All images found in this blog post, and only this blog post were taken by me via screenshot. 

For our second blog post we needed to create an interview or survey. I decided to create a interview and ask a fellow classmate questions. I based my interview off of Heads Up! The Interactive Challenge which is a stimulator-type game. The game was created by a partnership of Toyota’s Teen Driver and Discovery Education. In the game you are a teen driving behind the wheel of a car of your choice. You choose wether you are left- or right-handed and begin the game. 

Thank you to Dillon Hershey, 15 years old, for allowing me to interview her. She has no prior experience driving a real-life vehicle. All the questions were written by me and all the answers were written by Dillon. The game is a creation of Discovery Communications, LLC © 2012.

A: I had 10, and it was hard to learn how to drive. My attention was split a little but not much.

In 2008, as the statistic above shows, 63% of teenager passenger deaths happened in vehicles driven by an teenager. Click here to learn more. 

A: It was hard to because when you would stop and eat, the car would start to move around again. Also they had your attention be focused on eating and stopping at the stop signs.

The statistic above : About 2/3 of fatal teen crashes involve the driving making an error. This error is due to inexperience and distractions. Read more here. 

A: It was really hard to keep track of what radio station you had change it to. I was really distracted!

The statistic above shows that 84% of teenage girls and 69% of teenage boys are likely to adjust music selection and/or volume while driving. Lean more here. 

A: I ran off the edge so many times!!! I had 20 and 1 missed sign because I let up the break too early. I was VERY distracted because I had to choose what I wanted to text back to the person.

In my opinion, the above statistic is the most important because texting or talking on the phone while driving is the most dangerous! Please, I urge you to learn more here. 

Q: Was there any point in the game that you felt the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many tasks might happen to a teen driver? Did it happen to you, a person who has not driven yet? 

A: YES I WAS SO OVERWHELMED!! It was overwhelming because of all the tasks that I had to do. I really like the idea of the game because the driving is really hard and that is how it really is.

Q: At what age do you think a teen is allowed to drive? Would you allow your child to drive at that age?

A: 18 and I would let my kid drive but after I had the talk about texting and driving.

Q: Is there any other points you would like to bring up? Do you think the real experience will be harder, easier? 

A: The actual driving is not very real but the distractions are real. Also I think that the real experience will be harder but of course I won’t text and drive. 

Thank you again to Dillon for participating in this interview. Please read her You and the World project concerning Pet Euthanasia. Check back soon for my third blog post. My bibliography is here. My third blog post is here. Thank you. 

In Stephen Emond's second novel, the relationship of two childhood peas-in-a-pod, Lucy and Evan, is written as well as the script for any indie-movie. As children, they were virtually inseparable; they went to the same school, lived within walking distance of each other, sat around and illustrated stories via comic strip, and created mythical worlds (Bridge to Terabithia-esque) in spare time that they always seemed to have while they were with each other. Lucy moves out of town as a result of her parents divorce and Evan anxiously awaits her arrival every winter; one year, however, he is met with a 'surprise'. The once clean-cut, semi-nerd, good-girl Lucy has transformed into an eyeliner-wearing, baggier, mysterious Lucy. What could it be that has changed her so drastically? The book follows the two as Evan tries to bring Old Lucy ™ back and as New Lucy ™ makes attempts at gaining Evan's acceptance, and finding herself. 

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.

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.

The environmental signs may being the pets are tied up outside for log time masses without access to clean food or water. Pets are kept outside in unstable weather without access to shelter; some pets my be kept in polluted areas that may endanger their health. Pets may be housed in small crowded cages that are to small for them to stand or make any movement at all. Also if you observe high traffic coming to and from a place with animals live, its possibly it may be animal fighting rings.

In U.S. animal shelters, 5 to 7 million companion animals enter shelter every year while 3 to 4 million are euthanized every year. Less 2% of cats and 15-20% of dogs are returned back to their owners and 20% of the people who leave their dogs in a shelter adopted them from a shelter. 

Many ways to prevent animal abuse and cruelty is to first get your pets spayed or neutered to prevent more offsprings to endure such terrible things. Then if you suspect animal abuse contact your local police department for information for your local ASPCA.Remember to teach your children how to treat and respect animals like they were human because it starts with the younger generations. Take care of the animals you have, support local animal shelters, donate at the Humane Society of the United States.  and get involved.