Taj Walter Capstone

As I was brainstorming my capstone project over the summer of 2020 I often found myself watching NBA Basketball games while looking through the current news of the world on my phone. I suppose the world of politics and sports being on my mind for months lead to the creation of this project. I wanted to do something that could answer why the sports world was becoming so involved in politics. I settled on wanting to work on something that would allow for my thoughts to flow and create discussions after the audience listens to it. I created a podcast series called The Political Sports Podcast. In this podcast, I discuss the different events where politics and sports have crossed over and come together. I don’t try to answer any questions with definitive statements because I want the audience to think about their own opinions. I believe I have learned a lot about the specific scenarios where sports and politics intersected. I have also learned about why these events are happening more often and what this means for the future as I discussed in the podcast. I have learned that politics have been involved in the sports community for decades, but now it is becoming more commonplace for athletes to become involved in politics. I really enjoyed working on this project and I hope everyone who listens enjoys it too.

TheUndefeated. “Colin Kaepernick Protests Anthem over Treatment of Minorities.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 3 Sept. 2016, theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick-protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/.

Jenkins, Sally. “Perspective | This Is Why Colin Kaepernick Took a Knee.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 May 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/05/30/this-is-why-colin-kaepernick-took-knee/.

Ellis, Ralph, and Steve Almasy. “NBA Players Protest Racist Talk Attributed to L.A. Clippers Owner Donald Sterling.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/04/27/us/nba-team-owner-alleged-racist-remarks/index.html.

Zucker, Joseph. “Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Banned for Life from NBA for Racist Remarks.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 26 Sept. 2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/2042902-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-for-life-from-nba-for-racist-remarks.

Hill, Jemele. “The WNBA Can’t Keep Kelly Loeffler Around.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 11 Jan. 2021, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/kelly-loeffler-doesnt-belong-in-the-wnba/617632/.

MarcJSpears. “’Black Lives Matter, People’: How the NBA’s Social Justice Efforts Dominated the Season.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 14 Oct. 2020, theundefeated.com/features/how-the-nba-social-justice-efforts-dominated-the-season/.

Stein, Marc. “Led by N.B.A., Boycotts Disrupt Pro Sports in Wake of Blake Shooting.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/sports/basketball/nba-boycott-bucks-magic-blake-shooting.html.

Parks, Miles. “NBA Arenas Are Becoming Voting Centers. Will They Draw The Same Crowds?” NPR, NPR, 30 Oct. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/10/30/929470574/nba-arenas-are-becoming-voting-centers-will-they-draw-the-same-crowds.

Blakemore, Erin. “How the Black Power Protest at the 1968 Olympics Killed Careers.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 22 Feb. 2018, www.history.com/news/1968-mexico-city-olympics-black-power-protest-backlash.

Sheridan, Chris. “Sports And Politics Are Mixed Forever; Get Used To It.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/chrissheridan/2020/08/29/sports-and-politics-are-mixed-forever-get-used-to-it/?sh=5b02312e6a54.

Michaela Berger- Capstone

For my capstone, I decided to focus on food sustainability and how people in the SLA community can lessen their personal food waste. I did this by creating the “SLA Pledge to Food Sustainability.” I chose this topic because of my interest in food, its systems, and its environmental impact. My first step was to gather participants of students, teachers, and parents at SLA and ask them what they knew about food sustainability. Then, over the course of eight weeks, I prompted them to try out new sustainability techniques such as meal planning, using more leftovers and trying out low-waste recipes. I also gave them tips on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle each week. After sending out four of these surveys over the course of two months, I analyzed the results to see what a small sample of people thought of food sustainability. After this, I decided to put my findings, plus all of the resources I used, on a website so more people could utilize the information. Although completing my capstone during the pandemic presented its challenges, I am proud that I was able to do everything I could do, especially it all being online.

You can find my final website here: https://mberger21.wixsite.com/mysite

Here is my annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16ydFI6gOmKzcCm6kdPn3UTLntUHKzPL_WOfCcORGAEo/edit?usp=sharing

Example of planned meal through my capstone surveys

Randy Le Capstone

Towards the end of last year, the spotted lanternfly—an invasive species from southeast Asia that arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014—made its presence across Philadelphia, posing serious threats to the environment. Driven by the conversation of our environment, I aimed to create a product that would effectively assist or make progress in eliminating spotted lanternflies. I ended up reaching out to a Drexel professor from a Scientific American article, Antonios Kontsos, who was performing a research project designed to create an image-processing algorithm to detect spotted lanternfly egg masses. He responded and kindly invited me to attend one of the research team’s meetings where I familiarized myself with the group and was able to find my role in the hardware team. The research project split off into two teams: the hardware team captured images/samples of lanternfly egg masses or tested IR technology, and the software team worked on developing/testing processing algorithms to see which software was best. With that, our research teams ended up creating individual digital notebooks to document our progress so that future students/researchers could refer back to them when conducting new research.

Digital Notebooks: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EbUUjdtObp677hUbgRabkMEteuhnpL5Ll3rkfFHrCjI/edit?usp=sharing

Hardware Digital Notebook Cover Page
Hardware Digital Notebook Cover Page
SLF Samples
SLF Samples
Parameter Testing w/ IR Camera
Parameter Testing w/ IR Camera
Database Model of Image Processing Algorithm
Database Model of Image Processing Algorithm

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f0dDT8vKDNd0Ln7ybWHSuHx_DPFApH7-3lrPJQT64y0/edit?usp=sharing

Brooke Hill's Capstone

For my capstone project, I decided to volunteer at my Dance school. Volunteering at the dance school consisted of teaching dance classes to the younger kids that ranged from three to five years old. For example, I taught classes like ballet, acro, and sometimes tap. My process consisted of going to the dance school every Saturday morning. From 9:15 to 12:15 I would teach the dance classes. I started off by teaching them basic terminology and steps. After a few classes, I eventually had to start creating a final product/piece. This included finding costumes for the show, completing the dances, and etc. Since the recital will not be happening until late June; I recorded both dances to include in my presentation. While teaching the young children, I learned that some children have separation issues from their parents due to the pandemic. I also learned that teaching younger children is much harder than teaching older children.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14-Y5asjfXxqArd5DMn9bwNlniRvL6ezd4EipXQRYHu4/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuhBUu9vhgQ

Tayah Brunson's Capstone

Welcome to my capstone! My mission when completing my capstone this year was to make a voice for someone who may not have had one already. The topic being the pressures that may be felt by high school students during their careers. The information being targeted towards parents and teachers. This topic was perfect to surround my project around due to the stresses we all have faced as a student body and senior class during 2020-2021. This project is meant to shed light on the unspoken but surely felt pressures that high school students may crack from. My final project was a seminar/ Q&A for students and teachers.

Seminar Slideshow: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SkmhkyYiG3dmFv9CDdVWnvrbpT4isU4-5mjGlP98YU8/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vH3c7P_OnNxT1He-vtIdkMthLMxWh_hDP9tY7rMx4BU/edit?usp=sharing

Teens in Isolation

At the start of the lockdown I was relieved to have a break from school for a while because I thought the start of quarantine to be a 2 week break and then we would have to eventually go back to normal. When it went a little longer than I thought it would, I was still very optimistic about going back to school and having a normal life. It was until I heard I was entering the 9th grade through zoom, when I started to feel helpless.

I chose this topic with the sole purpose of trying not to feel alone. I thought that I was the only one having trouble with depression motivation throughout the school year. I didn’t want to be a Debby downer but I genuinely thought we weren’t ever gonna get out of this pandemic. When I was researching I shared a lot of my thoughts in the teenagers that the articles talk about. I feel we need to talk about this topic because I feel like it has not been talked about as much as it should be, obviously everyone is having a hard time but teenagers need socialization to grow and thrive. I think it’s most important for adults to know about this topic because they think this is just a time were we teens have all the time in the world and it has been really stressful and adults really don’t seem to understand that.

Many teens are experiencing eating disorders, new suicidal thoughts and new waves of anxiety, with a 40% increase of teens calling The National Eating Disorder Association since may reporting that they have been binge eating during the pandemic and with online school and always being on our devices we can lose track of how much we eat. An issue like this is significant because the spike in self-harm within the teen community since the pandemic started, is serious.

According to FAIR Health there was a 334% spike in self-harm in teens and young adults amid the pandemic, teens and children feeling trapped inside. Usually when kids are feeling depressed adults try to make them engage in outside activities such as hanging with friends or going to the park, which we all can’t do now. Not having the space to fully develop teens are not ok, the proportion of mental health emergency admission was up 31% higher than it was in 2019 according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 14.3% of teens will be affected by depression and bipolar disorder and with the added trauma from the pandemic, teens are now one of the most affected groups.

Researching this topic for the You & The World project made me realize that I am not alone and there are hundreds of people who are struggling with the same things I am. One part about my research I still want to know more about is the child abuse and how children and teens are living with their abusers, and if there is any way to get them help. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped with an abuser for months on end not knowing when it’s going to be over. Another thing I still want to dig deeper into is to eating disorders and if binge eating is the only eating disorder people are struggling with, I know some people have bulimia and Anorexia and I want to know if the pandemic made it worse for them and if there are coping methods they have.

With the pandemic not being over soon I am feeling apprehensive about the future for teens during this pandemic knowing a lot of them aren’t in their right state of mind.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/health/covid-teenagers-mental-health.html

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/impact-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-teens-mental-health

https://edsource.org/2021/eating-disorders-among-teens-surging-during-the-pandemic/650882

https://time.com/5943896/covid-19-teen-mental-health/

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/14/977215385/professionals-see-uptick-in-teen-mental-health-issues-aggravated-by-pandemic

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/teenagers-covid-pandemic-mental-health/2021/02/10/3389983a-39d6-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html

Period Poverty: A Public Health Crisis

I think that period poverty is something that as a society we do not talk about enough. Part of the reason behind that is because there is such a stigma around periods in general, people feel like they can’t talk about them, and treat them as some kind of taboo thing that just cannot be discussed. Another reason is that people don’t realize how big of a problem period poverty really is. Sanitary products are quite expensive and many people can’t afford them even though they are a necessity. Women are pretty much half of the world’s population, and almost all women at some point in their life have their period. It is not something that you can really avoid, so why is it so hard for a lot of women and girls to get access to sanitary products? A part of that reason is because of the “Pink tax” or “Tampon tax.” This is a tax that is put on sanitary products because they are labeled as non-essential items. 35 states in the U.S. still use this tax which is ridiculous because sanitary products are absolutely an essential item, most women and girls cannot choose whether or not to have their period.

Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 8.19.12 PM
Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 8.19.12 PM

image depicting a calendar marked with dates of menstrual cycle, sanitary products, and not enough money to pay for them

The Pink tax does not just apply to sanitary products however, many other personal care items such as razors, clothing, and accessories are affected by the pink tax. This means that if an item is “made for women” or marketed in that way, it will cost more even if it is the exact same as the “mens version.” This happens with deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, lotion, body wash, shaving cream, and so much more. This article reveals that more often than not, the only real difference between mens and womens products is that the women’s will be pink, and cost more.

Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 7.57.15 PM
Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 7.57.15 PM

A men’s and women’s razor, exactly the same but the women’s costs more

Another thing that is a factor in Period poverty is the wage gap and opportunity gap which are basically the same thing. Women typically make only $00.79 for every dollar a man makes, that is the wage gap. The opportunity gap is that women are less likely to be able to get high position jobs, which means that they probably will have a harder time being paid more. So, if women have a harder time getting paid as much as men and getting jobs that will pay that much, and women’s products cost more, how are they supposed to pay for essential things like sanitary products? Of course this is a very broad statement, some women are paid a lot more or as much as some men but knowing this information is important when talking about period poverty. There are also other factors that come into play when it comes to period poverty, Women of color typically have an even harder time getting paid as much as men and also even white women so period poverty is much more common in some communities than others because of this. The coronavirus pandemic has also made period poverty even worse for some communities than it was before, with people getting laid off their jobs and all the other hardships that have come about because of the pandemic. I connect to this issue because I personally have the ability to be able to afford sanitary products but the fact that so many people do not just feels wrong to me. Something that is so natural and basically unavoidable as well should not be such a huge burden for so many women. While researching this issue I have found that it is very complicated and will not be solved easily, or by one person. There are so many factors that affect period poverty and make it very intricate and difficult. I think that the first step is to get people educated on the topic and make it normal to talk about periods because it is still something that for some reason a lot of people think is bad to talk about but that needs to change.

Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 8.27.59 PM
Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 8.27.59 PM

image of a hand holding a tampon with the words “not a luxury” in the background

The Devastating Effect COVID-19 has on the United States Homeless Population and What we can do to Help

When the pandemic first started, witnessing the world I once knew faded away, it opened my eyes to those who were the real victims of COVID-19, the homeless. So when I was given the chance to bring awareness to the struggles that much lower class and homeless people face due to the COVID-19 virus. Although COVID-19 is a threat to all of us it poses a unique danger to America’s homeless population due to a lack of social services as well as the economic aftermath of the pandemic more Americans are at risk of entering homelessness.

Infographics and statistics are supplied by United Way

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted in its 2019 annual report that in America’s 50 most populated cities, African-Americans make up the majority of the homeless population. Of the top 10 cities with the most eviction filings, numbers one through eight all qualify for that top 50 designation, meaning that the added stress these evictions are placing on resources dedicated to assisting those experiencing homelessness may be producing outsized negative impacts on homeless populations that are primarily composed of minorities.

Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 6.52.01 PM
Screenshot 2021-04-05 at 6.52.01 PM

There was no clear region in the country where COVID-19 led to the largest jump in unemployment. Nevertheless, it is clear from the data that statewide unemployment has been closely tied to local industries and their pandemic-related losses. For instance, the top two states for unemployment as of October 2020 were Hawaii and Nevada, both of which depend on tourism to fuel their local economies. In these states, people face unique challenges in moving away from homelessness as a lack of income severely limits their housing options, cited by the National Coalition for the Homeless. People experiencing homelessness in the United States are among the highest risks for infection, complication, and death from COVID-19. Many of the issues of white homeless Americans are amplified in black and native communities due to the systemic oppression they have faced prior to COVID-19. To halt the rapid growth of homelessness and thus the spreading of COVID-19 we must connect all people on the streets with safe accommodation and all those in temporary accommodations must be moved into permanent homes. There are many ways to avoid COVID-19 if you are homeless. You can do this by obviously taking part in social distancing mandates, traveling on social transportation at less busy times, and avoiding other crowded public settings. If you are not homeless there are many ways you are able to help the homeless population in the United States. You can do this by partaking in helping, and working with food drives, homeless shelters, and COVID-19 screening at homeless shelters. Hopefully my writing will open your eyes to the struggle of the homeless and lower class face during these already hard times because of COVID-19. With this information as a society we can go forth and better the lives of our fellow Americans.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14Cz8Zi6ptOD9Xphm_QVfjb39uwmyGOXDqCbOEl6jM58/edit?usp=sharing

Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XKD-6C6vbQ9l5cxmF5J8u4iDjyZcaFV7r4FKX1Nal-w/edit?usp=sharing

Dealing with Depression: Hold on to Hope

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-types
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8933
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h2OGasx_3KY795iZ6V9Gl3RX3WqkhE0fAIRyjrAFEt0/edit

Our Plastic World

At some point in our lives, we all have gone to a fast food place or have bought a coffee at Wawa. We often don’t think they have much significance in our life since it’s just food. I bet most of us don’t think of the plastic fork that gets thrown out or the coffee cup that has been used. Both of the objects are used and thrown out daily and are both made of plastic. In a way, our world runs on plastic. From grocery bags to water bottles that contain microplastic. Our world is addicted to plastic, and it’s getting worse every day. Slowly our planet is becoming overfilled with plastic. This plastic is killing marine organisms and affects our environment currently. Our society as a whole is addicted to plastic and we can’t go a day without using it. My goal is to inform people about the problem because I can’t solve the worldwide problem in society. We consume so much plastic that it’s affected innocent animals. I want to solve plastic pollution quickly but I know it will take time.

The picture is from plastic pollution EIA

Plastic pollution is the build-up of plastic in the environment. Plastic has a bad effect on the ocean because it doesn’t break down, it breaks upinto small pieces called microplastic. Microplastic are pieces of plastic that are tinier than 5 millimeters, it can be smaller and be seen under a microscope. Microplastic is so tiny that fish accidentally eat the microplastic because they mistake it for plankton. Microplastic is so tiny because the sun heats the plastic slowly and makes plastic very small. Microplastic is very dangerous. It can cause health issues like pierced organs or fatal intestinal blockage for animals. The build of plastic in the ocean has gotten so bad that around the world there are 5 enormous patches of plastic waste.

The plastic in the ocean has gotten so bad, that by 2050 there will be fewer fish in the sea than plastic. People have found whales being beached and when they took a look inside the whale they discovered most of them are filled with plastic. Whales aren’t the only ones filled with plastic, studies have shown that AT LEAST 40% of seabirds and other mammals are affected by the ingestion of plastic. The overproduction of plastic has taken a negative toll on marine wildlife.

The production of plastic increases faster than how it’s recycled. So how long was it since the production of plastic started to increase, someone may ask. It started largely producing plastic 60 years ago. Around 1950 there had been 2 million metric tons of plastic production. In today’s day, there are about 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that have been made. About 8 million tons of plastic each year enter the ocean. Sources say it’s like dumping garbage trucks filled with plastic into the ocean every 60 seconds or a minute. By 2050 there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic debris in the ocean. That is not the only problem.

Plastic can take up to 400 years to decompose and in most cases more than the given amount of years. The production of plastic increases faster than how it’s recycled. 80% of the waste products are made of plastic. About 50% out of 300 million tons of plastic is single-use plastic. Around 40% of single-use plastic isn’t recycled. This is because single-use plastic is small objects that tend to fall within the recycling machinery, it’s often not accepted with recycling centers.

In this day plastic is in everything, literally. We can’t get rid of plastic altogether but we can reduce it. We can stop buying bottled water or at least limit it. Limiting the amount of plastic being used is another good way. Instead of using single used plastic use replacements for it, it will help the plant and can also save someone money. Another way that is incredible and true is having the living organism that consumes plastic eat the plastic. There called Mealworms, learn more about clicking the link

Throughout this research and reading about plastic, I realize how people including myself rely on plastic so much. Eliminating plastic will be almost impossible but reducing the consumption of plastic will not only help the planet and animals but for us as well. We can all help reduce plastic pollution by doing simple things but it takes effort to solve it as a world.

My annotated [Bibliography] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CiGswvgvqOQc_nAUocJADXyx1YEy9r04N4LCMvMO-NA/edit?usp=sharing) about plastic pollution).

Thursday & Friday Half-Day Schedules

Due to SDP conference dates, 4/8 and 4/9 will run under the below abbreviated schedules.

Thursday, 4/8

09:00am - 09:55am C1 Band

10:00am - 10:55am Y1 Band

11:00am - 11:55am A2 Band

Friday, 4/9

09:00am - 09:55am B2 Band

10:00am - 10:55am X2 Band

11:00am - 11:55am E2 Band

The Source Code of Great Games for You

In this project I went to answer a very simple question ‘what makes a video game good,’ you might be saying that it is impossible to quantify that it is all about preference but I disagree on that sentiment. I say that there is an objective way to quantify the quality of video games, if that is not the case then critics would not exist. That point aside I think the traits of a good video game are pretty simple. That being that they should bring something new to the table, they should also have an interesting story and characters, lastly and most importantly they should have good gameplay. Now a game can be good without these things (except for gameplay you really need that) but they can add to the experience and immersion of the game. Aside from those three big ones there are some others that are some ‘minor’ traits such as; good music and sound design, good game and level design, good visuals, unique graphics, and a good mixture of learnability and complexity. There are obviously many more aspects and traits you need to make a good video game, but why is all of this even important? Why should we know what the specific aspects of good video games are? Well, in short you really don’t need to know. There are many topics far more pressing than video games. Yes, all of that is true but what is also true is that video games have engraved themselves into our modern society. A recent estimate put that a little more than 2.5 billion people play video games, that is nearly half of the entire population of the planet. That is why this topic is important because there are so many people playing video games more now than ever, and I can say from experience that no one wants to play a bad video game or a lazy video game or even a greedy video game (cough cough EA). And yet every year triple A games seem to get lazier and more boring, we should know the basic attributes to good games so we can steer clear from these games and to tell big game companies that we just want good games to play. In this post I may not have fancy graphs or pictures but what I do have is a passion for video games and a hope that one day we will get more good games than average ones and especially bad ones.

Mental Health and Covid’s effect on the world

Everyone’s mental health has declined in this pandemic. Even if you feel like it hasn’t it most likely has. Quarantine was a very tough time for the world. We were all trapped inside with nothing to do and we couldn’t socialize. People are still afraid to go out just to get groceries because they are scared of Covid.

Quarantine started on March 13th, 2020. Basically everyone knows this since we all went through it. Mental stress and anxiety percentages have essentially skyrocketed among people in the US and the UK. The US depression rates went from 11% to 42% by December of 2020. By June of 2020 UK depression rates went from 11 to 19%. Psychologists think that we may still have these problems even after covid. OCD and multiple other problems have been caused because of quarantine. There has also been lack of sleep and massive changes in eating habits. Such as people eating more or eating less and changes in diets.

The reason I have chosen this topic is because I was curious about how mental health changed during quarantine. Personally, I was not really affected by quarantine. I had already been very stressed from 8th grade so it felt like a massive break and was very relieving. I had a lot more time to myself but most importantly I got closer to my family. Though my experience was actually mentally helping me, I know others did not go the same. Many people got very depressed and went through multiple changes. People went through different sleeping habits, diets, medicine changes, weight gain or loss, and multiple other things. This was all very interesting to me so I decided this to be my topic. I think that the biggest change personally has been school.

I am very dependent on having school physically. I get distracted very easily and have a hard time learning virtually. I have been very stressed out and due to this my mental health has been changing. I am not depressed but I am often stressed out. I am a lot more anxious about many things now as well. I know that I am not the only person going through this. People all around the world are dealing with these same exact problems. Even people close to me are experiencing the exact same thing. It somewhat makes me feel a little better to know that I am not alone. My friends and family are great motivators. The sad truth is that not everyone has supporting family and friends. Lots of families were affected by covid so people have lost supporting members.

In conclusion, mental health has changed in multiple ways. Some for the better and some for the worst. People now have more anxiety and are scared of the outside world. I hope everyone that is suffering can be healed and get better. Hopefully, these effects are not permanent and recoveries start to happen to people all around the world soon.

This is a chart of mental health changes in places around the world.
This is a chart of mental health changes in places around the world.

Overcoming Obesity in America

I wanted to focus on obesity because I can help not only educate people about how to stay healthy to avoid obesity and its negative effects, but also about how much obesity prevalence varies based on race, income, and even education. In addition, this issue is important to me because obesity cases are going up every day and they will continue to do so unless we make a change. Although it may seem easy to prevent obesity, it really depends on the person and their unique situation. There’s way more things to factor in than you might think, but I’ll explain more about that later.

To start off, what is obesity? How is it different from just being overweight? How do you know if you’re obese? Obesity is diagnosed based on someone’s weight in comparison to their height and age. This is called BMI, or body mass index. It’s used to find out how much body fat a person has. Because this system doesn’t directly measure your body fat, it can sometimes be inaccurate with muscular people, such as athletes. Generally though, obesity is diagnosed when a person has a BMI over 30. To put that into perspective, a 5’5 woman would have to weigh a minimum of 180 lbs to be considered obese. She’d have to weigh 150 lbs to be considered overweight. If she weighed between 115 and 145 lbs, she’d be at a healthy weight. As you can probably tell, being obese and being overweight are not the same thing. You’re at a healthy weight if your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, you’re overweight if it’s between 25 and 29.9, and you’re obese if it’s 30 or more. Simply put, obesity is just a more severe version of being overweight. If you want to find out your BMI, the quickest way to do so is by using a BMI calculator. It multiplies your weight in pounds by 704.5, divides that by your height in inches, and then divides that number by your height again.

A combination of weight and height makes up your BMI

Now, I said before that obesity cases are going up and it’s becoming a bigger problem every day, but just how many cases are there? According to State of Childhood, “[In America,] adult obesity rates now [September 2020] exceed 35% in 12 states, 30% in 35 states and 25% in 48 states.” 23 out of 50 states had an adult obesity rate between 30% and 34.9%. That’s a lot of obesity cases! But why is this bad? What’s the worst that can happen to someone with obesity? NIDDK says that “Overweight and obesity are risk factors for many health problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, joint problems, and gallstones, among other conditions.”

So what causes obesity? How can it be prevented? Very Well Health has some tips. In addition to the more well-known strategies such as staying active and following a healthy diet, getting adequate sleep every night is vital to having a healthy lifestyle. Some basic principles of healthy eating are limiting processed foods, artificial sweeteners, and saturated fats; drinking more water; and eating five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It’s recommended that the average adult gets at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, or 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. This seems like a lot, right? What about things to avoid in order to prevent obesity? Well, chronic stress has been proven to cause weight gain, so it’s important to take time to relax by doing yoga, listening to music, or meditating. Also, a late bedtime is known to have bad effects on the body, one of which is weight gain. The recommended nightly amount of sleep for adults is 7 or more hours. Lastly, Mayo Clinic says that “the number of hours you spend in front of a screen is highly associated with weight gain.” This is part of why some people have started using standing desks or biking desks during the pandemic. This is a great way to stay active if you have to be in front of a computer for many hours a day.

A biking or standing desk is a convenient way to avoid sitting at a desk all day while still getting work done.

According to the CDC, the problem with obesity isn’t just the effects and the overall number of cases, but also the disproportionality in cases based on socioeconomic status. As a reminder, “obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death.” Obesity isn’t bad only because it comes with some major health risks, but it also contributes to inequality in the US. There are, unfortunately, certain factors that can unfairly influence whether or not one ends up with obesity. Take race for example. As of 2017-18, non-hispanic black adults had the highest obesity prevalence (49.6%), followed by hispanic adults (44.8%), non-hispanic white adults (42.2%), and non-hispanic asian adults (17.4%). In terms of education, the CDC reported that “overall, men and women with college degrees had lower obesity prevalence compared with those with less education.” In addition, the CDC found that income directly affects obesity rates. A pattern was observed: people in the highest income group had a lower obesity prevalence compared to that of those in the middle and lowest income groups. All of this shows that obesity is dangerous not only to the health of the American population, but to the people who are at a disadvantage solely because of race, education, or income.

To sum things up, I’ve learned a great deal about obesity in the short time I’ve been studying it. I find it fascinating how differently each individual is affected by it because of how different their situation is from the next person. In the future, I want to learn more about how genetics affect your chances of being obese. I didn’t focus as much on that as I could’ve because it was more important to learn about how dangerous obesity is, but I’m happy with the amount of research I’ve done overall. It’s helped me understand obesity in depth and I’m glad I chose it as my topic.

Annotated Bibliography

Mental Health in Students; the Real Pandemic

My topic focuses on Generalized Anxiety Disorder in students or GAD. I felt very inclined to research this topic because I felt like it needed more attention and that mental health is looked over a lot in school settings. I want to make more resources available to students that are struggling with anxiety because of all the benefits that come with making a change. 90% of teens can be stopped from possibly developing long term effects when they learn the necessary skills they need to cope. When students struggling with GAD don’t get these resources their anxiety can manifest into physical forms, like panic attacks or anxiety attacks, it also takes a significant toll on students’ ability to learn. While i’m still only reaching the surface with my research, the topics I am researching are very interesting to me and I want to continue to fully grasp the full effect of GAD.

I struggle with diagnosed anxiety and I used to have anxiety attacks in school, it wasn’t fun. I used to just start crying or shaking and it would get very hard to breathe. It was caused by built up fear or tension from the past couple days of intense anxiety, in my case it was to the point where my lips were constantly bleeding. The gums in my cheeks were also swollen because I would chew on them. These symptoms all went undiagnosed until a year after. I want to help other people that struggled with what I went through because it stopped me from enjoying playing my favorite sport, and made school exhausting every day. If I had been given the right resources then I know it would have helped me out a lot.

I also know that there was and still are other people like me that suffer in silence because of how invisible the symptoms are. They might not even understand the intense emotions they are feeling, or they might think it’s normal and that everyone feels that way. Experts believe that anxiety can be inherited, but it’s usually an imbalance of 2 chemicals in the brain (norepinephrine and serotonin). Having anxiety go untreated can lead to long term effects such as heart problems, anxiety has also been known to cause people to go into a depressive state. I want to stop this ignorance and bring light to the subject so mental health can be talked about without people getting “uncomfortable”.

Anxiety also affects a large part of learning, and can make being in a public setting like school very difficult. It makes it hard for students to keep up with their peers or process information. Some of the signs are inattention, restlessness, trouble answering questions, problems in certain subjects, not turning in homework, and even avoiding socializing. Anxiety also goes hand in hand with learning disabilities and can cause students to fall behind, making them even more anxious in class. It tends to “lock up the brain” making school very challenging. It is even harder for children and teens to realize what they are experiencing is severe anxiety. Usually their symptoms are just brushed off or mistaken as a complaint or a headache. Teachers and parents need to be there for their kids and help them get diagnosed.

My research has helped me understand how much of school is truly affected by GAD, it takes a huge toll on your mental wellbeing and your education. It comprises so much of your life. While I’m still only learning about the long term effects I am eager to learn more. As anxiety is on the rise while mental wellbeing is on the decline in recent years bringing awareness to mental health is even more important. If all it takes is an open mind then I think if we work together we can make mental health normal and help accessible.

Link to my annotated bibliography !

Why Climate Change is an issue now.

Have you ever wondered what has been going on with climate change?

It feels like once a year on earth day a teacher will bring up climate change and helping the earth, then that’s it. Climate change is an issue that will only continue to increase as time goes on. Yet no one is doing anything about it. According to multiple sources scientists can already see the effect the mid-20th century has had on our world and environment. Scientists also believe that most of the warming to our globe has only occurred within the last 40 years. We have seen some of the warmest years ever throughout the last decade. According to Nasa “Carbon Dioxide up 415 parts

carbon graph
carbon graph

Carbon Graph

Along with the rise of Carbon and Temperature, Climate change is having a big impact on our oceans. According to Nasa’s evidence website “The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 100 meters (about 328 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.33 degrees Celsius) since 1969.6 Earth stores 90% of the extra energy in the ocean.” Ocean warming affects our food supply of fish and other animals. On the topic of food supply, According to Global Change “Climate disruptions to agriculture have been increasing and are projected to become more severe over this century, a trend that would diminish the security of America’s food supply.”. With changing weather some areas are seeing new and invasive species of pests which affect crops.

In school, you might have heard of the greenhouse effect that’s a big contributor to global warming, the BBC’s “What is climate change?” The article explains this perfectly.

bbc greenhouse visual
bbc greenhouse visual

BBC Greenhouse Visual

This article also gives a really detailed graph on our weather/temperature patterns over the last 200 years

temp graph(BBC)
temp graph(BBC)

BBC Temp Graph

As you can see in the graph, there have been spicks of cold and spicks of hot temperatures in the past but what we are currently seeing isn’t that, it’s an upward trend of hot temperatures that won’t be stopping anytime soon.

At this point, we have seen the evidence and proof that climate change is a real thing and the effects it’s having on our economy but you might be wondering what are people doing about this? Unfortunately, Climate change prevention/research is something that is funded on “Extra Money” as it’s not a big enough issue. There are a few things you as an individual can do to help, The biggest being donate to organizations that are working to help prevent further damage to our planet.

If we do not prevent/slow the current rate of warming, we could see detrimental effects as soon as within this century.

During doing research for this topic I learned a lot and sadly found out that climate change isn’t a top priority for our government. I also learned about the effects on our economy and food chain. I hope to learn more about the plans for future global warming prevention.

Climate Change Annotated Bibliography