In my previous blog, I talked about how poverty is an issue, especially in Philadelphia. I gave a quick overview of what’s happening because of this issue. For example,  people are dying. I also focused on how poverty is affecting many people and how we could help minimize it. I talked about how people are dying due to poverty. But I did not go into exact detail to who is affected by it and how we can help out.

Through more research, I found that 1 out of 2.5 children live in deep poverty. That means some children are living with an income below the poverty line which is less than 6,000 and 7,000 if with a child. That is 35% of the total population of 440,000 people. That is extreme, since children are supposed to be the ones getting an education and reaching for their dreams. Children that are in deep poverty will result in hunger due to little money. Hunger results in a possibility of 60% to miss school, 50% to repeat the same grade again, and twice more than a original student to be suspended from school. This also brings down the percent of graduation rate to below 50%. I wanted to ask some students about this topic, so I decided to conduct a survey. One of the questions I asked was “Do you think poverty is affected in children more than adults?”

As a response to this, 4 out of 6 were unsure while 2 were sure that poverty affects children more than adults. This shows that students are not aware of this, even when it most likely to be affected in them but do you ever wondered why? It’s been proven that the population of a child takes up 20%, and most of their parents are most likely to be either a lone parent, large families with more than 3 children. Since many are born to a large family with a single parenting, not much is made and the children are most likely to be affected by it.  As to why, some students said because they aren’t able to get jobs like adults and others say because they are left out to starve. This shows that some do understand but some just states the obvious of starvation.

As for this part of my survey, I ask if they had any experience with poverty or see others suffering from it. As a result, it shows that 1 out of 6  say no while 5 out of 6 said I have seen some and some are even affected by it themselves. This show that some student are affected by poverty and some seen many people on the street due to poverty. This proves that it is indeed an issue since due to poverty they are most likely to end up homeless.

In the beginning, I wanted to bring awareness of poverty but surprisingly, it seems as everyone I surveyed understood that poverty is an issue in the United States. Many blamed the economy since it’s in debt while others blame the people that are unemployed. That’s right it is actually the feds. The feds tricks people making them pay more money than they usually pay. This also affect the student because they make the student in debt too due to educations loans. They make the old people entice to complete dependent   of medicare and medicaid program.

You can find more of the result of this survey here.

    Doing this survey, I learned that more are aware of poverty and bringing awareness is not an issue but not many know that it’s mostly affected in children. I was really excited to do this project but it was not how I expected it. I thought that it would be simple and easy sending out email to organizations but I was wrong. It was actually a lot harder since many don’t have time to answer back or feel like it. It was also hard to target Philadelphia and not other countries since my project is based on Philadelphia. Not only that but I had encountered many problems. I experience issue such as people not emailing back and not only that but answering my calls. I emailed various of organization and not one decided to write back which was disappointing. I felt like it was better to email an organization or person who have the same goal as me which is definity more useful than asking a confuse kid. Since time was near and a submission is better than nothing, I had no other choice but to do a survey. A question that I’m still wondering about is how the government became in such debt to increase poverty each year.

Overall, Poverty is an huge issue and even some childrens know that! For my Agent of Change for Blog Post #3, I am planning to do a bake sale where I fundraise since poverty is an money issue. You all can help out by buying the bake sale when it comes. I would really help out people in hunger since hunger is affected due to poverty. This will help some childrens from dieing since the money will go to a hunger coalition. This is not the only way to help. There are others way to help such  as a shared property organization in which is trying to stop poverty. They have goals such as better job and training employment, economic security, etc. You should check out shared property organization!

In my first blog post, I spoke about how Domestic Violence is secretly hiding in plain sight all around us in modern day America and how it proves to be one of the most unreported crimes in modern day. Millions upon millions of victims find themselves lost in a sea of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse seeming to have no way out. Fifteen million children are abused as well and are forced to watch their families crumble one punch at a time. Abuse takes place over thirty six thousand times annually and does not show any sign of stopping unless we work together as a nation to end this great crisis.

    The NCADV has been working hard over the course of many years to fight domestic violence

Domestic violence is viewed as a woman’s issue and something that is focused around women. This may be percieved as true because more than 85% of abusers are men, but not all cases are just with women as the victims. When men do find themselves in the position of a victim, they may face skeptecism from the police and have limited resources because it is so oriented towards women being abused. Legal obstacles are also an issue for men as well as the overwhelming sensation of embarrasement and shame when coming forward about their abuse due to being seen as the physically dominant gender.

I spoke with a representative from the National Coalition Against Domestic

Violence for an interview and l learned more about their mission

After reaching out to many other organizations with no response, I found the perfect organization to talk to: the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. I spoke with the Developement Director Gretchen Shaw who was willing to have an over the phone interview and able to answer all of my questions with incredibly helpful dilligence. You can listen to the audio recording here. After having spoke with Ms.Shaw, I now am fully aware how much help people receive by reaching out to organizations like the NCADV. When asked what society can do to stop this issue all together, she responded: “I think there needs to be an attitude change. People assume that the victim can just leave, which is not the case. It’s more a case of a victim escaping their purputrator, their abuser and their main mission is to make their victims lives nightmares. I think at the root of it all society must turn their focus to why are we letting the abuser get away with it rather than ‘why doesn’t she just leave’.” Ms.Shaw explained that each case is unique and an individual experience, yet the immense pain left behind is the same. After speaking with her, it answered all of my remaining questions and gave me more insight on how this issue is being handled by some organizations. It helps me to understand the position the victims fall into and the types of people that are putting them there.

In my opinion, this topic needs far more attention than it is receiving. After seeing all of the statistics of millions of people being abused, I am scared to grow up and maybe myself become a victim. While interviewing Ms.Shaw, I asked how I could help to end domestic violence and she said that knowlegdge and asking questions about domestic violence is vital in assuring I do not become a victim. Yet we both agreed that information is not enough, however. Preventing it from happening to me does not solve this issue in any way, I want it to end for everyone. The only way to end domestic violence is to join together and face it together, which people like Ms.Shaw are dedicating their lives to.

For my You and the World project, I was considering using the power of social media. Miss America 2015, Kira Kazantsev, launched an inniciative using the hashtag “PutTheNailInIt” where you paint one of your fingernails purple to show your support for the cause because the symbolic color of domestic violence is purple. I wanted to bring this idea to Philadelphia and encourage those around me to take part in stopping domestic violence.

this picture is referrencing a social media phenomenon, the blue black/white gold dress. Social media proves to be powerful in sending a message to end domestic abuse.

Also, take a look at my Annotated Bibliography!

Social anxiety is a mental health problem that people suffer from everyday. Anxiety means the "feeling of worry." Very simple, right? But "social" anxiety? Well it might sound simple as well but it is not simple for the people who suffer from it. Social Anxiety is the irrational fear of being judged, criticized, or embarrassed in public. It is normal to feel nervous when giving out a speech or when meeting people for the first time. But with social anxiety disorder, it is so intense that it may affect every aspect of your life. Relationship is one thing, you can ruin your relationship with family and friends due to the fear of interacting. You do not get the chance to explore the world if you intend to because of the feeling of worry and nervousness.

Social anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses and the third largest mental health problem in the world today. "Social anxiety disorder can have a very negative effect on your well-being and quality of life. The illness can cause a lot of problems in your relationships with partners, family and friends." This disorder prevents you from doing the things you are willing to do. For example, you wanted to share your opinion on something in a discussion but fear kicks in so you resisted to do so.

Click here for a full information about social anxiety.

Fun Funding

Blog #1 focuses on my initial research on the topic of school funding.  It discusses school funding in general, and how it is a problem in Philadlephia.  It contains information on why their are financial problems in the school district, and the resulting consequences.  

I learned another large reason that school funding is a problem, from a website a current SLA student used when they did their project on school funding.  It currently has 143 supporters.  I do not think that is enough to make a change, and am not sure if I will be able to gather that many supporters or more.  There is a place to respond and comment at the bottom.  I think this would be a useful way to gather ideas and gain from people who could help suppor school funding.  

The article next to the petition goes ever why schools are not being funded fairly.  Currently, real estate taxes are what support school funding, which means wealtheir neighborhoods have more money for their schools.  The system neglects kids in low income areas, and gives them an unfair disadvantage.  Money for school funding needs to be distributed more fairly with a state wide funding system, so all students have a more equal chance at a great education.  

I did a lot more research on the specifics of school funding, and exaclty why Philadelphia schools don't have enough money, and what is missing and needed.  This website answers common questions on the problems I am still learning about.  The Philadelphia school district is the largest in the State, but recieves slightly under the average amount most districts in the state do, which are all smaller then the Philadelphlia district.  

I interviewed the principal of my own school, Science Leadership Academy, on school funding, and recorded his answers here.  This interview and the research done in order to be able to conduct the interview, gave me my own views on the topic.  I feel very similarly to Mr. Lehmann on the matter, and agree that the schools are not being funded well.  We hope that there won't be anymore consequences such as the cutting of school programs and positions due to the lack of funding.  We both want to change the system, and find more ways to support the school.  

I am still planning how I am going to help school funding.  I am thinking about making a petition.   I wonder if a petition can make an impact, and change anyones mind who has power and control over how much money goes towards funding.

I also learned about programs that work to help fund Philadelphia schools.  I have been looking at programs such as Fund for Quality.  They are partnered with the William Penn Foundation, The Reinvestment Fund and Public Health Management Corporation.  Organizations like these are doing things that I would like to do, and for my agent of change, if I could get in touch and work with something like this, that could be a great option.  

Annotated Bibliography

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Do you ever stop and look at the nutrition facts before you take a bite of your juicy McDouble? On McDonald's own website they tell you as much as they want to asin what’s in the McDouble. In the bread alone there are many different chemicals and preservatives that are harmful to human health. They claim that their patties are 100% beef and I highly doubt that. I again ask do you ever stop and take a look at the nutrition facts before you take a bite of your food. 9 times out of 10 you don’t and that is exactly what my project is about. We as humans never stop and think about what is actually in the food we eat from fast food restaurants. What I hope and want my project to accomplish is bringing awareness to what really is in fast food. I became interested in this topic because my brother is 30 pounds overweight for his age and I am 100% sure it is because of fast food. I want to bring awareness to kids like him and all of America really because none of us and look to see what we are eating. You can get a lot more information on my topic in my first blog post."4% of the Meat in a Mcdouble Is Real Beef,What's the Other 96%?" Our Food. Your Questions. McDonald's, n.d. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/questions/9246>. ( Challenges McDonald’s claim to 100% beef)

Since my first blog post I have explored my other 2 fast food restaurants that I wanted to dig deeper into Chipotle and Chic-fil-A . One that particularly surprised me was Chic-Fil-a. Chic-fil-a makes the claim that they’re chicken is real and children in our generation have debated about this and it has become this big epidemic rather or not Chic-Fil-a’s chicken is real or not. Well fortunately I found some information on that subject. In a Chic-fil-a chicken sandwich there are 100 ingredients and 18 preservatives. The FDA allows these companies to add these preservatives but there is a limit. However they don’t say anything when companies add different preservatives and put them all together. When I read this article I was appalled to find out what TBHQ does to the human body. TBHQ is found in Mcdonald’s, Wendy’s and now Chic-fil-a products. Too much of this chemical can cause ADHD in children, asthma, allergies and stomach cancer. Not only is TBHQ is in Chic-fil-a’s chicken but in their buns too.  Chic-fil-a has become very popular this year and hearing this changes my whole view on Chic-fil-a and their food.

For my original research I decided to do a survey because it best fit my issue because the answers are shocking. It started with the simple question “What is your favorite fast food restaurant?” 50% of the people who took my survey said Chic-fil-a which is understandable because many people believe it to be the healthiest choice when it isn’t. The question that surprised me was the question that asked “How many ingredients are in McDonald’s fries?” What surprised me is that many people picked the highest number for the amount of ingredients in their fries and I thought that maybe they read my first blog post and got the answer but it was pretty cool that many of them got the right answer for that question.

In 2012, 3,328 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver, compared to 3,360 in 2011. In addition, 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes because of a distracted driver. People might also not really know all of the risk factors involved when being distracted while driving such as, younger drivers may be at increased risk which can also mean that they are distracted more easily than other experienced drivers. Also, the crash fatality rate is highest for 16-17 year olds that had recently got their licenses.  

Factors I feel are contributing to the broken mental health care system, as discussed in my blogpost 1.

• Public Ignorance of prevalence, local and global impact

• "Mental-shaming", average citizens being unsympathetic to those who are mentally challenged, making it difficult for them to feel comfortable in society

In my last blogpost, I introduced my You and the World project, where I described my methods in trying to bring awareness to America's broken mental health care system, and provided factual information to corroborate my claims. I stated that my inspiration stemmed from my younger brother, who is autistic. Moreover, I expressed that the broken system is a result of public ignorance of mental health illnesses, the impact they have on citizens, and the impact they have on the world. Because of this, I explained how I plan to bring awareness to this issue by finding a unique way to educate the public about mental illnesses and the treatment patients receive. In this blog post, I will be elaborating on the original research, data and perspectives that I have collected through a survey and interviews,  portion of my You and the World project. In addition to my original research, I will include new, credible information concerning the structure of America's mental health care system.

Since my last blog post, I have collected an agglomeration of insightful facts and statistics  covering the perspectives of those who work in the mental health field, the prevalence of mental illnesses, and the public's ignorance/indifference about this very important topic. For starters, while doing more research, I came upon a very interesting article on Michigan's Local News website. The article includes quotes from Paul Ippel, executive director of Network 180, Kent County’s public mental health and substance abuse resource agency. "When a person is admitted to the hospital[for physical reasons], we send flowers and cards...There was a time people wouldn't say the word cancer and now we talk (openly) about going for cancer treatment, but we’re reluctant to say we've been admitted to a psychiatric hospital," he states. His words specifically resonated with me because it gave me a unique perspective other than my own. As you can recall from my previous blog post, I mentioned that it was important for citizens who were not personally affected by mental illness to not ostracize those who were different. I made a point that people who were deliberately ignorant, as well as those who were subconsciously passive, made integration into society especially difficult for those dealing with anxiety, autism, ADHD, anorexia, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. However, when I read Ippel's response, my train of thought expanded, and I began to wonder if reluctance to be open about one's own mental health challenges and needs was also a factor of why the system has remained tarnished. He references cancer, which was once a sensitive topic, which people opted to take a circuitous route in discussing. Now cancer is widely spoken about and research, innovations, and new breakthrough therapies are coming at the result of the salient discussion. His point correlates to one of the factors I previously discussed: Mental shaming.

Excerpt where I spoke about mental shaming in my previous blog post.

 I am still passionately driven by the belief that American citizens are not building a comfortable environment for those who are mentally-ill to express themselves. Even at an early age, kids are bullied and isolated for holding differences. For example, 2.7 million children are being bullied every year,and over 100,000 of them missed school due to a bullying incident in 2010. It is even worse for children who who are mentally challenged.  Approximately half of adolescents with autism, intellectual disability, speech impairments and learning disabilities are bullied at school, new research suggests.That’s much higher than the rate of bullying faced by typically developing students, (about 1 in 10 are victimized by their peers).    

Visuals created by me to portray the juxtaposition:

When I interviewed my fellow classmate, Jevon Price, to receive a youth perspective. I received some interesting responses.

                 1) Do you believe that the national discussion of our mental system was resuscitated by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that occurred in 2012?

Yes. I feel like people do not discuss mental health because they want to live in blissful ignorance.

--> Do you think the discussion made any type of impact? Whatever impact it made was certainly very short lived. People are not even talking about it anymore and when it was a huge topic, the discussion got diverted to gun control and whatnot.

2) According to a Time Magazine article, there are only 7,500 psychiatrists, while 20,000 are needed. What do you believe engenders such a significant shortage? What implications do you think the shortage causes?

People do not care if they are not personally confronted with mental illness.  These shortages cause more accidents like Sandy Hook if people are not being treated

3) How knowledgeable do you believe teenagers are about mental illnesses and how patients receive treatment?

They are only knowledgeable when dramatic things occur.

4) Do you feel as if the general public is concerned with making mentally-ill patients feel accepted and welcomed in society?

No. I feel like people are so into themselves that they do not really care and take into consideration of people who are different

5) In what ways do you think the services that the current mental health care system provides can be enhanced to be more coordinated and organized?

You need more psychiatrists and to  bring public awareness because if people don't know how much of an impact mental illnesses have in our lives, as a country, they are honestly not going to care.

6) Can you name some positive facets of the current system?

To be completely honest...no, mainly because I do not know a lot about the current system.

7) Can you name some negative facets of the current system?

Well I know that it must not be at its best due to the school shooting and I know that it is somewhat uncoordinated. Also, the current system is not taking advantage of technology and media. We have computers, cellphones, TVs! You need to make your case heard through these devices. It s the only way people will hear you.

8) In your opinion, does the good outweigh the bad, or vise versa?

I don't really know much about the good, so I will have to say that the bad outweighs the good.

I was inspired to interview a young voice because I believe that as youth, we hold a lot of great ideas and can make an impact on the world, hence the You and the World project (haha!), I believed that an interview would be a unique way to gather original research.

Highlights from interview:

• "...people do not discuss mental health because they want to live in blissful ignorance"- I think this quote relates back to when I discussed people not making the effort to learn more about mental illness. Perhaps they feel uncomfortable discussing it, afraid they will offend someone, or simply do not care.

• "...We have computers, phones, TVs! You need to make your case heard through these devices. It's the only way people will hear you."- I found this response especially significant because lately I have been discussing how I want to bring awareness to this issue, however I have not specified how exactly I want to do so. Hmmmm…

In addition to a student interview, I conducted a survey.

 

Correct Answers

1 in 4

Only 40%

                 1 in 5

               Only 20%

Survey Conclusion:

I decided to do this survey because I not only wanted to test how much my friends, and adults I know, knew about mental illnesses and the system,but I also wanted them to share stories of times they had experienced someone being bullied due to having a mental illness or a time when they were bullied.

Anonymous Stories I received:

I've seen it happen where someone can't speak correctly because of their illness and others make fun of it.

When I was in high school, I noticed someone being bullied. I didn't do anything about it. It still haunts me.

Someone I know has autism and he was made fun of for not being able to keep up in the classroom. Long story short I almost beat up people…

I would rather not, it's traumatizing. It really is a horrifying experience and truly humiliating.

When I was in second grade, one of my best friends had autism and kids would always make fun of him and hit and tease him because of his disabilities.

      9 more stories

Although these stories were short and simple,they have left a lasting impact on me. I am sure that if more people were willing to share stories like this then the world will truly know how important it is to care about the mental health care system and treat everyone kindly, despite their uncontrollable differences.                  

At last, through my student interview and my interview where almost 49 students,friends, and adults,responded, I learned many things. For starters, I did not expect the respondents to perform so well on the surveys. Maybe the youth is as ignorant as I predicted? This brings the question: Why aren't there more kids sharing their stories, making people care, devoting their time to sparking a discussion about the mental health care system? My answer is that kids feel powerless sometimes. In my Agent of Change plan, I want to empower kids. I want to create a virtual environment, where they can feel safe about sharing their stories, anonymously. I want adults to see how many stories there are. I want to bring awareness.        

The Interview:

Previously in Blog Post #1 I've told you guys about what MS is and how it affects my life personally and the people around me.I never told you guys how I feel about it, I was too young to understand what was happening to me  I also told you that my Mom, Nikki has MS and some of the things that she goes through daily, the medicines and some of the symptoms that she has. Some new information that I've found was that MS is actually more common in women, I gotten this information from a Doctor that I interviewed for the original research part of the Project. I choose to interview a neurologist at the Thomas Jefferson Hospital Department of Neurology.You guys can check out the Link here My Interview. Be aware this video isn't the best you may hear baby noises in the background( My godsister).

I find the experience of talking to a real doctor was actually pretty awesome I didn't ask the doctor about my Mom's condition I didn't want to really get too deep into that. Now that I have somebody else's perspective on the topic not just what the internet has to tell me about MS I think that I have a better understanding about it. I think that going out and actually interviewing a real Doctor, someone who has studied and is passionate about helping those who are really ill such as my Mom. Somethings that I was still thinking about is what the brain looks like or the spinal cord looks like after MS takes its toll on those parts of the body.

I've found many ways to get my class and community to get involved Take Action if you guys are interested you can help, I took part in the MS walk this is my 2nd year doing the walk and I have to say it was worth it they give you a ribbon to put on and a cup it's a really good experience and I don't regret any of it. For my agent of change I was thinking about either doing a fundraiser or giving a presentation to my advisory and just to get people thinking and maybe talking about it and raise some awareness. I have a presentation slide that I made before and I hope you guys check it out. I like doing this part of the project I think that the Agent of change is going to be really interesting and not just my project the entire 9th grade class as well.

Many things still have to be done for the Agent of change, but things are working out well.

This picture is showing the areas where MS can affect your body as you can see its not many but can do lots of damage.