Introduction: The goal of this essay was to touch on the universal feeling of not being good enough when we compare ourselves to people more successful than ourselves. I am most proud of my scene of memory and the way it flows with my larger idea. I think this scene of memory provides solid evidence for my theme. For future essays, I would like to allow for more time during the revision phase, so I can better pinpoint the details of the essay and make sure that everything connects more smoothly and flawlessly.

Everyone has people whom they look up to. People whose lives they wish they lived, people whose dreams came true, people who seem to be comfortable with themselves and well-liked. But sometimes by looking up to someone, we find ourselves comparing ourselves to them and putting ourselves down. Growing up, I never felt the desire to be anything that I’m not. As time has passed, the expectations that existed for me became increasingly apparent. The notion that I should be more successful than I am, more beautiful, and more talented is deeply embedded in my mind as I continued to see other people as those things.

In a Ted Talk by Thandie Newton, she speaks about identity and her sense of self in relation to others, stating, “The self likes to fit, to see itself replicated, to belong. That confirms its existence and its importance … Without it, we literally can’t interface with others. We can’t hatch plans and climb that stairway of popularity, of success” (July 2011). The idea that people yearn to see themselves replicated shows that this is an instinctual need that we have to find common ground with others while being successful. This is significant because although this feeling is human nature, we continue to put ourselves down and feel inferior when we fail to belong. I often wish I could climb this stairway of success faster when I see those close to me near the top step.

My brother is two years older than me, and I’ve begun to live in the shadow cast by his superiority. Having an older sibling hasn’t always caused me so much anguish. I’ve always looked up to him, but I didn’t expect that childish admiration to haunt me into adolescence. The day he received his ACT score was a happy day for our family. He came home and announced to my parents his near-perfect score, that would later see his acceptance to almost every college he applied to. Quietly, he said, “I got a thirty-five.” The message was delivered with modesty, but my parents escalated the situation. He isn’t one to gloat. Eyes wide, smiles began to spread across my parent’s faces as they embraced my brother, congratulating him. Reluctantly, he joined in the celebration, even showing a smile himself; a rarity for him to let us see his own pride. I stood in the corner, knowing that my congratulations would mean little to him, but I risked being reprimanded if I didn’t express my support. “Congrats, Victor,” I said. The words came out dryly, almost killing the joyous moment. “Thanks,” he replied; this safe response acting as a shield between him and me. At that moment, his success meant something much different to me than it did to him or my parents. To them, it was a moment of sheer pride and elation for him and for their progress in parenting. For me, however, this moment brought about a sinking fear in my head, telling me that I would never live up to my brother. That I would never make my parents nearly as proud as he had, try as I might.

This feeling of inadequacy is ubiquitous and it brings about the questions, will we ever overcome it? Will we ever be satisfied with who we are? In the same Ted Talk, Newton speaks about the formation of identity. She states, “At some point in early babyhood, the idea of self starts to form. Our little portion of oneness is given a name, is told all kinds of things about itself, and these details, opinions, and ideas become facts, which go towards building ourselves, our identity…But the self is a projection based on other people’s projections. Is it who we really are?” This idea that self is simply a projection is important to note because it not only shows that the expectations that others have for us make us strive to be a certain way. It also relates to the need we feel to compare ourselves to people who are more successful in meeting these expectations.

This instinct to want what others have and to be what others are is universal, and it functions as a sort of cycle. Using my brother’s success and my feelings of inferiority as motivation has allowed me to recognize my own different forms of adequacy and success. In order to maintain peace of mind, we must unlearn the inclination to compare ourselves. By focusing not on what others require of us, and instead striving for what we see as important, we can create our own stairways of success.

My element is manganese. Its atomic number is 25 and its symbol is Mn. Manganese was discovered in Magnesia, Greece. It is mainly used in steel production. Manganese is mixed with iron to produce corrosion-resistant steel.

The image I created is a replica of the island Magnesia. Written in the corner is the word "manganese" in Greek. I decided that this design was simple and straightforward. When I was making the print I took many steps. I began by brainstorming several design ideas. Once I chose my final design, I redrew it, traced it, transferred it, and finally carved it into my plate. After this, I rolled paint over the plate using a brayer, and then I layed it on my paper.

If I were to do this project again, I would spend more time gathering information about my element so that I could produce a more creative design. Despite this, I did enjoy this project. I especially liked the actual printing because I got to see my sketches become real prints.

Hi, my name is Ruby and welcome to my third and final blog post about my You & The World project. As you may recall, in my first blog post I introduced the topic of palm oil and described how palm oil production negatively impacts the environment. In my second post, I added to that information by reflecting on a survey that I conducted within the Science Leadership Academy community. In this third post, I will bring up ways that people are working to change this issue and repair the damage that has been done because of palm oil.

First of all, there are many organizations that do a lot of work on this issue. One prominent example is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). I initially mentioned this well-known organization in my first blog post. One thing that the WWF does is they work to preserve the wellbeing of animals such as orangutans whose homes have been destroyed due to palm oil. Another organization is called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO. This organization has a set of criteria for sustainable palm oil (palm oil that does not harm the environment when produced). When a company uses sustainable palm oil in a product, they will typically have a label that indicates the product is RSPO Certified.

One company that has adopted sustainable palm oil as a default ingredient is called Justin’s. Justin’s is a semi-small business that makes various types of nut butters, nut butter cups, and snack foods. Their website lists 14 ways that they are environmentally conscious, with the use of sustainable palm oil being one of them. They write, “Our organic peanut butter cups are made with 100% organic palm oil that is sustainably sourced from South America and RSPO certified. Our [products] also contain palm oil that is certified sustainable under the mass balance supply chain model by the RSPO.” And in my opinion, what these companies and organizations are doing to support sustainable palm oil is certainly a step in the right direction.

Another step in the right direction is raising awareness, which is what I chose to do to as my Agent of Change. I knew from the beginning of this project that one problem with palm oil is people's ignorance. Thus, I decided I wanted to raise awareness in my community. The way I did this was by creating a presentation that I delivered to my advisory.

In conclusion, I will say that this entire project has been very enjoyable for me. I have learned so much about palm oil and all of its pros and cons. I learned that when I have an interesting, important, and personal issue, I have little trouble researching it and writing about it. One thing I would have wanted to do differently during this project would be doing an interview rather than a survey for my original research. I think it would have been really interesting to interview someone who works directly with the issue of palm oil. But moving forward, there are still things that I can do to improve this issue. The main thing that I can do is to continue to raise awareness within my community and beyond.

The following song is called I Want You. It was written and performed by Josiah Mast, Sarah Son, Micah Carrera, Ruby Ginsburg, and Teyonna Little. It is based on the book Looking For Alaska by John Green.

When writing this song, we thought of the relationship between the book's main character, Pudge, and a girl named Alaska. Throughout the story, Pudge talks about Alaska’s beauty and likeable personality. This inspired us to write a love song that--like the novel--is written from Pudge’s perspective. The song conveys Pudge’s strong love for Alaska, and how he hopes to someday marry her. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m Ruby. In my previous blog post, I introduced a research project about palm oil that I am doing. Palm oil is found in many common food and non-food items. It is usually produced in a way that harms the environment. In producing palm oil, palm trees found in Indonesia and Malaysia that provide habitats for animals are cut down, leaving the animals to become endangered. This is a major problem and most people don’t know that this is even happening right now. My blog post also introduced something called sustainable palm oil; a version of palm oil that is produced so as not to damage the environment. My goal is to promote and popularize the use of sustainable palm oil within my Philadelphia community and everywhere else possible.

Since I completed my previous post, I have learned so much more. I have done more research about the impacts that palm oil production has on people and on the world. In particular, I have learned more from The Union of Concerned Scientists about how palm oil contributes to climate change. When the forests in Indonesia and Malaysia are cut down for palm oil, there is a lot of carbon that is released. The Union of Concerned Scientists writes, “That's equivalent to the emissions from driving an average car from New York to San Francisco and back 76 times.” This information provides yet another reason why palm oil production needs to stop. Even though animals dying may not affect everyone, climate change definitely will.

I have also added to my knowledge of sustainable palm oil, which has continued to appear as an excellent alternative to regular palm oil. According to GreenPalm, there are eight steps that must be followed in order to make palm oil certified as sustainable. These steps address laws and regulations, economic and financial viability, growers and millers, biodiversity, individuals and communities involved and affected, new plants, and improvement. If followed, these steps will create a more healthy and vibrant product and environment.

Now, in addition to all of this, I have also gathered new information through a survey that I conducted specifically for this project. I surveyed 50 people--most of whom are high school students within Philadelphia--about their knowledge of palm oil, their contribution to the problem itself, and their interest in sustainable palm oil. One question asked participants to check off items that contain palm oil that are found regularly in their homes.

The answers I received were very interesting and informative. Only 4 of the 50 people (8%) stated that their homes do not contain a single one of the items listed. This means that 92% of those surveyed usually have at least one item containing palm oil in their home. This just shows how common palm oil is. Furthermore, participants were asked, “On a scale of 1-6, how much does the use of palm oil bother you?” In response, 70% of the people gave an answer of three or less. This means that those 70% were somewhat to very indifferent. I did not expect an answer like this, especially right after explaining that palm oil is a big issue. Even after all of my research, however, I still wonder how I can raise awareness about palm oil.

My secondary goal is to convince as many people as possible to try buying products with sustainable palm oil, rather than regular products. To accomplish these goals, I plan to create a presentation that will summarize my research thus far. I will then present this to one or two groups of students. I will also provide these groups with a taste of food containing sustainable palm oil, with the hopes that they might fall in love with the product.

Finally, make sure you stay tuned for my third blog post! And if you’re interested in further exploring the issue of palm oil production, visit my Annotated Bibliography to learn more!

When brainstorming for my rubber stamp, I thought of several words that I associate with and that represent me. Some of the words I used were thoughtful, intelligent, kind, humorous, and adventurous. My stamp is inspired by a symbol of a house being carried away by hundreds of balloons. This symbol appears in the Disney Pixar film, Up. I have always loved the image of the floating house because it conveys a sense of freedom to me. My stamp symbolizes my adventurous side as well as my willingness to try new things.

The original assignment was to create an image based on one of the words I had used to represent myself. I had to draw the image so that there were no lines, but rather shapes. This process is similar to writing words in block letters instead of printing them.

When sketching the design, I tried to replicate the same image from the movie. I found that this design was very difficult, however, because there was so much detail involved in the many balloons. Instead, I decided to make a single, larger balloon carrying the house.

Negative space and positive space were important things for me to keep in mind while creating my work. The negative space, in the above image, is the white sections. It sort of acts as a background. The positive space is shown in yellow and is the actual image. I cut out the interior of the house in my design to show the detail of the door. This was useful because I could not add detail using a pencil or other medium, I could only make cutouts.

Hi! My name is Ruby and I’m a 9th grader from Philadelphia. This is the beginning of a project I am doing about palm oil. Palm oil is found in many common products including Nutella, Oreos, lipstick, detergent, and more. It has useful benefits, as well as highly destructive down-sides. The issue with palm oil is in the way it is produced. It is typically produced by cutting down palm trees located primarily in Indonesia. These trees provide habitats for many animals, and because the trees are being cut down, these animals are becoming endangered.

My intention for this project is to raise awareness about the issue. I believe it is important that people learn about palm oil because in some ways, the wellbeing of the world is at stake. I also think people need to know about this issue so that they can help to repair what damage has been done. My goal is not to discourage the use of palm oil altogether. Instead, I want to promote the use of sustainably produced palm oil, which I will elaborate on later.

My personal connection to this issue has to do with Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout for six years. I sold hundreds of boxes of Girl Scout cookies, all of which contain palm oil. Looking back, I regret my decision to sell the cookies and to support the effort because of how negatively it affects the world. Girl Scouts of the USA defends their use of palm oil by stating, “It is necessary to use palm oil in our cookies because palm oil is unique in its ability to provide volume and texture in baked goods, usually without adding trans fats.” This is a good point, however, it does not exactly justify the way palm oil is produced.

Like I said, I want to promote the use of sustainable palm oil because it is an adequate solution to this issue. It is produced in a way that does not have a negative impact on the environment. In 2008, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil created a set of criteria for producing sustainable palm oil. One of the most important of these criteria states, “No primary forests or areas which contain significant concentrations of biodiversity (e.g. endangered species) or fragile ecosystems, or areas which are fundamental to meeting basic or traditional cultural needs of local communities (high conservation value areas), can be cleared.” This is key because (if followed) these criteria could potentially eradicate the issue of palm oil-related deforestation. Keep in mind though, this does not erase the damage that has already been done.

Printmaking is a form of art that originated in China in the year 105 AD. It involves carving an image into a surface -- such as wood or metal -- and then rolling ink onto the surface. Then, the artist places paper over the image, and presses it together revealing a unique work of art. This technique came about soon after the invention of paper, making it almost ancient.

Printmaking was an important invention because of how different it is from other forms of art. It uses negative space to create beautiful art. Printmaking was also used by famous artists including Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol along with artists from all over the world.

In the foreground, this print shows thick tree branches with two birds. The background shows a person. His shadow stretches along a road lined with buildings. I notice that the man is alone and I wonder how the image would be different if there were multiple people. It might have a less gloomy feel to it. What if the artist had made the man larger, and the tree portion smaller?

Ruby Ginsburg

Yo soy

La hija de padres americanos,

Producto de Chicago antes de Filadelfia.

En Chicago, oigo el lago de Michigan.

Saboreo la agua salada del lago.

Toco la brisa en la ciudad.

En Filadelfia, huelo los filetes de queso

Veo los autobuses pasando por

Pienso sobre recuerdes desde mi infancia

Hablo inglés con pasión, es mi herramienta, mi oficio.

Monto los autobuses, lleno con la gente de Filadelfia.

Digo “buenas noches” a mis padres en la noche.

Somos de Chicago pero vivimos en Filadelfia.

Somos de los Estados Unidos

Hablamos inglés,

La lengua de nuestra ciudad

Trabajamos y aprendemos en el centro.

Somos Universalista Unitario.

Somos orgulloso de nos.

Amamos nuestra familia.

¡Buenos días! Somos estudiantes de Science Leadership Academy. Somos del primer año. Science Leadership Academy está en Filadelfia. Está cerca del centro de la ciudad y la estación de la calle treinta. Esta escuela es difícil, pero pasamos bien. Hay casi quinientos estudiantes y veintiséis profesores. Hay cinco pisos, pero no usamos el cuarto piso. Ofrecemos vóleibol, fútbol, béisbol, baloncesto, poesía, música, y mucho más. Además, tenemos una tienda con comida para los estudiantes y profesores.

En SLA tenemos clases divertidas. En inglés tenemos que leer Shakespeare y actuar. En la clase de español nosotros trabajamos duro, intentamos hablar español, y aprendemos cantar canciones en español. En bioquímica hacemos experimentos y llevamos una bata de laboratorio. En álgebra usamos las calculadoras y hacemos las carpetas. En historia tenemos que apuntes y participar activamente. En todas las clases tenemos hacemos toda la tarea,  prestar mucha atención,  ser respetuosos, y estar preparado.

SLA es mi escuela favorita. Me gusta mis compañeros de clase. Me gusta mis profesores. Mi profesora favorita es Señorita Giknis. Señorita Giknis es contento. Ella enseña inglés. Me gusta ingles. También me gusta Álgebra. El profesor es Sr. Estey. Sr. Estey es gracioso. Me gusta jugar los deportes en SLA. Me encanta mis amigos de SLA. Todas mis profesores son buenos. Me encanta SLA.

SLA es muy interactivo. En SLA nosotros somos una comunidad. En nuestra escuela nosotros hacemos amigos. Además hacemos conexiones estupendas con un tutor. Nosotros creemos que todos debemos tener una oportunidad de ser únicos. Si decides venir aquí el siguiente año, te deseo buena suerte. ¡Gracias!

Two good friends, Julia and Janet make plans to go to a party after school. Before the friends get to go anywhere, Janet is shockingly kidnapped. Meanwhile, Julia tries to get help from a cop that doesn't seem to be doing his job right. Watch to find out what happens in Un día normal.

-Shaheed como Policía Robert

-Ivan como el secuestrador

-Ruby como Julia

-Madison como Janet

During this project I learned a lot about design, especially that used in advertising. One thing that is key is to have color contrast. If the colors of words on a slide are similar to the background or image that is behind those words, it can make it very difficult to read the words. I also learned that when designing a slide, as few words on the slide as possible makes it more appealing. Meanwhile, too many words makes the audience not want to read the slide.

Some of the changes I made to improve my slide were that I made the title of my slide bigger so that it is the first thing you see when you look at my slide. I also changed the font of the title because the original font I used made it look as though there was a space in the middle of a word when there was not. Originally, my slide included, in words, the topics featured in my Me Magazine, as well as images representing those topics. I removed the words representing the topics because it seemed pointless to represent my topics in multiple ways. Lastly, I replaced the image that represented music. Originally, two of the three images on my slide were outlined, and one was filled in. I changed it so that two of the images are filled in and one is outlined, and relocated them to make the slide more symmetrical. I also made each image larger so that you can see them better.

The research I did at the beginning of this project was extremely important. Had I attempted this project without knowing how important color contrast, large text, empty space, etc. are, I would have tried to cover my slide in writing that would have made it incredibly boring to read. Research is a crucial part of any project because it gives you background knowledge that you may not have otherwise had.