Blog Feed

I chose to write a children's book. I wanted it to be whimsical and fun, but with an underlying allegory. I wanted to write something that children would find amusing, but the older people would understand the meaning behind it. I gathered memories/things that my grandfather and I did together, and based my story on our adventures together. I chose to write in the perspective of a hat, so it was more fun for the kids. It's my grandfather's hat. I teach the days of the week by adding an adventure to each day, and made them relatable. At the end of the story, the hat "blows away" which is to resemble death. It's teaching children that when someone/something you love isn't with you anymore, you can take the memories that you had with that person/thing and hold onto them to keep happiness and memory of those times. I'm really glad that I wrote this book dedicated to my grandfather, because now I have physical documentation of the fun times we spent together, and I can share it with others.

Annotated Bibliography:

1. "Top Ten Children’s Book Publishers @ JasonCarnrike.com." SelfPublishing Creative Writing Poetry and More. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

This source provides top publishing companies for specifically children’s books. I found two really great companies that would be perfect for me. They specialize in children’s picture books. The names of those companies are Templar Publishing and Flashlight Press.  I also found a few companies that I shouldn’t send my material to, because they are no longer accepting picture books. This was helpful because I can eliminate companies and find the one that’s best for me.

2. "Publishers and Getting Published." About.com Children's Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This was another publishing company site; where there are links to numerous companies that you can click onto them, and they give you a synopsis of the criteria they need. They inform you about their policies, what you need to send to them, and what the final product will look for you. They can also give you a quote, which is an estimate price for the specific book you envisioned. I selected this source because I thought that the information was informative and helpful.

3. "Allegory The Giving Tree." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This site was a presentation on the underlying allegories that were in the children’s book, The Giving Tree. This introduced new ideas that I hadn’t seen before. It provided a new perspective to me, and insightful things to add to my own book. I selected this source because I think it’s helpful to learn how to add an allegory that children don’t pick up on but others do, as well as something that’s unique and powerful to me. It helped me gain ideas of how I can impact the audience with my message.

4. "Self Publishing, Book Printing and Publishing Online - Lulu." Self Publishing, Book Printing and Publishing Online - Lulu. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

I selected this source because it was the best self publishing/printing company I found. They were organized, helpful, and professional. They gave you an estimated price which is nice. Also, the site is supportive. They have sponsors, (Barnes and Noble, amazon, and Ibooks) so you feel like you can be successful with your final product. Another benefit of this source was that they provide online support for anyone with questions that aren’t answered. One limitation of this source was that it’s very expensive.

5. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar =Khubaja Bhukyo Keḍarapilara /." Free Library of Philadelphia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

I chose to look at the Very Hungry Caterpillar for inspiration because it was always a favorite of mine when I was younger. I analyzed it and looked for allegories. I really liked the fact that the author used the days of the week to tell his story, but it was also structure (which is good for the children) and it helps them learn the days of the week. I used this for my storyline, and incorporated the days of the week through it. This book gave me great ideas. One limitation that I thought the book had was it was too short. It was like a cliffhanger in a way which made me have more questions about the authors choices.

6. "Where Do Balloons Go? :an Uplifting Mystery /." Free Library of Philadelphia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

I chose Where Do Balloons go? as one of the books to analyze because it was in my family history. The allegory of this book is about death, and questions what happens to people when they die/what happens to their loved ones. This helps me because I want to incorporate the message “How to deal with death/Can we move on?/How do we move on?” into my story. This book also helped me on ideas for illustrations, because it is so beautifully illustrated and the colors are so vibrant. This book was very interesting and beneficial to my writing process.

7. "The Giving Tree /." Free Library of Philadelphia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

I chose The Giving Tree to source because it’s an amazing classic. The book not only demonstrates the process of life, but the selfish characteristics that we have, and how we can take advantage of the people who care about us the most. It also portrays how we can become more and more complicated and greedy as we live and find new things. This book is simply wonderful, and demonstrates the qualities I want to show in my own book.

8. "Goodnight Moon /." Free Library of Philadelphia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

Most people don’t know that Goodnight Moon was written in 1947, and the book is about the Cold War. It uses tactics like saying “goodnight” to everything in the room. It’s the perfect bedtime story, but the deeper allegory is very hidden. A limitation of this source was that I had to research the allegory, which I thought older people would understand automatically. Overall, it was beneficial to see a different type of book with a different message then the rest.

9. "Twenty Steps to Writing a Children’s Book." Confessions of a Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This source provides step by step instructions on the children’s book that a woman wrote. Her’s was focused primarily on working with her illustrator, and every detail that went into getting the final product the way she wanted it. I selected this source because I wanted to know the process from another person’s perspective, and see how I can plan my time accordingly to get everything completed. One limitation of this source was that she didn’t talk much about writing it, which I wish she did because her illustration notes were so great.

10. "Pat Mora." Pat Mora. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

I chose this source because I need tips on how to organize my time, and what I should dedicate more time to/less time to during my writing, illustrating, and printing process. This website gives quick tips on how to successfully write a children’s book. I agree with the tips they cover toward the end, because you do have to love what you’re writing about or else the book will not be as amazing as it could be. This source was beneficial to me because I take note of them when writing my book, and they really come in handy.

Student Name:

Ryan Shaw

In school mentor’s name:

Mr. Baird

Topic Summary:

The goal of this project was to research and create a way to teach people how to play chess and to understand chess strategy.

Project Abstract:

Hi it’s Kai again! I’m back and writing my third and final blogpost on the overlooked and forgotten people of Philadelphia. If you remember my previous posts “Do You Care” and “The Overlooked of Philadelphia” you’ll know that my focus are the citizens of Philadelphia who have been overlooked by our government.This topic is important to me because it affected me and so many others. I have talked about the Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry and the Abbotsford Falls Family Crisis and Counseling Clinic being a place where a number of our community members are forgotten. When I talk about being forgotten I mean the many citizens of Philly who are not being taken care of and not given the respect they deserve. The more we come together as a people to try and fix our failed system the stronger it’ll make us.

I knew that for my agent of change I wanted to do more than just bring in cans or gently used clothes. Constantly reminding my class mates to bring in supplies wasn’t what I had in mind for my project. In my previous blogs talked about the Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry and the Abbotsford Falls Family Practice and Counseling clinic being a place where many have been forgotten. That was only an example. Philadelphia is a big city and the more people I made aware the better. For my agent of change I wanted to make sure everybody knew about the problem we are facing as a community. Our city is suffering at the hands of our leaders and nobody has been stepping up to fix it. Our school system is failing, there are a limited amount of health professionals who take patients without insurance, every other day a kid dies at the hands of a gun, and the amount of homeless people is outrageous. So after going through all my options I decided on an interactive presentation during advisory. My presentation focused on the failing school system because that would connect with students more than anything else.

In my presentation I showed six different school logos. Three of which are neighborhood school and the other three are magnet schools. I asked my advisory what the difference was between the schools. As my advisory was talking they really came to realize that there was a problem. The fact that there is such a big gap between the difference in test scores from a school like South Philly High and SLA or Promise Academy at King and Central. After I talked about the different schools I wanted to ask if there were any schools you got rejected by that you were considering for high school. Like myself many students were considering three or four schools but only got into one or two. All of us were lucky to get into SLA but tens of thousands of other students end up having to go to their neighborhood schools which aren’t academically challenging. When you teach students to compete for schools and some kids end up in sub par schools you also teach them not to care. They think: well I’m not good enough to get into this school so I’m must not be smart. That is the wrong message to send to the kids who will run this country.

My topic isn’t something that you can fix overnight, when you’re talking about whole cities there is little that you can do to make a huge impact. So I concluded that the best way to change any problem is through education; after all you can’t fix something that you don’t know about. While most Philadelphia students know about the budget crisis and our failing school system not many know the details, like what is happening? who is doing it? and what can we do to fix it? I hit all these points and more in my presentation in a way that engaged my peers. By the time I finished my project I really felt as though I had gotten my point across and I was really being heard. The advisory was asking questions about what they could do to help and they were thinking about alternative options to fix what our government had broken.

The biggest lesson that I learned wasn’t through my research as much as it was through my class. It felt really rewarding to know that I wasn’t in this boat alone, that there are other people who want to take action in my cause. I am confident that my peers are not only aware of the issue but willing to help by writing and letters and trying to get our voices heard. I plan on continuing my agent of change even after this project by getting a group letter sent to Governor Corbett. This project has allowed me take on a topic that is really important to me and for that I’m grateful. I had always known that the forgotten of Philly was a problem but I never knew how to fix it. Through this blog I figured out how.

Hello, welcome back to blog post 3! I am Haisha Hahsy and in our literacy class with our teacher Mrs. Dunn has given us all a project called “You And The World.” My first blog (Dec. 17,2013) and second blog(March 1, 2014 ) post started with introducing people to my cause, The Poor In Afghanistan and I showed real life examples and gave ideas on how to help this meaningful cause. Now it’s been quite a while from blogging. Now that we have the research, what are the changes that I/we have made?

On April 24, 2014 was when I had a bake sale at SLA when over 40 people came onto us. On May 2, 2014 I also held a movie night with 5 star dinner.  Our movie was “Alladin” I advertised it at SLA and about 9-13 people came. I personally told 30 people about my cause. This is a change, that more people know, more than 70 people now know only by talking about this cause. I even gathered some donation money to send towards Bayat foundation.

The way I chose to bring change was a fun way. The bake sale was full of sweets and goodies and the movie night was “magical” (thanks to the genie). When I told people about my cause most people did have an idea as I had suspected, but the thing is that; no one knew how important they were in this cause! Everyone thought that they had to donate money but no that is only one way to help, getting the word around helps just as much. The more people that know about the cause the better! I also learned some things about myself like how much one has to try in order to do somethings like advertising and getting the movie night set up, hate to say but it wasn’t the most fun thing I had done. There were lots of ups and downs but, in the end it all paid off because I know I tried and that’s what really matters.

I also feel like I could have done better if I made some more time for myself to get everything done. I also wish that more people would have come because I mean I was really looking forward to my movie night but then some people didn’t show and etc. But more time would have done better, other than that I think I did a pretty good job especially with trying to get everything in order (really hate to toot my own horn). I am also planning to hold another bake sale soon and combine the money to get a larger amount of donation money to send!

I must say trying is the key! Even if you tell your friends about the poor in Afghanistan that immediately throws you into bring change. Even if all you do is a little research or even just read this you are bring change. Like I have said before and I will say again the more people that know about this cause brings more change. If I only can bring this much change, just think if we all did. I think it makes a huge change, don’t you think? If you agree with me, then come on ahead and start bringing change. At the moment you are the key to our success.

bake sale picture, one yummy treat!

and movie night!

Hello! This is Dubois again writing to you about big cats. So in my last blog post, I talked about my opinion on big cats and my results from my survey that I sent out along with my interview of Ms. Houston. This time i’m going to talk to you about what is currently being done for the big cats and what I did to raise awareness. There are currently organizations around the world that specialize in the preservation of big cats, such as Big cat rescue, the largest big cat sanctuary in the country,  See the Wild, which is a fundraising organization for the big cats, and our own Philadelphia zoo, which teaches children from an early age how to save big cats. All of these programs try to show people the importance of big cats by showing them our worlds after its too late.

For my Agent of change project, I did a presentation on the Big cats to my advisory. I talked about the problem, the things that were currently being done, and what we could do. I was actually already involved with the Philly Zoo before we started the project through an organization called STAMP. Every month I write a blog post about the events that are coming up to raise not only the awareness of animals, but also the amount of teenagers that support museums. For the exclusively though, if more people came, there would be even more support behind the protection of the big cats. I at first was very nervous about doing this project because I didn’t know what difference it would make if I wrote about it when multiple others already had, but was also excited because big cats are my favorite class of animals. I feel like could’ve connected with the Zoo though and maybe even an event for the big cats because i think that would’ve been much more effective than presenting, but I was too scared to try.

In the future , I think that we as a race should make eco efficiency a standard in every household around the world, and make it cheap so everyone can do it. We should also make law enforcement stronger and much harsher for poaching big cats to reduce the amount of poaching-especially since they’re unnecessary and are only used for their fur.Overall, we are moving forwards and I think that if we implement just a few of the things that have been mentioned, we’ll be making great progress.

My Presentation

Philadelphia Community Youth Court

Welcome Back for my final installment of my You And The World Project. My name is Jesse And I am a freshman soon to be sophomore back with blog post #3. Throughout my first two blogs I introduced the topic of the school to prison pipeline and then shared with you my original research which was an interview which was with the Youth court coordinator herself Mrs.Kimberly Stevens. If you missed out of any of the blogs I will have links to them at the end of this blog as well as a link to my annotated bibliography.This blog will is the after my agent of change work and is once again the final part of my YATW project.  Now on to  blog #3.

Blog Post #3

Throughout my Agent of change part of my I have done multiple things to raise awareness about my issue. The Things that I have done range from walking in the “ Pete’s Sake Take a break from Cancer” walk, to mach trials preparing us for the real deal then finally actual live cases. The walk did not only help raise money for an organization that really wants to make sure that cancer patients get the best treatment possible and have a little vacation but we also got a chance to do walk as a group and represent The philadelphia youth court and have fun while doing so. I mean I don't know many organizations that genuinely do these kind of things out the kindness of their heart and not just because of the publicity(it sounds like I contradicted myself in the first paragraph to now but the reason we went to the walk in the first place was to support one of our members that have had breast cancer and went through these program). The live trials gave us a chance to actually help teens stay in school and not end up in the streets which and they are now doing a lot better which shows that this organization is making a positive change in people lives even though we’re doing it student by student. We make people want to stay in school and also give adults hope that our generation isn't just full of people who don’t care about their future and just are rowdy kids, so that show promise for an even greater positive change.

So far I feel as though these steps to change maybe small but are effective to eradicating the school to prison pipeline. We can’t be unhappy with the type of change that allows a teen with potential another chance to be apart of the working class and be something in their lives. Going throughout my agent of change work I wanted to pursue people that would help us in our mission and understood what we understood and help us reach out. I needed people who care about youth and were upset with the current status of the school system and wanted to make a change. Those are the type of people I was pursuing.

The changes that I have made so far are small but strong changes throughout the project. I have done two live cases where I was able to help two students stay in their schools and allowed them so that they could graduated on time. I have also with the help of the rest of the youth court members we got help from the barristers association who are now 100% behind the Philadelphia youth court. After this Agent of change part I have learned that there is always someone who thinks like you and when you find fault with something to speak up and try your very hardest to achieve your goal. Also never try to do everything alone.Now there are a few things that I could have done better. I could have participated more in youth court events so that we could get morte partnerships and I could have been a little more vocal. The only things that is left to do is repeat what I have already been doing and hopefully along the way get more people on board.

I would like to thank all of you for coming along with me throughout this journey of my YATW project and thank you for taking the time to read each and every blog post that I have made. Even though I wont be making anymore blog post I will still continue to help out with PCYC and do my best to make a meaningful change.Now go out there and make a change yourself and make this generation proud!  

 MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Blog #1

Blog #2

Annotated Bibliography

Hi everyone! My name is Gabrielle Cromley and you may have read my past two blog posts about Finding a Cure for Cancer if not, take a look! (Blog #1 & Blog #2) This is my final blog post for my You and the World project and it includes my Agent of Change portion. The Agent of Change part is how I tried to make a difference for my cause which is finding a cure for cancer.

There was recently an article on Liberty Voice titled “Cancer Cure on the Horizon?” that described a possible new treatment called CART treatment (chimeric antigen receptor T-cells)  that has been extremely successful in patients who were not responding to chemotherapy like Emma Whitehead and Doug Olson who said, “As far as I’m concerned, I’m cured. I don’t ever think about relapse. I don’t. It’s like all of a sudden you can breathe.” The treatment involves stripping white blood cells from the blood then using a modified version of the HIV virus to reset the white blood cells in order to make the white blood cells attack the cancer when they return to the bloodstream. CART treatment basically “genetically re-engineers a person’s immune system”. One of the major downfalls to this treatment is that it makes the patient’s immune system even more vulnerable for a while and they could possibly die in that span of time. It has a while to go, but the treatment is currently undergoing tests and development in order to make it safer and possibly compatible for more types of cancer.

Although the treatment has had a large success rate in its patients, I think that there is still a lot more that has to be done to improve the treatment so it is less harmful. Before it can be used on the market, it has to be a less risky procedure so that it can be as effective as possible. The treatment has also been successful in mostly forms of leukemia. It should also be tested and altered if needed so that it can be utilized for other forms of cancer. I also believe that the researchers working on CART should attempt to use a different virus than HIV just in case something goes wrong with the virus. Though CART treatment needs to be advanced more, this could possibly be another treatment option for cancer patients that could be more successful for them.                                                                                                        

In order to try to make a difference in the fight to conquer cancer, I participated in and donated to Yoga on the Steps with my classmate, Talya Laver. I took part by doing yoga for about an hour and a half with many breast cancer survivors and supporters. We also sang and ate breakfast together and talked about other events going on to support cancer and ways that we can all help. Yoga on the Steps is an event that was created by Living Beyond Breast Cancer which has been doing this activity on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum for 13 years. So far, Philadelphia has raised about $276,000 out of it’s $310,000 goal, and donations are still being made until June 30, 2014. If you would like to help find a cure for cancer by donating to Yoga on the Steps, click here.

Yoga on the Steps wristband

Yoga participants filling the art museum steps

Talya Laver and I in a yoga pose feeling victorious over cancer.

Participants filling the steps and sidewalk in poses

I may not have made a colossal change by myself, but when thousands or sometimes millions of people donate to an organization to aid in eradicating cancer, it makes a huge difference. If you think that your contribution doesn't make a change, you’re wrong because it takes as many people as possible to fight against varieties of a worldwide, destructive diseases like cancer. One donation can give a patient treatment or pay for needed supplies and testing for research. I have made a change by being part of this difficult battle instead of dismissing it. This project has made me realize that with passion, generosity, and perseverance this is a fight that we can win, but there needs to be support from as many people as possible. During my Agent of Change, I was witness to so many people that were similar to me in that this was such an emotional cause for them. So many people care about this fight and strive to win, we just need more dedication like this to put a stop to cancer.

Although I am proud of the work that I have accomplished for this project there were things I did not have a chance to do. I wish I had raised more money for the Yoga on the Steps by creating a team or having some type of fundraiser. I also wanted to be able to participate in other events that I was not able to like the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure and the Light the Night walk for Lymphoma and Leukemia. The You and the World project has made me realize that with passion, generosity, and perseverance this is a fight that we can win, but there needs to be support from as many people as possible. Also, there are many events that happen in spring that fund cancer research, and many people can only participate in about one or two of these activities since they do not have a lot money to spend at once. So, I think that more of these fundraisers should happen during other seasons in order to generate maximum support. Donations, participating in walks and other events, volunteering, and helping cancer patients are all simple things that we can do in order to fight cancer.

Cancer does not stand a chance against an entire country or even an entire world fighting as one. Why would anyone not want to witness the pain that cancer causes come to an end? Everyone who knows someone who has been diagnosed with, died from, or is a survivor of cancer needs to dedicate their efforts to these people, because they are the ones who truly know how brutal and degrading cancer is to a person and to society. We all owe it to those people to gain vengeance against the horrid cancers that infest this world. With that being said, we must stand up together and battle cancer in anyway possible and never give up until its end. Thank you for reading my blog posts!

Gates Millenium is one of the first scholarships I thought of when I began creating this scholarship. It made sense because GMS in my opinion hosts the scholarship very well. There are 100,000s of kids that apply to this scholarship annually and it made sense to me to use them as an example for my own scholarship. This source was helpful for me because I got to look at the eligibility and the requirements of the scholarship. Although, our scholarships are not exactly the same kind it still makes sense to model one after the other. This website lists first what GMS is, why they started it and who they started it for. Then they go on to tell the history of the GMS scholarship. After this part of the website they tell the history of the scholarship and how far they have come as a foundation. Then they go into the specifics of eligibility and the requirements. I like this layout of the website so I thought this would be a great source to use for my capstone.

http://www.cksf.org/index.cfm?Page=Start_Your_Own

This website that helps people start scholarships from scratch. Although I am not starting my scholarship from scratch I believe that this website can help me with a lot of the logistics and basics of my scholarship. The website starts off listing what the basic questions you should ask yourself when you begin to plan the scholarship and then goes into detail about what you should ask the applicants. This also gives a lot of great tips about what to do and what not to do when hosting a scholarship. They use real-life scholarships and scholarship hosts as examples for reference for our own scholarships. This website really has an awesome break-down of beginning your own scholarship and really what to expect. I believe that this scholarship will serve as a great aid throughout my capstone process.

http://www.ronbrown.org/apply/eligibilityrequirements.aspx

This is the Ron Brown scholarship, another scholarship that came to mind when I began my capstone. This will serve as another guide for me to base my own scholarship on. When I applied to the Ron Brown scholarship the process was smooth and it went off without a hitch, this is how I want my process to go so I saw it as a great idea to use them as an example for myself. On this website they are listing the eligibility requirements, application deadlines, and the scholarship conditions. What I really like about this website in particular is how accessible everything is. You have all the important things about the scholarship that you need on one page, there is no searching necessary. The more accessible it is the more people want to apply. They also give you a timeline of the scholarship and what you should have done by certain dates to be on the right track to have everything in on time.  

https://scholarships.uncf.org/

This website is a website that has scholarships that are great to apply to listed on it. It is a scholarships, programs, internships and fellowships website hosted by the UNCF. Students use this to find similar scholarships that they are most likely eligible for. The scholarships are all mildly similar so, it is helpful for people that apply to one to apply to more that are listed with them. For my capstone’s purposes I will use this website to find example scholarships for myself. The UNCF is a very creditable foundation so I am confident in their choices of scholarships. I also have applied to a handful of the scholarships and internships on the website and I have never had a problem with any of them. I like this website and I believe that it will serve as a great source for me during the capstone process.

http://www.bassbootcamp.com/

My scholarship is the Bass BootCamp scholarship so, naturally I would list the bassbootcamp website as one of my sources. I have worked at the bass boot camp for nearly ten years but I do not know all of the logistics of the camp off of the top of my head. I use this website as an information hub. This website lists everything that is needed to know about the camp, prices, what to bring, what is offered, everything is on hear. This gives the run-down of the camp and what the overall experience will be like. This website also offers pictures to look at and to imagine yourself in. I will be using this part of the website very often and it serves as a great reference site for my and any applicants for my scholarship.

http://www.bassbootcamp.com/scheduleandforms.htm

This website lists the schedule for the attendees of the Bass BootCamp as well as the instructors that attended the camp the year prior, 2013. The reason this site is wonderful for me is because this is basically what I will use to get people to apply to my scholarship. The largest part is people actually applying. When they read the schedules of shows and amazing classes taught by world renowned professors they will definitely want to apply. This website serves as one of the most important sources for me because my scholarship is based on people applying. I will visit this website very often during this Capstone process so I truly do believe this is a very reliable, important, and helpful source for my Capstone.

http://www.bassbootcamp.com/faq.htm

This website is a site just filled with Frequently Asked Questions of the BassBootCamp. I know that there must be a million questions that people will have about not only the scholarship but the camp itself as well. Although my mentor knows everything about the camp and what happens there he is not always easily accessible. It helps to have a website at my disposal that I can always rely on to visit and get the answers to those questions from. Again, they are frequently asked questions so not every single question that I am asked will be featured on there but I am sure a majority of them will be. This website will serve as kind of a second mentor. It will have a lot of the information that I need that is not on the other requirements page or the about page. It has more specific questions with specific answers which will serve me very well during this Capstone process.

https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/capstone/

This is the Capstone website on Canvas. This website is very critical to my entire project. This website lead me to all of the requirements and expectations for my Capstone. It has all upcoming assignments and everything that will be due throughout the year for our Capstones. This website is important because I do not want to miss any aspects of the Capstone requirements. This website allows me to check over what we need and to ensure that I do not just meet expectations but that I exceed them.  Right now I am using this website very often to make sure that I am on the right track. I do not want to have a lot of work to cram at the end of the Capstone process and this site helps me with that. If I go at a certain pace and use this a reference for what I have done and what needs to be done I will be finished on time.

http://lunamathhelp.mics.me/

This is a previous Capstone done by a student that graduated in 2012. This is a great reference source for me because even though it is not the same topic it still has the same kind of format that I was going for. When I am kind of confused or I am not sure on what I should do for certain aspects I use this site as reference. Sometimes it helps to have actual student work rather than just a list of requirements. This project was done on math help and the way it is set up is easily accessible, neat, crisp, and clean. This is how I want my ending product to be like. I love this project as one of my sources because it received a great grade and that is also my goal.

https://www.scholarships.com/financial-aid/college-scholarships/scholarship-information/setting-up-a-scholarship/

Hello fellow readers and welcome to my last and final blog. As you know from my last two blogs, my topic is on the issue of Animal Cruelty in America. If you’re a new reader, please read by first and second blog to know about previous information.

In my previous blog, I interviewed staff members at the Francisvale Home for Small Animals and asked the question, “ How can I prevent animal cruelty?” The staff said that I could teach others own on to treat animals with respect and volunteer at animal shelters. After reading that answer, a lot of possibilities rolled into my mind on how I could give back to solving this problem to serve as my Agent of Change part of my You and the World project. I’ve have heard of fundraisers to raise money, but I find it hard to believe that people can donate to a charity or fund, but not know any knowledge on the topic. I wanted to create a fun and profitable way to raise money to donate to shelters who have financial problems. I decided to not only have a bake sale to raise money, but to have some type of information on animal abuse to be given to the buyer, so they walk knowing exactly what the problem is.

My partner, Kara, and I bought donuts and cheesecake to sell to students at our school, Science Leadership Academy, but not only did we just sell it to them, we told them facts about animal cruelty like the fact that last year there were almost 20,000 cases of reported animal abuse  and that some ways animals are abused could be by hanging or burning. Several students were surprised by the ways that the reported abused animals were treated and even more surprised by how many cases there were. Many asked me about ways they could help with fighting against this problem. With the advice from Francisvale, we told students that they could help by volunteering at a local shelter and educating others by telling them the correct ways of handling an animal with respect and dignity. We afterwards donated all the money to PAWS, an animal shelter that is in danger of staying open, since it runs out of money and supplies from time to time.

The fundraiser was a success! We wanted to raise at least 50 dollars and we came close with 38 dollars. We both agreed that if we had brought in more food, then we would have exceeded our total amount earned. It felt great to raise this money,as it was my first time conducting a fundraiser, and the fact that it was for such a great cause as well. I can’t help but get excited when I think about all the animals that we’ve helped out. I learned that there are people who genuinely care about animal abuse and cruelty. It was actually surprising to see students who were  interested in learning more and it made me feel proud that I was able to accomplish my goal on educating others on the evils of animal abuse.

Us giving the PAWS staff the money. Look at the kitten!

Me selling our last donut

Although I am happy with the amount of money Kara and I made, I still do wish that we could have raised more. Next time, I believe that I should bring in more baked goods to sell, that way we earn more of a profit. Although shelters do appreciate the money, they also look for supplies, as it can run out very quickly and the animals are most dependent on it.  I wanted to have a towel drive at school, but there wasn’t a sufficient amount of time that I had on my hands, and I was afraid that the expectation of towels that I wanted wouldn’t be met. want to hold more bake sales and fundraisers. Right now, I feel that all that is left is to just educate more. This time, I educated people at my school, but next time around, I want to educate people throughout Philadelphia.

I enjoyed this project with all my heart. I picked a topic that I felt strong about, and in return, I received an amazing experience with fighting for a change. I hope at one point, animal abuse and cruelty won’t be as much of a problem it is today and I’ll continue to make a change. I’d like to thank Kara for joining me in fundraising for the help of animals who were victims of abuse. Without her, the outcome wouldn’t have been as grand as it was. I’d also like to thank Ms.Dunn, my English teacher, for always being there and for guiding me through this project. Last, I’d like to thank all my readers who followed me throughout this journey of my blogs. It was nice to receive feedback, and it made me feel 100 percent better about the change that I was making. Thank you.

Go and visit Kara’s blogs!