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For my You & The World project I decided to focus on renewable energy. In my previous post I wrote about different solutions, like innovative technology, how we have to implement those solutions, and the plans and demands for change that have been made within the past few years.

An organization that stuck out to me was a company called Pavegen. They create kinetic tiles that capture the energy of footsteps when people walk on them. I briefly talked about them in my last post, saying that their tiles have lit up soccer fields and airport hallways. Although these tiles can’t make everything renewable, they are a part of the change that we are moving towards. We have to switch to renewable energy, and innovative technology is a way we can do it.

For my Agent of Change I decided I wanted to reach out to Pavegen for a possible project. I thought their technology was really cool, and wanted to see if it was possible to put these kinetic tiles in SLA. My idea was to see if we could have a hallway with these tiles for students to power the lights.

I first looked at Pavegen’s website more, and saw that they have a section for education specifically. They have put these tiles in some schools already, and have an email specifically for education enquiries. So I decided to email Pavegen about my project.

I didn’t get a response, and later saw that an automatic one had gone to my spam telling me to fill out a project enquiry on their website. So, I went to the site and filled out the enquiry. I set up a meeting with Mr. Kamal to talk about what he thought about the project as the Engineering teacher. He told me about corporate sponsors and how they could help if we had to fund the project. He helped me fill out the project inquiry, and I submitted it.

I then got an automatic response email to the project enquiry. I haven’t gotten a response back, which is okay, so I don’t have anything else I can do. But it was still interesting to learn about and reach out to a company that’s creating innovative technology for a more sustainable future. It was exciting to email a company that is creating sustainable technology. And it was fun to brainstorm about making SLA more renewable. Even though this specific project didn’t work out, I’d like to continue thinking about renewable energy, and maybe think of other ways that SLA can be more sustainable.

I liked this project a lot. Even though I wasn’t able to do a complete project, I still enjoyed learning about renewable energy, and reaching out to a company. I think I did everything I could for this specific project, I reached out to the company multiple times, and the rest was relying on their response. I could have made a back up plan, such as informing others about renewable energy, or other sustainable ideas. But I wanted to focus my work on a possible big project. My project was just an idea, and there’s a lot left to do. It made me think about making SLA a more sustainable school, and possible projects that could happen in the future. I hope that next year there can be sustainable projects, that potentially involve renewable energy, at SLA.

Here is my annotated bibliography

In my previous post, I discussed how Tik Tok is one of the biggest social media platforms at the moment. Users and content creators are attracted to the platform for its easy outlet of creativity allowing for people to express themselves in various ways. However, not all that glitter is gold when users begin to feel silenced or limited when speaking about important issues like police brutality and much more. Furthermore, when the algorithm and for your page begins to feel like yet another thing ostracizing Black people and their advocacy for different issues.
After conducting research and looking deeper into the issue. I wanted to find a way to make my agent change something that reaches a larger audience so I thought that the best way for that to happen would be through a social media style ad campaign. So, on April 29, 2021, I launched black creators on tiktok an Instagram page targeted to share Black voices, stories, have deeper conversations and shed light on small black creators on Tik Tok. I was so excited to launch this page so I immediately got to work on the design and followed a weekly schedule. For the design of the website, I wanted something simple but aesthetically pleasing so I chose a periwinkle and white theme. This ended up turning out to be really great and I created all of my own original posts on Canva. For my posting schedule, I chose to post on Tuesday and Thursday because then I could upload the post during English class. So, I decided to get creative with the posting schedule making Tuesdays “Tune in Tuesdays” and Thursdays “Threaded Thursdays” where I would post my threads. “Tune in Tuesdays” would revolve around conversation and people sharing things they have learned from the week. My goal for the page was to make a positive change whether that be on a small or large scale to the Black creator’s experience on Tik Tok. I wanted to share my research with others and realized having this page was the best way. For me, this project was different because rather than just talking about these issues we were given the opportunity to take action to change them. I learned a lot about myself through this project like the fact that I really enjoy designing things and working on things over a long period of time rather than rushing something in a tight time frame. I am hoping to continue this project on my own time outside of class because I envision it going so far so I really want to continue my work with it. Although, I haven’t received the publicity that I wanted when I started this project I will keep working to get it to the platform it needs to be at. However, if I could pull one thing I wish I would’ve done it would have been following through with the choice to advertise the page on the advisory memo because I know many people have social media so maybe that would have helped with the issue of growing the platform.

annotated bibliography

This image displays the first post on @black_creatorsontiktok which is just a welcome message

This image displays the first Tune in Tuesday post on @black_creatorsontiktok which is about sharing something you learned

This image displays the page as a whole and how it looks.

Men’s mental health is an often undervalued topic when it comes to mental health. Millions of men suffer and die from mental illness each year. 78% of all suicide deaths are from men. 49% of men feel more depressed than they admit to people in their life. Many men often feel as though they are burdened to not talk about their feelings and hold them inside. That’s part of the reason why often when you see a man cry you ask him “why are you crying”. It’s because you’re not used to seeing a man cry. One of the things that causes a lot of mental illness for men specifically is the fact that they feel that they can’t talk to others about it. They have to hide it and not show their true emotion because society will portray it as “non-masculine”. Men’s suicide rates are 3.6% times higher than women and it’s because women have an easier time talking about their feelings than men. Society has so many standards and expectations for men to live up to. Men feel as though they can’t talk to anyone about their feelings so it becomes very hard for them to share sensitive stuff and get help. In my opinion, some steps that could be taken towards solving this issue are talking to men more about the issue and offering helpful issues for them to use. Talking to them is a big one, show I guy you know that you can talk to him and that you care about his mental health because it will mean a lot to them. Because guys don’t get lots of compliments or when someone notices something about them in general so it means a lot. Another idea could be improving one’s physical health, improving sleep and eating habits. Breaking out of bad habits can bring on depression-like smoking or drinking. Go out and talk to friends so you can be more social. Personally I feel like this is a very important issue that is not talked about enough because it’s literally killing men and the numbers and statistics are crazy. I chose to write about this topic because a few months ago I had my own personal dealings with mental health issues and wouldn’t want any other men to go through that. It’s very hard and it feels very lonely like you have no one to talk to about it because you feel like you can’t trust anyone. I feel like I wasn’t very effective in making a change in someone else but In myself alone yes because I was able to overcome my depression and sadness. How I feel about this project is neutral. Because on the one hand it’s cool to kinda pursue a topic that means something to you and learn more about it. In addition to that it’s also cool to see what my fellow classmates are working on and what topics/passions they’re interested in. Something I could have done better was doing my interviews and managing my time better when it came to doing the interview. I had intended to interview guys and ask them questions about mental health research and analyze the data. For me I think something that is still left is to maybe interview more guys. Something I am interested in seeing in one of my other classmates is Kyla and Tybria are making a mini course. I think it will be interesting to see how they pursue that and what kind of mark/legacy it will leave for them and the SLA community.

In my latest slate post I talked about the threats that come from homework and how to manage it, but most recently I’ve been trying to start up study groups to help manage people’s stress. These study groups will be in groups of seven students that are already familiar with each other so they are not afraid to ask for help which has been a problem in the past. So this will help encourage students to ask for assistance as this is one good way to eliminate stress. It will also help with time management which is also another tool to fight stress, especially if it’s long term. As you will need to meet once, maybe even two times a week for an hour to study for a test or help one of your peers with their homework. I chose to do my You & The World Project on the stress of homework because it’s something I have experienced in the past, as of many others as well. It’s also a really untalked about subject it’s often overshadowed by many other serious problems. Probably because most don’t know the dangers of it, as I myself didn’t know what it could do until I did research on it. It can cause various mental health problems like, anxiety, and depppresion. It’s one of the silent killers, so I brought more attention to it and came up with a way to combat it, the study group. Which has seemed to work so far for me, as I have studied with my friends to help test it, and was proven successful. I will likely pitch my idea to the princable, hoping to form this club. I will be have using a google slide show to help sponsor idea. I feel like this project has a lot of value that just hasn’t been uncovered yet, as it can benefit many people, not just myself and the students. But the teachers and the families of stressed young ones, as it can bring down many people. I wish for this to be in person as it would be much easier to orchestrate, as of right now I’m online and it is hard to start a club that it primarily done face to face. I hope this club will last once I have graduated from high school so it can help future students, benefiting all and I hope this will inspire other students to bring awareness to this subject and hopefully it can get talked about at other schools as well as community centers. This will be one way to help defeat not just anxiety but stress as a whole.

In my previous post I wrote about some of the research I did about my topic which is homeless addicts. I found out that many people have stereotypes about homelessness. One of the most common stereotypes about homelessness is addiction. Most people assume that they choose to live on the streets, which for some could be true but 90% of that is false. Furthermore, I mentioned in my previous post about young people that become homeless addicts. It is discouraging but in reality, many older homeless addicts advise them to have a great life and not become homeless nor an addict. Additionally, in my previous post, I mentioned a woman who spoke about her past and current adversities. Now, she offers advice to young people to have a different life than her. My goal with this project was to help homeless addicts because it’s so sad seeing them struggle. I shared a picture of a group of teenagers that gave out pizza to homeless addicts. This act of kindness reminded me of a similar action I experienced before. I researched possible ways that the community and I could help with this issue.

This is the picture that I showed from my previous post and they inspired to do the act that I chose to do for this project.

There are many different types of organizations within our community. Since we are looking at two separate issues, homelessness and addiction, which are two individual problems, I needed to search for an organization that deals with both. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any; however, I found one organization that helps people with addiction which offers counseling and resources to support them. Many organizations or rehabilitation centers are not known. Even if these facilities aren’t the right resource for every case, there are tons of rehab centers that can be chosen from.

This is the picture of the place I went to donate supplies. (Not my photo)

On another side, I researched organizations that serve homeless people. One of the most known organizations is Project homes Project homes accept donations like clothes, food, and even money. They help give back to the community in so many ways, and for this project, I decided that the best way I could help is to collect supplies from some of my friends to donate. Even though it was not a drastic change, it is significant enough to start by donating the supplies I collected to Project homes. I enjoyed my experience of giving back and helping someone in need. The only thing that wasn’t a success was getting many people to help me collect supplies. Something I learned was that not everything seems like what it is and to never judge how someone looks or their stability. In general, this could be about me or anyone else, but to never judge someone’s situation, If you don’t know what they’re going through.

These are the supplies I collected from friends and family, including: hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, breakfast bars, and water bottles.

Looking back on my project, something I could’ve done better is spreading the word more on collecting supplies and reaching a larger audience. Moving forward, we need to remember to come up with different ways to help and to not lose momentum because a lot of people help and don’t continue helping.

In my first You & The World blog post, I discussed the mental part of addiction, how it affects your brain, and what specifically in your brain causes you to fall into addiction. I also covered how addiction affects your whole life; relationships, friendships, and career. The last thing I addressed about addiction was how it directly relates to crime and the way addiction ruins your will to be a good citizen. You can find the link here if you missed it.

As I continued researching about the issue, I started digging deeper to understand the ways America is fighting addiction, and I formed my own opinions on each tactic.

The first source I came across was “10 Ways to Combat America’s Drug Abuse Problem”. In this source, the author focuses on ways to support recovering addicts, and also ways that America could prevent deaths at the hands of addiction. They start by listing ways to reduce addiction deaths by doing things such as: providing easier access to Naloxone (a nasal spray that blocks deadly respiratory suppression caused by many drugs) and identifying who is making these deadly drugs easy to access. The author then lists ways to prevent addiction in general: spreading awareness and education to people around the country. Some of the last tactics the author suggests consist of making access to rehab easier and bettering medical treatment for addiction. The author concludes with a reminder to keep hope and understand that recovery isn’t easy, but it’s possible.

I believe that this first article’s advice for combating addiction is incredibly helpful and very informative. I think addressing it in a way that would prevent addiction as well as supporting people who are already struggling with it is smart.

The second source I read is titled “Ways to Increase Awareness About Addiction and Rehab”. This article discusses ways to personally raise awareness about addiction on your own. It starts with suggesting education upon yourself and others. It also talks about getting involved with the community and helping spread the message. Following legislation surrounding addiction is suggested as well, and the article emphasizes that every voice counts when it comes to addiction and the government. The article concludes by explaining that sharing your story with addiction is incredibly helpful to yourself and others.

I think this article is also very useful when educating yourself on how to spread awareness about addiction. It mainly focuses on the idea that every person and every voice matters, which I totally agree with.

What I did for my agent of change was donating to an organization that directly helps people recovering from addiction. I gathered a good amount of necessities (suggested from the organization for donating), and I dropped it off. I chose to do this because I figured it was the most I could do that would actually mean something. I didn’t want to donate money because I wanted to ensure that the things I donated would be actually directly helping people and it would be more personal. The experience was pretty easy, but it was really fun and it felt like I was making some sort of change or difference, even if it was small.

I felt pretty good about doing this project. I think I chose a good topic and I believe that I did the most I could with the time given to fight the issue of addiction. I learned a lot about the way that addiction affects the brain and I definitely understand addiction on a deeper level than I previously did. I could’ve spread a little more awareness on social media, like maybe if I created an instagram page dedicated to spreading awareness about addiction. I can still do that though. I hope in the future I can collaborate with more people, like collecting donations from my friends and then donating to the organization, but I didn’t think of that very early, so I thought I wouldn’t have enough time/I wouldn’t have enough donations or any at all. I’m still very proud of myself and my project but there’s always room for improvement in the future.

Link to Annotated Bibliography

I decided to make a commentary on sexism because I watch commentaries daily. I find the idea of someone giving facts and opinions on a certain topic, then making it into a video is educational just as much as it is entertaining.

I chose the topic of sexism because up until almost three years ago, I wasn’t the most educated on it. Almost three years ago I was 12 and didn’t know about sexism. I knew the word, but after watching sitcoms that poked fun at the matter, I saw the topic as just another thing people were sensitive about. With this commentary, I wish to educate children to know that sexism isn’t a joke. I wish to teach children that were my age, not to see it the way I did when I was uneducated and ignorant.

Though this commentary isn’t only for kids. I think anyone and everyone could listen to it because it doesn’t hurt to be informed.

One thing I learned from the research was how people CAN see this as a joke. “Thomas Ford and Mark Ferguson once pointed out “Sexist and other discriminatory disparaging humor takes a code for granted: its funniness relies on people recognizing the stereotypes that are the basis for the joke. It asks us to not take discriminatory stereotyping seriously. That’s not going to take the sting out of it.” and I couldn’t agree more.” This was said in my commentary. If this interests you, you should watch the entire thing for more information.

(P.S My computer is acting weird so in order to listen to it you need to click on the paper, download it, then you can listen and you don’t need me to give access)

In my last post, I talked about how anti-Semitism and give a brief description of what is it and how it affects me personally. This was supported by charts of the ADL and other pictures showing it happening. First Post In my ongoing research, some things have been done are done to raise awareness of your issue. Some of them include the ADL becoming more and more public and going into places where more and more people see them and hear their voices. Another example is that antisemitic acts have been getting reported on more and more by mainstream new companies. This is the ADL’s website This site that I am talking about has some of the most accurate data on my topic and much more. My opinion on the way that is improving this scenario is all great. The only problem with these methods is that they are slow. Some ways to fix this is to stop forcing on the collective people but to focus on the singular person to show that Jews and other people are more alike than other people think. This is a new source The source that I have listed is state.gov they are a part of the government and know what they are doing. For my agent of change project, I chose to make a video explaining all I know about anti-Semitism. This is from biblical times to the 1940s to now. I chose to do this project because for one, as the internet becomes more and more examples to people this will be the main way that people look for their brand new information. I chose a youtube video because it is one of the most popular video streaming services and is built into a lot of platforms. My experience doing this was a mix of highs and lows. By far the highs were writing the script. This was fun to do because I had very few rules to hold it in place. Some of the low was waiting for my video to download. (It took over an hour.) And actually posting it on youtube. Some of the more mediocre parts were picking out the music in the background and the image in front of it. That was both hard to do because I wanted something nice to listen to but not something the would ruin the mood of the video. The image was a pain because I wanted something that was nice to look at and not hurt your eyes at the same time. One of the hardest parts of the scripting process was to not get sidetracked. I found myself writing about martin Luther in one sentence and then had to pivot to a new subject in just a few words. This was very changing, to say the least. I hope you check out my video [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd39n9mgxEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIpqwD_gHA) and [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIpqwD_gHA). I hope you learn a thing or two about this issue that we must solve together.

This issue is significant because we are fearing people that are supposed to protect us. This was stated in another [article] (https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793) , “For young men of color, police use of force is among the leading causes of death.” This here picture represents an estimated lifetime risk of being killed by police by force as while as sex. This data is from 2013 to 2018. You can’t make these things up. ( check out this [link] (https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1MQj3Y27CP7t4oNlHg5QpBrF-q92kCF2rmkMvxLnxdOo/edit) for more information). In some of my ongoing research I haven’t really seen any progress to ending police brutality, but I can say I really haven’t seen anyone post something that involves police brutality. I can say that the George Floyd case is finally over and the officer was charged with murder , [link] (https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/05/04/993665655/derek-chauvin-files-for-new-trial-in-george-floyd-murder-case). I decided to create a zoom so African American young people( in the school) could have a safe space to talk about their feelings towards police brutality. It was an ok experience, this is something that I will make sure I keep track of because it’s very important as a young black American. I felt good doing this project, it felt good to learn things that I never knew. I learned that this topic was more touching to me than I thought it would be. I feel like I could have put more effort into this project. What’s still left is us getting our voices heard.

In my previous post, I discussed what problems happen often with police mishandling situations, and what programs we can implement to help stop police brutality. This is a very big problem that has a lot of media attention already, unfortunately because of the people who lost their lives at the hands of police. We see this primarily with the Black Lives Matter movement and I see a lot of people raising awareness over social media. An interesting website I found called Campaign Zero, is a national organization which focuses on stopping police brutality by pushing to pass legislation to create anti brutality laws. They also find solutions to police issues and organize protests. Another website that I found is Dream Defenders. They are based in Florida and believe in creating our own programs to uplift our communities instead of relying on the police. I think these kinds of organizations are the most effective way of making positive change, by really acting on the issue. While being educated is a great step, not using that knowledge to act on a problem is not as helpful as it could be. So this organization is a great way to act on the issue. On raising awareness, I think social media is the fastest way. This could be a problem though because sometimes false information is spread around. But usually I find that it’s a good way to bring attention to a cause. My agent of change was creating a website that educates the reader more on my topic of police brutality and provides sources to how they can help by donating or signing petitions. I decided to share my website in three ways.The first way was by sending out an email to orange stream. Second, I put it on my instagram page in my bio, and lastly I posted it on Padlet. My experience creating this was good. I enjoy making websites so this was a more enjoyable project for me. I was effective in making change in the way so if someone decides to view my website, even if they decide not to donate or sign petitions, they will at least be educated on how we can stop police brutality.

The home page of my website

I learned a lot during this project. I learned a lot about police brutality in general, and it’s terrible effects. I also learned about the big question; how do we stop police brutality? I hear frequently “defund the police” and “police reform” but not actually how to do this and what steps to take. And I’m happy to say I learned a lot of ways to do this properly so that communities and people get the support they need. I felt like researching this was my point of pride in this project. It really is a really interesting topic thats so important. What I liked seeing in other people’s projects is what interested them or what they’re passionate about. Just their choice in their topic alone is interesting. What I felt that I could do better is time management. I struggle at many points to get it in on time. All that is left for this project is hopefully more people click the link to my website so they can learn more about how to stop police brutality.

In my previous SLATE post, I talked about the recent hate crimes going around, affecting the AAPI community during the Pandemic. I gave awareness by talking about the sources that I used to help me give off this information, gave some of my opinions on recent hate crimes, and why these hate crimes are happening towards the AAPI community. But overall, giving knowledge to the readers that there is a major issue that is not being taken seriously.

Now, in my journey of making my website, I came across sources that helped me a lot to make the way my website looks and the information that lies in it. The first source that I used to make my website was NextShark. I couldn’t have made any of this without NextShark. NextShark gave me the information and knowledge, that I needed to help me translate the information back to people who didn’t know about AAPI hate crimes, during the Pandemic. The website is just filled with the latest information on AAPI hate crimes or just typical news in the AAPI community. They also talk about the latest AAPI “business, culture, entertainment, politics, tech, and lifestyle.” - NextShark. The second source that I used for my website, is this gofundme page. I talked about if people wanted to help, to stop these hate crimes, they could donate to that gofundme page. And the people who are raising 8 million dollars for the AAPI community will help “organizations that empower and uplift the AAPI community, with initiatives such as increased ​community safety and support for those affected by violence.” - gofundme description. And finally, the third source that I used was SYSTRAN Translator. I used this translator to make my digital flyer in different Asian languages. I translated my English sayings to Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai. I translated my words into 5 languages because I didn’t want my digital flyer to just have Asian Americans helping the AAPI movement, but elderly AAPI too. The elderly AAPI are always the “easier targets” for hate crimes. But they have been through the thick and the thin, just to live a good life in the U.S. So, giving them this type of information would help the AAPI movement impact others more quickly.

When thinking about what I could do for my Agent of Change project, I didn’t really think of doing something big. For my topic, I knew it was a big issue to tackle. That is still happening in the world. Then the idea of making a flyer about AAPI Hate, and putting those flyers up around my neighborhood seemed like a great idea to me. Then my sister suggested making a website with a digital flyer instead. I wasn’t really into that idea but as I continued thinking about my sister’s suggestion, I thought that it wasn’t that bad of an idea, and I could add more information about AAPI hate. So, I started my website by not knowing what I was doing and wondering if I should change my Agent of Change idea but pulled through. I first started working on the format of my pages, then settled on good-looking formats and went with that. Afterward, I started working on my page backgrounds, and decorate them with Stop AAPI Hate posters, created by artists: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, JULIA KESTNER DESIGNS, colorsofhoney, Danielle Chandler, pauline.c.cuevas, Pi Delta Psi, Michelle Wang, Yuk Fun, Lauren YS, evexcristina, Eric Lee, Tika, and Brett Sayles. To make my website have an indie, friendly feel.

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: JULIA KESTNER DESIGNS, colorsofhoney, and Danielle Chandler

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: pauline.c.cuevas, Pi Delta Psi, and Michelle Wang

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Yuk Fun, Lauren YS, and evexcristina

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Eric Lee, Tika, and Brett Sayles

And, after finishing with all the requirements that I thought my website needed, I began to notice that this was a good first experience making an actual, professional website. I enjoyed researching this topic because being part of the AAPI community made me passionate about reading victim’s stories. I feel that doing this initiative, making a website to get individual’s attention about Stopping AAPI Hate was a great idea after all. I know for my project, I could’ve joined in Stop AAPI Hate protests in Philly, but since of COVID-19, I decided to make my project virtual. Overall, I hope that I affect many people in the SLA community, to know more about the struggle that the AAPI community is facing.

After looking at the final product of my website for a few days, I felt pretty proud of what I made. Even though the process of making my website was pretty stressful and difficult, I still was fulfilled with the final product. I learned that I am capable of more things than I thought. I would’ve never thought that I was able to make a website that might impact other people’s lives for the better good. And, I learned that other people who are supporting the Stop AAPI Hate movement can really benefit by impacting the world. The Stop AAPI Hate community is very diverse and has a lot of different perspectives from this movement. The movement isn’t just to help the AAPI community but could also help other voices that also need to be heard. For example, “Over 85 Asian and LGBTQ+ Groups Band Together to Oppose COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act” - NextShark. Currently, in NextShark news, the LGBTQ+ and the some Stop AAPI Hate organizations have banded together to support each other in ways society never supported them. By helping each other to spread awareness and support for one another.

Some things that I thought that I could’ve done better for my project was, to try to put more information about the Stop AAPI Hate movement. For my “About” page, I put questions that are very essential to learn about the Stop AAPI Hate movement. But specifically, I didn’t get to tell the stories of the victims that were affected by the hate crimes. I knew that there were things that needed to change for the movement to make the AAPI community feel safe. And the things that we could start with: peaceful protests. It could catch the attention of the news, and make the government think about making a new equal rights amendment or act, that will help affect the AAPI but also communities that are in need of being heard. To fulfill their safety and equality. I know doing a protest sounds like a lot because it is. But this is a big issue that we’re dealing with. So, taking big steps for a big issue may just be an acceptable idea for what we’re dealing with.

Finished Annotated Bibliography

In my previous Slate Post I talked about the effects victims have after experiencing being trafficked. Whether they are affected Mentally, physically, emotionally or all three everyone’s situation should be equally justified.

The biggest way victims of sex trafficking are being supported that I found through my research is organizations that give victims the support they need. Some bigger organizations I found are the Center for Human Trafficking Awareness (Florida), National Sexual Violence Resource Center (Pennsylvania), and Project Reach (Massachusetts).

Ways that people who haven’t experienced anything like trafficking but still want to help can always do things like, sign petitions, volunteer with local organizations, educate themselves, and create a club to spread awareness. Those are just a few simple ways you could help! I think these are great ways to educate yourself, others and support victims. The first way to become an ally is to make sure you are educated on the topic. As for the organizations, I also think these are really great sources for any victims that will find comfort in them.

While I was researching for ways to be an ally towards victims of sex trafficking I stumbled across an organization, here in Philly called Dawn’s Place. The mission of Dawn’s Place is to proactively support women affected by CSE and its abuse by providing direct services to women, raising awareness through education and generating prevention, public policy reform, and community collaboration. Dawn’s Place was a local organization, the website made it sound like all of the workers were so passionate about helping these women in need. So I emailed them asking if anyone was available for me to interview and Mary Shay, the program director and trauma therapist responded! So we talked for about half an hour, if you are interested in listening to the interview I will put it at the bottom of this post and hyperlink it here.

The reason I wanted to do an interview was that I think it was one of the best ways to learn more about my topic, and to hear about it from someone who dedicates their life to it and not just researching from google. Ms.Shay was an excellent resource and interviewee. She seemed super passionate about her job and how awesome of a place Dawn’s Place is. I am incredibly grateful I was able to interview her. I hope that through this project I was able to educate others about how much of a negative impact sex trafficking can have on a victim, I definitely learned a lot myself.

At the start of this project I was pretty nervous and had no clue what I was going to do. I am a pretty shy person and didn’t know how well my project would end up because of that. But in the end, I think the Agent of change portion of my project went very well. As for my project as a whole, I am pretty proud of it. I worked really hard and learned a lot about my topic. I think I maybe could have done better in finding resources, not necessarily better ones, just maybe more of them? Obviously, there is so much to do to prevent sex trafficking but like I said earlier and if I am remembering correctly it was also said in my interview, the best way to start is to educate yourself to the best of your abilities.

This is my annotated bibliography

For my Capstone, I 3-D printed a Zen Garden Tray for children who had symptoms of anxiety or showed signs of inattentiveness and impulsivity. since I also wanted to incorporate Psychology and Engineering into my Capstone, I designed my Tray to appeal to 1 of the 5 senses. by appealing to 1 of the 5 senses, my design would teach children how to be calm and mindful.

It would also teach children a grounding technique, and possibly inspire them to do something Engineering-related. on the back of each design would be instructions, showing step-by-step instructions on how to design the product.

For my capstone I decided on doing something I found a rekindled love, I would say I have for. Which was stop motion. I decided to make my capstone about stop motion because it is something that has been in my life for a long time and I knew as soon as we were assigned this I wanted to do something for it to show my work throughout the past year. So in this project, I decided I would go for an informational video that discusses the overall history, and how to make a stop motion yourself that I feel would inspire others hoping to make their own.

Here is the doc where I started everything: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PUyX8_LOUJOPGp5XaKjfmHicusLNqtJzNhWl22JW55c/edit

Since its not letting me post the video into here. here’s the youtube link:https://youtu.be/2Mf-mUfkI94

Artifact:https://howcovid19hasimpactedus.weebly.com/

Intro: For my senior capstone project, I wanted to make a website that talks about how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected the way students learn. In this website, I included my personal experiences with getting adjusted to the change in learning, as well as my struggle with procrastination/productivity. I also included different ways that students’ learning and mental health has been impacted during this time and ways we can provide support for them when things eventually start to open back up again. I wanted this website to be some sort of time capsule into the crazy times that we are living in today while also trying to support students by providing them with resources/ideas to help them during this difficult time.

Annotated bibliography Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mOFvdQMSo5m8CCCv0xUTmuiVfUH6T0QeneXB7qFchJY/edit?usp=sharing