are bringing back snapbacks as if they created something new. Fashion is recycle by the minute and are based on old trends to create new ones.

Clothes are not the only thing that is recycled in this generation. Slang words such as "dope" which was started in the 1970's is being used and abused by most teenagers in this generation. Famous rapper, Drake, came out with an album titled "October's Very Own" and on that album was a song called "The Motto". Throughout the song, Drake explains that his motto is "YOLO" which is an acronym meaning "You Only Live Once". Teenagers are using this acronym as if Drake created this new rule to live by when he only simply took an old quote and made it into his words.

This generation of teenagers are known to follow and take in what everyone else is doing. The fact that they follow is not their fault because everything that is out now has been recycled from the past. Before one says, "Be Original" they should first think, "Well,How original am I?"

Lazziness

Vincent Russell — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:32:56 -0500

Vacations are quite necessary to life. Normally I'm not one for taking a break at all but they do and need to happen.

I guess you would say I'm not one for stopping, but when I do I can't stop stoping. For instance, during the school year I'm the student who does all/most of the work, no breaks and continues to critique and revise. Almost constantly working and if I'm done that I'll go make something, or practice guitar. Which it's not technically school work but it still feels sorta like work. Sometimes it doesn't but thats a whole different story.

Anyway, during the school year I constantly do things to keep me busy. But when summer comes I'm either the same or flat out wear the same pj's for three days person. Which is a pretty stark divide but it's difficult to get out of that routine. This summer wasn't so much the case there have been others. This summer we took a rode trip into Canada to see Niagara Falls and Toronto.

To me vacations combine work and laziness. You sleep in a bed that's not yours, wake up extra late and feel like a guest where you're at. Wake up, open your rooms blinds and you see a giant waterfall. Pretty relaxing. But you can also explore a new place you were you never had the chance to. Seeing a lake so big you couldn't see the shore of the other side. Experiencing a city that's very clean compared to Philadelphia, not to degrade Philadelphia at all.

The most important thing is when you are on the road back and walk through your front door. A different outlook is present on about your couch, the rug and even a ceiling fan. Getting out of your surroundings helps develop a new feeling about home and the different things I took for granted. It showed me a smidgen of appreciation for things I use everyday. Sometimes that's just it.

This I Believe: Stop being a hater. Love is love

Pauline Garcia — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:33:24 -0500

Nowadays people are talking about how a man and a woman can only get married and have a relationship. That there's no such thing as man to man and woman to woman marriage. In my opinion, why are you being a hater? If I'm right there's no law where it states that only a woman and a man can love each other. Like, come on! We live in Philadelphia too! The city of brotherly love. Well I guess thats a double meaning kind of phrase.
A person can love whoever they want to fall in love with. A person can get marry to whoever they wanted to marry. Love is love and there's no gender, kind, or type. If they are not bothering you, why are you going to bother them? All they wanted to do is love. Who doesn't want to fall love anyway? For them loving someone who's the same gender as they are doesn't make them less of a human. Actually, people hating them are the people who's degrading themselves. They're not the problem, the haters are.
People sometimes say that I'm Christian but I like gay people. Yes, I am Christian and yes, I know how to treat them. I treat them equally. All of us are human beings so I am not going to treat them like trash. I believe what I believe and they believe what they believe. I respect whoever they wanted to be in a relationship with. I am not to judge someone. They love someone and I know the pain of someone going against it. I don't want them to have those feelings and neither should be the haters.

I dont think you're going to like it if I stop you from loving someone, right? Treat people the way you want to be treated. In other words. STOP BEING A HATER.

This i believe: the difference between being smart and having a good report

Mabintu Donzo — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:34:28 -0500

i believe that not every one with a good report card is smart.i realize from a personal expareuse. i remember one day when so students and i were talking about our report card. we came to the conclusion that i had better grade them everyone else. than one of the student made a smart comments towards me, that it was funny how i'm grades are better than theirs but they are smarter than i'm and also told me that just because i got good grades does not mean i'm smart. i was hurt by the comments but i also thought they were kind of funny because i realize i never actually said i was smarter than them or anything like that. that's because i know the student was right. the only reason why my grades were better than their is because i worked very hard for them and did my works. i knew by me getting good grades do not mean i'm smart because deep down inside i knew I'm not smart. my grades just means that i do my work.

This I Believe

Joseph Wood — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:36:37 -0500

This I believe

I believe that every one makes mistakes. But every one learns from there mistakes in a different way. Like last year my attendants at school sucked because I would some times tell my parents that I didn't have school or I don't have to be in school till a later time and they believed me because they thought I would never do some thing like cut school. I knew what I was doing was wrong a mistake but I didn't stop doing it or learn from it. Until this year when One day my mom wrote Mister Reddy to ask him a question and Mister Reddy wrote my mom back how is Joe doing. My mom was unsure what he was talking about because for all she knew I was fine so she asked him what he was talking about. He said that joe has not been in school for the last two days I thought he was sick. My mom was so mad when she heard that. She was screaming at me. She took my phone my games I wasn't aloud out side for a month. And all of this because I didn't feel like going to school. But not only did I learn from this that cutting is a serious thing I learned that my parents wont be here for the rest of my life they won't be here to give me money when I need it and put a roof over my head and give food to eat and clothes to wear. So if I want to make something of my life I got to go to school and get into a good college and get a good job so that I won't need my parents to put a roof over my head and give me food and buy me clothes and give me a bed to sleep in. I can do it on my own. I believe that we not only learn from our mistakes but each mistake we make it helps us grow and become more of an adult

This I Believe: Working It

Annisa Ahmed — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:36:41 -0500

I'm a doer.

When there is a task set in front of me, I tend to waver for a seconds before I sit down, plug in my headphones and just get it done.

My mindset: Get it over with and you never have to look at it again.

But then, there's that teenage section of me that wants go out, raise hell and ignore all possible signs of commitment and learning for the rest my days. It's this compelling plague, almost like a raincloud that follows me wherever I go. Something I can simply not turn away from because it's always, always there.

While being here at SLA, I have maintained grades that will probably land me in a good university. This is junior year, the time where scouts look to to see whether or not, these students are worthy of wearing their insignias on their chests. And so, I know I have to try, harder than I ever had before. Classes upon classes, benchmarks line up against the papers, and I sigh.

I know I don't want to do this, but I have kind of choice do I have really?

A couple years from now, I'll be graduating from college, trying to keep up with bills and maybe have to worry about a family. The ideal taxpayer with my degree, being the adult that I have engraved in mind from a young age.

But, I'm sixteen.

Young, foolish, stupid, with the constant idea of making mistakes. Time waits for no one and I understand that. Scholarships and SAT's are just around the corner, but I still wish I could live in the now.

So, I choose to. Usually, you can find me doing work although, not for every second of the day. I kid, laugh, giggle and do stupid, stupid things even when I know the consequences but it's worth it. I don't want to look back and wish of what I could have done, I plan to have fun with all the time I have left to spare.

Because I'm a doer. Sometimes.

This I Believe:hateing my friend

Bethany Carter — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:37:58 -0500

The last few years I have been described in ways that contradict each other. My mom describes me as very logical but my friends love how random I am. My favorite classes are computer science, pre-calculus, and physics but I love making abstract art and am always making up imaginary worlds and people. These two sides of me wouldn't seem to mix but I don't think that things that seem to contradict have to be in different places but can thrive together.

One way I have seen this the most is in my friendship with Keriann. When I first met her in third grade I hated her. She was loud, she talked to much about things I had never heard of, and would joke about things that would hurt my feelings. I was quiet, would rather talk to someone who was not there then have a real conversation, and would easily get upset and cry. The only reason we even met was because a lunch lady made us spend recess together because nether of us had any friends. Keriann needed someone to talk to even if I was never paying attention. A few years later we were best friends. She did all the talking and I would learn not to take anything she says seriously. No looking back at it I know that I would had have a lot less fun and a lot more emotional trials if I had not become friends with someone who I still hate today.

"Sample video" by Ms. Pahomov

Larissa Pahomov — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:58:02 -0500

Chelsea Ann Smith's Media 2Fer

Chelsea Smith — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:45:58 -0500

Sports_ChelseaJanette

Chelsea Smith — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:25:54 -0500

Sports 2fer

Dancing Media 2fer

Longnu Nhan — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:06:23 -0500

Kenisha's Media 2fer

Kenisha Hood — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:37:41 -0500

PAULINE 1MIN2FER

Pauline Garcia — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:00:20 -0500

If it didn't work, here's the link

Mabintu's 2fer

Mabintu Donzo — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:30:18 -0500

OneMinute 2fer: Annisa

Annisa Ahmed — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:56:10 -0500

Vincent's 2fer

Vincent Russell — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:57:29 -0500

Marley Graffiti 2fer

Marley Utzig — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:10:42 -0500

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B42mLHz5gZ2qMzZoMlNOTW9SUEtxQ0swNXJ3SnEyUQ

The video is on the google doc.

Bethay's 2fur

Bethany Carter — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:23:41 -0500

Jordan's 2fer

Jordan McLaughlin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:25:35 -0500

Click maximize button to fix resolution.

kim's 2fer

Kimberly Parker — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:28:17 -0500

Olivia Smith Media 2fer

Olivia Smith — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:47:26 -0500

MY ONE MINUTE 2fer about the NBA

Matthew Walker — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:50:50 -0500

The Beat is ORIGINAL

Catherine Nardone_Why Girls Are Attracted to Jerks_1 minute Media 2Fer

Catherine Nardone — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:11:44 -0500

Marriage Values

Cecelia Baez — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:59:07 -0500

It wouldn't work yesterday ):

Christian Gelbolingo - One minute 2fer

Christian Gelbolingo — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:46:53 -0500

Terrance Williams- 1 Min. 2Fer

Terrance Oliveri-Wiliams — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:06:16 -0500

Thesis: As a result of ever-changing and progressing technology, the primary tools used to teach children, such as books and handwriting implements, will no longer be needed.

Tyler Morales' 1 Minute 2fer

Tyler Morales — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:26:50 -0500

http://db.tt/yTr1YWV4

Khalil Clark 1 Min Media 2Fer

Khalil Clark — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:24:58 -0500

Littering 1-page process paper

Marley Utzig — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:08:15 -0400

Our Public Service Announcement is about the amount of litter in SLA. There is a large amount of students in our school not disposing of their trash properly and leaving it on the ground. This image of litter in our school is visible all around, in the bathroom where food is sitting in the drain, the halls where kids just toss their waste and forget about it, and finally the café where the most trash is left on the floor to be ignored.

Litter seems so unimportant and we do not fully realize what we are doing when we drop something on the ground to forget about later. Litter is bad but upon doing more research we discovered even more ill effects then just it looking dirty. Litter is a fire hazard and attracts bugs, animals, and bacteria. This is important for the students at our school to know because they are not only creating an unclean environment but an unhealthy and unsafe one.

Our group took ideas from other PSA sites. Chelsea got the idea for a pledge from a sight about healthy food (http://www.fightbac.org/). Catherine and I got the idea for our posters from the images we saw online and how well they got the idea out. (http://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2009/11/the-80-best-guerrilla-marketing-ideas-ive-ever-seen/) Tyler wanted to have a place where all our efforts could come together and thus our website (https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/littering/?pli=1) was born. Chelsea wanted to make the Twitter account to get more people following our movement.

Catherine and I worked on the posters. We wanted them to be colorful and have pictures so that they were interesting. Unfortunately we could not make a hundred posters all by hand and in different colors but the more posters the better. Putting them up was full of strategy; the posters had to go in highly populated places but also in places where littering was the main problem. We put the posters on blank walls so that it popped more because it was the only thing there. The ballroom on the second floor was bombed with poster as was the lunchroom. While walking the stairwell you come face to face with the posters because they are at eye level (a selling strategy that is used by companies). The posters are also placed for relevance, if the poster is about fire then it will be near a fire extinguisher or the ones about boys producing more litter are in the boys bathroom.

This project is really important because it is a big problem in our school that does not seem important but is makes such a difference and is such a nuisance.

High School Drop Outs- Process Paper

Rebecca Fenton — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:55:44 -0400

For our third quarter benchmark I worked in a group with Christian, Serg, and Bethany. The topic that we were assigned to campaign about was High School Drop Outs. I was really happy about being assigned this topic because dropping out of high school is a topic that I feel very strongly about so it made it a lot easier to campaign since I am interested in my topic. Overall it was a good experience working with my group members on a project that I enjoyed.

I feel like for the first few days of being assigned this benchmark my group members and I were stuck because we didn’t know what exactly to write about our topic, for everything on the internet felt repetitive and boring. We wanted to find a way to be creative, as well as inform people. We finally decided that it would be a good idea if we each picked a different way of broadcasting our topic, and put them all together in a website. The topic I chose was videos. I feel like my group members and I all got a little off topic leading us to do our topics, plus a little more work as well because we didn’t want to just do our assigned topics.

For my video I made a video of me pretending to be at work at McDonald’s. I kept saying in the video how this is where you’re going to be if you drop out of high school still working at your minimum wage paying job that you had as a kid, into you adult years. I felt this would send the message to my peers and others that if you don’t graduate, you won’t be able to actually grow up and leave childish things behind, like your not well paying job at a fast food restaurant. As well as the video, I thought it would be cool if I added an add to promote why dropping out is negatively looked at so I did lots of editing and created an add that I’m pretty proud of, it’s actually on the cover of our website. Also, my group made a pledge not to drop out, which I thought was pretty inspiring.

All in all I think that my group members and I all did an equal amount of work and it was a pretty good experience. I enjoyed the people I worked with and I wouldn’t change anything about my project!

Chelsea Smith’s Process Paper about Littering Campaign

Chelsea Smith — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:28:59 -0400

For my groups project we created a campaign targeting the problem of littering within the community of SLA. SLA has a huge problem with litter around the school and we really want to see this change. For this campaign we spilt up rolls so we could have many things all supporting the same idea and hit people in ever-possible angle.

My part of this project was to create a pledge that students of SLA could take. This pledge consisted of how students of SLA should be acting and treating their school, for example throwing away their trash and encouraging others to also throw away trash. The pledge was to get people to promise they will try to keep the school clean. After people pledged they signed a large piece of paper that is now hanging in front of class so other students can see that their fellow students are working towards a better and clean school and to also remind the people that did sign it that they should remain true to the pledge they promised to follow.

I also created a twitter account. This account was created to help reach out to the SLA community even more. Many students have twitter and use twitter to stay connected. It is also used as a place to go when they need an escape during class, so why not fill their feed with facts about littering. I followed many students at SLA and also asked students to follow back. On this account students have hash tagged us a few times as well as a teacher. I plan to keep this twitter going and sending tweets out so people know how things in the school are looking.

The most challenging part of this project was trying to discover what exactly would help make this campaign a success. We didn't want to pick just anything, we wanted it to speak to people and make people care and that is why I directly spoke to students here at SLA and also through a common social media site that is highly used during school hours.

Project Reflection!

Sergey Kuznetsov — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:51:12 -0400

For my group’s project we had to debate a lot of things. First of all, one of the most important debates that we had, was what particular way of presenting we will do, and while it wasn’t a large debate since we all are obviously stronger with websites than any other way of presenting, we still argued a bit, over what we should do. After that, came the actual debates. I wanted to have a lot of things some of them being very important, like wanting the color of the font not to be black, however, since all three of my group mates said that black will be the very best color, we have decided to go with the black color, and things like that.

After all of the debates were over (well, not all, there were more to come) we have decided to go with the Iweb, black font, psa the way it is, and having to work with my least favorite type of website maker, however, I grew to like it after this project. I found that it is a lot easier to use than any other type of website maker. However, after the whole website was done, and we were ready to upload, we couldn’t publish it, and thus we decided to move back to the weebly.com idea.

Through a lot of debating and not knowing what, why and how to do and or start this particular project, we ended up with what we have right now, and it actually turned out to be very good. We were also debating on how we should implement it, and the best way that we found was to publish it, and twitter/facebook/myspace people about it, and make sure that people know about it, thus if some people know about it, others will come around, and so on, in a never-ending circle of social websites, this website will be the light in the end of the tunnel for the students that are in danger of dropping out.

Reflection

Bethany Carter — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:17:39 -0400

On of the biggest challenges we had as a group was that it would be pointless to do something in the school because our school already has a high graduation rate. This meant that no mater what we did and how we presented the information we would have to reach out to people outside of the school. This is what led us to choosing a web site because it is easier to get a web site to people we don’t know. Another one of our ongoing challenges as a group is that it was hard for us to agree on something because all of us are very opinionated. After some time I stopped caring about how we made the web site and what it looks like because I was tired of arguing over a color.

One thing that was nice was that I had this topic before so we had all of the previous research. This helped because we did not have to look for the information we needed for the project. We only had to show the current information in a different way. Also because I already knew about the current situation it was easier to know what we would need to look at, like attendance.

Once we decided to do a web site we had to decide what each person would do. Over all everyone worked on their parts individually and put it together once everything was done. I worked mostly on the statistics because I felt confident in what statistics were the most important. Over all I am glad that the project is finished and hope that the web site will reach people who are at risk of dropping out.

Q3 Benchmark: Process Paper (Drug Trade)

Annisa Ahmed — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:51:58 -0400

Annisa Ahmed
Fire Stream

It all began on the first day. Each member of our group opened up what our strengths and weaknesses were and chose our following roles accordingly. Kim took on the job of researcher and with the help Khalil, who had previous experience with working on this topic. Olivia played the website designer and was left with the task of putting it all together. This left me to the devices of writing, meaning absorb the facts and information that was handed over and whip up a text blurb to make sense of the drug trade.

Along the way, we keep in contact with each other; Olivia and Kim always gave me updates about where the project was headed, like when Kim decided to make posters for added effectiveness. Walking in Thursday morning to find two brilliant posters to help boost the moral of the cause was nice. I had written most the text on days prior, but I wanted to make sure that it was everything we needed. The more the merrier, and if I wanted to put as much effort as the rest of group had, things called for me to step it up a notch.

The final result was a written chuck that topped off at a little over three pages. This I was fine with, however when I noticed the time, I remembered that I had not answered back Olivia’s message. Though, it was around nine and I was hoping that I had not worried her with this. Either way, I decided that I would send my stuff over and try to get a hold of her. But alas, they were left unanswered.

On Friday, the website did cause some difficulty. Apparently, iWeb had switched over to being not free sometime recently, which led to some eruption of problems. The inability to make a pledge or have it up and running about frustrated us to no end because everything was there. We were just unable to make go viral.

The highlights to benchmark was that our group worked really well together. Everyone did what they were assigned to do and so, everything else just fell into place. As for challenges, I consider myself somewhat of a hindrance for not sending my part over as earlier as I could. In addition to the fact, that the application of our choice decided to back fire and make it impossible to have a functional website to present. By and large, and tossing complications aside, it was fun. An head-tilt worthy thing that makes people think thoroughly about what exactly they plan on churning out; enjoyable, definitely.

Reflection Paper

Kenisha Hood — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:10:42 -0400

For our group’s projects, there were plenty of downfalls but there were also some successes along the way. For example, when we first started planning what we were going to do for our project, everything sounded as if it was going to go well. In the beginning, we wanted to first go around the city and pay homeless people to do an interview with us but we then seen how that could be a problem beings though some homeless people may feel offended to the idea. We then thought of another idea, which was to visit homeless shelters and food distributions. When we visited one of the homeless shelters, we thought it was a hospice because of the sign in the window. We asked one of the few guys who were coming in and out of the building what exactly was the building for and who exactly lived there and the man had said it were for homeless men who were trying to work their way out of homeless. We thought that connected to our slogan since our slogan was “Homeless not Hopeless”. We then wanted to set up something there so that we could buy them something to eat in exchange for interview questions. The director agreed to let us make sandwiches for them while we interview them and he gave us a set time. Beings though NHD took longer then we expected, we missed the time that the Director told us to come and he was not answering his phone. Another issue we faced was that we wanted to buy stickers with our slogan on it but we couldn’t purchase them in time so we brought posters from staples instead. One of the successes in this project was our fundraising bake sale. We wanted to raise money so that we could buy food for the homeless people who we interviewed and my group nearly sold everything and made a lot of money from it. In the end, our group managed to get interviews with homeless people. Ways that we got our issue out to people in Philadelphia was that we made posters with our slogans on it, both for the city and to put around in SLA as well. Also, we made a website explaining what our organization is and how to help and we also put the stories of the homeless people on the website as well.

Reflection Paper

Vincent Russell — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:44:40 -0400

With all projects come challenges and easy points. So, I’d say our group did a fairly decent job. When we first got our topic we told each other what our weaknesses are and our strengths, and planed accordingly. As a group we were split on what medium to use for our project. Eventually decided on using both a video and a website. We then split our group into smaller groups; Mabintu and Joe working on the website while Mat and I work on the video. Collaboratively we all gathered resources to put on both medias and shared the google doc so we could have access to it.

A challenge for me was finding videos that go along with the facts. It was easy finding out what had been cut but for a video you need someone to say it, to be more believable. Also, I thought communication with in our group was a challenge since some people would be on at times and other not, but we over came that.

I think our success was knowing what angle we wanted people to view the topic as. It is such a complex and broad problem to talk about so we ended up showing more about the struggles that the district is facing. Not so much that its their fault but its a system that we’re apart of and can improve.

All in all, I think our project was pretty decent. We’ll start getting the word out there this spring break to see the impact, if any, it has. Hopefully there will be. And continue on from there.

Reflection Paper

Dre'quan Taylor — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:21:52 -0400

This was a pretty cool project. Most of my groups project was collaborative because we didn’t really want to break it up a lot, but instead do it mostly collaboratively. But there were some portions that were individual of course. My individual role was to get statistics and find places that would let us interview a few people and getting my things for the fund raising bake sale. Other than that I contributed to everything else we did as a group like get the slogan, make questions to ask the homeless people, helped with the overall idea, went throughout the city to go to these places…etc. There was a lot that actually went into this project, and there were a lot of challenges, but some could have prevented I guess. The overall design was also collaborative, but the design of the website was Cece’s idea. We had a few challenges with getting the bake sale organized, getting our posters printed, and the biggest challenge was getting in contact with the places and actually getting to interview the homeless people. On one day we traveled all over center city for a couple of hours and had no success. But in the end we managed to et everything together and present our final project. We also managed to get an interview with a homeless person. We all came together to make the success possible for the bake sale and for the time to go running around the city, and for getting everything we needed to get to make our project a success.

REFLECTION

Mabintu Donzo — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:57:42 -0400

Our project was about school district funding it was done by Joe w, Mathew Walker, Vincent Russell and myself. We sort of did the project as a group but Joe and I did the website and Mathew and Vincent did the video but we turned it in as one big project.

One of the things that my group could not come up with was what part of the work each person was doing. First Vincent and I were suppose to do the video and the other two work on the website than later on Mathew said that he did not want to do the website and he wanted to do the video with Vincent. I did not know how to make a website so I did not want to make a website either but for some reason I decided at the end to do the website. Thank god Joe had a little experience with weeby.com (website) so him and I were able to work on the site and we tried to have everything on it.

Our biggest problem was collaboration I feel like as a group we really didn’t collaboration a lot. Some time we will tell each person what they needed to do before the next day and when we get together again and when we ask did anyone do everything they were support to do, some of us be confuse and act like we did not know what were suppose to do. There was one time when Vincent and I try to get every one on the good doc and the others did not feel like getting on or they were to busy with other works.

I think we should have done our project three days before it was due so in that will we could have tell if people our really plying attention to it or not and is it effective or not. It was really hard to figure out if people will actually view our website

High School Dropout - Reflection

Christian Gelbolingo — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:49:07 -0400

For the quarter three benchmark, my group, Bethany, Rebecca and Serg, were assigned to make a campaign for high school dropouts. Our group had many challenges but eventually it all came together. The four of us split the work but helping each other when we had the time to.

We did not agree on things and that was one of our biggest challenges. We did not agree on the simplest things such as what color, or font to us one our website. Annoying things like that definitely slowed us down. However, as soon as we figured out the design and the layout that we wanted to do, the rest was cake. With the help of Bethany, who worked on this previously, she guided us through the topic, and even showing us her group’s old project.

Also, one of our biggest challenge was communication. Two of our group’s members do not have a phone/facebook/twitter/ichat so it was definitely hard to communicate with them. We had to depend on gmail and the google doc. The google doc was very helpful because you can see who’s online and there’s a chatroom on the sidebar so my group can talk and edit things at the same time.

I felt very confident with my part of the project. Rebecca and I worked on the website, which I thought looked amazing. It was very simply but it still gained the audience’s attention. I also worked on the PSA (which is still pending on SchoolTube), and worked on the article, prevention and the “get back on your feet” sections with my group.

All in all, I enjoyed working with my group. At first, we did not agree on things and we had a lot of challenges but we finished it. We will continue to spread the word to everyone and hopefully our message gets across.

Q3 Benchmark Reflection

Longnu Nhan — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:09:02 -0400

Throughout this project, I had some challenges, but I also had some cool points. First and foremost, it wasn’t hard for me to do more research on my topic. I was able to have a head start on this project s I was able to help my group mates get a little background check on this topic. That was part of the cool points. I had no problems with my group mates. Everyone knew how to own up to their responsibilities. There were wasn’t one time where either of us had to babysit each other. Our responsibilities were very simple and it didn’t take a lot of time to do so. We came up with this idea of making a video and it never happened because we weren’t able to or something happened. I really wanted t make that video come to life, and I couldn’t make it happen. It really upset me.

My ending piece was not something that I was proud of. The reason why I wasn’t proud of my final piece was because it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. We should have taken the time out of our day to do some interviews, make a video, and check out our final piece before we turned it in. When I saw Cecelia’s group presented their project, I was stunned. It looked so legitimate and when she presented her campaign, I felt the pity for homeless people. And I thought that was pretty awesome because they were able to give the audience an emotion. I think that if you’re able to give the audience an emotion, then your campaign is working.

I felt like my final piece did not offer that. I feel like I didn’t put in so much effort when I should of. I should of spread around the word around and make it happen. All I thought about was “get this project done.” I didn’t think of it as in “this is actually going viral and we need to stop this.” I guess my mindset was more focused on spring break. If I could do this campaign again, I would take my time and put in more effort than I did before. I would actually check my final piece before it got turned in. The only thing was that I wasn’t in charge of putting everything together. Maybe next time, I should be in charge of that job.

Q3 Benchmark Reflection 1-Page Essay

Jordan McLaughlin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:19:01 -0400

My group completed and had a prosperous final product, before we started we all listed our weaknesses and our strengths and we all split up into different categories for the project. My specific part was the initial planning, of what was going to happen, I was the person who brain-stormed and then would present what I thought was a good idea to the group. For this project I could be considered the person who worked on the Design aspect on the rubric that was given to us.

The challenges that I believe my group faced was that we had little time to work on the project with all the other projects we had in other classes. We did communicate well and we planned out what our video was going to be, I made the storyboard, Terrance edited it, and then Becca and Terrance made a short video of what we had done on the storyboard. We also tried to implement different ideas around the video, for example we wanted to have a Facebook group related to the video so that people could spread the word and help track how many followers we have. We also had this idea where we would have all the same video and links to them in different places and all the links were all different and we would be able to track how people neglected or watched, how in some places there is more focus than others, a lot like law enforcement. This was one of our challenges was to implement our ideas while working on multiple things such as Math and NHD projects.

Our biggest success was the background research and working together on the Google document, and sharing links and ideas on how we could make our video better and share statistics. Our biggest success was our video because we worked it out who was doing what and we met our self-induced deadlines, but what would have made our project an A were the little things such as the ideas mentioned before. In all honesty I don’t know what our final product that was implemented into society looked like because I went away on vacation, so what I could have done better was communicate with them on the final day of the project.

Kimberly Parker Q3 Reflection on BM

Kimberly Parker — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:14:59 -0400

My group dealt with the drug trade of Philadelphia. The group consisted of myself, Olivia Smith, Khalil Clark, and Anissa Amed. The first day that the benchmark was assigned we decided to construct a web page. We decided on a web page because we figured that people today use the internet as an informational source more than anything else. After we decided to construct a web page, we dished out the different parts we wanted to do. Anissa decided that she wanted to take everyone’s research, put it altogether and prepare it to be on our web page. She also ended up doing some of her own research. Olivia was our designer. She designed our whole campaign and put everything together on the website. Khalil was a researcher. He brought many interesting things to the group and provided a lot of the information. I was a researcher as well. I focused my research on the younger crowd of the viewers. I researched the consequences of the drug trade to try to persuade people to not get involved with it. As the days passed, our work was coming along really nicely. Closer to the deadline, we decided to come up with a pledge people can take to steer free of the drug trade. I made it up and put it on poster board. I also made a poster full of information on it about why people should care about the drug trade in Philly and how they could get involved and help. I hung these posters outside of the office on the second floor of the school in hopes people would take the time to read it.
I enjoyed constructing my portion of the project. I knew I wanted to do research because I know my strong point is in persuasive writing. The campaign’s focus and point was to persuade people not to join the drug trade and to inform people about it. I focused my research on the consequences of the drug trade and was very straight forward in my writing. I explained just how this lifestyle could and would ruin your life, I included the gory details as well. I thought my research was a success for the project and I hope that people of all ages get to read it and think about it. A challenge in this project was trying to get the actual website to publish! It’s finally up and working now. So, now my group and I have to track to see how many people visit the website. Overall, the entire project was a success, now as a group, we have to get our campaign out there for more people to see. Hopefully the campaign has some sort of impact on people to keep them away from the drug trade.