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Hi my name is Niya Petty and I am a freshmen at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and my topic is problematic foster homes. In today’s society, there are many children in foster homes. You would think children are put into foster homes for a better living conditions, but we really don’t know what happens behind closed doors. No child should be mistreated in a place which is suppose to change their life for the better.But how can we overcome this problem when we have no prove that this happens. This problem can get bigger and bigger and can make the ones placed in these harmful foster homes worry about their safety in a stranger's home.

    I came over the news one day and it was talking about how a foster child had ran away from her foster home. Mind you this girl was around my age. You would think why would a child want to run away from people who care for you? Then you get to the point that maybe something is happening that us outsiders don’t know about. She claimed to run away because she said she wasn’t treated right in her foster home. 13% of foster children run away at least once and go live with friends. There was a testing between foster children that run away and foster children who don’t run away. They found out that the foster children who do runaway are older children and majority of them are female.

If you think about it, there are many children in foster homes till this day.Children who are mistreated by their parents are taken away and put into foster homes by the state because of mostly abuse towards the child. When put in these foster homes, children believe they are somewhere safe and wanted but in some foster homes this abuse still goes on and there is no one around to help or stop by to see if everything is going well.

A child can suffer from lots of things being a foster kid. Bad things can happen or good. Going through what a foster kid goes through can be stressful and lots can change for them such as fitting in or behavior changes. This mainly happens in group homes.Group homes are another name for foster homes and children are placed in because they have been physically or sexual abused by their guarden. But in these group homes, this abuse is still going on just like it does in foster homes. Some children can decline the foster parent from caring for them because they don’t feel as they will we safe. It can be hard for children have  a good foster home to stay in. As more and more foster parents are declined the children don’t have a place to stay and thi can cause a big problem.

To fix this problem, I believe that people who work with foster home organizations should stop by the foster home to see if everything is going well. If the foster children were to have a one on one conversation with someone they can trust. Sometimes, problematic foster children tend to not tell the truth when it come to talking about the care that goes on in the foster homes, so if the children would corroborate in telling someone the truth about the foster home care, we wouldn’t have so many abused or harmed children and the problem can be solved much easily.

People were made to interact with each other. What better way to meet new people in your community than a park? It is the center of the socialization in the community. Or is it just a place that lasts for a long period of time? A lot of our childhood memories involves parks. In some ways, they have shaped who we are today.

    My name is Elijah Afrifa and, I am interested in informing people about the importance of having parks in every community. Me growing up in the area that I am in it’s known as one of the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia. I was raised in the Strawberry Mansion area. Which is on the list of the most violent neighborhoods. When I was younger I vividly remember having to run home because people were shooting not too far from the park I was in. I feel like no child should have to be afraid to play in a park because of how dangerous it is.

It’s important for others to know. If the word doesn't get out then the problem won't get resolved. We as a rising generation need to take into account that our children will one day be playing in these parks. Iḿ pretty sure that no one wants there child to be on the 10 oçlock news because they were shot or stabbed while playing in a park. I plan on reaching to head members of the city. So here is where parks come in.

   Parks can serve the community in so many ways. An example of this is, parks can give kids a safe to play. Not only can a park serve kids during school but it can also serve kids after school. Playing outside is crucial for healthy development in children. In the result of this, kids being able physically to be active can lower obesity rates by a lot. Children are able to play and do what kids do instead of being out on the streets causing trouble because they have nothing to do. Being a teenager today I am able to see the impacts of having no good parks in the area. So, instead of doing something productive I caused problems around the community.

My last example of how parks can serve the community is helping the environment.  To the US Forest Service, one tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion. Additionally, parks end up lightening the load of sewage and storm water runoff, as they are much more effective and exponentially less expensive at storm water management than man-made sewers. Some of the bigger parks, especially state and national parks have a big effect on conservation. Many may have informative areas on conservation or even host guided tours on the park, with a focus on conservation. Whatever it is, parks only help to boost the health of our planet; something it needs right now.

  In conclusion, I am going to go more in depth with this topic. This topic has matured my thinking to a level of where I wonder how my life would have been different if I went to a different park when I grew up. Would me being in a different environment change the person who I am today? I hope to learn more about Michael Nutter’s past actions of rebuilding parks in downtown areas. For more information check out my Annotated Bibliography!

Hi, my name is Chandrea Lack and for my English project, I will be focusing on the topic of graffiti. Have you ever thought about how the writings on the walls got there? How did such a blank and empty space get crowded with so much emotion and images that people go to look at and take pictures at? Everything on the walls of Philly has a purpose, what started all of these murals you see on building walls or abandoned houses all started with graffiti. Graffiti is a common form of art (in some eyes) that is considered vandalism. This is because the government claims that these graffiti artists are drawing on private property. The amount of respect for graffiti is looked down upon specifically because it’s considered vandalism and the destroying of property homes. Graffiti is created by children and adults from the age of 12- 19. The murals you see all over Philly and if not other places out the of state too, there are murals on the walls and they are inspired by the smallest bit of graffiti as said in this video. In the first half of the video, it explains how graffiti that was drawn on poles, in cities, or anywhere available. This kind of graffiti was then claimed to be destruction and the graffiti artists were soon told that they would not be able to vandalize property but instead draw murals.

The general reason why this topic is important to me is because the thought of art always stuck with me. I always saw anything with color and a unique creation was special to me and growing up with art teachers and them teaching us how to draw simple things like lines and circles were always helpful for me. It helped me see the world as just something more than a big ball of creation, but also art. Graffiti is also meaningful to me because some people make a living off of this, there are some graffiti programs that let people write on walls so that they are displayed to the public. A site that displays some form of graffiti is the Graffiti Pier. I think it’s important if more people knew about this because it’s something you don’t see everyday since most of the graffiti that are written on either public or private walls are being erased by city workers, people who like art or enjoy the sights of it should consider looking at graffiti. Street art can also be a way for people to express their feelings and thoughts on nonliving things such as walls or poles, but can’t be expressed in front of anyone else. That could also be a problem because the more we know about the people who might want to hurt themselves is another life that’s lost.

The problem with this is that not many people agree with this, because the government says it is vandalism, we all assume that graffiti is vandalism. Public property that is not used stays untouched. While the government could be worrying about building more hospitals or offices for people to work in, they leave these abandoned homes untouched. These abandoned homes can also help homeless people. Most graffiti artists can tell which is private and public property, the most you see of these writings on the walls are under the bridges of Philly, on abandoned walls, near the Philadelphia Zoo, and under the bridges of the schuylkill river. Instead of having to look at plain brown rust, these visual artists are doing their community a favor by showing their talent and skill. The small things like that can lead into bigger things like murals. These murals are inspiration, creations made from something simple, something that uses a limited amount of colors, lines, and other shapes, but they aren’t considered vandalism. Plus they are seen on walls of homes and buildings but then graffiti can’t be drawn on abandoned bridges?

For more information on the topic “Is Graffiti Really Vandalism?” you can look into my research. If you are also interested in looking at more links to find these artists there are also some provided here.

Hello, my name is Kennedy Fields and I'm currently a “African American ballerina” in training. Since the age of three, dancing became a passion of mine. As I grew older I studied various dance types but ballet became my  obsession. The tedious corrections given daily by teachers propelled me to become the best black ballerina I could possibly could be. The dance style ballet is known to be showcased dominantly by the white, a race I don't identify with. There are many famous dance companies with ballet pieces performed by white dancers, yet there aren’t many black ballerinas. For example; the familiar famous shows like The Nutcracker and Swan Lake don’t have a diverse set of performers. The black community of dancers is slowly growing but still fails in being showcased in big productions.

The following picture is an example of the many rules in executing a pirouette turn. A ballet education, has done a wonderful job in showing how ballet isn’t just twirling around in tutu’s.

Black dancers seeking to pursue the ballet craft weren’t able to in America as early as the twentieth century. There are beliefs the famous, George Balanchi started the discrimination.  George Balanchi is the choreographer of The Nutcracker and is the “Father of American ballet.” Besides his positive contributions to the dance world he also diminished it. Balanchi’s idea of proper “structure” for ballet didn’t mingle with “African American body features.” With research found in an article, It is factual that different races contribute to their body health. With that being said many excuses for blacks not to enter the study were gathered. Three factual rejects included: blacks have flat feet, leg limitations, and curved bodies. Although, these discriminants may sound absurd they meant a lot in ballet. As a part of the technical style some necessities require arched feet, straight backs, flat chests, etc. With these discriminants set it makes “black” ballerinas work twice as hard.

Since the twentieth century many of the beliefs about African American’s in ballet still exist. The pressure has eased from the young generations shoulders slightly from many people who really pushed away from ballet discrimination. A recent podcast interview, interviewed colored dancers sharing their first-hand experiences. All of their stories corroborate having one essential theme, struggling to make a career out of their loved art. Joan Myers is from Philadelphia and had her hopes crushed in her hometown right along Chestnut st. She was walking up and down the street seeking a ballet company she could audition for-but all gave her the same turn around. Joan Myers made success out of the fault in the ballet community by founding a black derived learning environment, Philadanco. Then there’s the famous Misty Copeland who changed the game for black girls all over. She has become America’s most famous ballerina of color. Her recent accomplishment has even made it to The New York Times. Misty has been promoted to a principle at the American Ballet Theatre. This means she will now be seen with lead roles in choreography. This is fantastic but the only concern is she’s the first African American female to become a principal ballerina, since its founding in 1939.

This is a picture of  ballerinas from American Ballet Theatre performing a trio. One also happens to be Misty Copeland. This was from opening night of their show in Brisbane, Australia called Three Masterpieces. Check out this page for more details.

Discrimination in an art ties to social issues. If social justice is something you believe in this should resonate with you. Different forms of Arts are meant to express the human creative skill. Skills can be mastered by anyone with practice, so why are colored dancers discriminated? There’s a difference if you don’t take a liking to one dancers style, but to not like them for a skin-deep reason is harsh. I believe if we don’t start seeing more diverse changes in the ballet profession, it will start to diminish. Young girls today need to see the diverse changes for the cycle to continue and right now there are very few heard of.

Check out my works cited!

This image was found at, Medical Daily. The bottom row shows a scan of the brain throughout the progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Many people with Mild Cognitive Impairment are checked into nursing homes or assisted care facilities. Although this may seem like the best option, it may not be. Many people in nursing homes are more likely to become depressed, causing their conditions to worsen. Due to lack of familiar faces such as family and friends these people would get at home, patients tend to close themselves off. People with this depression tend to deteriorate physically and mentally.

In schools all across American children hear anti-gay slurs everyday. 85% percent of students report hearing these slurs daily, and 24% of them report hearing this from teachers.

Hi, I’m Kenzie Hopkins, I’m currently a freshman at Science Leadership Academy, and for the quarter four benchmark, I chose to focus on the bullying of lgbt students for my You and The World Project. I got interested when I was talking to fellow friends who belong in the LGBT community, and they’ve had more negative experiences than me. Some told me of how they were bullied in school, and their parents don’t support it. Children should feel safe in school and celebrated for their individuality, not bullied and shamed for being themselves. It is important for others to know about bullying towards LGBT students because children, our future, shouldn’t be put down and harassed for who they are and who they love, or what gender they identify as.

This issue is significant because bullying is already an issue across America and the world, but being a person who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, statistics prove that you are more likely to be bullied or harassed than straight people. If people know more about the issues that LGBT people face, they may be more likely to step up and defend the person, report the incident, or stop their actions. Bullying towards LGBT students often starts at a very young age,  In elementary school students being calling each other “fags” and “queer” from a young age, some even at six years old. “In 2001, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) reported that 85% of youth across the nation heard anti-gay slurs from other students on a regular basis.  In most schools there isn’t a gender neutral bathroom or people don’t agree with letting others use the bathroom with the gender they identify with. This is harmful to transgender students, because they may feel unwelcome or uncomfortable with being “forced” into a gender role. Schools are supposed to be a safe space for children to learn and grow, not be bullied and put down. “Schools can send a message that no one should be treated differently because they are, or are perceived to be, LGBT. Sexual orientation and gender identity protection can be added to school policies.”. Schools should also talk about creating GSA’s or safe spaces for children. The right to have a GSA is protected under the Equal Access Act. Protecting privacy is important too, and this passages addresses the importance of not telling a student's parent(s) if the child is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Lastly it gives information about the Federal Civil Rights Laws concerning sexual orientation. Nine out of ten children who identify as LGBT, reported being bullied or harassed in the year of 2016.

I want to help people realizing that children still get bullied in places that are supposed to make them feel special and safe. To read up on more information you can click here to find my annotated bibliography!

Over the years, people get confused on what animal poaching is, and what animal hunting is.  Animal poaching is illegal animal hunting, in this case, they take elephant tusks and other things such as skin. They then sell these things for money, or even process them to make something else. There are multiple reasons why animals are hunted and killed by poachers. One of  them is religion, they think of some animals as pests, that they shouldn’t be on their land. So they hunt them out of the land. People get into fights about this because some religions see animals as sacred animals , almost as gods, so they try to protect them from the hunters or poachers.

A few days ago, I  interviewed a former hunter, he was easy to reach out to considering that he lives in my house. This person is named Matthew Ossowski, otherwise known as my dad. He started to hunt before I was born. This is how the interview went.

First I asked about his past, how he started, etc. He started with “I was 26 when i started hunting.” He continued to say that he started because he learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. His friends were into hunting and he wanted to try and see if he liked it. He said when he was there he didn’t see any other people or hunters other than the people he was with. I then asked him what he hunted during that time. He replied that he only hunted overpopulated animals such as deer and squirrel, but he wants to go to Australia to hunt kangaroo because they are really overpopulated there.He also said that he saw other animals when hunting such as bears, foxes, and hawks.  With his friends he hunted in the Poconos and only ever wanted to hunt there (in the US). He also explained that he only ever thought of legal hunting.

I then started to get into the topic of animal poaching, I asked him what the difference is between animal poaching and hunting. He replied with “ A lot of the time poaching is, your trespassing, you know, you would be hunting out of season. A lot of people, like people up in the mountains, they poach to pretty much eat. Not like say in places like Africa, where they poach to kill trophy animals, you know like elephants for their trunks or whatnot. Poaching is just people not following the rules.” I then proceeded to ask him if he thought poaching was wrong. He said “ 99.9% of the time yes, however if you're doing it to feed your family because you're poor, you know legally yeah it's wrong, if you're just doing it to eat, okay. But if you're doing it just to kill something or make money or something. I don't agree with that.

I then asked him a series of questions about animal poaching and his opinion on the topic, while answering these questions, he added on to his previous statement. “That's the other thing about poaching, sometimes with poaching their using weapons, that are, that I don't agree with, like machine guns and things like that. I don't agree with that at all.” I asked him if he ever thought about stopping poaching, he stated “ No because the poaching where I go, I agree with. However, if I had the resources and time, I might.”

Animal poaching is a very serious topic for me because I love all animals, I dont have the heart to kill something, but I do have the heart to stop something from being killed. I believe that poaching (the bad poaching, killing trophy animals) should stop. People kill animals only for price, for money, are disobeying the rules of hunting, they go and kill something out of season, they take their trunks, then leave the body there to rot.

 Rhinos in africa are being killed. There are things we can do to stop it, but there are things that this does to the environment also.Such as the food chain, animals being killed and become extinct. While this happens another animal dies because they can’t get food to eat.  All around the world there are organizations trying to stop this from happening. They go around the world to keep poachers away from the animals, although it is working, just not enough.

In my research, I have learned multiple things. I’ve learned about hunting, and poaching. I’ve learned that even though we use some of these things we take from the animals, we mainly hurt them. However I still question why we do it. We don’t need the horns or trunks of rhinos or trunks of elephants. I hope that in the future i find the answer to this question and maybe change other people's minds too.

For more information please visit my Annotated Bibliography.

Police brutality must be stopped

My name is Adil Shamsuddin, and I will be taking you on a journey, allowing you to understand the abysmal situation called police brutality. Police Brutality Is something I feel deeply about, this is something that need to be stopped because, we are losing people who have a right to live. This incident usually appears throughout the whole world, but, it's commonly known throughout the areas of washington and new york. Police Brutality “is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Although no reliable measure of its incidence exists—let alone one charting change chronologically—its history is undeniably long”. A lot of people ask themselves this question, why is Police Brutality a thing. Police Brutality had started in the time period of 1874, in new york, when a local police force, started to beating protesters during the Tompkins Square riot.

this is a picture of Eric Garner, this is important because this allows us, to under the wrong of this situation. “NYPD  officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling cigarettes. “After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers went to arrest Garner. When officer Daniel Pantaleo tried to take Garner's wrist behind his back, Garner pulled his arms away”. The most outrageous thing is, the people who was around this situation, had either, record their camera out, or just stood there.

This topic is very outgoing towards the way i think because, I want to see a change in the world. I want to see people go outside and enjoy there day without thinking negative towards, if either they would be attacked by an officer who's having a bad day, or just killed by gunfire by a police force because they thought he or she had a gun. “Police killed at least 303 black people in the U.S. in 2016”. Through the board of justice, the supreme court has no approval of this. “The Supreme Court doesn’t decide a lot of police shooting cases, but when it does, it tends to side with the officers. And increasingly it does so in unsigned rulings for which it doesn’t bother to hold oral arguments”.

this rate is explaining to us how many african americans were killed, or face Police Brutality. This chart in between january 2013- september 2016. The numbers started to rise very high throughout the time period of 7/1/14, it drops done nearly at 1/1/15. Also not only it dropped down, it rose even higher around the months of 7/1/15.

these are rates of how much Police Brutality a city face. Not only people faced it around New York and etc, the highest rate of homicide are hialeah. This bar rate is on a average on how many homicides were faced on African Americans, by themselves. This is also rated by per million, so this statistics are pretty full of amount.  

this was a march that was specifically for Eric Garner, this shows that not only people want to make a difference, they went out there way to do it. The passings of Garner, Brown, and others on account of Police are not by any means the only purpose starting mass dissents. The day after the Garner shows began, low-wage specialists strolled off their employments in more than 190 urban communities, requesting a living compensation and the privilege to sort out. They, as well, droned, "I can't relax." Workers from fast-food eateries, for example, McDonald's were joined by those from low-wage retail and accommodation stores and carrier benefit occupations.

His PDA video of the last snapshots of Eric Garner's life set off a national discussion about policing and race, and gave the beginning Black Lives Matter development a motto: "I can't relax."

Presently Ramsey Orta will prison to serve a four-year sentence for offering heroin and unlawful ownership of a gun.

Orta, 25, saw the demise of Garner, who was limited in a strangle hold by New York City Police in Staten Island two years back. Police were keeping Garner for offering single cigarettes before a comfort store, and place him in a strangle hold to wrestle him to the ground.

Orta got the follow up on his wireless, including Garner's last words, "I can't relax." He then transferred the video to YouTube and enlivened others to get their mobile phones and record police activities the nation over. The officer required in the dangerous strangle hold — a move restricted under the New York Police Patrol Guide — was not arraigned for Garner's demise.

Here is my annotated bibliography

When the media talks about rape, what comes to mind for you? Do you think blame the rapist, or unknowingly blame the victim? Rape culture and victim blaming for women. It’s a huge part of our society, and is shyed away for being taboo. There are two parts to this unpopular topic. But before I discuss that, I want to tell you my own feelings for choosing this topic. My goal in learning about this topic is so I can inform others in my own life exactly what rape culture is, and what they can do to prevent it, as well as victim blaming. This topic matters to me because I see behavior of rape culture in my own community, and hear victim blaming on the news and in the media all the time. Also, I believe that it important for others to know about because it is a topic that people don’t really recognize that much.

Now most people don’t know what exactly rape culture. The true definition of rape culture is society normalizing or trivializing rape of sexual abuse. There are so many examples and instances of rape culture, but to cover all would take at least a week. However, to name a few, rape culture is when people trivialize rape, saying things like “boys will be boys,” defending manhood as dominant and sexually aggressive, as well as putting pressure on men to “score.” Furthermore, assuming that men that are raped are “weak,” teaching women how to not “get” raped, pop music promoted messages such as “she wanted it.” To go on, women being called liars if they report rape is another example of rape culture. Further examples of rape culture include asking a rape victim how short her outfit was, how much she was drinking, or if she was flirting. The list goes on and on. All of these examples are real instances of rape culture.

This image depicts an example of a woman that was told this when she came forward about being raped. This another example of victim blaming in society.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/powerful-pictures-show-how-rape-8310169

On to part two, victim blaming. In society, there are two types of victim blaming. The people that intentionally blame the victim for the cause of the rape, and the people that don’t fully believe it was the victim's fault, but normalize her actions for being raped. For instance, victim blaming would count as the victim being flirtatious, wearing revealing clothing, making eye contact, and drinking. Sayings that are often associated with victim blaming include “she asked for it,” and “she didn’t say no.”

This picture is yet another example of victim blaming. Words like this is how society puts blame on the victim of rape. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/powerful-pictures-show-how-rape-8310169

There are ways to prevent victim blaming and rape culture within your community. Some examples include avoiding comments that degrades or objectifies women, let survivors know it is not their fault, not putting pressure on men to “score” with women, as well as supporting survivors. From learning about the topic, I know that I want to further educate my peers and community on the matter so they can educate others. Society has problems facing hard topics like this, because we all want to admit we would never trivialize such a horrible thing, but we do. Lastly, there are ways to prevent victim blaming and rape culture, as long as we are educated about it.

Cyberbullying Deadly Effects

Hi, my name is Orlando Aguayo and my passion for the You and The World project is to try to stop cyberbullying. I have a strong voice for cyberbullying because I wouldn't like to be bullied or have threats thrown at me. It would make me feel so weak and disowned by the world. I'm also interested in cyberbullying because, as of 2017, cyberbullying is one of the biggest reasons why teens have committed or attempted suicide, according to the cyberbullying hotline. It is also the third leading reason why teen deaths occur, the first reasons being car accidents and the second is homicide. One reason why I started off talking about cyberbullying and suicide is because there are many reasons how cyberbullying connects with suicide. It connects to suicide negatively because cyberbullying can be very damaging to teens’ minds. It can lead to anxiety, depression, and suicide. Also, once things are circulated on the internet, they never really disappear, causing the pain to resurface at later times to renew the pain of cyber bullying.

This image is from the movie and shows how cyber bullying affect victims “I feel like nothing”

I am interested in this topic because about a month ago, I watched a movie called Cyberbully, which was mostly showing how bullying can cause ripples in somebody’s reputation, and how cyberbullying can destroy the person (who is getting bullied online) mentally. Another reason I’m focusing on cyberbullying is because there isn't a reliable way to stop cyberbullying. For example, if I were to block the bully’s account, they can easily make a new one unless you stop the bully by controlling the hate. My goal for this project is for students to understand how things you say affect someone mentally and physically. My personal goal is to make someone who has been bullied feel valued by becoming their friend and showing them how important they are to me. My way of learning more about it is by researching more information on cyberbullying. I’ll also learn more by interviewing a victim of cyberbullying.

In this picture it shows that the two girls uploaded a rumor or an inapporiate picture.

Cyberbullying has a connection to me because a friend of mine has very bad anxiety and depression because she was bullied and cyberbullied. It also a connection to me because my friends are the reasons why I am so happy, so when my friends are being hurt physically or emotionally, it also hurts me because they don't feel worth something or they feel weak. This topic is important to know about because over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the internet. By cyberbullying someone, the victim might start to feel terrible about themselves, which the whole world can see.  

            This pictures shows how cyberbullying is on social media

Four years ago, one of the most controversial deaths of the decade kicked off the movement that we know today as Black Lives Matter movement. It all started with Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, when he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman on February 26th, 2012. George Zimmerman was acquitted (found not guilty) and many Black mothers in the state of Florida took to Instagram and twitter with the #BlackLivesMatter. This incident went viral after millions of people also shared their condolences to the Martin family. The rest was history.

My name is Emily. The topic I chose is domestic violence. Every year too many people are victims of domestic violence. About 1 in 3 women and 1 in 14 men are physically abused by an intimate partner .

A common misconception for victims of domestic violence are that it is purely physical violence. In some relationships there are violent threats made. Also there are many relationships where one partner is basically imprisoned in their own home. Another common misconception is that only women are affected by domestic violence. Male domestic violence charity The ManKind Initiative say that for every three victims of partner abuse, two will be female and one will be male. Domestic violence against men is real but not as recognized as much as domestic abuse against women.

I’ve lived through domestic violence. I watched my father hit my mother for years. Then came along my stepfather. He was just as bad. He hit my mother just as bad as my father did. I remember from when I was as young as 3 my father getting angry and punching walls and doors then eventually my mother would try to calm him down and he would hit her. My mother grew up in a home with an abuser. Her father was extremely abusive towards her mother and her. This being all she knew she married my father who abused her as well. After he left when I was 3 my mother remarried in 2010. This time everything was fine for about a year. Then he began to get angry and hit the doors and walls. Then my mother didn’t want my siblings and I to see him like this. She would then try to calm him down. This bringing him to do the same thing my father did. He would hit her. He left numerous bruises in her arms and legs. He stayed for 4 years before he left. My sister spent 9 days at a mental hospital for suicidal thoughts. She was so depressed. After the first day she was there my stepfather left. As soon as things got hard he left us.

Around 20 people are physically abused by an intimate partner per minute. Many victims never speak up about their experiences for fear that their abuser may find them. Other people never even escape abusive homes. They are to scared of being further abused if they are found escaping. There are also some cases where people are in denial about the abuse they are going through. In these cases people see the situation as normal. My mother thought that everything was normal for years until my father made her wear long sleeves in the summer to cover the bruises. He wanted everyone to think we were a normal family. To the public most relationships are completely normal but behind closed doors too many relationships have an abuser who controls their partner's every move. Domestic violence is an act of control. All acts of abuse are about controlling. Weather or not your partner keeps you from going out or physically abuses you, all of it is about control.

A woman named Lovern Gordon shared her domestic violence story to the huffington post. In her story she explains that she was given the option of her abuser or her friends and family. Being “young” she said she chose him. She said that the first time he hit her she thought it was a one time thing. He apologized and she thought it was over. Over the next month he became more and more violent. He slapped and punched her in private. Behind closed doors was a whole different story to what was seen outside. There was an altercation between her abuser and her brother and he again asked her to choose between him or her family. She was in denial and she again chose him. Over the course of the remainder of their relationship he continuously told her that he loved her. He got even more violent he kicked and choked her. SH thought since he apologized and said he loved her it was okay. There was one particular night, the night she finally got the help she needed where he beat her so bad and threatened to kill her that she thought she may die that night. In this case she was lucky. She got the help she needed. She was lucky. Too many people die from not seeking the help they need.

Annotated Bibliography

My name is Teyonna Little. I am a ninth grade student at Science Leadership Academy. For the fourth quarter project at SLA, the ninth grade class are researching and studying issues in the world that affects them personally or that they are deeply interested in. This project is called You and The World. After seeking multiple topics about youth and issues concerning North Philadelphia specifically, I came up with an idea that affects me personally and young children and teens all over the world. I chose to focus on “Children with Incarcerated Parents or a parent.” While doing this topic, my goal is to learn more about the way children respond to their parent being imprisoned and they everyday behavior concerning their social life and different environments. I am really interested in learning more about this topic because I currently go through the same issue, with my biological father being incarcerated for a long period of time. These behaviors and responses in this specific group of children matters today because it affects their future, their behaviors, and what they would be like, or who they would be throughout the rest of their lives. It is important to know this so that others who don’t struggle with the same issue will know how to respond to certain reactions and completely understand why someone is acting the way they are acting.

Children with a parent or parents in jail or in prison has a common symptom or sign that they are going through something specifically dealing with their behavioral health. You can see this in their social lifestyle; rather someone else is bringing up their missing parent at a school event or they are really withdrawn when other adults talk about it. They tend to become antisocial, and isn’t so comfortable around certain things and certain people. They are emotional and can struggle in school or just simply having a hard time being around other children. Research shows that children and teenagers with incarcerated parents or parent have 8 of 16 mental and physical health issues.  

As I am continuing with my research concerning this issue, my understanding becomes more open and more clear of behaviors I have experienced with myself in my past and in my present. There is so much more to be opened and shared, and I am determined to get others more aware of these children and their behaviors. As of now, I am wondering and more open to know about how these behaviors are dealt with, how the parent that is incarcerated feel, and how life and opportunities can be made easier and less stressful regarding a strong relationship with the wired fence between children and their parent.

Written by Daniel P. Mears and Sonja E. Siennick from Florida State University, they reflect on adult children and how having an incarcerated parent affects their future.

Annotated Bibliography

Overworked Public Defenders

Hello, my name is Payton McQuilkin. This project I am working on is named “You & The World Project”. In this project we are opened to find something in the world that we, the freshmen, feel as though is an issues that needs attention. My topic I’ve chosen is the public defenders in the United States are doing people no justice due to the overload of work they have everyday.  In court people who have little income and don’t have enough money for an attorney are given a public defender in replacement. An attorney, which costs a pretty penny, has much time to investigate and prepare for their client. The public defender will just meet their client when arriving in the courtroom. Multiple studies shows that in the United States, the public defenders are overworked, often underpaid, and not given enough to defend a client.

The whole public defender system started in January 1962, when a man in Florida received 5 years in prison for representing himself. He stole some beer, change, and cokes. Now there is a required “defense attorney” for a client who can not afford an attorney. The public defenders defend any type of cases which can be; felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile, and appeals. When arriving in the courtroom they meet their clients each day. Every day they get a load of cases. Doesn’t that seem hard to keep track of? Even if the public defender was to try to turn down another case to handle, they aren’t allowed. Many states do not allow any public defenders to deny any cases. This picture is from the show called, “60 Minutes”. This episode shows the public defenders. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-new-orleans-public-defenders-decision-to-refuse-felony-cases/

This is a link to watch is you would like!!

Normally because public defenders are so overloaded with the cases they are given, they end up encouraging the client to admit they’re guilty to get rid of the case. This seems pretty unfair to those clients, they are in a time of need of someone to help them. They need someone who cares about their case but all they're worried about is to get rid of their case. The percentage of cases with public defenders are 47%, while the assigned attorney is 12%.  The estimated time a public defender has with a client before appearing in front of the judge is 7 minutes. The public defender is said to work on a case for less than an hour. This shows how little the effort is for the client.  This shows how a public defender is not ready to defend their client. They have no time to look into the case to see if the client is actually guilty or innocent. This picture shows that on different types of cases, the public defender's does not get the time they need to defend their client properly.

I choose this topic because of my first experience with a public defender. My sister, who is in jail, doesn’t have enough money for an attorney, so received a public defender in replacement. My sister landed herself in jail for a year for having drugs on her. I think this is unfair not only because she’s my sister, but because she didn’t have the proper defense on her side. People who commit much more violent crimes get out faster than my sister who committed a nonviolent crime. I wanted to do this because before I had my first experience, I paid no mind to how unfair the justice system can be. I think this is relevant and it affects so many people in the world and this can’t go on forever because it’s unfair! The overload of cases on a public defender’s plate needs to come to an end.

The issue of the public defender's doesn’t stand out much if you don’t experience it. My hopes in this is to help people understand that the way the public defenders are being worked and the clients are suffering. I’ve learned how the system started and actual statics of the public defenders. I hope to find out the estimated cost of an attorney and the impact on the people in jail because their public defenders did them no justice.

You can go to my document on the websites I used here...

Hello, my name is Nasya Ie. I am currently a freshmen at Science Leadership Academy. In my English class, we have a project called You & The World and in this project we get to choose a topic that interests us. For this project, I chose Industries Harming Animals. This topic matters to me dearly because I want to be a veterinarian and to be a vet you have to have passions animals to do your job. I want the world to know how animals are suffering because of companies are taking skin, fur, leather, wool, silk and more! Even pet stores that are selling animals are treating them like nothing.

All around the world people are keeping animals in captivity, they leave the animal in horrible environment and conditions. They leave them in small cramped spaces with no food or water, they get diseases without any vets to help them. Animals are getting diseases because they are in an environment that will make them unhealthy. These industries will harm them, not care for them, and treat them like they are nothing. They harm these animals, they can feel pain like we do. I want to open people's eyes that this is happening, that this need to stop this. Not a lot of people know what the history of the fur they are wearing, how the animal were treated to get the fur. Also, you shouldn’t always trust your pet store because they are not innocent, they are doing bad thing and still doing it now.

Image- One Person, One World

Here is a map showing the percentage spending money on shelters.

All lot of industries are similar with harming animals. By doing this is making our ecosystem have more problems. I know it is going to be a great deal of effort to stop industries harming animals, but I think we can make these industries less greedy. For more information click here for my bibliography.

Littering

http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/Earth_(WALL%E2%80%A2E)

Look at this concept of Earth. Try and name Differences between that planet and planet Earth.

This is planet Earth in the movie WALL-E. As you can see, it is showing North America but look at all the trash in the atmosphere and how there's no green anywhere on that planet. You can also notice how there is no polar ice cap in the north of the planet, Because of all the trash and pollution Global Warming took it's course and the ice caps most likely melted. As some of you probably know WALL-E is set in the future, and that future can be set in motion for us as well. Our Earth will look all but the same as WALL-E’s version, all because of us littering. The heaps of trash I see now will soon become the towers trash in our future. The pictures below are too compare the differences between a cartoon and a street in India. It isn’t right that people have to see that in our world. People having to clean YOUR trash. This is showing that if we keep going down the path we’re going down. I t will look the same as WALL-E’s

As of right now the earth isn’t where it should be with the trash problem. In india there is really bad places filled with trash and litter. Information about this street is here.

As you can see what this littering is doing to certain people and countries in this world.

How I Try as of Now to Prevent Littering

There is too much litter in the world for one person to clean themselves. So whenever I see someone drop litter onto the ground You’ll always see me pick it up no matter what. And once I pick it up I tell them the same speech I said above about WALL-E. Maybe not word for word but still. My mother always told me to never let go of trash and let it go in the streets. She always said, “Bad people make the world Ugly, there's lots of bad people here, which is why it's so dirty.” I guess when I was younger I saw that as, if I let the trash go I’m a bad person which is true.

What I am Going to do in the Future

For this project I’m gonna see how many people litter in my neighborhood in a park. I will see their age, and gender, and make a conclusion to see which type of people litter the most. Also see what they litter. Is it mainly small pieces of trash or larger things.

Hello, my name is Micah Isaiah Carrera. I am a Freshmen at Science Leadership Academy We have been assigned a You and the World Project(YATW) The project allows us to choose a problem in the world that we think should get more

Image Source

attention and be acknowledged. The issue that I was interested in is Better Treatment of the Elderly. There are many problems that are invisible to us. Many problems that we need to acknowledge and solve. We have lost the courtesy and respect that the Elders deserve. A blog about this statement can be found Here. These problems occur in the streets and in nursing homes. I chose this because I have many Elders in my family who I love to death. I believe that the respect that I have for my elders is the respect we all should have.

The first issue that needs to be acknowledged is nursing home abuse. This is a subject that truly breaks my heart because one day I know that my Grandparents that I love so much, might have to be taken to a nursing home.  Many Elderly have suffered from these different types of abuses. Poor hygiene is something that can really affect an elder in a negative way.  Something simple as giving them unclean clothes and not giving enough baths can lead to terrible diseases, or even death. Elderly are also physically

(This image can be found Here)

abused. Physical abuse is an occurring problem that has been seen across many nursing homes. I couldn’t believe that people would actually physically abuse Elderly in some nursing homes. There are some organizations that specialize in shutting down nursing homes that do abuse their Elderly. The link to one of these organizations is Here. Elderly cannot do anything about these issues because they are usually blackmailed to not tell anyone. Since they are so vulnerable, it is very tough.

(This image can be found on Here)

Another issue that we needs to be acknowledged is Elderly drug abuse rehabilitation. This is an issue that is a little odd because most of us would think of younger people when you say drug rehab. You may see many homeless Elders on the streets when you go into the city. These Elders are mostly in that position because of drugs. There are some organizations that specialize in bringing these elderly into rehabilitation. They specialize in turning these Elderly people's lives around and giving them the attention they deserve. The link to one of these organizations is Here.

Lastly, an issue that I have witnessed is that American elders are treated worse that 3rd world countries elders. In my 15 years of life, I have been on many trips around the world. For example, in my missions trip to Honduras, we arrived at their airport. The airport had an entire separate way for elders to be escorted in wheelchairs. They had their own line and own way to get to the plane. I asked my Father why they did this. He simply answered that these foreign countries have way more respect for their Elders than America does and that the elders in America don’t receive the respect they deserve. This is one of the main reasons I chose this topic. The link to this issue is Here.

In conclusion, we have lost the courtesy and respect that our elders deserve. The three main issues that stand out to me is nursing home abuse, elderly drug rehabilitation, and respecting our Elders like we should be.

Annotated Bibliography  

Hello, My name is Amira Gouri. I am a freshmen at Science leadership Academy. My topic is about Autism. Autism also known as ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) is a disorder that can be noticed on children on early age, generally between two and three years old. It’s when the child has trouble of communicating with others and/or difficulty of learning. Most of the time, autistic people don’t have friends because they have difficulties building friendships. Autistic children need special treatment.

This is an image of the autism awareness symbol. It’s a symbol of a puzzle piece with different colors which represents the mystery and the complexity of autism. The different colors represent the diversity symptoms of the autistic individuals.

Over the last decade, scientists have identified a number of rare gene changes associated with autism in around 15 percent of cases. However, in most cases autism can be caused by a combination of genetic risk and environmental factors such as advanced both parents age at time of the conception, illness during pregnancy, difficulties during delivery, prematurity and low birth weight, all these can cause difficulties in the oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain which can lead to damaging the brain cells. All the nongenetic factors, by themselves are not enough to cause autism unless they are combined with genetic risk factors. There is a crucial debate about vaccines that many believe that it is the cause of autism because many kids suffer from high fever and severe diarrhea after taking it, then their mood and behavior started changing. On the other hand, others argue that vaccines can’t be a cause of autism because every child takes it but just few who have those reactions. It is important to keep in mind that these studies were done on some cases, and the exact cause for autism is still a mystery.

The statistics showed that boys are four times more likely to have autism than girls.There are some autistic people that have a strength in some things and a weakness in others. For example, my brother really excels in math and has a strength in memorizing and learning quickly, but he has a weakness in social communication.

No two people with autism have the same symptoms, some of them have few symptoms which means their autism is mild, but others may have all the symptoms and suffer from severe autism.

The most common symptoms among people with autism are: poor social skills, which includes showing very little or no eye contact, lack of relationships, having difficulty with back and forth conversations, they also have difficulty with controlling their emotions, and understanding others emotions such as pain, and sadness. They also could be very obsessed with certain topics or objects such as numbers, places, toys and facts such as science topics. Hyperlexia (knows how to read but doesn’t understand it) is also common in individuals with autism. Secondary symptoms may include using unusual gestures (and some could also be repetitive) such as clapping, walking on their tippy toes, hand flapping, and closing their ears, some require having repetitive behavior such as rocking, twirling, rearranging objects, and repeating words or phrases that they hear which is called echolalia.

Hello my name is Siarra Cummings the topic I have decided to focus on for this project is feeding starving children. Feeding starving children is a serious thing in the world and is still continuing on till this day. Only groups of people work to make sure starvation  isn’t big in the future. More groups have to made because of the thousands of children all over are malnourished and not fed properly together we can end this hunger. This topic interests me because I can’t imagine not having access to food everyday. We waste food almost everyday and take it for granted when some kids don’t even have food.  I  want to create awareness so we can appreciate what we have. Which is why I made my title the way it is because we hear this from our parents almost all of the time, right?

In part of my research I looked up “feeding starving children.” I looked to see if this was a big topic. Were people  really interested in it? The first website that appeared was a feeding children organization, who packaged meals for kids in need of food. This organization is Christian based and they go around recruiting churches to help them out. The organization is  called Feed My Starving Children . I found a connection with the Feeding Starving Children organization, and decided I want to help. A few weeks ago this organization came to my church and presented  the idea of feeding starving children and helping them physically grow. I was so intrigued because I never knew how serious this topic was. The lady presenting gave empowering stories about different children they fed back to a healthy body. There are numerous amount of success stories (link to photos as well) that really just amazes me at what this organization does.

In this photo this one of the little boys they nursed this boy back to health, his success story is actually on the website too. He is sitting next to the a box filled with the food that feed my starving children send to his village.

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This is the pack of food they send to these children and it is scientifically tested to nurse them back to a healthy body. This food contains rice, soy, vitamins and vegetables. It may not seem like a lot but since these children are so malnourished they can’t stomach regular food (especially large amounts) and it will make them sick. So they needed something that could be manageable for them to eat.

For my second part of research I really wanted to find out different facts about malnourished children in the world. To reach this information I had to go onto a world hunger organization website to find out the facts. What I read was real heart breaking information and I realize again we Americans take food for granted. Not only does this site talk about world hunger for kids but it talks about how much food we waste a year. I think the numbers are absurd! About 3.1 million children die a year from being malnourished and not receiving the right amount of food. What we don’t know is how it’s affecting where we live right now. Most of us have the easiest access to food and it’s not hard to get what we want.

I wanted to see how much Philadelphians had children who were starving and see how much damage we are doing to ourselves. 30% of children in Philadelphia are starving. We don’t contribute as much to the starving children counts they take every year but since we are one of the poorest cities in the United States we have almost the highest count of starving children. I think starting small and working our way up to help this situation is a good thing! If we start small in Philadelphia and make sure this problem diminishes we could help others.  I feel really passionate about this topic and I hope that it really opens up other people’s eyes in this growing problem.

My goal moving forward is to become a regular volunteer with feed my starving children I think I would enjoy working with this organization!

Hi! My name is Ruby and I’m a 9th grader from Philadelphia. This is the beginning of a project I am doing about palm oil. Palm oil is found in many common products including Nutella, Oreos, lipstick, detergent, and more. It has useful benefits, as well as highly destructive down-sides. The issue with palm oil is in the way it is produced. It is typically produced by cutting down palm trees located primarily in Indonesia. These trees provide habitats for many animals, and because the trees are being cut down, these animals are becoming endangered.

My intention for this project is to raise awareness about the issue. I believe it is important that people learn about palm oil because in some ways, the wellbeing of the world is at stake. I also think people need to know about this issue so that they can help to repair what damage has been done. My goal is not to discourage the use of palm oil altogether. Instead, I want to promote the use of sustainably produced palm oil, which I will elaborate on later.

My personal connection to this issue has to do with Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout for six years. I sold hundreds of boxes of Girl Scout cookies, all of which contain palm oil. Looking back, I regret my decision to sell the cookies and to support the effort because of how negatively it affects the world. Girl Scouts of the USA defends their use of palm oil by stating, “It is necessary to use palm oil in our cookies because palm oil is unique in its ability to provide volume and texture in baked goods, usually without adding trans fats.” This is a good point, however, it does not exactly justify the way palm oil is produced.

Like I said, I want to promote the use of sustainable palm oil because it is an adequate solution to this issue. It is produced in a way that does not have a negative impact on the environment. In 2008, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil created a set of criteria for producing sustainable palm oil. One of the most important of these criteria states, “No primary forests or areas which contain significant concentrations of biodiversity (e.g. endangered species) or fragile ecosystems, or areas which are fundamental to meeting basic or traditional cultural needs of local communities (high conservation value areas), can be cleared.” This is key because (if followed) these criteria could potentially eradicate the issue of palm oil-related deforestation. Keep in mind though, this does not erase the damage that has already been done.