Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

Allison Patterson - What if history Benchmark; What if Abe Lincoln passed away when he was nine?

Posted by Allison Patterson in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 11:03 am

My project was suppose to be a chapter from an alternative history textbook for young children. My point of divergence is that Abe Lincoln passed away when his mother fell ill from milk poisoning. Lincoln could have easily fell ill as well and thus passed away with his mother. As a result of Lincoln dying the nation would have accepted the ideas of Stephan Douglas. Douglas believed that each state should be able to choose if they want slavery or not. Without Lincoln to debate this idea with Douglas the nation would have accepted this idea. In 2012, the nation be free for the most with only Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana still permitting slaves. However, the nation will be very strict about the conditions the slaves may be kept in. I enjoyed this project because I was able to see how Lincoln's one action, holding the Lincoln-Douglas debates, changed the world. Stephan Douglas made a good argument for why America should follow him but, Lincoln made a better argument back. If you removed Lincoln, Douglas' argument would have stood. I wish this project would have been longer. I felt rushed to make my product and my product suffered. I felt like we focused a lot on the yellow paper and planning and not actually working. I also think that if we are working on planning we need to plan how we want to present it.

Corruption & Censorship Blog #3

Posted by Klarissa Hudson in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:58 am

This whole project has been both interesting to do and fun to learn things that I didn’t really know before. I made this video to bring awareness to people who don’t know about this topic or who don’t care about it. Here is the petition that I would like everyone to sign if they are against corruption and unjust censorship in the world. Here's my survey results if you haven't seen it yet and my bibliography.

After getting enough signatures I want to go and send it to someone like the mayor or even the state representative to show them that some people do care about what happens. So thanks for tuning in to my blog posts and hopefully a change can happen sooner or later. Until then try to make a change of your own and figure out ways to be heard and seen.

What If? History Benchmark: Changing Free Press

Posted by Jennifer Wright in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:36 am

In 1733, German-American printer named John Peter Zenger accepted an offer from James Alexander to publish his editorials criticizing New York's governor at the time. Alexander founded the New York Weekly Journal and published the first issue in November of 1733. The Governor being criticized went by the name William Cosby. Cosby attempted to have the publication shut down several times with the court's help, but eventually put out a 50 pound reward to the person that could identify the authors of the editorials and order Zenger's papers to be burned publicly. With the help of his attorney general Cosby issued a warrant for Zenger's arrest. Zenger spent 8 months in jail. Cosby attempted to select jurors himself, but that was dismissed and twelve townspeople were picked.

The trial began in August of 1735 on the terms that the paper was producing "seditious libel". It was true that Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, Zenger's lawyer had no law to support his idea that the truth could be defensive for a libel charge. The trial could be said to have been the most famous 'jury nullification' in history, which means a jury has the power to serve verdict of 'not guilty' because the disagree with the current law rather than actually believe the person is not guilty. Needless to say, the jury did not make a judgement on the existing law or the facts, but what they thought of the law itself. This is thought to be the building blocks for Free Press in the Bill of Rights.

My point of divergence is that the jury does rule a guilty verdict and the existing British law is not challenged.

I liked being able to pick something I was interested in. I had the freedom to choose a topic that conceded my because I am a journalist. The whole project was interesting in that way, but the jury nullification is what I find interesting. As well as the fact that Zenger was just the publisher when we never wrote a single word. He did not set out to be a champion of free speech, but simply a printer doing his thing.

The individuals in this situation seem to make the impact but it is really the individuals joining together as the jury and as the public in a print protest of the power they disagreed with. Free Press is a systemic change. If this was the only thing to be changed, I believe someone or some people would have eventually made free press happen but countless other things would have been affected in the mean time.

The resonating changed I thought about was elections. If press were not able to use their privilege of reporting facts, even when unpleasant the results of many elections could have changed.

If this project could have been improved it would have been to find more sources. It was very difficult to locate primary sources from the 1730's. Honestly, if I had more evidence I could have used more.

If I could do it over, I would have done even more. I like the idea of the magazine, but there isn't much content. Because I am a journalist I didn't like feeling as if the project was only half done with a single photo, article and cartoon.

"What If" Benchmark

Posted by Sasha Sapp in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:24 am

Video diary by a girl in 2012.

My point of divergence in the US is that Rachel Carson, the biologist whose book, Silent Spring helped push forward the environmental protection effort, and combated the use of a dangerous pesticide DDT, instead never switched her major. From my research, I found that that Carson had originally planned to have an English, but later on switched to biology. Without Carson being the voice against the environmental impact of DDT, I envisioned the future to have all of the results of the use of DDT- but ten-fold. There were 3 major things that I decided would come about from the excessive use of DDT: 1. Malaria would be eradicated. When looking for DDT sources I came across several sources that ask the same question that I pose. Apparently, those sources spoke of a Malaria free world if the pesticide had continued to be in use. I saw a graph that showed a very sharp decline of deaths of malaria, but then an even sharper increase after the brief decline. I concluded that Malaria is directly affected, so Malaria would have to be gone in the world DDT is still used. My second major thing: the prices of fish are sky rocketed. My third major impact is also within my second. The fact that fish prices are so ridiculously high is because their aquatic habits are contaminated with runoff containing DDT. That is explained when the character I portray say that she can't even swim in the ocean. The result from the contaminated water is that the majority of the fish have died off, making them endangered. Yet they are still for sale (greediness of humans anyone?).

Those were important details in my portrait of the future. I can say that I wish I had made my video journals look more...personal. I wanted them to look plain and seem almost impromptu, because I was supposed to be a random spewing of thoughts. Hence the reason why I didn't add things like transitions and stuff. I wish I could have given my character a more personality of my own- I hope remnants of myself didn't shine through too much. So I think if I were to do it again, I would make a person dramatically different from myself.

Aside from that, from this project I've realized the immense impact that little events have on our world. It makes me think of all of the world's great and evil leaders- how much things would be different if these people took different roads in life. I'm aware that we would would live in an entirely different world. I also realize that our world is the way it is because of the same people stayed tenacious and never let go of the vision that they had in mind. Mind you, that can be good or bad. Though regardless, it teaches the ever-repetitive lesson, "never give up", which mostly lives up to the praise that it receives.

What if? History Benchmark

Posted by Kimberly Cayamcela in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:04 am

I fully enjoyed working on this 4th quarter "What If?" benchmark. I have always been interested in immigration, and so I chose to focus on immigration. My Point of Divergence was Manifest Destiny. I changed historical events that had occurred in the year 1845; the Annexation of Texas. I killed the 11th president of the United States: James K. Polk. I did this by making James Brown Clay, son of Henry Clay assassin, causing events like the Annexation of Texas, the Mexican American War, and the Mexican cession to occur. I envisioned the result of this change would decrease the importance of immigration today. Mexicans would not be entering the U.S.A., suffering from poverty and corruption. Their lands would have been filled with abounding goods and no troublesome would exist today.
What I enjoyed about this project was that we had the chance to select a historical event as we wished, rather than being given what to do. Each individual was able to produce a product of their creativity. Oddly enough, I did not find this project to be challenging. I thought that I would have difficulties in comprehending the historical concept of it, but all went well. If I didn't understand something fully, I would simply watch a documentary or search it thoroughly and then add he information onto my final product. The most interesting event that I investigated was the Mexican American War. When I watched the documentary "Mexican American War" on the History channel what caught my attention was this quote:"If he bullied Mexico enough, Mexico would give up their lands." It's crazy to me to see how America supported Polk's decisions of war.
Decisions lead to more decisions, as do problems. A decision within a decision-decision inception! A historical event leads to more historical events. A decision in history is done accordingly to the finalized first decision. For Instance, in James K. Polk's presidential campaign, he makes promises and ends up keeping his promises like his promise to annex Texas, but that results in the Mexican American War. Yes, decisions in history are very influential indeed. Systemic decisions impact historical records by giving a result accordingly to the decisions that are made. I believe this project could be improved if the project was assigned earlier in the quarter. This project is very time consuming and with Summer kicking in, it's difficult to put on my thinking cap- at least for me it is. If I had the power to do this project over again, I would have worked on the project day by day, rather than all at once. I crammed in doing my research, when there was no reason for it if I worked on it week by week. I just felt that I wouldn't comprehend that a part of me said that I had to research everything thoroughly and not miss anything; it made me research many things all at once.

What If History Benchmark!

Posted by Mohamed Marzouk in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:01 am

In my project, my point of divergence is that Germany did not have to pay for all of them war crimes after World War I. The article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles had never been written and an alternative article: article 239 had been passed in its place. After my DOV, Hitler never took over Germany because Germany didn't go into the Economic turmoil they went through. The Communist Nation of Germany had taken over, and Joseph Stalin from Russia had become that ruthless dictator of Europe. World War II had never began and the Cold War was amplified. Since World War II never happened and Germany didn't split, a lot of Germany's scientists didn't come to the US. This lead to the USSR winning the Cold War and the United States handling the Cuban Missile Crisis wrong; which ultimately lead the nuclear destruction! Ultimately, I enjoyed this project because of the broad topics we could pick from. The one thing I especially enjoyed about the project is the freedom of what I wanted to happen after my DOV. I really enjoyed researching about Joseph Stalin and how ruthless, and an overal bad leader he was. I feel like Hitler extremely impacted the future and how it changed. I could improve this project by making the transitions a lot more fluent and crisp, maybe with a little bit more time I could of done that.

English Journal 46

Posted by Ryan Shaw in English 2 - Block on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 10:00 am

What did it feel like to be stuck in the corner, simulating what the Jews in night felt?

It felt extremely crowded. Not only this, but we would also have to sleep in conditions like that. It would be inhumane, and we would have spent the entire day like that.

In the book, they spent days there. In the 30 seconds that we did it, everyone was already uncomfortable. Not only this, but we felt violated. It’s inhuman to do that to someone.

History Journal 11

Posted by Ryan Shaw in World History - Block on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:59 am

“If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstances.” ~Theodore Dreiser, 1941

“Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soul-less conditions. It is the opium of the people.” ~Karl Marx, 1884

1. The first quote is very interesting, it talks about the fact that religion forgives and it lets you do so much more than what is necessary.

2. The quote by Karl Marx used the word Opium, which was also mentioned in Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

What If? US History Benchmark

Posted by William Johnson in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:57 am

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BycGX2yA2jghcDFzaFJ6ZVNwZjQ

My project is about the decriminlization of cannabis. My point of divergence occurs when Jimmy Carter decides to make an appeal to Congress to decriminalize cannabia. This occurred near the end of his presidential term. Due to this, the Drug Enforcement Agency refocused to attack the drug cartels shipping other narcotics. This not only led to the taking down of several cartels, but also to a reduced incarceration rate from his term onward. His bold move and promise made on the campaign trail was followed through and states have now began to tax marijuana. This has led to much more beneficial development in urban areas as well as reduced budget deficits.

History Journal 42

Posted by Ryan Shaw in World History - Block on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:56 am

Is colonization good?

Short term- extremely bad, can wipe out entire populations (Native Americans) but at the same time, can be good by bringing new technology. This could be bad through, because the populous could not know how to handle the new technology.

Long term- can be good or bad.

The nations that arise from Colonization, such as America, can be extremely influential and become a great nation.

It’s important that the country that starts the colonization encourage a new country, and that it lets it be independent if it wants to.

What If? US History Q4 - Tenzin Ngawang

Posted by Tenzin Ngawang in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:52 am

My point of divergence was governor Alfred E. Smith from New York winning the 1928 presidential election instead of Pres. Herbert Hoover. President Franklin D. Roosevelt blamed Pres. Herbert Hoover for starting the great depression and therefore, I chose this as my point of divergence. I liked this project because you could actually choose any topic you want and you get to change something small that twisted everything. I chose this topic because I wanted to know more about the Great Depression because I don't recall myself learning about that time period in any of my classes. I just heard it was a really mournful time period in US History. I researched and learned that Herbert Hoover was the protagonist, he was the president during great depression and he was blamed for it. So I asked the question, what if the presidential candidate who was running against him during the previous election, would America had to suffer the great depression time period. The other candidate was either Alfred Smith or Calvin Coolidge and I realized that Calvin Coolidge withdrew himself from running as a president after his son's death. I debated whether to chose Calvin Coolidge rather than Alfred E Smith multiple times as my point of Divergence because Calvin Coolidge was an interesting character. Therefore, if I were to do this project again, I'd choose Calvin Coolidge as the president during the great depression era. The most challenging part of the project was the final product, I didn't know what to put and how 2012 would look like because of my point of divergence. The most interesting that I came across through my research was the great depression occurred a decade after the roaring 1920s. Roaring twenties was a time period when America was on the top of the world, America was known as the richest country in the world. However, a decade after, Americans were loosing job, they couldn't afford anything. The unemployment rates increased up to 25 percent, which is a lot, millions of citizens were losing their job.

Primary Sources:

What If? - Tenzin Ngawang

View more presentations from tenzy94.

What If? Benchmark

Posted by Michelle Torelli in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:50 am

My awesome website that I created with yola!

I really enjoyed this project. The topic of my project revolved around the Space Race; previous history states that USA had captured German rocket personnel, giving them the advantage to win the Space Race (Landing on the Moon first) against Russia. My point of divergence for this project was "What if USA captured decoy German rocket personnel."

Through my point of divergence you will see complete chaos and total change for what the USA and Russia has become for 2012. I briefly explained and tied in primary sources, both prior and post, to my point of divergence. The future that I envisioned of my POD was for the Russians to land on the moon first. Nevertheless, the USSR to remain together and would become the most wealthiest economy in the world due to their findings on the moon. Also, the USSR would gain partnerships of other countries (China and Japan) to support them in creating advanced technologies for the market.

I liked everything about this project, specifically the creativity and openness we were given to choose what we wanted to do and how we could create the final product. The most difficult aspect of this projects was successfully tying everything together in an appealing matter. Also, creating primary source documents were difficult because of the detail required to connect with my POD.

SMcCollum Social Justice

Posted by Symone Mc Collum in Algebra 1 - Garvey on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:46 am

Randall, Farrell, Louis A1 PSA

Posted by Jordyn Randall in Algebra 1 - Garvey on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:40 am

Zheng, Held, Tang Social Injustice BM

Posted by Mingxue Zheng in Algebra 1 - Garvey on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:40 am

What if? US History Benchmark

Posted by Sam Lovett-Perkins in American History - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:40 am

This is a picture of one of the primary sources I made for our "What If?" project. The "What If?" project is mostly a creativity project where we can create an alternate future that occurred due to one specific change in American history. We then would need to create three primary sources to validate a future where this event had happened. Finally we then tie all three sources together along with three other real sources prior to the point of divergence into one final product. For my final product I made a website for a museum that featured American History for the alternate future. One can access this website by clicking here.

For my project the main idea was, what if Napoleon Bonaparte never sold the Louisiana Purchase exclusively to the United States? My point of divergence was when Napoleon was considering to sell the Louisiana Purchase he asked his council for advice. In real history the council disagreed with him and he sold the territory in spite of them. However in this alternate future his council agreeded with him and so he considered the full possibilities of selling it to the other neighbor of New France, Spain. He ended up selling it to both to get more money, in this way it created much tension between the US and Spain, which turned into a war for many years after.

The alternative future would then be very different. The main difference is because of the increased contact with Spanish culture a much larger percent of American society speaks Spanish. In addition the united states is in a constant state of alarm in preparations of any kind of violence from Spanish troops. The two countries in the current day are at a cease fire much like North and South Korea. IN addition to this there is also a heavy Native American influence on American culture. Because Native Americans were never moved out west they were forced to interact with colonists and the mix of culture was more evident in society.

I had mixed opinions about this project. I like the creativity aspect and the ability to explore a change in history. It shows that the smallest of moments can change the future greatly, and it really helped with noticing how important small changes have been. The process for this project was simple I stayed on top of my work and did everything in a timely manor. It was challenging to make primary sources look old.

4th Quarter Project: The war between two neighborhoods

Posted by Sade Skelton in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:09 am

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/file/d/0BziwRn91x0y9SmloOEVDakF3ajQ/edit?pli=1

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/PHI-17-Year-Old-Killed-in-Northern-Liberties.html

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Mom-Son-Shot-in-Northern-Libs-Cops--150367245.html

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8657500

Reflection:

The most challenging thing I found about this project is trying to tie it in with Globalization. I chose to write my journal story about something I knew about first hand and has actually been around too see and hear on my own. I also had a hard time with trying to make the paper sound more of a blog/journal thing instead of sounding like a thesis paper.

I always knew about this story because I am from one neighborhood and has friends in the other neighborhood. I have seen these things first hand, the 17 year old boy that died was friend of mines I knew since kindergarten and the mother and son caught in the cross fire was my friend mother and brother. These things have a great effect on me, I didn't physically get shot but these things messes up people minds mentally.

I think this story doesn't receive enough attention because its always something about African Americans doing something violent in the news. Everyday you'll see inner city violence on the news so this would be just another story. But the shootings doesn't always happen in the same place in my story there's a shooting almost everyday if not everyday. The violence is senseless and is getting out of hand. I feel like the city of Philadelphia should put more police patrol out on the streets of Philadelphia. I don't think this story will get more attention over the next few months unless another innocent person is shot dead. I learned that inner city violence is somewhat of a disease it spreads through out the youth.

Dominican Republic Election: Jareese, Sade Zillah

Posted by Jareese Long in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:03 am

The country we were assigned was the Dominican Republic and the election was held on May 20th 2012. First, we got help from Uyen Nguyen who suggested that we get in contact with a man she met named David in the DR.

And from there, I went onto Facebook and contacted David.

However, I did not receive a response from David which led us to find a new ways to get information that we needed. One of the group members, Zillah, suggested that we talk to one of the underclassmen, Franklin Mercado, because he's from the DR and has family who lives there and could help. One Thursday afternoon, we all got together with Franklin and he phoned his cousin on Google Talk. His cousin, Carlos Mariano Mendez who is apart of the Military answered the following questions for us.

How old do you have to be to vote in the DR?

What is the voting process like in the DR?

Are you familiar with the voting process in the US?

What are some political parties in the DR?

Bahama's Election Country

Posted by Delesha Jackson in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:00 am

For this project our group, Tyrone, Qyidir, and De'Lesha, were told to look at a country and research how their election process went. This project was harder than expected because it was a challenge to get in contact with the people from the different countries. It may seem as though it might be easy because of the technology that we have but it wasn't for that.
After talking with our teacher we started to get moving along with the process because she gave us some ways to contact different people in the Bahamas. After sending out emails and days of waiting a response we finally got one from a teacher. She then forwarded this email to someone in the class who was willing to talk to us about the election process. We exchanged emails but we didn't really get information we were suppose to skype and interview him but things got hectic with other work. So this project wasn't really successful although we did get in contact with him we didn't really get the information.
This was a fun project but because it wasn't stressed as much as the others it wasn't really focused on. So if we could have redid this project we would've taken more time out to really get in contact with and get the information from him.

3 little birds sat on my window... (Briana)

Posted by Briana Hicks in English 2 - Block on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 8:59 am

English Journal Entry Part 3: #25

I wear a mask, but I’m no superhero

Because this mask is a lesson of being a zero

I work everyday and I work every night

But people depend on me to hold their might

I’m not considered as stupid, nor as average

But I try my hardest from not becoming a savage

I’m barely recognized for all that I’ve done

Because people’s reed blocks their minds from thinking they’ve won

But you see, I’m tired, I’m tired of being rung

I’m not a bell that you ring just for fun

English Journal Entry: #33

“I love anime”.

So, I don’t really know what to talk about…. Um:

In you and I, there’s a new land

(angels in flight)

My sanctuary, my sanctuary yeaa

Where fears and lies melt awayyyyyyyyyy

(Music will die)

What’s left of me, what’s left of me now

I watch you, fast asleep

All I fear means nothing

In you and I there’s a new land

(Angels in flight)

My sanctuary, My sanctuary yea

Where fears and lies melt away

(Music will die)

What’s left of me, what’s left of me now

…That’s all I can really remember right about now.

B is for Brain ‘cause I got brain damage, I’m deranged, insane got cerebrum like a cabbage.

English Journal Entry: #35

I wish I could freeze time. I just got over the stress with my math benchmark and now it’s back, and with more benchmarks in the third quarter. I need more time, it’s not even a choice right now. I wish I could get everything done so I can finally have free time. So I can draw in my spear time. It’s really sad when you can’t do something you love to do because every teacher is freaking punching and smacking you with benchmarks with no breaks in between. I thought I’d be able to get a better grade on this stupid stank benchmark but I don’t think I will. I always have more work than anyone else and I always have to be the leader. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t because people never really listen to me, or leave it to me. When I get stressed and people try to help after the fact I deny them. I need the help, but I don’t trust they’ll do it. It sucks, it really sucks.

English #43

Posted by Jessica Maiorano in English 2 - Block on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 8:54 am

My toes are like a dictionary

Do you need any words?

My smile is happiness

Can you smile too?

When I clap my hands its makes music

Do you want to listen?

NEGATIVE SPACE!

Posted by Gabrielle Arnold in Art - 9 - Hull on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 8:17 am

Negative Space Reflection:

1. Photograph your negative space cut outs

2. Photograph your negative space drawings

3. Upload them to your blog

4. Answer the following questions in full sentences.

A. What is negative space (explain this concept to a fourth grader that has never heard of it)

Negative space is the space around an object.

B. Explain how you found negative space in 1. your cut out?, 2. in your stool drawing?

I found the negative space by tracing out side the actual objects.

C. Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?

It helps an artist observe the objects in an easier way and it is easier to see the shapes.

D. Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not

Negative space enhances drawings because the shape is more defined and clear.

Egypt Election - Bach | Gina | Fangda

Posted by Bach Tong in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 8:16 am

About Egypt:

Egypt is located in northern part of Africa known as the Middle East. The country is known for its vast desserts, and its rich ancient history of Kings and Queens with pyramids that still exist. Today, the country is the worlds 6th largest supplier of liquified natural gas and oil is the main export. Although the country's oil and tourism industries are still very prosperous, the recent revolution and overthrowing of former president Hosni Mubarek has left the country's current political state in disarray.

About Egypt's Election:

Election in Egypt is universal and compulsory to all Egyptian citizen over 18 years of age. Egypt has a two-round system for its presidential election. Previous to the revolution, Egypt's election process included a popular vote by the citizens for the head of state or president of Egypt. The president would be elected for a six year term after being nominated by the People's Assembly and then later confirmed by the popular vote. The People's Assembly is composed of 508 members, 498 of them are elected for a five year term and 10 members are added by the newly elected president each new term. The elections for the People's Assembly are carried out in three phases, in which there are 12 election days held throughout the country. Now that the revolution has occurred, the Egyptian people are currently writing a new legislature to carry out presidential elections.

Candidate Qualification:

- Be born in Egypt to Egyptian parents
- Not holding dual nationality
- Not marriage to a non-Egyptian
- Support of 30000 voters

Now in Egypt the top two candidates have decided to enter the runoff election next month (06/16-06/17). They are Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafik who served under Hosni Mubarak as the prime minister.

Mohamed Morsi has been Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party(FJP) after the revolution happened in 2011. During 2000 and 2005, he was a Member of Parliament. Before the Freedom and Justice Party was founded, Mohamed Morsi had been a member of the Guidance Office of the Muslim Brotherhood. After that, he was elected by the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Office to be the first president of the new party. Mohamed Morsi was at first being nominated as a backup candidate, but later on he took the place of Khairat El-Shater as a formal candidate when the latter was disqualified.

Ahmed Mohamed Shafik was a senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force and later served as Prime Minister of Egypt for a period of 33 days, when Hosni Mubarak was in charge. Ahmed Shafik served in the army as an young officer and had attended the War of Attrition and 1973 October War. Later in 1983, he was appointed a military attaché in the Egyptian Embassy in Rome. In 1991, he had become the Air Force's Chief of Staff, and lasted for 5 years, when he became the Commander of the Egyptian Air Force. Seen as "one of Mubarak's old guard", Shafik became a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in February 11, 2011. Ahmed announced his candidacy in the Egyptian Presidential Election in November 2011.

We interviewed Mohamed Zayed, who works for the Ministry of Education and was also one of the visitors to SLA during the two weeks of May.

We also reached out to Sharif Kouddous, who came to our class and spoke as part of the Pulitzer Center. He is now a senior correspondence in the Middle East for Democracy Now.

Here is an interview he did with Democracy Now on the topic of Egypt Presidential Election:

Reflection:

The process of corresponding with an Egyptian person to interview them about their presidential elections was very long and required patience, however we are glad that we were able to learn something. Our group gained a new insight into this foreign land and was surprised to learn that presidents are elected in Egypt for a longer term than those in the United States and also the People's Assembly of Egypt has almost the same number of members as our American Congress and it functions similarly. We think that this was a good experience. If we were to do this again, we would definitely not procrastinate and spend more time talking to each other about the project. Our advice to others would be to pick a country that you're interested in so that you'll be able to fully appreciate the knowledge given to you in the interview.

4Q Advanced Art Final Blog

Posted by Natalee Schiavoni in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 1:45 am

4Q Advanced Art Blog

During the 4Q I advanced my art skills extremely, I used variations of different of artistic methods to improve the way I look at my art and how the previous quarters have let me explore my individually as an artist. This quater I mainly focus on abstract pencil drawings as well as abstract water color paintings. Compare to my other artistic work throughout this year, abstract water color was a new adventure and I enjoy working with it as one of my final products to submit for the 4Q marking period.

You and The World Blog #3- Jeremiah Cunningham

Posted by Jeremiah Cunningham in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 12:00 am

In my previous blogs I talked a lot about STDs and what goes on in the world. This blog post is a little different. This is a “Post for change”. I will be encouraging the youth and adults to stand up against STDs and the billion of cases in the world today. This topic is strongly considered in medical facilities and a little outside in the streets. Us as people who sit bak and watch cases like this get larger by the day, can stand up and make a stand. Whether it’s going to schools and talking to kids, or just donating to Medical Facilities in order to support studies on finding a cure. WE MUST DO SOMETHING!

There is a lot being done as far as STD awareness goes. There is an annual celebration in April called “STD awareness month” which is dedicated to find a cure for the diseases and educating the youth and raising money for awareness. It also calls attention to the impact of STDs and promote testing. Adolescents and Teenagers are mainly vulnerable to STDs. That is why its important get out the message that Safe sex is much recommended and widely expressed by doctors and healthcare providers. Ages 15-24 are responsible for nearly half of the world cases of STDs.

Family doctors are supposed to keep up with children’s health. When teens go to the doctor’s, the doctor asks the child are they participating in any type of sexual activity. It is not a guarentee that the child is telling the truth or not when they say no. That’s why the doctor goes on and tells them about the dangers of unprotected sex, and STDs. Although doctors give the child a little 3-5 minute pep talk, it doesn’t work. That is why my Post for change is to try and find a way to get that message out there either by video, Public Service announcement, or even making a pamphlet on the dangers of STDs.

My post for change is that I’m going to make a PSA (Public Service Announcement). This will cover mine and others’ views on STDs and how they affect our world. I will tell what STDs do to you and how we can make a stand. What I’m trying to do is get out and make people care about a subject that I feel strongly about. I was always scared to have intercourse when I heard of these diseases. Now that I have, I am terrified. That was the biggest mistake of my life. I just want to get out to the public the danger of such diseases and if you can PLEASE keep it in your pants. I would like to thank Ms.Dunn, Tyanna Pleasant, Keyaira doughty, and Chaveliz for helping me with their views on STDs. I also would like to thank my father for telling me the dangers of STDs and how they affect.