Allison Kelly

Posted by Allison Kelly in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:19 pm

When entering senior year, I had no idea what my capstone would be. I didn't feel interested enough in anything to dedicate a whole school year's worth of work to the project. I was actually one of the very late bloomers when deciding on a capstone idea. I had messed around with a few different topics, but nothing really stuck with me. It wasn't until one day when I was reflecting on senior year and all of the things I wish I knew going into it and I wish I was warned about that it finally hit me. I was going to make a senior year guidebook for the incoming seniors of SLA.

The book consists of 8 chapters. It starts out with an intro to senior year, just a general idea of what to expect. After that, it goes on to tell my experience as a senior. I try to the best of my ability to warn them to steer clear of all of the mistakes I made. I then talk about some junior year necessities. In hopes that all of the advisors will make their advisory read the book over summer, this chapter will help them know what exactly to have done before even entering senior year. I then talk about test prep, creating their own future plans, and some of advice on how to be accepting of situations and motivated to make something work for them. The best chapter of this book are letters written by some other select SLA seniors giving their own stories and advice.

Overall, I have learned that you can always take something away from an experience, even if it didn’t turn out the way you planned or would’ve liked. Maybe the best thing I have taken away from my senior year is the advice that I have crafted into this guidebook to be able to help other seniors out with some information and advice that I wish someone could’ve given me.

Below is an excerpt from the first chapter of The Official Guidebook to Senior Year.

And so that time has finally come. The year in which you have so longed for, the one you thought would never actually arrive. It’s here and it is going to go by faster than you will ever believe. All of our years in schooling are spent wishing for the weekend, the summer, the following year, etc. that we never realize until it’s all over how fast that time we wished away actually went. The scary thing is though, that is time you will never get back. So, I am here to help you not be in the current position I am in, wishing you could start senior year all over, do things differently, and get all that wished away time back.
I think the first place students go wrong when entering senior year is the mindset they have. Senior year has gotten itself this reputation of being the easy year, the year that you just cruise through. I hate to break it to you, but that is not the case at all. From experience, I can actually say that it is quite the opposite. Senior year was definitely the hardest year of high school. All of the work you get in all of your classes seem like so much more than it actually is just because you were expecting all of your teachers to be asking close to nothing from you, and sadly that’s also not the case, well not at least until about second semester. So, not only do you have your normal boatload of work, but it is also the lovely season of college applications.
Now at SLA, being as we are a very small, close school, we seemed to have been warned about everything. We have rarely went into a year not knowing exactly what the challenges entailed. We were warned about how hard physics class would be for most of us, we were warned about which teachers would always catch us on the elevators, which teachers were pushovers and would fall for accepting a google doc link for a submission even though they wouldn’t be shared in for weeks to come, what it would be like to finally be stuck in a Don Marcos or Reddy class, and even how hard junior year would be. But, for some reason, nobody decided to warn us about the hardest year of our high school careers.

Bibliography

5 Minutes of Science : Dangers of Alcohol in College

Posted by Allison Kelly on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 8:23 am

This semester in Science and Society a major part of our class was dedicated to a "5 minutes of science" presentation, usually followed by a class discussion. The goal was for each student to work on this short project alone and present at the beginning of class, one per day. Each student was given a presentation day at the beginning of the semester and then we were on our own from there. The project was entirely open ended. All we had to do is pick any topic in science that interest us and describe the science behind the topic, how it relates to society, and why we chose the topic to begin with. Considering we are all young adults about to go off to college, I decided to do my topic on the dangers of drinking in college. The idea sparked when I heard about a group of young student scientists who were experimenting to prevent some of the dangers that happen to young women when socially drinking. The slideshow I presented ti the class is included below.

McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Page 283

Posted by Allison Kelly on Friday, January 29, 2016 at 9:26 am

The creative scene below was crafted in order to relay what in what my mind had imagined to have been cut from McCarthy's finished version of The Road.

I am carrying the fire. But my fire is not the fire you carry.

Your fire is different?

Yes. Everyone carries a different fire. Even your papa carried a different fire.

Papa and I carry the same fire. We are both good guys.

No you were your papa’s fire. He was carrying you. You need to figure out what your fire is.

But we all have to carry the same one. That’s why we are god guys.

There are no good guys.

My papa was a good guy. I’m a good guy. We don’t eat people.

Eating people makes you a bad guy?

Yes.

How about killing people?

Yes.

Did your papa ever kill anyone?

Yes. But only because he had to. A bad guy tried to hurt me.

Well doesn’t that make him a bad guy too?

I don’t know.

It doesn’t.

It doesn’t?

No. There are no good or bad guys. Just guys trying to survive. Trying to protect their fires.

And my papa was protecting me?

Yes. You were his fire.

So it doesn’t matter that he killed someone?

No because he had to. You were his fire, his reason to live and he couldn’t let his fire go out.

So sometimes good guys do bad things.

Yes.

So you really can’t tell the difference.

No because there is none.

No good guys or bad guys?

No.

Just guys trying to live.

Yes.

Just protecting their fires.

Yes. Everyone is just protecting their own, sundry fires.

Included below is a rationale explaining every choice made for the scene crafted above.

The scene crafted tackles the theme of morality that lingers in such a deranged world. At this point in the book, the boy has met a man willing to take him in, but the boy is determining whether or not he can be trusted. The scene is placed on page 283, in which the book is almost through, in order to show how much older the boy has gotten by the end. It uses this boy’s development of maturity and understanding throughout the book to ease into one of the longest dialogues seen yet. This directly shows the growth of the boy’s character, but does as well entail a lot about the father’s, despite his absence. The man in this scene begins to explain more to the boy in one conversation about the world in which they live than his father had throughout the entirety of the book. This portrays the innocence his father wanted him to keep despite the world they’re living in. It shows the protectiveness his father had of not only his physical being, but of his uncorrupted mind. The addition of the new scene graffles with the question of whether or not there is a difference between good and bad guys in such a world by determining how this fire that everyone seems to be carrying affects their morals. This scene uses the recurring concept of “carrying the fire” to help prove that there is in fact no good or bad guys, just people trying to survive, and in order to survive they need to keep this fire alive. In the scene, the boy is forced to reflect back to a time in which his own father killed someone, causing for him to argue his own definition of what a good guy is. He knows his father was forced to kill the man in order to protect him, and so the man helps to explain that it’s because he was his father’s fire and so it was his job to keep him alive. By keeping the boy alive, he was keeping himself alive because everyone’s fire is their reason for fighting, reason for living. The man goes on to explain that everyone’s fire is different. Everyone is carrying their own fire in which they prioritize over anything else in order to keep themselves going, meaning that sometimes they will be forced to do things considered wrong. The man uses the word sundry to describe the fires. Sundry, meaning several, is most commonly used to describe ingredients, such a herbs, crafting the concept that everyone’s fire is like their own special ingredient. And so, without these fires, no one would be the same.

Q1 Benchmark // Contemporary Kafkaesque

Posted by Allison Kelly on Monday, October 26, 2015 at 11:59 pm

In senior English class, Being Human, we have taken the time in quarter one to read The Metamorphosis and explore the ways in which Franz Kafka’s tale responds to the many “isms” of his day. We each then, along with our partners, went on to create its contemporary equivalent.

The first piece of this project included creating some type of literature in which would be the basis of themes in which the rest of our pieces explore. We were then responsible for crafting a "press release", a visual component portraying our symbols. Next, we created an "audience response", revealing the significance of our work on a contemporary audience. The last piece included the "cultural fabric". This caused for us to have to focus on these themes in a modern era and make all different sorts of connections.

My partner and I crafted, for our literature piece, a kids' novel about a new Disney Princess, Jalicia. Written by a fictional author, Deanna Miller, and theoretically produced by Walt Disney, this new princess of color attempts to teach young children about empathy and cultural and societal appropriation. The press release of this piece of literature was our book cover, including a summary of the novel, and "about the author" section, and fictional, promotional quotes about the book as well.

For our audience response piece we crafted a blog post of someone describing the book and then explaining how the story has "come to life". The blog speaks to the fact that with Halloween approaching and a new, popular Disney Princess making waves, little girls all over the world have been begging their parents to allow them to be Jalicia. This all seems innocent right? Wrong. It becomes evident that these young girls, simply trying to be their new role model for Halloween, are dressing in blackface, showing how the story truly comes to life. A quote from this blog pretty much sums up the situation and then leads the reader to a gallery of photos of fake Facebook comments from fake account showing the different perspectives society may have on the issue.

"In the fairytale, the people of Apathania are being faced with learning to empathize with one another and understand what is appropriate to say and do in society, and it seems society is making these young girls and their parents also learn this the hard way.

Obviously, blackface is nothing to be taken lightly, but is it possible that the intentions of these young girls were innocent and that society may be being a bit too harsh on them? Are the children really at fault here? The gallery below displays just some of society's feedback on the situation."

The cultural fabric aspect of our project speaks to multiple articles and introduces two new books. It first explains how a popular music festival, Coachella, and its influential attire have gotten some celebrities, such as Vanessa Hudgens, into some trouble when it comes to societal and cultural appropriation. It then links to an article all above offensive and racist Halloween costumes. Lastly, it introduces two books, The Mouse That Roared and From Mouse to Mermaid. The first book speaks to the fact of whether or not the Disney corporation is a good influence on children, describing that in the past they have been accused of promoting gender stereotypes and racism. The second is a collection of essays that analyze Disney media through the feminist lens, Marxist lens, and many more perspectives.

All of our pieces were put together on our own, originally designed website. The website goes through each piece and analyzes our overall theme of cultural and societal appropriation. We felt as though with Halloween approaching and costumes such as "Caitlin Jenner" being all the buzz that our topic is extremely relevant. Please feel free to go check out the website for yourselves.

When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 3 - Pahomov - C on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 1:50 am

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “She’s All That”

Both the book, “The Taming of the Shrew”, and the movie, “She’s All That”, prove that men have always looked at women as something to possess and that they feel as though manipulation is an appropriate way to to go about possessing a woman.

In the Shrew, Petruchio wants to possess Katherine for her money, but needs to manipulate her to be the type of girl he can deal with and marry. In She’s All That, Zack wants to possess Laney to win a bet, but also needs to manipulate her to be the type of girl he could deal with and make prom queen. Both men are manipulating these women, but in the Shrew the manipulation is more blatant and Katherine is well aware of what is going on. Whereas in She’s All That, Zack is much more sneaky about manipulating Laney, and even though she had some early suspicions, she isn’t really aware of what is happening. Men have always seen women as an object to possess and manipulate. And with women gaining more rights in society, men have only become better over the years at hiding this manipulation, instead of changing their mindset.

“One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife

(As wealth is burden of my wooing dance),

Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love,

As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd

As Socrates’ Xanthippe or a worse, …

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, the happily in Padua.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Line 67)

In this quote Petruchio talks about how the only thing that matters to him in a woman is how much money she has. Basically, no matter how bad she is, he will deal with her and marry he as long as she’s rich. He speaks about women as though if he makes the decision to go forth and put up with them, then the will be married. He doesn’t speak about whether or not the woman will want to marry him nor does he mention her say whatsoever. If she is rich enough for him to want to possess the woman, then they will be married no matter what.

Zack then finds himself in an extremely similar situation even though he has to have a little bit of help from his friends to come to his epiphany.

In this scene Zack is sulking over the fresh break up with his ex girlfriend as he watches her all over another boy. His friends then remind him of his status at school, top of the class, best jock, etc. Zack and his friends then talk about how he will get over his ex quickly since he can have any girl in the school that he wants considering his status. Zack also speaks about the girls in his school, as Petruchio did, as if they are just something he can possess if he so wants to.

“And woo her with some spirit when she comes!

Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell her plain

She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.

Say that she frown, I’ll say she looks as clear

If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks …

If she deny to wed, I’ll crave the day

When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Line 177)

Petruchio is now going over his plan as to how he plans to manipulate Katherine into being his wife. He speaks of the plan proudly as if he is doing nothing wrong, considering back then he wasn’t since women didn’t have much of a say anyway. This portrays Katherine having no choice and that Petruchio can easily get what he wants.

Zack is then found in almost the exact scenario, only for a different reason.

In this scene, Zack is making a bet with his friends about his plan to manipulate any girl at the school. Different from Petruchio, Zack plans to manipulate a woman to become the perfect prom queen, not the perfect wife. The fact that his friends don’t think it will be so easy for him to do this shows that times have changed and that women do have more of a say and that they may not be so easy to just possess.

“I am ashamed that women are so simple

To offer war where they should kneel for peace,

Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway

When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.”

(Act 5, Scene 2, Line 219)

This over the top speech shows that Katherine is just doing what Petruchio says in order to survive, she doesn’t actually believe what she is saying based on how fast and drastically this being truthful would have made her personality change. Katherine is now very aware of the manipulation taking place by Petruchio considering he didn’t do much to hide it. Women didn’t have much say back then, portraying why Katherine has pretty much accepted the fact that she is being manipulated to become his wife.

Lindy has found herself in the same position as Katherine, but handles it very differently.

In this scene, Lindy has found herself also aware of the manipulation after she is humiliated at a party in which Zack made her go to. Unlike Katherine, Lindy was completely unaware of the manipulation considering how sneaky Zack had to be to make it work. It did start to work, she changed her entire appearance for him and attended a party with the high school kids she hated, but as soon as her earlier suspicions turned out to be true, she objected it all. She does not at all accept Zack’s conditions for her to change in order to be his prom queen.

The fact that Zack almost loses the bet and Laney altogether once she figures out how she is being manipulated shows that women gaining rights in the world has made it more difficult for men to manipulate and possess women considering Petruchio couldn’t lose Katherine since she had no choice. But, Zack does win Laney in the end, after trying a little harder of course, which proves that the idea that movies, novels, etc. still like to play around with the idea that men can manipulate women in order to possess them and have them fall hopelessly in love.

Self and the Changing World Essay

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 3 - Pahomov - C on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Analytical Essay:

Everyone has a past. Everyone is also emotionally connected to their past in some way or another. The past can be what one willingly holds onto or what one is forever haunted by. Either way, these emotional burdens, stemming from someone’s past, always have some sort of effect on their life going forward and the lives of those around them. In most situations, it can be what one uses to help make life altering decisions. The emotional burdens others carry around are often used as motivations in their everyday life, positively and negatively affecting everyone in their path along with themselves.

In the middle of war it makes sense for soldiers to hold onto their past, considering their present isn’t something anyone would want to be living and their future isn’t guaranteed. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross held onto Martha, a lover from his past in which he used as motivation to get through the war. This motivation soon turned into a distraction, which wasn’t what was best for him and his men in the middle of a war zone. “Trouble, he thought - a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha.” (page 11) In this situation, Martha is no longer the motivation to help get him through the war, but is a distraction to take him away from it. Because Cross is not fully present in the middle of this raid, as his mind takes him away from it to think of Martha, one of his men are killed. Cross forever blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender and he now has to learn to deal with this guilt for the rest of his life, showing how the emotional burden from his past negatively affected his and Ted Lavender’s futures.

Making the decision to head to war is a hard one and without some sort of motivation one might never make it. Sometimes the patriotic need to protect one’s country is enough motivation in itself to enlist, but for Tim O’Brien this wasn’t the case. He didn’t believe in the war and found no need to take part in it, but the shame he would feel of himself and of his reputation after his family, friends, and hometown found out that he fled from the war was enough motivation for him. “And right then I submitted. I would go to the war - I would kill and maybe die - because I was too embarrassed not to.” (page 59) O’Brien was already on the run when he made his decision, he could have avoided it all and was close to it. But the people from his past and what they might think of him became his emotional burden, motivating him into the war. There, though, he met new people, experienced new things, and made friendships to last a lifetime, showing how the emotional burden from his past did, in a way, positively affect his future.

Tim O’Brien’s life wasn’t just affected by that one emotional burden, but a few, that seemed to have a trickle down effect. First, once again, it was being drafted.“My conscience kept telling me not to go, but my whole upbringing told me I had to. That horrible summer made me a writer. I don't know what I wrote. I've still got it, reams of it, but I'm not willing to look at it. It was just stuff - bitter, bitter stuff, and it's probably full of self-pity. But that was the beginning.'' The first emotional burden of thinking about being drafted motivated O’Brien to become a writer. It started it all. Then, when in doubt, the emotional burden of what his reputation would be if he fled caused for him to go to the war. There, he experienced things and people in which whose stories he could then let live on through his writing. Without either of these burdens many soldiers’ stories would have never been told.

War is a terrible thing, but surviving it can sometimes be even worse. For most survivors, war itself is enough of an emotional burden to affect their futures. Things they’ve seen and things they’ve done can’t be erased and it can replay in their minds for the rest of their lives. This can be a deadly past to have haunt someone. Norman Bowker was dealing with this burden every day since the war. The death of his war buddy, Kiowa, hit him hard and he never recovered. “ “Speaking of Courage” was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in Central Iowa.” (page 155) This situation has its good and its bad. The emotional burden of the war left Norman in such a bad state that suicide became an option, one that he took, showing how it all had affected his life in such a negative way. But at the same time, the burden helped him motivate O’Brien to write a book full of the war stories Norman thought people had to know. After the war, O’Brien receives a letter from Norman Bowker describing how he doesn’t know how to make his life meaningful after the war. It also included the suggestion for him to write “Speaking of Courage”, telling the stories of good men who could no longer tell them themselves. Norman’s emotional burden did have some positive effects on the lives of others.

Sometimes the past is there to help, and sometimes, to haunt. In all scenarios, though, its effects are inevitable. The emotional burdens can positively and negatively affect someone’s life, and can sometimes even cause something bad for one but great for another. Either way, these burdens from the past can’t be escaped, whether it’s the person holding onto them, or, the person running from them. But it is always up to the person on how they will allow their past to affect and motivate their future.

Narrative Essay:

Entering the front door, I already knew what it was. Before I even seen the ripped up envelope on the counter addressed to my name, or the thick letter, folded into three sections, in his hand, I knew. I could just tell by the look on his face. I had never seen him so happy or so proud. This was supposed to be what I wanted, but I couldn’t shake that feeling of wishing that letter had got lost in the mail, wishing that it would never reach my house so I would not have to deal with the choice that was about to be laid out for me.

Ever since I was little I looked up to my father. I wanted to be everything he was and everything he wanted. One of the two I seemed to strive to accomplish early, whereas the other, I would never be able to.

My father is smart, he always was. And I wanted to be just like him. My father admired it. I think it’s because he feels he had created the monster. I remember, probably as clear as he does, my tiny, toddler body always crawling my way to his book shelves filled with all his old college books. Sitting on the fuzzy carpet in the living room, legs spread, back against the wall, book in lap covering my entire body, I pretended to know what the words said. Flipping through pages and spending enough time on each to make one actually question whether or not I understood some of it. He would tell my mother that I would grow up to be smart. I never had much trouble accomplishing that part, but the fact that besides wanting me to be smart, wanting me to have been a son made it impossible to please him.

Basketball shorts, a t-shirt, sneakers, along with my hair in the ponytail that it never left, was the everyday attire. Choosing to wrestle or throw the football around with the boys on the street while ignoring all the little girls having so much fun with their dolls as my dad watched from the step became a habit. He was as proud as my mother was appalled at the sight of my scraped knees, especially when I was forced to show them in the few occasions I had to wear a dress. But as hard as I tried to be the son that he wanted, there were always those incidents in which I would come running to him crying about something that apparently a little boy just would’ve shaken off, causing for the constant 8 words, “It would’ve been so much easier with sons”. My sister paid no mind to it, but every time he said it was a constant reminder that that was just something I could never achieve.

So I had to stick with being smart and trying my very best in school while also doing good in sports, even though he’d much rather be going to boys’ basketball games, to make him happy, and I did. But even that seemed to get old to him after a while. Running home with another honor roll ribbon on report card day or with stories from the game after a great win went from being responded to with such praise and interest to little “Good Jobs!” just to get me to shut up. Sometimes I wondered if he even realized how hard I tried at everything and just for him. It all never seemed to be good enough. And that is what seem to put a dent in our relationship.

I went from telling him every perk from my day to barely saying a word to him. I don’t even know if he noticed the change. His eyes still never left his laptop in which he worked on all hours of the day, and sometimes I felt that he was relieved he could now avoid the after school conversations in which he would have to pretend to care about. We began to fight about everything, we couldn’t even be in the same room as one another at times. Everyone else in the family said it was because we were the same person and that we were too much alike. This only made me want to show everyone that they were wrong. I now wanted to be nothing like him, which makes little sense saying out loud considering I still continued to do everything he wanted of me, always secretly trying to impress him, only now acting as if I could care less if he noticed. And for this I would never understand. Why I would still want to be like and impress someone who I had grown to hate at times was beyond me.

Our relationship only got worse, but I couldn’t shake the old habit of always feeling the need to impress him or make him proud. What he thought of me was in my head with every decision I made. But I was getting older now, and the decision began to get harder. Impressing him began to conflict with what I wanted.

It was the end of eighth grade now and the transition to high school was all anyone could talk about. The excitement of being in someplace new along with the expectations caused by the constant reminder from anyone looking back trying to relive the better days that “High school are the best years of your life!” made the last few months of grade school seem so long. But I sometimes tended to be more conflicted than excited. The best friends that I had grown up had known since the start of their schooling that they would attend Saint Neumann and Goretti high school to further the Catholic education we had since kids, but my parents were never really sure what they wanted me to do. But my father became very sure of it really fast. He became set on the idea of me going to a Science Leadership Academy in which I would know no one and essentially be surrounded with nerds, but “would receive the best education around”.

Then the letter came. I applied figuring I probably wouldn’t get in, always doubting. Just seeing his face I knew I got in. I hated the idea of it. I wanted to spend the best years of my life with my friends, but the habit of impressing him in the past became a burden I couldn’t shake. It still affected every decision I made, and it wouldn’t be any different for this one. I told him I would go without even thinking, the words just came out.

A junior now, getting straight A’s at one of the best schools around and having the best colleges as real possibilities for myself makes me realize that the choice I had made on the spot, without thinking, years ago had turned out to be a good one. High school is turning out to be some of the best years of my life by still being as close as ever with my Catholic school friends, and by also making some new ones with the “nerds” in which I never would have expected. It turns out that burden from my father had motivated me to make a decision that not only made us both happy in the end, but one that would be responsible for all of the positive things that happen in my future.

Allison Kelly's Revisions

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 3 - Pahomov - C on Monday, November 10, 2014 at 10:25 am

Lots of adults believe that rock and roll is the leading cause for teenage rebellion. To say this implies that teenagers did not act a certain way until a song promoted it. Considering that a bunch of 16 and 17 year olds made up majority of the first rock and roll bands that changed music and that they only had their own life experiences to write about proves that teenagers already acted this way. This behavior now just began to be the topic of songs. The rebellious stage of teenagers' lives has been the underlying enabler to rock music being one of the most successful genres in music.

During the early ‘60s, The British Invasion was the term used for these very successful British rock bands expanding their music to America. These bands, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks, came in with a bang and changed American music forever. George Harrison of the Beatles proves young teens themselves started rock and roll, being that “Two weeks before his 15th birthday, George officially became a member of the band.” It is true to say that not everyone was acting the, “rock and roll” image before the music got popular, but rock didn’t influence teens to act this way, teenagers influenced other teenagers to act this way. Teens and some of their rebellious habits, such as drinking, drugs, sex, and reckless behavior, have been the root of the rock and roll genre and style, and by this music relating to so many and becoming so popular caused for it only to be influential to those who may not have acted this way before they heard the music.

The Who was another band who made their break and carried over their music to America. One of their most famous songs, “My generation,” contains the lyrics “I hope I die before I get old.” This made a huge statement for the teenagers of that generation because of new topics for their music. Rock and roll was hated by parents and the adult generation because it was said that the vulgar and passionate lyrics promoted sex, drugs, and reckless behavior. Some songs, even some classic ones by The Beatles and The Stones, were banned because of certain lyrics. The Beatles’ very famous song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was banned because the initials were thought to have stood for LSD. The younger generation now was not only acting out even more as the songs caught on, but they now held a strong grudge against the parents of that generation considering they were being kept from their beloved music. By stating ‘I hope I die before I get old,” was just more teenagers writing about life experiences. “Getting old” to them meant going against all they loved, rock and roll and the lifestyle it brings.

A teenage rebellion article on TeachRock speaks to the idea that “Rock wasn’t just changing the lives of teenagers, but of everyone in some sort of way. Rock and Roll was an expression of that teen rebellion and of the growing gap between generations.” Parents felt their children drifting away, kids acted out towards adults, and adults and teens began to live in two totally separate worlds that despised the other. The media began to speak on behalf of all adults of that generation being as they were banning these songs. Little did they know is that the more they showed the hatred of the music by the older generation by publicly displaying it the more children got on the bandwagon of it. This only gave the teens something to rebel against. Those who couldn’t relate to this music before were now given a reason to listen to it.

The rebellious stage of teenagers' lives has been the underlying enabler to rock music being one of the most influential genres. If the older generation stopped to think about it, they would realize that the promotion of rebellious behavior does not just involve the rock music that was being blamed, but the media that was actually trying to demote the music as well. Teens started it, parents hated it, and the media ended up helping the side they were directly trying to go against. All in all, the promotion of rebellious behavior gave rock music its success.

Work Cited:

"The Beatles Biography." - the Beginning, the Rise, and the Aftermath of the Greatest Band on Earth. N.p., n.d. W

"My Generation by The Who Songfacts." My Generation by The Who Songfacts. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.eb. 21 Sept. 2014.

"OVERVIEW." Teenage Rebellion. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.

Final Portfolio

Posted by Allison Kelly in World History - Block - C on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 4:39 pm

The passion and struggles people experience and go through when trying to make a change, whether or not the change actually happens, can make a country or group of people stronger in the end as a whole.

During World History this year we focused on the the cultures, traditions, and religions of people all over the world. The topics were always broad and left for us to make opinions about. The commonality all of the topics, I at least saw, was that there was a significant change in the strength of a country or a group as a whole after experiencing some type of change that either benefitted or threatened their culture, traditions, or religion.

Through the year, there were many assignments I was proud of, but the following that I have chose to share with you are ones I feel will help portray to you the overall idea I got from this year’s research, as explained above.

The first assignment I chose to share is a journal entry (page 1) that speaks to the idea of when it is appropriate to criticize another culture. I felt this was important to include because a lot of change that happens upon a country, culture, or religion stems from the criticism of one person. History has shown that in the past that different religions or cultures weren’t respected by one another for being different, but that they were changed.

The second assignment I chose to share is also a journal entry (page 2). This one speaks to the idea of believing in something strongly enough that you are willing to die for it. I felt this was important to include because this initial passion that causes for countries or groups of people to fight back during these changes are what helps things like revolutions. Without this passion, a lot of different religions, cultures, and countries would have been ripped from their roots and changed even more than they are today.

The third assignment is another journal entry (page 3). This one is a response to a poem called The White Man’s Burden. My poem is called What Is The White Man’s Burden. It speaks to Natives and how I interpreted their feelings were towards the changes happening to their culture. I felt as though this was important to include because it gives everything a new perspective. It shows how those who are being changed feel about everything.

The fourth assignment I chose to include is a written response to the French / Haitian Revolution (page 4). I felt as though this was extremely important to include because it focuses on revolutions. Revolutions happen when changes are trying to made and aren’t wanted. For revolutions to even start there needs to be that initial passion, spoken about before. It talks about what makes a revolution successful or not and I believe that after looking at several different revolutions, there is one thing in common. Whether or not the revolution was successful, and regardless of if the goal of the revolution was accomplished , there is still always strength gained after the revolution is over. There needs to be a lot of passion to even begin a revolution and even more to carry one out. Revolutions also come along with a lot of struggles, but this causes so much strength to be gained.

The fifth assignment I decided to include is a poem called The Somebodies (page 5). I felt as though this was important to include because it gives example to the passion that is talked about. It feels as though you are reading from a person who is passionate about a change happening to them.

My sixth and final assignment I chose to include is my quarter 4 benchmark. It is a colonialism exhibit based on Ireland. I feel as though it is a great way to sum up the year because it shows the process at which a country goes through during change. It portrays the passion and exemplifies the struggles. It shows both sides of the story and the strength gained after it all.

Revolution Guidebook Project

Posted by Allison Kelly in World History - Block - C on Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 8:20 am

This unit was all about revolutions and the different things that make them successful and also what makes them different. Several different revolutions, both historical and current, were compared to see what made them work and what was done wrong. There are a number of different variables in making a revolution successful and different, including leaders, strategies, age groups, and time periods. Everyone decided on a question that they would like to explore based on a different topic that they found engaging a made a digital story, including quotes from both historical and current revolutions, to portray the answer that they have found.

For my digital story, I decided to focus on leaders of revolutions and how they can determine whether or not a revolution is successful. I looked at leaders from both historical and current revolutions and compared their strategies to see what seem to work and what didn't. My digital story helped me come to an answer for my beginning question which was 'What Types of Leaders Do Successful Revolutions Need'. My answer pinpoints three major strategies which seem to always help a revolution become more successful.

World History Digital Story from Allison Kelly on Vimeo.

Keystone Pipeline Monologue Project

Posted by Allison Kelly in World History - Block - C on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 8:29 pm

Keystone Pipeline Monologue Project

Part I

In this unit I have learned about the pros and cons of a proposed pipeline that could could potentially make it or break it for some people.The Keystone Pipeline was developed to carry oil from Canada’s oil sands to the Gulf Coast of Texas. This Pipeline is becoming a new national issue that is causing many issues. After watching very biased videos on both sides, it seems that big businesses and companies are the ones for this pipeline considering all the benefits they could get from it, whereas the surrounding homeowners are completely against this idea due to all of the threats it can cause.

Part II

.“If we are truly concerned about carbon, it seems to me building a state-of the-art pipeline which is the most efficient way to get -- to move oil around is the best approach,”

(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june13/keystone_02-18.html)

.“These jobs have been a bright spot in a tough economy for three million American families,”

(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june13/keystone_02-18.html)

.“The company’s claim that KXL will create 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is not substantiated” and “KXL will not be a major source of US jobs, nor will it play any substantial role at all in putting Americans back to work.” In fact, the State Department’s own study, which many pipeline opponents felt was tilted pro-industry, suggests that far fewer jobs will be created and most of them will be temporary and non-local.

(http://blog.nwf.org/2012/09/the-keystone-pipeline-myth-machine-2012-election- edition/)

.In Nebraska, TransCanada’s proposed route cuts directly across the aquifer and through fragile ecosystems geologically similar to the Sandhills region, threatening the livelihoods of local farmers and ranchers, wildlife and millions of people who depend upon the Ogallala. Tar sands oil contains high concentrations of benzene and other carcinogens, which raises the potential for widespread water contamination.

(http://blog.nwf.org/2012/09/the-keystone-pipeline-myth-machine-2012-election-edition/)

.”This pipeline, intended to carry crude oil 1,711 miles from Canada's oil sands through the Great Plains to the Gulf Coast of Texas.”

(http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/10/03/what-are-the-risks-of-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-project)

Part III

Company Owner’s Son-

(Danny, furious and upset, is walking home fast)

“I can’t believe it, I really can’t. Another game, he missed another game! Ughhhh, all I asked is for one time, just one time that he keeps his promise. Of course the day I pitch a perfect game he has another excuse for. I hope that stupid, stupid company of his falls apart once again so then maybe he’ll quit for good!”

(Danny slams the front door shut behind him and begins to walk up the steps, mumbling his responses.)

“I don’t care dad. … Nothing is wrong I just don’t care. … I don’t care about your stupid job, your stupid company, or that stupid project!”

(Danny slams his bedroom door closed and sits at his computer desk.)

“He really thinks I am going to care about anything he says right now! You missed my like best game this year and you expect me to care about some stupid project that will

(makes air quotations)

save your job? Like how will a dumb pipeline save any business anyway? I don’t even know what it is.”

(turns on his compute and mumbles the word “keystone pipeline” as he types it in)

“Uhhh keystone pipeline, oh here we go. Well, um, that’s interesting. I mean, maybe this could benefit both of us, considering if this pipeline does everything it says it will, that means more jobs at his oil business could develop which would allow my dad to hire more staff, giving him more free time to do something, like um, maybe spending some time with his only son. I mean, we also won’t be so tight on money anymore, with daddy’s business booming I could get that new bat I was talking about. Maybe this really could be a good thing! All of his products could finally get out of here in Canada and make its way to the states! He can finally stop talking about himself all the time. Whoah! Umm well I guess here comes all the bad parts. Wait, is this serious? It does say there is better ways to create jobs and get products out there so maybe this isn’t the only option. No, no, no! This cannot be his only option considering all this will do! Of course once again being the selfish person he is, he’s just been talking about all the great and amazing things this project will do and not anything about how it well, for starters poses a huge threat to the environment. No wonder why he never comes to my environmental group meetings at school. Once again, only parent not there. He’s also talking about all the jobs he could create for his stupid company and nothing about all he will be taking away from these poor farmers, or even worse, what it could potentially do to the people living near this pipeline.”

(Looks quickly at the door)

“Oh, um, hey, how long have you been standing there? … Listen I didn’t really mean that I was just upset. … Well it’s hard when you’re never there for me and you’re always wrapped up in your job. … Yeah, about that project, do your research on it dad. It can really hurt people. … No do it now. … Thanks.”

(Turns off computer)

Save Grandpa!!!-

(Alexis runs in talking to her parents from being at her grandpa’s house)

“It was so much fun! … Of course he said I can go back next weekend, he nevers says no. … Well he likes me being there. … Ummm Because he tells me he does. … I don’t know, like what would I do if I didn’t go to his house like every weekend? … But that’s where I wanna be. … Um no, what do you mean? ... Like it’s not even a big deal, what do you mean there might come a time when I won’t be able to go there? ... That will never happen.

(Storms away, but stands around the corner to hear what they say. Begins talking to herself.)

“A pipeline? Why would a pipeline stop me from going to my grandpa’s house? Like what does that have to do with anything? … How is this pipeline going to cause threaten my health and the environment, I’m so confused. … Why would someone build something in Nebraska that could cause this crude oil to leak on my grandpa’s land there? He could get like so hurt from this! … All the farming jobs are put at risk? … Who wants this to happen? ... No, this can’t happen!

(Walks back around the corner in front of her parents)

“Who is making this happen? … Like grandpa could get so hurt from this! … What are you guys going to do to help him? … Well you can’t just keep me from seeing him and not help him! … Why don’t you care about him!”

(Storms off crying to her room and picks up her phone)

“Grandpa? … No, I’m not okay. … Well my parents just told me I can’t go to your house anymore if this stupid pipeline happens! … No it’s not for the best! … Well why don’t you come live with us? … Well I know you shouldn’t have to leave your home, but it’s not safe for you or for anyone living there and whoever is doing this doesn’t seem to care. ... Well what can we do to stop it? … Yeah, I would go. … Well when is the protest? … Okay. … Do you really think this could work? … Okay I’ll be there. … Love you too. … Bye.

(Hangs up phone and run down stairs)

A Family Man with No Other Choice-

(Walks outside to get the mail and throws the bill down on the table when he walks back inside. Sits down on the couch staring at a blank tv.)

“I can’t believe this. How am I suppose to pay another bill when I still have no job. I’m laid off, my wife has no choice but to stay home, I have four kids for crying out loud. I just don’t see things getting better. If I don’t find a job soon my kids will keep living this difficult life of a stressful household, my wife will probably come to her senses one of these days and just leave me and this small, ugly Nebraska house, and my kids will grow up not knowing me and eventually hating me. I have to do something soon, before I lose everything I love, but I’m afraid of the only choice I have.”

(Looks at the door as his wife walks in)

Hey, honey. … Nothing’s wrong, it’s just that pile of bills is getting bigger and bigger and I’m afraid that the only choice I have to provide for my family goes against all of our morals. … Well for starters, the environmental issues that it is going to cause alone is making me not want to do it. Not to mention the threat it will cause to everyone living near this pipeline, including us. It also could end jobs for other people even though, it creates one for us, but I still don’t want to see someone else be put in the position we are in now. … I mean, this is my only choice though. … It’s not all bad. It does, most importantly, give me a job. It also creates energy security, there are many labor union benefits, it will get new products out there, it will help the economy, and will cause less of a carbon footprint. That’s all important stuff, right? … I mean the oil is going to end up being transported from Canada one way or another anyway so at least this way I get a job. ... Yes, I understand that. The environment and others are very important to me, but you're right, we do have to think of our family first. … Yeah, I guess we can just wait and see.

Part IV

Monologues 1 from Allison Kelly on Vimeo.

Element Project: Carbon

Posted by Allison Kelly in Art - Freshman - Hull on Monday, June 10, 2013 at 11:33 pm

Inquiry: When thinking about ideas for my element, Carbon, I had several questions. "What is everything to know about Carbon? What is it best known for? What are some things most people don't about the element? How can I best portray this element?"
Research: Since I had so many unanswered questions about my element I had to do a lot of research. I needed to look up the atomic mass, atomic number, facts, and designs that can represent my element.
Collaboration: When creating my actual design I collaborated a lot! Many of my classmates and I worked together to help make decisions on what designs should be used and which came out looking the nicest. We also worked together throughout the whole crafting process.
Presentation: After completing my final products I had a few to choose from to hand in to my teacher. I presented them all to my classmates to help make a decision. This blogpost itself is a great example of presenting my project.
Reflection: This blogpost has actually helped me do the most reelection. After actually looking back to write about my process, I realized how much I learned and how much this project process actually taught me.

Negative Space

Posted by Allison Kelly in Art - Freshman - Hull on Monday, June 10, 2013 at 11:20 pm

Negative space in art is the are around the object in the picture. It is what is around the object in the picture that forms an image in itself. Finding negative space in my still life drawings was easy. I found the easiest way to do it is to make a slight outline of the major object of the picture and then add details by shading around it forming the negative space for the still life. Finding negative space for my cut out was way more difficult. It became very confusing at points to recognize the negative space from the actual object but once you seen it a certain way then you just caught on and then it was pretty simple. I think finding negative space helps an artist because it creates another image and shows something more that you can't see when looking from a positive space perspective. This also enhances drawings because it gives detail or a totally separate image to the original.

Example: Positive space (in black) you see a vase, but negative space (in white) you can see the profile of two faces.

Independent Reading Project

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, June 7, 2013 at 1:58 pm

Nicholas Sparks has written, yet, another sensation. The Best of Me is, like many of other of Sparks’ books, a #1 New York Times bestseller. This story is currently in the works of coming to the big screen. The Best of Me will be produced by Nicholas Sparks Productions and Denise DiNovi, who is not new to bringing Sparks’ books to life. She also helped produced the very famous A Walk to Remember and The Lucky One.

The Best of Me tells the story of two high school kids from two separate worlds who fall deeply in love. Amanda Collier, one of the main characters, is the beautiful, perfect, rich girl in the town of Oriental who is expected by everyone, especially her parents, to go to the best college, marry the best guy, and live the perfect life, but that is not what she has in mind for herself at all. She does, though expect of herself to live a perfect life and that is because she sees the rest of her life being with only one person, Dawson, another main character. Dawson Cole has unfortunately taken on the bad reputation from his family members, but not because he was like them, just simply because he was born into them. “The Coles” were the trash of the town. They’re liars, thieves, drunks, fighters, and just downright trouble-makers. Not only did Amanda’s family forbid their love, but as did the town. There were always going to be whispers about the two of them, but it didn’t matter as long as they had each other.

It all started when they became lab partners, and from then on they were inseparable. Dawson’s family did not approve of the fact that he “thought he was better than them”, so they beat on him. Finally, Dawson had enough and moved out. He found a truck to crash for the night, unknowing that it was going to be the start of a true home and friendship. Tuck, another main character, recently lost his wife, destroying him and leaving him to be alone as a depressed drunk. Having Dawson around gave him a sense of security and friendship. He let Dawson live in his garage and also gave him a job, but that was pointless considering since once Dawson’s dad and cousins found out about the money they once again beat on him until he gave it up every month. Tuck knew about this and became more of a father figure to Dawson making sure he could always get by even without the paycheck. Tuck, though, was the only other person besides Amanda and Dawson who really witnessed, understood, and could describe the type of love they had. He knew it was that “once in a lifetime kind of love”. Dawson and Amanda faced their final obstacle when Amanda’s parents gave her an awful alternative, Dawson or college. They did this knowing how important college was to her, and that she couldn’t afford it on her own considering she has always just been handed everything. Dawson still meant more to her than anything and she quickly gave up her dream of college and decided to move in with Dawson. Dawson couldn’t take her dream away from her, though and ended it between them.

It is now many years later and Amanda is no longer that love struck 18 year old girl, but a married mother of 4, well technically now only 3 due to the fact that her daughter, Bea was diagnosed with a brain tumor as a baby and passed away. Her father had also passed away. The deaths of her loved ones and her awful relationship with her now alcoholic husband, she periodically went back to Oriental to visit Tuck. Dawson, out of the army and quite the same man, is still living alone. He has yet to date anyone since Amanda. The two of them, unknowingly, are being set up to meet again. They are both coming back to Oriental because of the death of Tuck, but before he went he made sure they would get their second chance because he knew they had a love like him and his wife. Amanda and Dawson soon catch up and before they know it they once again expressing to each other how in love they are, have always been, and always will be. But Amanda can’t turn away from her other life that easily, and they both think maybe they’ll have a place together in the world someday, but not now. On the way home Amanda is informed her son and husband were in a deadly accident, leaving her son in immediate need of heart transplant. Dawson, on the way home, did the only thing that would truly make up for one of the biggest regrets he has always had. While going past the bar he realizes his cousins are beating to death the son of the man he accidentally killed in a car accident that wasn’t his fault. By saving this man’s son he began to finally forgive himself, but then he was shot. Dawson was killed instantly and Amanda was crushed by the news, but then Dawson truly gave Amanda the best of him. Dawson’s heart was used to save Amanda’s dying son. Amanda’s kids were all healthy and safe, her relationship with her husband became stronger, and she was happy, but she will always be in love with Dawson Cole.

The conflict of this story is mainly about Dawson and Amanda’s relationship and the rest of the world. It seems all the odds are against them. They overcame quite a few obstacles, but time seemed to do them the worst. Time gave them the opportunity to move on and the space from one another to grow doubtful of their love being just a teenage fling or the real deal. In time, yes they still loved each other, but they are both too good of people to just hurt the others they have built their separate lives with just so they can be happy.

My favorite character from the book is Tuck. Tuck did everything he could to be a good father figure, friend, and advisor for Dawson and Amanda. He believed in their love and believed they both deserved, more than anything, to be happy. He even made sure before he died that the one thing that would be taken care of are the two of them.

Being so young, I have yet to really relate to this book. Obviously every teenage girl fantasizes to be in a teenage love like Dawson and Amanda that lasts and can overcome anything, but unfortunately, like many others, I have yet to experience that.

Like every other Nicholas Sparks book, I love it. I think a strength of this book is just the overall plot. Teenage love that lasts a lifetime really captures people because that is kind of the ideal theory. Another strength is the ending of the book, which didn’t make me happy, but did make it realistic in a satisfying way by showing that nothing can ever be perfect and you can’t always have a happy ending. I really don’t think there were any weaknesses of this book, nor do I think I would change anything. I love this book exactly the way it is.

I would definitely recommend this book to others because it really portrays this idea of destiny intertwined into an amazing love story. The idea of it all is very interesting. The way destiny brings these two people together, keeps them together, brings them back together, and then help them save each other really puts things into a different perspective and is unlike any other book.

Nicholas Sparks always has books fraught with amazing and inspirational little quotes. The Best of Me is no exception of that. “Don't take my advice. Or anyone's advice. Trust yourself. For good or for bad, happy or unhappy, it's your life, and what you do with it has always been entirely up to you.” I think this is a great quote because it really speaks to people that the choices in your life, no matter how pressured you are, are still entirely yours. You and only you should be in control of your life. “Change isn't always for the best.” I like this quote because I really relate to it. People are always pushing this idea that change is good, but this just agrees with me, sometimes it isn’t. “I gave you the best of me, he'd told her once, and with every beat of her son's heart, she knew he'd exactly done that.” I really enjoy this quote just because I think if you could describe this book in a few words than this quote did more than a good job at that. “Because you aren't just someone I loved back then. You were my best friend, my best self, and I can't imagine giving that up again." He hesitated searching for the right words. "You might not understand, but I gave you the best of me, and after you left, nothing was ever the same.” I picked this quote just because it is probably one of the best love quotes I have ever heard.

Nicholas Sparks, one of the most deft authors alive, made his outbreak after the release of The Notebook, which is still considered to be one of the best love stories ever told and is included in many people’s lists when asked what either is their favorite book or their favorite movie. Many of Sparks’ books are inspired by his family members, as are the characters names in his books. Many of Sparks’ books have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, as they have also always made a big hit when released to theaters after being brought to life. Nicholas Sparks’ wife is always considered to be the luckiest life in the world, considering her husband is considered to be the most romantic husband in the world. Some unknown facts about Sparks is that he ran a full scholarship at the University of Notre Dame for track, wasn’t recognized as an adept author until his third book, The Notebook of course, and he also has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Creative description: The word "destiny" is written across to best describe their story. They were destined for each other. The words written inside describe ways they are, or, how they are destined, and things, places, or ideas that make them destined. The words are written in the order they happened as a timeline. The hearts with their names represent them and their love, and if you look closely the word "destiny" is written inside tracks in which separates the hearts to show how they were from "opposite sides of the tracks", and had a forbidden love, but the words in the tracks are what kept pulling them back together. The truck represents where it all began.

La Casa de Cameron

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 11:36 pm

Se llama Cameron. Le gusta tocar básquetbol, tenis, y correr / trotar. Quiere un atleta profesional. Colores favoritos son gris, verde, y negro. Le gusta la ciudad, la playa, animales, y niños.

Esta su casa de Cole Hinton. Esta casa está en Balboa de California. Es una ciudad y está cerca la playa Newport. Esta casa tiene tres pisos. Hay seis cuartos y siete baños. Es muy grande y bonita algo más tiene la piscina grandisima y super hermoso. La casa es muy moderno y muy grande y enterrada con mucho espacio.

.En el garaje hay dos carros y equipo de la gimnasia.
.Hay jardín es muy grande y muchas plantas y flores bonita. En el jardín es una piscina. La piscina es muy grande.
.Hay cuartos son enorme y moderno. Tiene una cama, un espejo, un tele, una guardarropa, una mesa, y dos ventanas.
.Hay cocina es increblimente moderno y guapa. Tiene la nevera, la estufa, el horno, la mesa y lavamanos porque le gusta cocinar y comer.
.Hay baño es muy elegante y guapa. Tiene un ducha, un toilette, un lavamanos, y un ventana.
.Hay sala es muy extravagante. Tiene un sofá, un mesa, un tele, tres ventanas, un silla, y un lámpara.

El jardin y el garaje

El baño y el cuarto

La sala y la cocina

Here is the link to the video tour of the house.

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/file/d/0B94G45Nfq6vSM3RmVFNMNEQ3b1E/edit

Childhood Cancer: Fighting for a Cure

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 8:34 am

As my You and the World Project comes to an end, my agent of change was all about volunteering for the amazing foundations that help children all around the world fight childhood cancer every day. There are so many foundations that I have talked about previously in my other blog posts (1 and 2), but I have decided to focus on volunteering for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. I attended two of many wonderful benefits that this foundation holds, a softball benefit and a Christmas party. The softball benefit took place earlier in the year, and included many men and women starting their own softball team in memory of someone they lost from cancer and competing against the other teams in order to raise money for Alex. The Christmas party took place in the beginning of December, which was a huge party for all of the families that are a part of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation who have beat cancer or are in remission. These children and their siblings have a day to themselves of arts and crafts, games, food, and presents from Santa. Being able to experience these benefits has really shown me how much this foundation does for children fighting cancer.

My process for the agent of change part of this project was mainly influenced by my aunt and uncle who helped me schedule the benefits I would be able to attend to. When a benefit was coming up I would go a day before to my aunt’s house to help everyone prepare for the benefit, things like preparing posters or decorations and wrapping Christmas presents. The following morning we would all drive to the benefit location to set up and spend the day there until the benefit attended. After, everyone helped out in cleaning up. The only problems that occurred during this process were some small issues with just changing around the benefits I could attend. Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation hold so many amazing benefits that I planned to attend, but as things came up during the year we had to narrow it down to a few, but it was easily fixed.

This project has definitely made a huge impact on me. These two benefits helped so many children and families and I can’t wait for my next benefit in three weeks. Just hearing about this foundation makes you want to help and do what you can do, but nothing compares to the inspiration you feel after attending one of the benefits and just seeing how happy the kids are, how appreciative the families are, and how many kind people come out to help. Attending these benefits can definitely turn anyone into a better collaborator because that is all that takes place during these types of things. Everyone is collaborating to make the kids happy, help the families cope, and come up with different ideas and benefits to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer.

The following is a link to my bibliography.

Final Perspective Drawing

Posted by Allison Kelly in Art - Freshman - Hull on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 12:41 am

`One thing that this drawing helped me learn is how even the slightest detail can affect your drawing. Making sure every line is exactly even with every other line is extremely important in order to make everything look realistic. After learning perspective, my drawings will be extremely more precise and I will pay way more attention to details. If I did this assignment again I think I would choose a wall with a little more details for more of a challenge and to see how well I would do. My advice to someone who has never done one point perspective is to have patience. Everything really has to be perfect in order to make your drawing look realistic. You have to be extremely patient because something may not work on the first try, but you can’t give up. In the end, the critiques that you make on your drawing are what helps it look its best. A resource that helped me the most was the one provided on Moodle to us by our Art teacher. It was a step-by-step tutorial to create this drawing. When I followed the directions provided exactly, my drawing came out a lot better than I thought it would.

"Taking advantage of innocence will backfire"

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 10:14 am

This sculpture is an extended section of my Macbeth essay and the second part of my English benchmark. This sculpture shows Macbeth's character change, stemming from his wife, and also Lady Macbeth's downfall.

In this sculpture, the hearts represent Macbeth and the hands holding the hearts on each side represent Lady Macbeth. The hands are holding the hearts as a sign of control. The heart starts out as red, which show he was humble, kind, and felt things such as guilt just as any human would. It shows his innocence. The heart gradually gets white, which shows that he became neutral. he wasn't necessarily innocent anymore, but he was far from evil. His heart eventually gets black, showing that he became pure evil and out of control. On the left side, which represents the beginning of the story, Lady Macbeth's hand is black to show that she was pure evil, but as it gets to the end of the story, her hand becomes white and red. The white shows that obviously she is far from innocent, but she is no longer the evil one, and the red represents her own blood after she killed herself. There is a quote on each of the hearts that best represents that character at that point in the story.

My process of building this sculpture was one of which where I needed to be extremely patient. I first had to sculpt everything with the clay and wait for it to completely dry before I could paint. I then needed to wait for the paint to completely dry before I could glue any of the quotes on.

One of my biggest difficulties was just being able to finish in time because I wasn't planning on the clay taking as long as it did to dry, which kind of made me have to speed up the rest of my process. To overcome this I just did different things to speed up the drying process of the clay. I had it constantly in front of a fan and also left it near an open window over night so that it could completely dry.

I am most proud of how this project really shows the character changes in the characters. I think I made a lot of wise choices when it came to color and placement of things to show the development of each character.

If I had the chance, I would just start the sculpting a little earlier considering it took so long for the clay to dry. Other than that I am extremely happy with the outcome of my project.

From my colleagues, I learned how to think about the story of Macbeth a lot deeper. There were even new things that I learned about the story after hearing how deep some of my classmates thought about their quotes.

After finishing this project, I learned that I knew a lot more about Macbeth than I thought I did. I am much more confident when reading Shakespeare now because this project really taught me how to analyze and look deeper into quotes.

Nuestras actividades

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 2:10 pm

Mi nombre es Allison. Tengo quince años. Soy bastante activa. Es por eso que casi nunca veo la tele mi juego videojuegos. Soy súper sociable. Por lo tanto, después de las clases hablo por teléfono con mis amigos o salgo con mi novio. Me encanta leer y escribir. Así que cuando tengo tiempo libre, leo libros de ficción, y de vez en cuando, escribo poemas.

Amanda es quince años. Ella es súper simpatica y guapa.

¡Me escuela!

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 10:00 am

Me llamo Allison. Tengo quince años. Soy estudiante de Science Leadership Academy. Está en Filadelfia. Es el centro de la ciudad. Está cerca de The Franklin Institute. Es increíblemente creativo y casi siempre divertido. Hay quinientos estudiantes. Hay veinticinco profesors. Hay cinco pisos. Tenemos muchos proyectos y actividades. Tenemos voleibol, baloncesto, y softbol. Tenemos muchos clubs. Tenemos Club de poesía y música de club. Participó en voleibol, baloncesto, y softbol porque soy muy deportista y tenemos divertida.

Mis clases son teatro, arte, tecnolognologia, bioquimica, historia, literatura, español, consejería, álgebra, y almuerzo. Mis clases favoritas son literatura y álgebra porque son muy interesantes y divertidas. No me gusta mucho bioquímica y consejería porque muy son aburridas. Tenemos que una pluma, las hojas de papel, y unos libros en la clase de literatura. En la clase de ingles nosotros siempre leemos y escribimos todos los días participamos en actividades. Y en la clase historia nosotros siempre hablaremos. Necesitamos unos lápices, las hojas de papel, y unas carpetas en la clase de algebra. Es muy muy importante prestar atención, hacer la tarea, tomar apuntes y trabajar duro.

Mis maestros favoritos son La Señora Dunn que enseña literatura, La Señorita Garvey que enseña álgebra, El Señor Beckford que enseña historia, y La Señorita Manuel que ensena espanol. La Señora Dunn es muy simpática, increíblemente guapa, y siempre creativa. Tiene una hija. La clase de La Senora Dunn es muy divertida y interesante. La Señorita Garvey es super deportista, servicial, y muy inteligente. Ella le gusta lacrosse, baloncesto, y matemáticas. Ella es una profesora que servicial mucho. El Señor Beckford es muy interesante, simpático, y inteligente. A el le encanta palomitas de maíz y hacer mucho ejercicio. Él es jamaican. La clase del Señor Beckford es seria y interesante. La Señorita Manuel es muy boba y cómica. Tiene una hermana. La clase de la Señorita Manuel es larga y a veces aburrida.

SLA es muy diferente que las otras escuelas. Es una escuela de preparación para la universidad. Lo que más me gusta de SLA es la forma diferente de aprender y cómo los profesores ayudan todos los estudiantes. La profesores de SLA realmente se preocupan por los estudiantes. No me gusta las clases largas porque están aburridas. También no me gusta la clase de teatro porque es muy difícil y muy aburrido. SLA es bastante creativa, muy seria, y casi siempre difícil.

mobile from Allison Kelly on Vimeo.

YATW blogpost #2: Childhood Cancer

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, January 18, 2013 at 1:59 pm

After my first blogpost in learning about all of the benefits and foundations that try to help raise money for childhood cancer, I decided to research more about the children themselves and all of their stories. So when looking up new info on my topic I looked up more personal information of the kids’ journeys.

I found an amazing website,Kids’ Stories | Children's Cancer Research Fund, that gives you the personal stories of children struggling with cancer. I recently read an article about a little boy named Jack who, after many trips to the doctors, found out he had a brain tumor. At three months old he began to sleep a lot more often and also began vomiting. The doctor kept reassuring Jack’s parents that it was just a stomach virus, but his parents knew something more serious was wrong. They finally took Jack to the emergency room, where they finally found out the extremely devastating new of Jack’s cancer. Jack’s tumor has began to grow again, but he is getting by with the support of his family and is still a very happy little boy despite his struggles. His parents decided to start a team for Children’s Cancer Research Fund’s annual event, called Jack Attack. This website provides many more inspirational stories of children with cancer and how they contribute to finding a cure. There were also a couple of other websites that I found that provided really inspiring stories too. Those include, Cancer Basics, which gives a basic understanding of cancer, and Cancer Research, Studies & Clinical Trials at CTCA and Cancer Kids Home Page which provide stories.

After reading about Jack’s story and his cancer team, I did some research of my own to add to my original research. As I said in the first blog post, my aunt is very involved in Alex Lemonade Stand and even has her own team for cancer. My uncle’s mother, Theresa, died from cancer and that inspired my aunt and uncle to create Team Theresa. They hold many benefits for their team, including their softball benefit, in which I attend. The softball benefit is an amazing event which includes different softball teams who have a lot of fun competing against one another each year, entertainment, concession stands, and speakers. The benefits are amazing to go to because you really get to see how many people want to make a change. At the softball benefit this year, the speakers who spoke at the end was one of the best parts. They told their stories and how these benefits affect them in such a positive it. What my aunt and uncle do is very inspirational and more people should join in with the benefits and cancer events. The following pictures are from the benefits and events that my aunt has taken part in, a few of which I have also been a part of.

sick kids wishes at Alexs Original stand

After talking to my aunt about how the benefits that she does are so similar to those of which some of these kids are doing, like Jack, it has really help me with deciding what I will do for my agent of change. Recently, I attended the Alex Lemonade Stand christmas party, in which all of Alex’s surviving families have a party where each of the children and their siblings gets e to sit on santa’s lap and receive 3 presents each. There is also a huge buffet provided and entertainment. This really added to my understanding of my topic because I got to hear, in person, some of their stories. It was really nice to see all of the children receive their presents because you could just tell how happy and appreciative they were.

Some of my personal opinions include that actually getting my original research first hand has helped me relate to my topic so much better, rather than just reading facts and stories online. I have heard so many stories from the children about how many difficult struggles they have come across and it is just so inspiring to see how strong and happy they still are. Something I still wonder about, though, is the things that keep these kids going. In my further research, interviews, and benefits I want to ask the children what it is that keeps them faithful and happy. I would also like to ask the parents and other family members the same question.

For my agent of change I have decided to create a slideshow including quotes, photos, and video clips of the various Alex Lemonade Stand benefits and events that I have and will be attending. So far I have volunteered at the softball benefit and the christmas party, but there are some more coming up that I plan to go to and volunteer. I have also planned an interview with my aunt’s friends. They are one of Alex’s surviving families and their son Cole has suffered with cancer. I will interview cole, his parents, and his siblings on Cole’s battle and how it has affected their lives. Clips and quotes from this interview will also be found in my slideshow.

This is a link to my bibliography.

Mis Seres Queridos

Posted by Allison Kelly on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 7:41 am

Spanish Script

intro-

¡Hola! Bienvenidos a mi video!

yo-

Mi nombre es Allison. Soy increiblemente deportista y súper simpatico. Soy de Filadelfia. Tengo el pelo morena y los ojos azules. Tengo una familia pequena. ¡Me encanta practicar deportes!

el / ella-

Sú nombre es Nashay. ¡Nashay es muy comico y bastante adorable! Tíene el pelo negro y los ojos cafe. Lo quiero porque es un buenísimo amigo.

ellos-

Sús nombres One Direction. Son los bien guapos y talentosos. Les gusta bailar y cantar y siempre pasar un rato con amigos. Me caen bien porque son genial.

ellas-

Sús nombres Zoe y Amanda y Mia. Son guapas y deportistas y tambien locas. Zoe tíene el pelo roja. Amanda y Mia tíenen el pelo cafe. Ellas tienen los ojos cafe. ¡Me caen bien porque ellas son amor de gente!

nosotras-

Nos nombres Michaela y Katie y Allison y Kate. Somos algo locas y sociable y divertidas. Nos gusta ir de compras y escuchar música y pasar un rato con amigas los fines de semana. ¡Nos llevamos bien porque somos mejos amigas!

conclusion-

¡El fin! ¡Gracias por ver mi proyecto! ¡Adios!

Spanish Project from Allison Kelly on Vimeo.

Book Review on The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Posted by Allison Kelly on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 8:32 am

The following part of my project is a poster of a flower, referring obviously to the title of the book, with inspirational quotes from this book.

Adivina

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 2:10 pm

Tiene los ojos marrones. Tiene el pelo moreno y muy largo. No tiene hermanos. ¡Ella es muy guapa! Ella es alta y delgada. Ella es muy talentosa. Ella es actres. Le gusta ir de compras. No le gusta ayudar en casa.

1) Adriana Lima
2) Nina Dobrev
3) Kendall Jenner

All About Me

Posted by Allison Kelly in Technology- Freshmen - Hull on Friday, December 7, 2012 at 7:40 am

Our tech teacher is having us create a slide based off of a former project, our coat of arms, in which describes everything about ourselves. This project is a way to show the right way to design and present a powerpoint. Little details make a huge difference when it comes to power points. The following script will describe why every decision of the design of this power point was made. There will also be many vocabulary words included in order to portray reasons behind everything. You will then see another slide, similar to the first one but with some major changes. You will see the differences I made in my slide after being critiqued by my classmates. I will also reflect on this whole project process.

When beginning my powerpoint, I decided that the size and shape of my name would be very large and bold. The whole slide is about me, I figured that the important piece to introduce would be my name, which is why I made it stand out. Also, after learning that the human eye starts at the top right hand corner and works it way around clock wise, I decided the alignment of my images would follow that pattern. I decided to make the contrast of my photos very light so that they didn’t overpower the words, even though they would be larger. All of the pictures have the same contrast in order to show repetition. I left the slide background to be empty, since there are several images. I decided that the color and shape of all of the words would be bright and bold to give you a main idea of the picture so you won’t sen so much time staring at them, and also to make them stand out from the images. All of the words in my slide are sans serif, to make them catch people’s eyes.

BEFORE-

This project helped me learned so much. I hope the script helped you understand the powerpoint a little more, and also help you to understand why everything was done.

AFTER-

After having the class critique my old slide, I learned a lot of new ways to make my slide so much better. Well I started out by changing my pictures around by using Alpha to blur out the backgrounds, making it look a lot better. I also got rid of all of the words because they were things that I could just say in the presentation. I enlarged my pictures and moved them around a little to make them more noticeable and take up more space since the words were taken out. I kept my name as the boldest thing on my slide because I still feel it's the most important thing. I also left the pictures blurred out so that my name stands out more. I think my slide has improved so much after hearing everyones comments.

Una Carta para Ti

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 7:53 pm

Querid@ __________,

¡Hola! Saludos desde Filadelfia! ¿Qué tal? Mi nombre es Allison. ¿Cómo te llamas?

Tengo quince años. ¿Cuantos años tienes tú? Mi cumpleaños es el diecisiete de

noviembre. ¿Cuando es tu cumpleaños? Hace bastante frîo. ¿Qué tiempo hace?

Cuando tengo tiempo libre me gusta pasar un rato con amigos. Los fines de

semana, me gusta ir al cine con mi mejor amiga. Me fascina leer y también

escribir es por eso que soy inteligente. ¿Y tu? No me gusta nada ir a la escuela

pero soy me gusta siempre estudiar. No me gusta nada cocinar, con mi familia.

Mi encanta practicar deportes. ¿Y tu? Soy mas o menos baja. ¿Y tu? Soy

bastante morena, no soy rubio. Soy de descendencia europea irlandesa y

italiana. No soy perezosa, soy bastante deportista y trabajadora. No soy gorda,

soy mås o menos delgada. Me gusta One Direction mucho. ¡El es increíblemente

lindo! ¿Y a ti? ¿Que te gusta hacer? ¿Cómo eres? Bueno, me voy porque tengo

que ayudar en casa. ¡Adios! ¡Quele vaya bien!

Con carino,

Allison Kelly

YATW blogpost #1: Help find a Cure for Childhood Cancer

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 12:42 pm

The idea I have chosen for my world issue is childhood cancer. This interests me because when most people think of cancer they just think of the illness, but how many actually know all of the struggles that come along with cancer? The financial and emotional issues can sometimes be even more stressful and depressing than the illness itself. Cancer affects many people and causes many different hardships for the whole family. Cancer causes physical stress from the medicines you have to be treated with. The medicines can sometimes even affect your appearance. This can lead to emotional problems, especially when it affects a child. Something like losing hair to a little girl can cause so much pain. Cancer also causes a lot of financial issues within a family. Of course you are willing to do whatever you can and pay whatever is needed in order to help get your loved one healthy again, but what do you do when you don't have the money? It can cause so much stress on a parent especially when they don't have the money to help their child. This is why I am doing this project. Foundations like Alex's Lemonade Stand fund benefits in order to raise money for childhood cancer. No one should ever lose a battle to cancer just because of lack of money. Cancer also affects a family because what do you do when the treatment that your child needs to receive is miles away from where you live? Yes, there are things like the Ronald McDonald House which can give a sick child and their parents a place to stay for the duration of this treatment, but what if there are other children in the family? Are you suppose to just uproot the other children from their home and school, or even worse separate yourself from them for months at a time.? All of this comes into play when someone is diagnosed with cancer and most people don't even realize it.

This is important to me because a couple years ago my pop had cancer, and coming from experience, it was hard to watch. The medicines caused hair loss, made him tired and weak, and he never really looked or acted like his old self. So I can only imagine how hard it must be for a parent to watch their child go through this, and know that there is really nothing that they can do to help them.

The idea I have to go out in the world and help with this problem is inspired by my Aunt Natalie and Uncle Albert who are very involved with the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation. There will be many upcoming benefits, meetings, and events that I can go to with them to video tape and interview several people. I will get a first hand account of how the struggles above really affect not only the sick child, but everyone in the family. One benefit, in December, will take place in a hospital in which we will bring all of the children who have cancer presents for Christmas. This project will show everyone that there is more to cancer than just the sickness and that it affects more than one person. It will also show people the importance of donating to things that help give financial support to families withs kids fighting cancer.

Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation is a major contributor to fighting childhood cancer. It all started when a young girl fighting cancer, Alexandra Scott, decided she wanted to hold a lemonade stand in which the profits would contribute in fighting childhood cancer. Alex inspired people all over the world to hold their own lemonade stands, and it has been happening ever since. Before Alex passed away she raised, with the help of family and friends, over one million dollars to help find a cure to this disease.

Below is a link that will allow you, at home, to watch Alex’s video.

Video: Hear from Alex and others of how it all started

The Ronald McDonald House is one of the most helpful foundations to families with a child fighting cancer. They supply you with a place to live when you have to move for the treatments that your child needs. They also have very kind volunteers working around the clock to not only support you with shelter, but they try to make your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Click below to visit the website.

http://www.philarmh.org

Saint Jude is one of the most amazing hospitals to donate to. Parents of a child fighting cancer have a lot to worry about, but Saint Jude hospital makes sure that bills aren’t one of them. No one is ever turned down here because of lack of money. Your donations are what save these children. Click below to visit the website.

http://www.stjude.org

As I go deeper and deeper into this project I hope to get a better understanding of how cancer affects people from the child’s perspective and from others in the family. I would also like to know, coming from the families themselves, how foundations like Alex Lemonade Stand and The Ronald McDonald House help them and why they are so important. Most importantly, I would like to be able to find out how I can help and how effective I can be by my donations and volunteer work. These families are so appreciative of everything that is set up to help them and I want to be able to show that. Lastly, I want to show everyone that it’s important to donate to benefits like this because it goes a long way and can save a lot of kids’ lives.

Click here for Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1oEi43GY1kXiVYpNixTBUAcqMbg4Dk2x05XlrN7dxYV8/edit

Mis Favoritos

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 1:17 pm

Zoe Schwingel-Sauer

Posted by Allison Kelly in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 4:07 pm

Se llama Zoe. Tiene quince anos. Es de Filadelfia. Ella es pasar un nato con amigos. Ella es bastante guapa y súper alta. La encanta comer. La gusta cocinar. No le gusta nada correr y estudiar.

TKAM editorial

Posted by Allison Kelly in English 1 - Dunn on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 8:48 am

Kelly Allison Lucid Chart Verizon Fios

Posted by Allison Kelly in Technology- Freshmen - Hull on Friday, October 19, 2012 at 9:24 am

My Network-

At $40 a month, my internet is provided by Verizon Fios. This internet comes into my home from the ISP cord (cable). My setup at home was pretty easy for me to understand and explain. My modem connects to my router, which then hooks up to my printer, speakers, USB port, Fios tv, and my laptops.
Throughout the past couple of weeks, I have learned many interesting things. I never knew that if you setup the modem in a high position in the house, it will keep the internet underneath, as in like the basement, more stable. Some of this stuff kind of confuses me because I have never really been into too much. I hope throughout the year I can learn a lot more that will help me with using my laptop and understanding my network. I never knew that the term for what connects the modem and the router, and even a home computer or desktop, was called the ethernet. Most of the terms we have learned have become very useful to me and I look forward to learning more.
If you are looking into your own ISP/Home network, the main thing you should know it to secure as best as you can. Especially in today's world, there are many ways to hack into your internet and cause for it to run slow or potentially cause viruses. You should benefit yourself by looking into a security process in order to make sure your network is safe.