Hello again, fans of activism. My name is Cameron Samodai and I’m here to talk to you about buying domestic and locally made products. If you are the type who eagerly reads blog posts, you may know that I have posted about this issue twice before. In my first post, I pointed out the disturbing labor conditions occurring in electronics factories, along with the damage you are doing to the economy by buying imported goods. In the second post of the trilogy, I revealed my independent research on the subject. I released a survey to my classmates, many of whom answered the questions I posted.

Since that post, I have put my money where my mouth is and purchased American made goods in place of imported ones. I have three examples of purchases I made to show you.

Imported Shirt

American Shirt

Rather than buy shirts from the above company at $15 each, I decided to support a smaller business and buy shirts from the below company at $19. Not only was I supporting a domestic business, all of their shirts are American made from American cotton.
Imported Switch Plate

American Switch Plate

Both wall plates are made of the same material. Unlike the shirts, the American made switch cover is less expensive than the Chinese one. We bought 5 of these. The difference in cost is enough to choose one American-made shirt over one foreign-made shirt.

Imported iPhone

American Moto X

It may be hard to find the actual prices of these phones (typical cell phone company sneakiness), but if you look on the right you will see that the 16gb iPhone is $550 without rebate and the 16gb Moto X is $400 without rebate. That savings of $150 is enough to cover the difference between 30 of those shirts we looked at before.

While my project did not necessarily involve directly changing others, I utilized my role in the global economy to support what I believe. Think of every purchase as a vote. By buying their products, you are telling those corporate executives that “Yes, I wholly condone your business practices.” If a product is suddenly $0.13 cheaper to make and that causes more people to buy it, the company sees that as an endorsement of whatever unsavory business practices they used to save those 13 cents. Don’t underestimate the power of your money.

Welcome back to my third and final blog post!  This blog post will focus on my agent of change which was a presentation to my advisory.  In my first blog post from way back when I introduced my You and the World topic, Women in Engineering.  I talked about some possible reasons that there was such a large difference between the men and women in this field among other things.  In my second blog post I used quotes that were said in my original research to see what others thought about the problem.  I also included new research I had found.  For instance, how more girls participate in physics in single sex schools than in co-ed schools.

When we were asked to think about our agent of change projects I didn't know how I wanted to go about it.  Finally, I decided that the best way to help my issue was to make people aware of it.  From doing my original research I saw that there were a lot of facts and people having to do with women in engineering that weren't known.  While making my slide show for the class I included the information that more people in my survey were unaware of, like who Ada Lovelace is and even the percent of women engineers worldwide(13%)  I also included the song, Rosie the Riveter, which explained about the fictional character during WWII.  You can learn more about her in my first blog post.

By doing my agent of change project I brought more awareness to my YATW issue.  I think that that’s the most important thing to happen for women in engineering.  Many people don’t know the number of women engineers worldwide to men.  There are also girls and women who are under the impression that they can’t enter into certain careers because of gender bias.  It’s important, for young girls especially, to not feel as though they don’t have the opportunity to be what they want to be and do what they want to do.

Although I am proud of the presentation I gave to my advisory there is definitely some things that I could have done better.  Being a high school student, I know how boring presentations with just a person standing there talking can be.  The videos I included made me just speaking slightly more interesting but I think that it would have been better if I included a more indepth activity to do with everyone at the end.  When teens and kids can get involved with something it sometimes stays in their minds longer and makes it more interesting.  Hopefully the people who saw my presentation will still remember it and will spread the word about the difference between the number of men and women in engineering.  

Hello readers and welcome back to my blog! Back in my blog post #1, I spoke about what sex trafficking was and how it was affected the Southern Asia region. Organizations were listed that support victims of sex trafficking. In blog post #2 original research was conducted via email with the help of Free the Slaves organization. In addition a news story on CNN connected sex trafficking to the U.S. Today  the project will be finalize by explaining my “Agent of Change” and reflecting on information gained through this process.

In my prior research I have been in contact with various organizations that support victims of sex trafficking in providing them homes and shelters along with counseling. It is noticeable that when money is donated to these organizations they use it to enhance their campaign in order to educate others about sex trafficking. The actions that have been taking place are exactly what needs to be done to inform the inhabitants of this earth of the misfortunes that exist in this world. For my “Agent of Change” I created a slideshow presentation to present my advisory about sex trafficking in India.

To make change happen I took part in enlightening the minds of my peers on the horrors of sex trafficking, especially in the country of India. After completing this project I feel satisfied as an adolescent that has not only informed herself but others on a topic that not many are addressed about.

Although I am proud of the work that that has been produced It was possible I could have added to my “Agent of Change” or even done better . For my Agent of Change awareness could have brought  to a larger audience through a fundraiser. The money would have gone to an organization that I have been in contact with in order to thank them for information that they have provided for me for my previous blogs. However this can still be fulfilled because change still needs to occur in the world and I can personally promote change on the issue of sex trafficking.

I would like to begin with acknowledging and thanking Ms. Dunn for presenting us with the You and the World project allowing us to get involved with real world issues that we are interested in. I would also like to give thanks to Free the Slaves organization for providing me with key information in order to speak on this issue with more insight. As well as Ross Kemp for creating an insightful documentary entitled “Extreme World Series 3 1 of 6 India”  that granted me a new perspective on the struggles of the women in India.  In addition I would like to thank my advisor Mr.Reddy for allowing me to present to my advisory and my own advisory for being attentive while I was presenting and participating when I asked questions. This project has made me realize that change needs to happen and I hope that one day it will take place.

Hello, it’s me Dejah again. For my last YATW project I focused on Sickle Cell anemia. Instead of looking for my research online I went out and did my own research. I interviewed people educated in the topic, people with the disease, and people with small associations that have to do with the disease. In my last blog post I talked about how the disease is passed and different types of symptoms for this disease. Also, what medications people use to help with the pains they have and what medications doctors are trying to come up with to cure the disease.

I interviewed Dr.Gary Emmett, a Pediatrician at Thomas Jefferson Family Med.  He informed me on a lot of things. Sickle Cell Anemia is passed down through gene; If you inherit the Sickle cell trait from one parent you have the Sickle Cell Anemia trait but, if you get the gene from both parents you have the disease. People with the disease are diagnosed a few weeks after they are born. There major symptoms that comes with this disease. They are called “Crises.” These crises happen when someone with the disease is dehydrated and or has a high fever from being sick, People have really bad pains in their bones, and chest. Also, they can get very tired. The worst can even happen, the pains can get so bad that people can die suddenly from bad blood circulation. The life span for a person diagnosed with this disease have gotten longer over years. Before, the life span was the late teens. Now it is twice as longer. Therefore, people diagnosed can live up to about 40.

There are medications that are trying to found to cure this disease. Right now no drugs have been released. Painkillers are the only that can help with the pains. There is one drug that seems to be the best for this disease; It is called hydroxyurea. It will be available to people soon.  

There are many supporters for sickle cell anemia. I had the opportunity to talk to someone from Sickle Cell Association of America. This association serves the sickle cell community. A group of patients in 1982 that had sickle cell disease came as a support group, this is what started this association.They were patients at the Pennsylvania hospital during this time. One major fundraiser is a walkathon. It is in it’s 17th year, headed by Mr.Brandon during sickle cell awareness month in September. This event is always the last Saturday of the month, landing on the 27th this month. There is a lot of activities and also inform people about this disease.  Even though it is not a big company; Only having 5 people on their staff, they have partnerships with St.Christopher's, Chop, and Thomas Jefferson hospital.

Hello! My name is Dubois Stewart, and i’m introducing a new topic: Saving the Big cats! This is my first blog post so all the information I will be sharing should be completely new. For original research, I made a survey and sent it out over Facebook for people to take. Sadly, I only got 16 responses but I was able to sense a trend in the results. I noticed that most people cared about animals, humans and thought about big cats regularly. Most people thought of the tiger first when the word big cat was mentioned. Most of them also stated that they thought the human was ignorant of this issue and that if that most big cats would refer to eating them if they could speak. Finally, most people commented they would hate being ut in the situation that the big cats are currently in: shrinking homes, and shrinking food supply. I figured it was a given that most people would not enjoy someone in their being killed once every week, so I didn’t bother putting that question in. Overall, all the people who took my survey said they would do anything they could to help the big cats and most said they would ban certain things, such as extreme poaching, and deforestation. I also had an interview with the head of the education department, Ms. Houston. Due to her busy schedule, I had to email her the questions and responses. From this interview though, I learned that the Zoo will be holding an event this year to help little kids learn to love and remember to protect the big cats and other endangered species. Through these results I was able to see what people out in the world thought of this issue and what experts in the field were doing to help the big cats. In my opinion, I think that the human race could do a better job to take care of this planet. Its only on rent to us, and we’re driving our roommates to extinction. I think that if every person in the world just donated 1 dollar to any big cat organization that they would be saved. If the big cats were to go extinct, the world would end up being overrun with plant eaters and we’d begin to lose more of  still wonder though why this problem hasn’t been solved yet, given that there are always huge fundraisers every year for the same thing. I also wonder if there could be some way to show people what life would be like without big cats before they go extinct. Finally, I wonder what I could do thats simple enough for everyone else in the world to do on their own to save these magnificent creatures. Anyway, I hope you take something away from reading this and incorporate it into your daily life. Thanks!

My Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LfGVKf0tbkdK_kNkNSP6E--buia3HeJHQOwzcemd71Q/viewform

Hi again! As you may have read in my first blog post, my name is Gabrielle Cromley and I am doing a project called You and the World for my English class at Science Leadership Academy. I chose to write about finding a cure for cancer and how the lack of government funding is preventing researchers from saving lives. Since my last post, I have looked into the emotional and financial burden that cancer brings upon people.

Cancer brings just as much if not more emotional pain than physical. It causes depression, anxiety, distress, and fear in the patients and their loved ones. Below is an excerpt from a pamphlet about how cancer affects your emotional health by the American Cancer Society. Click here to read more.

“In people with cancer, these feelings may be caused by many things, including changes in how they are able to fill family or work roles. A person with cancer might feel the loss of control over life events, and have to deal with changes in body image. They might feel grief at the losses and changes in their lives that cancer brings. They might fear death, suffering, pain, or all the unknown things that lie ahead. Family members and caregivers may have these feelings, too. They are often afraid of losing their loved one. They may also feel angry because someone they love has cancer, frustrated that they “can’t do enough,” or stressed because they have to do more at home.”

As for the financial effects of cancer, it does not only have an impact on patients and their families but on our entire nation”s economy. For patients, their medical bills depend on their method of treatment and the severity of their illness. Cancer is a very expensive illness to treat and research. Research is so expensive since there are so many types of cancer and there is a lot of needed equipment and supplies that go into it. This is also a global issue since, “More people (in the world) die from cancer every year around the world than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined,” as stated in The Global Burden of Cancer by the Livestrong Foundation. If we could globally fight cancer, we would probably be on the edge of finding a cure. This is not currently possible, because world peace does not seem to be achievable yet. Till then, we should fight against cancer as much as we can internationally by researching with other countries that we are at peace with.

As part of my own research, I created a survey which I sent throughout my school and posted all over my social networks. The point of my survey was to learn how much people are informed on this subject and what their opinions are about this issue. Also, adults and kids my age responded to this survey. The results of my survey revealed that people are not informed on how much the government funds to cancer research, the effects of medical malpractice, and that they only had pretty vague understandings of what cancer is. Most of the responses to the question, “What is your understanding of cancer?”, said that it is a deadly and terrible disease that is caused by abnormal cell growth and reproduction. They did not state the emotional, mental, physical, and financial toll that it has on its victims, their families, and our world as a whole. Also, 83% of the people who filled out the survey know someone who has been affected by cancer. The results from the question, “Do you think there is enough federal funding for cancer research,” were that 53% of the people did not know how much the government funds cancer research, 37% said that there should be more funding towards finding a cure, and only 3 people answered that there is enough funding. To view the rest of the results of my survey, click here.

Part of Survey Results

The outcome of my research supports my claim that people are uneducated on funding and the repercussions that cancer has on people. I also learned that people know little about infections within cancer patients, but that they are somewhat familiar of what medical malpractice is. The results indicate that many people care about this cause and they want to make a change, but the negligence of the government to fund toward this issue is restraining our potential. I learned that my topic is important to many people and that cancer is more common than it is thought to be. People are willing to support, but they are going to begin to give up if there isn’t a change in the governments priorities. Not even just cancer, scientific research itself should be more of a priority to United States and to the world, because science and technology is the gateway to the future.

There is already a lot of awareness about finding a cure for cancer, but there is not a lot of pressure on the government to put the people’s ideas into action. In order to bring the government’s attention to this subject there needs to be an effort by people everywhere to contact their representatives, join groups that support cancer/scientific research to take part in their activities, and stand up to make a difference instead of sitting back and waiting for others to take charge. There should also be more awareness to aiding cancer patients and their loved ones with the effects of cancer that I spoke about previously. Anybody can help by volunteering, donating to families suffering from the financial struggle or to hospitals that do not charge families for their medical needs like St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital. There needs to be a lot of people to fight to make these changes which is why we all must take a stand.

Even after my research, I still wonder about other people’s points of view. I want to know what doctors who are affected by funding and people who work for the government or are in Congress think. This would allow me to hear arguments that oppose and support this problem. I would also like to learn more about how research funding is spent.

For our You and the World project, each student must put their ideas into action so that they can make a change for their cause. This part of the project is called the Agent of Change. To make a change in cancer research, I am planning on creating my own team for the Race for the Cure Walk in Philadelphia. I will set a goal for my fundraising, get sponsors, and donate to finding a cure. This will also allow me to meet cancer survivors and interact with people who are also fighting for this cause. I hope to be able to fulfill this goal, but setting up a team requires a lot of support and hard work which I am willing to put forth.