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 I did my you and the world project on animal abuse and neglect. I wish that I would have found a lot more because I did not find at much as I planned to find. One thing that I wish that would found is more information about factory farming because it came to me at the last minute and I did not have much time to work on it. Also, I wish I found at least eight topics on animal abuse because I only found at five topics. Another point that I to mention is that I want to know more about why animal abuse is not taken as seriously to most issues in the world today.

 My original research went bad but also good in a way. The reason why I say this is because my goal was to gather  how much my school knows about animals abuse. Instead, I gathered how much my school did not know about animals abuse because the majority of the people who took my survey failed. Although, I did find out how many people were not educated which informed me and that is a good thing. One that I would make change is the difficulty of my survey because it might of been to hard. Also, I would of interviewed someone who works at the ASPCA instead. I would of done this because now it seems more easier and informational than a survey.

I actually had more of an impact that I expected. I thought that nobody was going to bother to look and visit my website but instead a lot of people did and it educated them. Just look at my website blogs for example. I received comment that “It was a very informative website. Before entering this website I thought that animal abuse was simply just pet owners hitting/starving there pets. Now I am aware of the different types such as animal testing and circus abuse. In addition, I hoped for people to get educated and from my comments I learned that a lot of people did.

Grado: 11th

Edad: 17

Estado civil: Solo

Profesión: Estudiante

Leo le encanta su casa. Le gustaria cambiar cosas menores en su casa. Leo tiene muchos cuartos en su casa. Leo tiene 18 o 19 cuartos en su casa, pero quisiera tener menos cuartos. Leo es un hombre de familia. El quiere tener hijos y una esposa.

Diseñado por: Aniya & J’Lynn

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/

I am choosing animal abuse because there are a lot of people around the world abusing animals. There are too many people using animals to take advantage of them just because they may make one small mistake. Some people would make up an excuse saying that they would hit their pet just because they were not listening to their owner. Also thousands of animals would be abused each day just because they were with the wrong owner. The most abused animal is the pitbull. This one pitbull, she was a girl and she was homeless until one night a stranger had came up to her in an alleyway and tied a wire very tight around her mouth. Her nose had to be surgically removed. It is really sad that humans would be so cruel to hurt or attack a sensitive animal like this.

Now wouldn't you like to see a dog happy or sad. Why would anyone want hurt a poor little puppy or kitten. Some people say that it's hard to train an animal or they don't like how their pets react to certain things. That's why ASPCA would help. Nobody could ever make up an excuse hurt a dog physically or mentally.The main reason why I chose animal abuse is because too many people think that animals shouldn't be treated as well as humans. Sometimes I really just wonder why humans would take their anger out on poor little animals, and why would they do that, why hurt little animals at least you could confront the people that hurt you instead.

You can actually help the fight against animal abuse. You can spot animal abuse by just walking down the street. If an animal has untreated wounds it can get infected.  An owner could be seen giving it's pet dirty water. If you look closely to a dog's neck it might be a scar on it's neck from the collar being too tight. I think animal abuse should be stopped by arresting the owners that abuse their pets. It is not fair to the animals that have to deal with this in any time in their lives.

I enjoyed the activities that I’ve involved myself in with the You and The World project. It actually changed my outlook on life a little and discovered that even small actions can make big changes. Many individuals have their own story about their success, downfall, etc., and through this project, I progressed in a way that also changed others as well. Even though the You and the World project has ended, I still want to delve into the subject of social anxiety and fear of public speaking.

While researching my topic, I made discoveries that I’ve never knew about. It really helped my knowledge and perspective about people who suffer from social anxiety. I knew some things that pertained about the disorder, but it was basically information that I had because of knowledge I had about myself. What I would’ve tried to do differently was try and learn more information. The information I’ve gathered mostly consisted of factual evidence and scientific reasons as to why people suffer from social anxiety and have fear of public speaking. My goal during the time period of which we were supposed to research was to find an online community in which people actually shared their experiences and had first hand experience. It was already kind of late, but I already found a website that contained posts from people that share their story and get help from others who also suffer from social anxiety after researching.

Conducting original research was pretty difficult, having people reply to your emails and comply to your schedule wasn’t easy at all. I sent out a lot of emails to people that had specialties in dealing with the human mind and those who suffer from social anxiety. None of them replied, so I resorted to interviewing some people that I was recommended. I also tried to go to a mental institution to request for an interview with someone face to face. It didn’t go pretty well, no one was available. Although it was pretty disappointing not being able to get at least one response, I think I did pretty well with working with what I have.

The Agent of Change part of my project was completed with Jhazzelle and TK. I think that I could’ve done a better job with the 3rd part of the project by having presentations. Mental illnesses aren’t taught in health classes in schools, and talking about it to a group of people should help them understand it more. Or even just have knowledge about the topic. I could’ve made a brochure and/or poster and passed it around. Overall, I think that I did a good job with spreading awareness about my topic.

Reproductive freedom is a problem in this country. Politicians (mostly male) everywhere are trying to limit women’s access to birth control and abortion clinics, and are passing regulations and laws to make sure schools teach abstinence-only sex education.

I think everybody everywhere believes that an abortion is not a pleasant procedure, though it is very safe. However, I think it should be available to women everywhere without some of the limits like the twenty-four hour rule, forcing the woman to look at the screen during the procedure, and the requirement for a guardian’s signatures for under-age women. For the people who are pro-life because of religious reasons: women were put onto this planet by God with the unbelievable ability to carry and birthe a child, and I think the choice of what to do with that should be up to her. I wrote more about this in my first blog post.

For my original research, I was able to speak to Adrienne Ralston of the Options Industry Council of America, a non-profit organization. Ms. Ralston’s work is to educate today’s youth about sexual health, and its dangers, options, and circumstances. I greatly enjoyed speaking with Ms. Ralston, and I learned a ton. We spoke for over an hour and I asked her many questions, and it was amazing to receive the insights of somebody who’s immersed in the reproductive freedom and choice world every day.

One of the first questions I asked her was about what ways Philadelphia is successful when it comes to educating people about reproductive freedom. She answered that Philadelphia has a very involved community of people, organizations, and companies that are focused on educating the public - especially young people. She said that, compared to other places in the US, Philly is a great place to be to learn about reproduction rights and resources in general.

However, there is still a ways to go. I followed the previous question with one regarding specific topics about which people lack knowledge and education. She responded that STDs and HIV infections were overlooked and underestimated topics in our city, and not thought about nearly enough. Philly apparently has five times more cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea than the national average, which is scary to think about and is a result of the ignorance about these things.

Ms. Ralston and I spoke about many other things, but those were two that I thought I’d share. It was a great experience to hear her thoughts, and I would not change a thing about it. There were no obstacles, other than the beforehand communication. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we set the interview up, since I’d never met Ms. Ralston. I was very lucky - it went smoothly and easily, and I had fun. As of now, I cannot think of anything else I wish I had asked her. I am curious to find out more about the different ways people can help reproductive freedom and sexual education, and I hope that I have or will inspire others to do the same.

For my agent of change, I will find a petition that needs many signatures and help to get names from my community onto that. I’ll try to find one that is about sexual health in some way, whether it’s about abortions, sexual health insurance, or contraception.

Screenshot of the end of our phone call

Screenshot of the recording of our conversation

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Adrienne%20Ralston%20Talk%20Copy.m4a?_subject_uid=400656945&w=AACJJYVCA094wdN0LIBZeoWlYPxXJktVKVS9jyeJovy1kQ (link to Dropbox recording)

PIC: Reflection

Looking back on my Passion, Information, and Change project on the Syrian Refugees, I think I did fairly good work. My first blog post was Research, in which I did all of my base research. It’s where I found the first facts I needed for my project, so I could begin working on it. I wish I had found more on why the issue was occuring in my first round of research, however. I felt like I needed more on that, and I found very little on it. All in all, however, I think this part was very successful and I learned a lot about my project through the first research section. My second blog post was on my Original Research, where I contacted Melissa Fleming of the UNHCR for an interview. This was a rough part at first, as I couldn’t find someone to contact, and I didn’t know who I would do my interview with. I knew a survey wasn’t going to help me, and there was no real way for me to do field observation, so I had to do some sort of interview. Finally, however, I found Melissa Fleming, and got in contact with her. She kindly answered my questions, and I had the information I needed. While it was difficult at first, this part was generally a success.

My third blog post was on my Agent of Change, and this one went decently. For my agent of change, I did a bake sale with the assistance of a classmate of mine. We successfully sold everything we had, however this only netted us about fifty dollars to donate, which, while big for a single bake sale, was not very much to donate. If I could redo my project, I would do multiple sales, as to raise more money, so I could donate more money to the UNHCR to give to the Syrian Refugees. Other than this, though, I think this third part of my project went well, and, while could’ve had some improvements, was also generally a success. All in all, I think my entire project was a success. I think there was things I could’ve done better, such as more in depth research, better interview questions, and more money raised. I do think that I did do a good job on my PIC project otherwise.

Overall, I think this project was a great way to get teens to start thinking about problems around the world that we usually don't think about. Also, this ¨ You and the World¨ project was also a good way to get teens involved in outside of school programs. Some of us even got to meet new people during this project. On the other hand. this was a very hard project. I wish we were introduced to the project ahead of time because this would of gave us more time to think out better ideas and things we wanted to do. In the beginning of this project, I was excited and was really to have a good project. Near the end of this project, I was so exhausted from this project. I tried so much to go with my first Ideas, but things went downhill. I also wish I could of found a person to come in and talk to the class. I would hope that more people are open to my brochure. I wish I could of got deep facts that would truly hit a person that would make them want to change. I wanted to get stories from people who has experienced drug abuse and addiction. My original research didn't go as plan because of time and I was unable to find a center that agreed with me. I would choose a different topic which would probably mean a different original research. I don't know if people actually used my brochure, but I hope that if people are really having problems, they go to get resources. I want people to sit down with a person that may know is going through this stage and talk about possible solutions to become a better person. I want people to know that the start of their better life came from me. If this interest you, take time to check out my brochure.

Descripción

Emi es una persona bastante tranquila y muy responsable. Pero es un poco impaciente y tímida. Ella es simpática. En mi tiempo libre ella le gusta escuchar musica y leer libros. No le gusta nada fútbol. Su color favorito es rosa. Su comida favorita es macarrones con queso. Su deporte favorito es baloncesto.

La Casa Sueña

Emi Gerveni tiene muchas expectativas cuando ella habla acerca su casa sueña. Su casa es muy grande, colorido, y ocupada! Ella tiene su casa sueña cuando ella es viente cinco años y su tiene un marido y niños. Su casa es cerca de la ciudad y playa!  La casa es moderno y tiene tres pisos. En la primero piso, hay una cocina grande, una sala, dos baños. En la segundo piso, hay tres dormitorios, dos baños, y dos balcones. En la tercera piso, hay un teatro, el piso de bailo, un bar de la comida, y un balcón. La casa sueña de Emi es muy interesante!

Primero Piso

Cuando tu caminas dentro, el baño, las escaleras, y la cocina grande está las primeras cosas que tu ves. Por el pasillo, hay está la sala y el otro baño. La puerta en la parte de atrás está el patio trasero. La sala tiene un sofá, una mesa, un televisión, y una puerta. La cocina grande tiene una nevera, una mesa del comedor, un lavabo de la cocina, una despensa, y una estufa. Los cuartos de baño tienen un inodoro, una puerta, un lavabo, y un espejo. Las escaleras van a segundo piso.

1.) La puerta

2.) El inodoro

3.) El lavabo y el espejo

4.) La nevera

5.) La estufa

6.) La despensa

7.) Las escaleras

8.) El lavabo de la cocina

9.) La mesa del comedor

10.) La television

11.) El sofá

12.) La mesa

Segundo Piso

El segundo piso tienen dos escaleras, tres dormitorios, y dos balcones. En los pasillos, hay estan los lavadoras y los armarios. Todos dormitorios tienen una cama, una puerta, y un vestidor. Dos dormitorios tienen la puerta que van a el balcón. Las escaleras por el pasillo van a tercera piso.

1.) Las escaleras

2.) Los lavabos

3.) El inodoro

4.) La ducha y la bañera

5.) El balcon

6.) La puerta

7.) El armario

8.) El vestidor

9.) La mesilla de noche

10.) La cama

12.) Las lavadoras

13.) La televisión

Tercera Piso

La tercera piso es más espacioso de el primero y el segundo pisos. La tercera piso tienen una sala de cine, un baño, una sala de baile, y un bar de comida. La sala de baile tiene tres ventanas, un televisión, una puerta, y un espejo grande. La sala de cine tiene seis sofás y un televisión grande. El baño tiene un inodoro, un lavabo, y una bañera. El bar de comida tiene tres heces y un mini nevera. Las escaleras segundo van a el segundo y el primero pisos.

1.) Las escaleras

2.) Las ventanas

3.) La televisión

4.) El balcon

5.) La puerta

6.) El espejo

7.) Los sofás

8.) El inodoro

9.) El lavabo

10.) La bañera

11.) El bar

12.) Las heces

13.) La mini nevera

         Glows & Grows

I want to start off with my glows throughout my whole You and the World project. I think I did a really good job connecting the past to the present and what I mean by that is connecting what happened in the 20th century to what has happened in the 21st. The Civil Rights era was a very brutal era with police brutality and since it is sadly recurring in 2015 I thought that connection was great. Another thing that I thought I did really good at was finding different cases that involved different races to prove my point that police brutality is a event that is victimizing people of all different races like black and white. So, I think my edition of white people who were brutalized helped me not have a bias opinion on police brutality. One final thing that I think I did very well was choosing which organization I wanted to donate to for my agent of change and I think I did a good job on my bake sale to have enough money to donate to them.

Starting with the things I could grown on, I want to begin with the research I did. I think that I found older cases back in the 1900s to connect the present to because that would have gotten my point of police brutality lasting so long across and I want to know more about what police men/women have been charged or prosecuted for their crimes. Next my original research, my original research was OK , I could have something so much better. A lot of the plans I had which included talking to actual policemen of different races to find out how they feel about the topic police brutality was sort of unsafe so I had to flush that idea down the drain and I had to resort to interviewing my grandmother and Mr.K which wasn’t bad but I wanted people’s opinions that I didn’t know. If I was to change something I would have just went along with my interviewing policemen idea and would have just gone with an adult instead of excusing the whole thing. Lastly, for my agent of change I did not get the impact I wanted. I wanted people to really learn about how horrible police brutality and how they could stop it and even though I was happy with my donation I think I could have really expressed my topic way better to many more people.

Looking back and knowing that I did a full project about something I felt passionate about is completely astounding. Being able to say that I helped a cause that I felt passionate about makes me really proud of what I did. But could I have done better? Yes.

During the process of my agent of change project, I think the hardest part doing all the research. It wasn't that I didn't have enough research, it was that I still didn't have a clear idea of what I was looking for. I think I would've had a stronger project if I had more of an idea of what I wanted to be focusing on, that way I could research topics more in detail. I also wish that for my original research I would've tried harder to look for someone to interview. I think by interviewing someone it could have helped me connect with the issue a little bit more, and give me a better idea of what I might be able to do to help. Even though my original research wasn't awful, I don’t think it really help support my point, and it kinda swerved my idea a little bit, which made me second guess what I really should do.

In the end, I think the final product I wanted was to take something from this, and have learned more about my topic and myself. With that said, I think I could say I did do that. I loved being able to do my own research, and find out what I really was interested in, and I truly think I took something from this. I also hope that others learned something from the posters I made, and take the time to read and process the information that I've put. Overall, I am pleased with what I did, and I hope that someone will learn something knew about gun control like I did.

My research went well, one thing that went well was my interest in the topic throughout my entire project.  For my research I used some very reliable websites and I found quite a lot of information on anti-semitism. Some glows that I found in my research was that, I was so interested in my topic and I researched my topic a lot and found a lot of information on it. Some grows was I wish I had been more punctual with my work and had submitted my project. My research was very interesting to me and it helped that it was something that I could connect to.

My original research went very well. I met with, and interviewed a Holocaust survivor. He had a very sad story, he lost a lot of his family in the Holocaust and he says he is lucky to be alive. Some glows I had were my interview, and finishing my blog post on time (with an extension.) I wish I had worked more efficiently in scheduling my interview and had done the emailing myself so I could have gotten research in on time without an extension. My original research overall went very well.

“And the gold medal goes to Ot Muller!!!” There is cheering and clapping. This was Ot’s second gold medal in the olympics and he was determined for it to not be his last. This was a dream of his since before could run a 8 minute mile. He had trained long and hard for this moment. His feeling of joy..of relief.. he never wanted it to end.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring* Ot rolled over to snooze his alarm clock, and then rolled back, thinking of his dream. This wasn’t the first time he had this dream, it was a recurring nightmare for him. He had won an olympic medal once when he was 21, but while training for his second he suffered a traumatic leg injury. He had a follow up appointment with an amputation doctor today, something he neglected to tell anyone in case it  ended up like all the rest had.

He climbed into the bath where struggled to clean himself. Once he was finished, the slipperiness of his body and surfaces made it even harder to get out.His friends had offered to help him unit he adjusted, but he didn’t want to seem needy. He knew that wasn’t their intent but it made him feel uncomfortable. They were there for him after he went into a year long depression following the accident.He had gone through many therapists, his trainers said he was being too picky but he was not about to tell a random person his whole life story. Running was a big part of his life, maybe his whole life and he was not ready to give it up. He did not want to see they pity in the stranger's eyes as he told them his life was now meaningless.

He called a car to pick him up outside his apartment complex at 8:15; it was now 8. he had to start heading down now,it was always a gamble as to how long it would take him to get down to the lobby. As he waited he thought about the questions the doctors would ask him, “How did it happen?”, “How much pain are you in? On a scale of 1-10?” He’d been asked the questions 100 times and he wished he could just hold up a sign instead of wasting his breath. He hated having to think about the accident but he knew it was inevitable. His town car finally pulled up and he wobbled over to it and pulled himself in. The driver kept looking at him like he was trying to figure out where he knew him from. Ot wanted to say “your wheaties box” but instead just let him figure it out himself.

After the accident he was on the news a lot. They called it “The biggest tragedy in sports this decade”. Ot was Germany’s first olympic gold medalist in the 100 yard dash. Strangers used to leave flowers, cards, fruit baskets, and stuffed animals to send their hope his way. As they pulled up the the hospital the driver made a move to open the door for Ot. As he helped Ot out of the car he asked, “Do I know you from somewhere?” Ot responded, “Do you eat wheaties?” His driver started laughing and said “Oh yes, you’re the runner that got his leg…” his eyes then trailed down to Ot’s leg.He started to fidget and pull at his collar, he didn’t know what to say.

“Yes I’m the runner that got his leg amputated during the olympics”, Ot said trying to not sound like he had said it hundreds of times already. Trying to hide how much it still hurt to say.

“If you don’t mind me asking, I never quite understood how, rather why, you had to get your leg amputated. How did it happen?”

Ot was getting ready to resist his speech when he realized his driver was leaning down to show him something. He had a prosthetic leg.

“How did you get yours?” Ot asked.

“I asked you first” They both chuckled.

“Well after I won the race, I collapsed on the side of the track, with all the adrenalyn it was hard not to. I fell on top of a screw that was meant to hold the track down. It went straight through my calf. I couldn’t even feel it at first because of the adrenalyn,but when I went to stand to receive my medal, I noticed something coming out of my leg. Myteam rushed me to the hospital where they told me the nail had some sort of rust or chemical of some sort that had already formed a clot in my leg and the only way to stop it from spreading was to amputate it.”

“Well my story isn’t that good.”

“I’m sure it was something worth hearing.”

“No it really wasn’t. I was a dumb teenager racing down the highway late one night. It started to rain, which we thought made it even more fun, then came a sharp turn and I hydroplaned. The whole car spun around. The car I was racing hit us and we flipped. I don’t remember anything after that but when I woke up I was missing a leg and they told me I was lucky that was all I lost.”

“You’re telling me this after I’ve hired you to be my driver?”, once again they both laughed. “Well I’m late for my appointment, I’ll call you when I’m done?”

“I’ll be here.”

Ot was nervous to walk in. He had poked around blogs from other people that had gotten prosthetic legs. There was mixed feelings about it but Ot knew he needed to be able to walk again no matter how hard it would be. As he made his way to the counter he thought about all the different things he had read and wondering how much of it was really true. He read that one man was able to program his leg to do different things. He wondered what he would program his leg to do if he could.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I have an appointment with Doctor Tomko at 9.”

“Let me just check… Mr… Muller!”

“That’s me”

“Great, if you’ll just take a seat we’ll be with you as soon as possible.”

“Thanks”

He continued to think about what he would do if he could program his leg. He didn’t really believe that this was true, how do you program a piece of plastic to do anything?

“Mr. Muller?”

“Here”, he made his way to the nurse.

They walked down a hall where she pointed him into a room, asked if he needed anything and then left him. He decided he would ask the doctor if he he had heard of anything like what he had read. The doctor walked in,

“Hi, I’m Dr. Tomko”

“Ot”, they shake hands, “nice to meet you”.

“So what’s the nature of your visit?” He was typing information into a computer.

Ot stops and looks at the doctor. Tomko turns his head to see why he hasn’t answered, he sees his leg, “Oh I see.”

“It was amputated about a month ago and I was told to come see you about getting a prosthetic leg.”

“Okay well I’ll take a look at it. I don’t know if you know but not everyone is a good candidate for a prosthetic.” He paused to look at Ot’s reaction, he wasn’t happy.

“I need to be able to walk again. My whole life revolves around my legs, it’s bad enough that I’ll never be able to compete again, let alone walk!” He was yelling now. The doctor looked surprised.

“Do I know you from somewhere?”, the doctor asks.

“Yes, I won gold in the 100 mile dash in the 2012 olympics.”

“Oh yeah, I think you’re on my cereal box”

“Yeah that’s great, my leg?”

“Right, let me run a few tests and we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

“Whatever you need.”

After being poked and pinched, tugged here and pushed there, and many needles later, the doctor came back in.

“What’s the news Doc?”

“It looks good. Your cut has healed nicely, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of aggravation from the spoke that did this in the first place. I think we could even get you fitted for one today if you are up for it?”

“Are you kidding me? That would be great!”

“Okay, do you have any other questions?”

“Actually yeah, one. I read somewhere that a man programmed his prosthetic leg to be… bionic?” The doctor seemed to get nervous when he heard this.

“I’m not sure where you heard that but do us all a favor and forget you did.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means forget it!”

“Am I missing something.”

“You’re missing a lot and be thankful you are.”

Ot does as he’s told. He finishes his appointment and calls his driver. He gets back in the car and can’t stop thinking about why the doctor was so abrasive when he asked about the bionic leg. The doctor told him to return the next day to get his prosthetic leg, and he does. When he gets there a man in a black suit with a white shirt, black tie and perfectly shined shoes standing at the door. Ot pays him no attention and walks in but the man stops him.

“Are Ot Muller?” he asked

“Um, who’s asking?” Ot responded

“The United States Government.”

“What do you want with me?”

“Are you him?”

“Yes…”

“Please come with me.” The man in the suit shows him to his car. Ot gives a little nod to his driver who has now exited the car and looks about ready to pounce if needed.

Ot get’s in the car, “Where are we going?” there was no response. He started to regret his decision but then again why would the U.S government want him, it’s not as though he did anything wrong. They pulled into a tunnel that spit them out on a runway. Ot’s eyes grew to the size of oranges. The fear rushed through his veins as he didn’t expect to be taken. He just thought he would talk to someone over the phone. They pulled up infront of the plane and the man in the black suit opened the door and told him to board the plane. Ot did as he was told. Once they were aboard the plane Ot saw someone sitting in a chair facing the wrong way, as they walked towards the back the man turned around to face them.

“Good afternoon Ot” said the man

“Mr. President?!”

“Sorry for the abrupt way you were brought here but it was very important that we meet face to face, as soon as possible.”

“What am I missing? Why is it so important that I meet you? I mean you’re the president, what do you want with me?!”

“Well I must say I’ve been a fan since the olympics. I thought you ran that race impeccably. But the real reason you are here is because you have been exposed to some information that you were not supposed to be.”

“Are you talking about what I said to Dr. Tomko? I didn’t realize it was sensitive topic and if it is going to get me in some sort of trouble I can forget I ever read it…”

“No, no, no, we wouldn’t want you to do that. We want to enroll you in a secret service program that would use your prosthetic leg as a weapon.”

“How can I use my prosthetic as a weapon?”

“Well we would program it to be able to… There are some things we have to take care of before we get into all of the details.”

They were on the plane for about 45 minutes talking about the olympics before the captain came over the loudspeaker and said they would be landing soon.

“Where are we going?”

“Look out your window” replied the President.

Ot looked out the window and saw green lawns with perfectly trimmed hedges surrounded with flowers of all different colors. Finally he saw a big building with rows and rows of windows. The house was perfectly white and had an american flag on top.

“The White House?!” Ot asked . The President smiled and nodded his head. They got off the plane, walked across the lawn to a door that was being held open by two dressed officers.

“Welcome to my home,” said the president.

“You have a lovely home,” Ot said, as he looked around the room.

“Thanks. I hate to pull you away even before you settle in but we have a lot we have to talk about.” He guided him down a hallway, down steps, left, right, up, down, right, through another door that led to yet another door that was sealed close. There was a man guarding the door put his thumb on a pad that unlocked the door. Ot walked in, “what is this pla…” he turned around to face the president but realized he wasn’t there. “Hello?” There was no response. He looked around. It looked like a tin can. The door unlocked again and a middle aged man walked in with a brief case.

“Who are you?” Ot asked

“I’m your worst nightmare… Ha I got you! You should have seen your face!” Ot just stared at him blankly. “Sorry I’m Henry Davis. I work for the president. I’m here to give a thorough exam of you and see how you function.”

“Okay, well, here I am. What do you need me to do?”

“I just need you to be yourself.” Henry pick up a needle and flicked it.

“Woho there! What the hell is that for?!”

“It puts your mind into different situations that you may have to face while an agent in order to make sure that you can handle it.”

“I hate needles” Henry walked over to Ot, Ot jumped back. “Really. I hate them.”

“Well then don’t think about it.”

“How am I not supposed to think… Ow!”  

“See that wasn’t so bad. Now count to 10 please.”

“Fine. one… two… three… four… fi… ve… si…” he was asleep.

“Ahh they go quicker every time. Maybe I gave him too much, we shall see.”

Ot opened his eyes and to see a pretty young girl fly past him. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that it was hot and dry. He looked around and saw nothing but mountains and below was covered in sand. Another car zoomed past but this one was closer to him than the last. He started to walk down the hill thinking there would be someone that could tell him where he was. There was a faint buzzing sound in the distance but he couldn’t place it. It seemed to get closer and closer, so he turned around. There were 5 men on motorcycles coming at him at what seemed like 95 miles per hour, he dove to the side. He rolled to try and get out of the way of them but rolled off of edge. As he was falling he noticed a button on his belt that wasn’t there before. In a last hope to save himself he pushed it. It sent something flying from his prosthetic leg, which he didn’t have before, into the cliff. He hung from his one leg. He realized that there were all different kinds of buttons on his leg. He started to click them, he found one that was like a jet pack and allowed him to hover over the surface. He finally got close enough to the ground to just fall. When he hit the ground woke up.

“How was it?” Henry asked.

“What do you mean how was it? I almost died!”

“And how did that make you feel?” Henry was holding a clipboard and was walking around Ot writing his observations.

“It scared the living daylights out of me!”

“How did you survive?”

“I pushed all these buttons that were on me.” He looked down to see that he had a prosthetic leg. “Where did this come from?”

“Everything you were going through was being broadcasted to a panel that was determining if you were suited to protect your country, when they decided you were, we operated.”

Ot just looked around the room. He saw no one. He heard a phone ring. Henry answered it.

“Hello? Yes… Yes… Right away, Sir. Yes… As you wish.” He hung up. “Ot come with me.” He banged on the door and it opened. Ot followed Henry down the hallway back the way they came but then down a flight of stairs. When they go to the bottom, Henry ordered him to put on the clothes that were laid out in front of him. Henry walked out of room and closed the door behind him. Ot looked down at the floor and started to get dressed. He realized he had just walked all the way down the hallway and got a rush of energy. He realized these people had granted him his one true wish and for that he would do anything to repay them. As he finished getting dressed Henry walked back in.

“Are you ready for your first mission?”

Ot nodded and followed him out the door.

Nuestra Casa Perfecta : Diseñado por Ajanae Mills y Arielle Moore y Shawn Durkin

Nuestra casa perfecta es en Filadelfia, PA y es una mansión. La casa es muy grande y fuera tiene un piscina, un patio trasero, un jardín, y una pista de tenis también. En el primer piso es la sala, la cocina, y la sala de juegos. La sala tiene un televisor, una sofá, y muchas ventanas para la luz del sol. Es muy bonita. En la cocina, tenemos nuevos electrodomésticos y encimeras de mármol. Hay un comedor con una mesa y seis sillas para los huéspedes. En la sala de juegos tenemos los nuevos juegos y consolas.  Hay baños en cada piso y hay dos baños en total.

En el segundo piso son dos cuartos. El primer cuarto es grande y tiene una cama del rey, un pupitre, pisos de madera, y una computadora. La cama es bien diseñada por profesionales y es muy elegante. En el segundo cuarto tiene un similar diseña pero con diferentes colores y patrones. Cada cuarto es muy grande y amueblado bien. Hay dos más baños en el segundo piso y un gimnasio. El gimnasio tiene una trotadora y otras suministradores para el mejor la sesión de entrenamiento. Finalmente, hay un garaje para los carros. Tenemos una lavadora y secadora para nuestra ropa. Con cada parte, nosotros encontramos nuestra casa.

Este es el primer piso y patio de casa ( 3D Version )

2D Version :

Este es el segundo piso de la casa, que incluye un balcón ( 3D Version )

As you may or may not know for my You and the World project I decided to bring awareness to what is in Fast food. In my first blog post I explored the ins and the outs of different fast food restaurants researching what’s actually in their food rather than what they tell us and what we believe is in our food. What fueled my project is I feel that people don’t know what is in their food when they eat from fast food restaurants. What I wanted to do with my project is bring awareness to what’s in their food and hopefully stop people from eating so much of it. In my Original Research I decided to do a survey to show that people don’t know what’s in their food. In didn’t turn out as well as I thought it was but it did prove that some people don’t know what they are eating and it’s sad. What I hope to do with my agent of change is hopefully change this and help my generation out.

For my agent of change I decided to bring my project to the SLA hallways and social media. For the first step of my agent of change I made a twitter account for my project. Social media has been such a key component in this generation’s lives and I thought what not a better way to bring awareness to my issue than social media. I came with a hashtag for people who followed the page and were really passionate about it and wanted to join the movement. Here’s a snapshot of the twitter page.

Although there’s not that much of a following now it’s a gradual thing and hopefully soon there will be a huge following and everyone will be hashtagging #ChickensDontHaveNuggets in no time. But I didn’t just stop with the twitter account, Step two of my project was bringing it to the SLA hallways. I decided to show a picture of a 12 year old McDonald’s Hamburger. You would think after 12 years there would be some type of mold but there wasn’t a spot. The burger looked exactly the same. What I put on the posters around school is that picture and the twitter page for my awareness campaign. Here’s what the poster looks like below.

What I hoped to accomplish with this is having students all around SLA looking at my poster and feeling disgusted but educated. Not much has changed now because it is only the beginning but even now I hear from some of my peers that they have taken a strike on eating certain fast foods because of my blog post and the information that I provided. Just hearing that makes me want to make this more than just a English project.

Throughout this whole project I’ve had mixed feelings about it because even though it is a great topic for this project there isn’t much you can change about it because some people aren’t willing to change. No matter how many disgusting facts you tell them they’re still gonna eat the food. But I’m still willing to fight for the cause. I feel like this project there are countless things I could do better because with this kind of topic there really isn’t a wrong way to go for me. But if I had to do something better or change something it would be my Agent of Change. Although it was a great idea and it turned out great I just wish I did something that could’ve make a bigger impact but I’m my biggest critic so who knows. But all in all I’m happy with my project and how it turned out. Maybe now some people know what’s in their happy meals.

On my first blog post I introduced the topic I researched, ELL(English Language Learners) bullying. For the part of the project I went over to my old school where I interviewed one of my old teachers about my topic. The seconds blog post was all about the interview and what went on during it. I also did more research. So, for my Agent of Change, I went back to my old school to give a presentation on ELL bullying. This school has a lot of ELLs and I figured they had experienced this problem.

Usually when you are reading/watching something about bullying, you expect statistics that show how many students were bullied and things like that. Well, during my research I learned that people haven’t talked about the bullying of the ELLs. There needs to be more articles written about that and more publicity about it so the people are aware that it’s a big problem. There were specific examples but very small numbers.

I wanted to make a change by spreading the word and letting people know that ELL bullying is a very serious problem. In order to do that I contacted one of my old teachers and we talked to the principal of the school. He agreed for me to go there and give a 45-min presentation on ELL bullying. If you would like to see my presentation, take a look.

About thirty five people attended my presentation. As I was getting everything together I heard some of the students say “Why are we here?” or “Ugh… another bullying presentation!” I turned around and I explained what I was about to present. I told them that it wasn’t just about bullying, but ELL bullying. Bullying that happens to students like them. Then suddenly, they were all paying attention and became more interested.

During my presentation a teacher, Mr. Dale Perkins, helped me a lot. He explained more thoroughly the things that I was saying because some of the students couldn't understand. He also helped me with the activity at the end of the presentation. We passed out four poster boards and we told the students to write mean things on them. At first the students were kind of shy but then, after a few words, they starting writing so many things. Then we collected those papers and passed out four other poster boards, but this time they had to write nice things. The students started writing nice word and everyone wanted to write something. After that, I took the posters that had mean words written on them and ripped them apart. I told the students that the words had no meaning and did not matter. Then, I took the posters that had nice words on them and we all read them out loud.

While the world has many issues going on, one huge component is the trouble with literacy- or, rather, the lack of literacy. Literacy rates are extremely low, especially in places of severe poverty. Without reading and writing skills, it is impossible for those in desperate situation to be able to break out of them. In one corner in West Philadelphia, there’s an elementary school desperate to make a change. With the support of several groups in the neighborhood, Lea Elementary is combatting literacy and promoting reading as much as they can. In the past few weeks, I’ve had the honor of being able to join in with their efforts to help the school.

The first event that I was able to participate in was a book giving with the first grade at Lea Elementary. Myself, along with several other volunteers, brought over donated books to the classrooms in the school, and sat with kids as they chose a few to take home with them. We were able to have conversations about the stories, help the kids choose books that were on reading level, and maybe most importantly we were able to see the genuine joy these students had for reading. Every single kid was excited and enthusiastic about the idea of being able to take home a few books, and seeing the delight on their faces was a great experience.

The next event that I participated in was a dinner to honor the tutors that volunteer at Lea every week, working on their time off to help these kids grow and learn at a pace that works for them. It was such a joy to get to talk to these tutors, hear their stories, and get to know them more. We also worked together on figuring out a book order for all of the students in the tutoring program. A few different sources in the neighborhood have donated money that has made it possible to fund these tutoring functions, and we are trying to put together a bundle of books for the kids to take with them over the summer. Working with the tutors, we were able to come up with some great options for all the kids.

It’s really been such a great experience working with the students and faculty at Lea Elementary. This school has come so far in just the few short years that I’ve been in the neighborhood, I cannot wait to see where it’ll go next.

Finding information on my topic was really easy, considering this Teen Peer Pressure affects lots of teens around the world. So, overall information was one of my “Glows” of my project. However, I wish I could find full interviews with teens that have been a victim of peer pressure and discussed on how this issue changed their teen lives. I mostly found some videos with researchers on the issue talking about it and answering questions like why this issue consistently affects teens. On Teen Peer Pressure, I would like to gather more information on how to avoid it. From research I came to a conclusion that since every teen is different in their own ways, some find it easier or harder to say “no” and ignore the presence of the pressure from their peers.  

For my Original Research, I created a survey for my fellow peers to read and answer. It went well overall, which is another “Glow”, but I should of gave it more attention by alerting more of my peers that I had a survey from them to answer honestly, which I can admit was one of my “Grows.” However, I did expect the results to be what they was, which kept me on track for what I wanted to do for my Agent of Change, which the goal was to help teens with figuring out the tools to avoid the pressure and having the confidence to know you can do it. If I could do it over, I would make another survey along side of the one I made. Create another survey, but goes in deeper on real-life situations that teens have experienced.

Change

In both my blog post #1 and blog post #2 I gave a lot of research on homelessness. In blog post #1 i gave a lot of information on the different types of people who become homeless easily. I gave rough estimates on the percentages of the different types of people who become homeless for example, veterans, children under the age of 18, people experiencing chronic homelessness and etc.  I wish i had found a lot more information on the homeless spikes that cities use to prevent the homeless from staying there. I also wished I had found more information on homelessness in the past compared to homelessness in the present. I want to know more about how homelessness originated.

In blog post #2 I reflected on my original research. I decided to survey people on their stances and opinions on homelessness. It went not as I expected. I expected more people to not care about homelessness but instead they actually did care which isn't a bad thing. Somethings I would change would most likely be the questions. I feel like the questions were too broad and general. Maybe if I created more in depth questions it would've been more valuable research

For my agent of change I decided to go out in public and give money to the homeless. It was a great experience and but I was very nervous. I hope I did give the impact i wanted to give. I was aiming for the homeless people who recieved my ¨care package¨ and my word of advice to pass on that hope to motivate others. I believe that words is more valuable than items and actions. I hope I gave the impact i aimed for considering that i can't determine that at the moment.

Esto es nuestra casa! Nuestra casa es mucho modern y fabulosa. La casa está es en una gran área. Está casa mas grande. casa es 1500 pies cuadrados. Esta casa es muy nueva y apenas vivió. está construido en un estilo moderno atractivo por un gran arquitecto.La casa es en Nueva York, Nueva York y es muy muy cerca de parque central. También hay muchos supermercados, lugares de interés y gente muy cool. Lo que solía ser propiedad de Bill Gates. Sabes que quieres vivir aquí. Sabes que necesitas para vivir aquí. Esto casa es MUY barato y cerca de paradas de autobús. Una escuela es MUCHO cerca la casa, y la escuela es perfecta! La área es perfecta por los niños y mascotas. Una familia grande o Una familia pequeña puden vivir aquí. Esta casa es perfecto por mucho personas!

Nuestra casa es fabulosa y muy bonito. Cualquiera ser afortunados de vivir en esta casa espectacular. Tiene una gran habitación, con una cómoda cama tamaño king. La cocina tiene un dos lavabos, una nevera, una estufa y un horno. Todo funciona a la perfección y de nuestra estufa cuece los más deliciosos dulces. Nuestro comedor es precioso, se puede comer con estilo. En nuestra sala de estar hay un 70-pulgadas televisión, libros, y un acogedor sofá. Uno de los lugares más atractivos de la casa es el patio, que le da acceso a una increíble y preciosa vista. Hay dos sillas, una mesa y el clima es perfecto todo el año, por lo que cualquiera puede disfrutar del patio cuando quieran. También tenemos muchas flores y árboles alrededor de la casa. Hay un increíble jardín detrás de la casa donde podrá disfrutar de una copa y relajarse al final del día. No sólo es una casa hermosa, pero el barrio es interesante y muy seguro, con muchas atracciones. No se arrepentirá comprar esta casa.

Esto es nuestra casa! Nuestra casa es mucho modern y fabulosa. La casa está es en una gran área. Está casa mas grande. casa es 1500 pies cuadrados. Esta casa es muy nueva y apenas vivió. está construido en un estilo moderno atractivo por un gran arquitecto.La casa es en Nueva York, Nueva York y es muy muy cerca de parque central. También hay muchos supermercados, lugares de interés y gente muy cool. Lo que solía ser propiedad de Bill Gates. Sabes que quieres vivir aquí. Sabes que necesitas para vivir aquí. Esto casa es MUY barato y cerca de paradas de autobús. Una escuela es MUCHO cerca la casa, y la escuela es perfecta! La área es perfecta por los niños y mascotas. Una familia grande o Una familia pequeña puden vivir aquí. Esta casa es perfecto por mucho personas!

Nuestra casa es fabulosa y muy bonito. Cualquiera ser afortunados de vivir en esta casa espectacular. Tiene una gran habitación, con una cómoda cama tamaño king. La cocina tiene un dos lavabos, una nevera, una estufa y un horno. Todo funciona a la perfección y de nuestra estufa cuece los más deliciosos dulces. Nuestro comedor es precioso, se puede comer con estilo. En nuestra sala de estar hay un 70-pulgadas televisión, libros, y un acogedor sofá. Uno de los lugares más atractivos de la casa es el patio, que le da acceso a una increíble y preciosa vista. Hay dos sillas, una mesa y el clima es perfecto todo el año, por lo que cualquiera puede disfrutar del patio cuando quieran. También tenemos muchas flores y árboles alrededor de la casa. Hay un increíble jardín detrás de la casa donde podrá disfrutar de una copa y relajarse al final del día. No sólo es una casa hermosa, pero el barrio es interesante y muy seguro, con muchas atracciones. No se arrepentirá comprar esta casa.

La casa que hemos diseñado para el bosque, hay muchas ventanas y estar al aire libre. La casa fue construida hace poco por lo que la construcción es segura. Todos las habitaciones son grandes y limpiar. El precio no importa con un lugar como este  

Nuestra casa se hizo para una o dos personas. Tiene dos baños, dos dormitorios, un salón, una cocina, una oficina y un pequeño comedor. Nuestra casa está hecha principalmente de madera y ladrillo. Tiene muchas ventanas grandes para que los residentes pueden ver la vista. De espacio al aire libre, la casa está rodeada de bosques y hay dos porches para que los propietarios pueden disfrutar del aire fresco en la casa. En el sótano hay un dormitorio completamente amueblado y baño para invitados.