My topic for my you and the world project is Islamophobia and I touched on what it was and how it affects the community we live in for my previous two slate posts. For my agent of change, I had a hard time deciding on what to do because I can’t easily and magically make this issue disappear regardless of how bad I want it to. Islamophobia is a very popular topic and very serious issue that continues to spread rapidly. For me to decide on what to do, I had to think about what the main cause of Islamophobia is. Through my research, I found out that big anti-islam corporations/organizations pay and bribe other big organizations with money to provide falsified accusations of Muslims to people through mainstream media. But how would I expose these organizations and get this information out with evidence supporting it? Since my first slate post, I stumbled upon an anti-islamophobic organization called The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is an organization on the rise, trying to put an end to Islamophobia. What better organization to partner up with? My best shot at making a change and trying to put a stop to Islamophobia is to partner up with an organization like CAIR, and since I’m already in contact with a member there, I chose this one in particular. How can I make a difference? I decided that since I love writing so much, I would write an article for their articles page, exposing these organizations and proposing ways to better our world from being Islamophobic while educating some on the topic as well. Their website brings many eyes and if I can get a message out, I would be able to successfully inform people on the real reason behind Islamophobia.

photo photo

Although I have reached out to CAIR, they are a very busy organization so for them to review it and the process of putting my article on their website could not happen on time especially considering the debate they’re probably having about a freshman writing for their website. The link to my article is also here if you want to give it a look.

Annotated Bibliography

In my first SLATE post, I addressed the importance of student loans and overwhelming debt and how this can be solved and how it affected students in the past, present and how it will affect their future. I also mentioned the importance of scholarships for students who come from families who struggle financially. In my second SLATE post, I went into more profundity about the information I got from MIT after my series of interviews that I conducted with Rachel. E Kay of MIT’s admission office. I mentioned in my post how MIT and many other schools were participating in this program called questbridge where they recruit students who want to pursue higher education. Then I talked about what role the U.S can play to help fix the issue of college tuition. Over the course of this third checkpoint, I recently found out about many organizations and groups that work with students in providing them a scholarship for their higher education and one of the most famous and most known organizations that I found out about is called the Gates Millinuim Scholars and it provides the amount of money needed for your education it pays for your fees and everything down to your dorm but it is highly selective and only 1000 students are chosen every year, this organization is funded by Bill and Milenda Gates with a 1.6 billion dollar donation. Another program I came across as I was doing research was an organization called the MDRC they work with young adults and help them pay for their higher education. On their website, they state: “The federal government provided over $33 billion in Pell Grants to nearly 9.5 million low- and middle-income students. Yet too many of these students do not succeed academically. More than a third of students who enroll in college do not earn a degree and are not enrolled in any postsecondary institution six years later; at community colleges, the fraction is close to half. Many factors hinder students from completing college, and financial concerns are a major component. Even if they receive federal and state financial aid, often it is not sufficient to meet their needs. Financial burdens often drive students to work too many hours while in school, forcing them to cut back on study time or drop classes; some students drop out altogether.” Overall I believe the efforts of these organizations/groups to help students with their college fees is great, however, there could be many more groups/organizations that can help young adults with the college/university process. I truly believe that these organizations should be and are examples of what we can do to help future generations succeed.

Talking about the Gates Millennium Scholars

Talking about the Gates Scholarships.

After all this research I had the idea that for my agent of change I would inform students on how to be eligible for scholarships and what programs they can apply for and take part in to increase their chances at getting a scholarship if their family is struggling fianically, I also mentioned in my Agent of change proposal that I would be interested in a letter campaign that will bet targeted at state and federal leaders and I also suggested that I was planning on writing a heart-felt letter to both Betsy DeVos and President Trump, but after some time I came along to accept the idea that this Agent of change would be kind of far-fetched so I will do this as a secondary Agent of change. I first came upon the idea of doing a presentation when I was trying to figure out how I could somehow directly affect the lives of students who might struggle financially and then I decided that there is a diverse group of students in this school so I could just inform them on this topic. During the course of this project I admit I struggled a little in the beginning because I didn’t really know what to choose as my Agent of Change until I decided to persue both of the ideas I had for my agent of change and after this I had an even harder time trying schedule a time to present and I didn’t get one until the last week and my presentation would be on the very day before the project was due, I also worked really hard on the presentation during my waiting time for a confermation as to when I could present my Agent of Change, but when I started presenting I could hear some members of the audience start talking and laughing not really paying attention, however, I feel as if I was effective in making a change because since I did inform students on the programs and ways that can/make them eligible for scholarships, I have basically reached the purpose of my project to inform students so they too, can have the same education as someone is able to pay full price for their’s. As I look back at my progress through this project I find it fascinating how not only did I learn about how organizations/groups are helping students who are struggling financially succeed, but I am also fascinated by how much I can help the world, over the course of my Agent of Change and the You and The World Project, in general, I learned that I can contribute to solving many of society’s issues even if all I do is inform a group of students. Despite struggling on the Agent of Change

Presenting to peers

Presenting to peers.

an aspect of this project I am content with knowing that I tried my best and I am more knowledgeable from the lessons I learned over the course of this course of this project. Even as this project comes to a disheartening conclusion. I want to inform anyone that may be reading this, that presenting to a group of 20 kids isn’t going to solve the problem with college tuition, but rather it will be all of working together and consistently with one goal and that is to make higher education affordable for everyone, that is when we truly have and will succeed in terminating an issue in our society.

Litter Pick-Up Conquest

Let yourself know.

You might have been surrounded by trash throughout your childhood.

Although… you wonder why you see your streets and neighborhood struggling to be clean.

Some think littering is the problem but is it something we are willing to stop?

Even if you pick up the litter around your house, it just seems to come back.

Why? Maybe it’s because you just need to stay patient and wait until people start to notice.

So how did I make a change?

Well, before you continue on, please check on my previous posts, “Straws, Something You Find Everywhere” and “Something More Than A Litter Bug”. In my first post, I discussed about how plastic straws negatively affect our environment in ways of endangering animals as well as how we can avoid using these plastic straws by simply doing less. For my second post, I did an physical observation outside my neighborhood to collect photos of litter and some photos of straws to demonstrate how trash can be hiding from us.

Photos of my observation from “Something More Than A Litter Bug”

As I continued my journey in attempt to help solve this problem, I’ve been thinking about multiple ways I can be an agent of change. My first idea was posting flyers around my school and other places such as restaurants but as I was getting this idea approved, I was asked “What more could I do?” and this was when one of my ideas, that I first thought I could never do, popped up. On an article, asking if you were one of those “weirdos” who picked up litter, I was inspired to do something that involved with picking up litter. This article explained a personal experience on what happened when a lady picked up litter and caused an entire movement to spark up.

Inspired by the article, I was thinking about making a litter pick-up day where students will go out and see whom can grab the most litter in a certain amount of time. This idea sounded great on paper but the way to get this idea approved and make time for it would be risky. So instead of doing my pick-up day in school, I decided I might need to do this outside of school. This meant I wouldn’t be able to grab the most amount of people but I still continued this idea. I sent out some flyers to gather around 10 people and so the journey began on my litter pick-up conquest!

On May 8th, 2018, I rounded up the volunteers who let me know, the day of, and we began our fun adventure to find the most litter and pick it up.

Many of the participants stuck together but secretly, they were on their own. One of my participants, Jacob, was on his own most of the time and decided that he’d be a lone wolf and collect litter on his own. The tactics and locations were the key part to this conquest. Jacob went with the lone wolf tactic and end the end, he successfully won.

Photos of participants who collected litter in this event

In the end, I believe the purpose is to not litter in the first place. Even though we are cleaning up and picking up litter, we would not have to do this to if we hadn’t littered in the first place. I like to think back to my first blog post where I discussed on how you could actually do more by doing less. This meant that you were able to make a change by stopping the behavior of littering or using plastic straws.

Nonetheless, this was a project that I can be proud of. I came into the project, thinking that I had to do something that I did not want to do but as I progressed throughout the project, I realized this project can be something I would be proud to present in the future. I learned many new ways of problem-solving and one of them had to be about working around people. I realized that sometimes it is difficult to gather people for a project because there’s so many variables on what can happen at the last minute but I manage to solve this problem by constantly reminding them about the event and eventually I was able to have a decent amount of people.

Photos of all participants who collected litter and supported the cause (photographer on the right corner of the right picture)

Overall, I think there’s still a lot left for this problem to be solved because littering is one of those problems that may not be fully stopped but can definitely be reduced. I believe others and myself have done almost our full potential of solving this problem as of now with a project like this because we are still 9th grade students whom are all working to solve on our problems for this project. To end off with a bang, the winner of the conquest, Jacob Prunes, wanted to say “Winner, winner, please don’t litter!”

For my annotated bibliography, please visit the link here.

Moriah Lahr

05/18/18

  Sexual Objectification and Its Effect on Women’s Mental Health

Sexual objectification is when women are seen by men as objects made for their own pleasure and not as intelligent, complex beings. Examples of sexual objectification include catcalling, sexual assault, rape, or simply getting checked out. Studies show that sexual objectification impacts women's mental health for the worse as I stated in BLOG POST 1. Every woman that I have talked to about being sexually objectified says they deal with mental health issues very often, including daily battles with anxiety or depression. I even did surveys on a few high school female students at Science Leadership Academy in BLOG POST 2.

Women are starting to come out more about their experience with being sexually objectified in the workplace, at school, or even just walking down the street. One example is a 20 year old named Noa Jansma who took selfies with every man that cat called her to show everyone awareness and show people how much this happens to women every single day. I think this is a very good way of showing people that this is a very damaging thing that a lot of men do.

For my agent of change, I decided I wanted to film a video touching on these issues of sexual objectification then later get in touch with an 8th grade sex ed teacher to show her students. Unfortunately, my plans and communication with the teacher fell through and I was unable to get ahold of her so I just posted the video on youtube and hope to reach the goal of 30 views. I felt as though talking about sexual objectification in depth would be a great way to spread awareness and understanding of the topic. The experience of working toward an agent of change was stressful at times but I tried my best to stay focused and get it done. I am curious to see what people’s response and reactions will be to the video.

I loved doing this topic as my project as a whole. I learned a lot of new things and feel like I can relate to a lot of things that women are experiencing in their daily lives. I learned about myself and others that being sexually objectified is what really pulls down our self confidence levels and can leave negative effects on women even if we don’t realize that’s the reason some of us feel bad about ourselves. In this project I feel as though I could’ve managed my time a lot better so that there wouldn’t be any inconveniences. There is still a lot left for people to do to help end sexual objectification but I think our best bet for now is to just raise awareness and show people this is how we feel. Women are feeling degraded and oppressed and we need to show people that this isn’t okay. We need to show people that we aren’t just pieces of meat to be lusted after and that we are actually complex and intelligent human beings with feelings and a personality.

       annotated bibliography

Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TIOkbCilRQ

In my first post and in my second post we talked about what I would like to call the Social Decline. The “ Social Decline” is basically in my view all the negative effects of technology and how we are oblivious to the changes that are happening. Other the the overall idea of my You & The World project, we went into details of a list of things that affect us as teens negatively varying from, sleep deprivation, addiction, and self consciousness. So far we did some research and then we wrote a essay on it along with pictures and caption. Then a month later I furthered my research in social media, and ironically we used social media to at first record interviews of teens and there phone usage but we weren't getting to the point or coming up with the solution that we needed. That is when I created a ten question survey that I asked people to fill out in the span of 2 days we came up with enough answers to sort of weigh it out and come up with a final product.

Another terrible effect of social media to add to this list is the most important is cyber bullying. It is sad to say , but it has become so common in the average teens daily life. In many ways social media relates to cyber bullying a website  stopbullying.gov says “Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content.”.  With all that said cyber bullying can happen anywhere anytime where there is an online device in reach. The topic is very aminstrema but for reasons of trying to move forward and get rid of the cyber bullying.

Moving on with this project we were assigned to make change, which is smart because what is the point of the research if you can’t apply it to the world and do something about it rather then speak about it. So it honestly took me a while for me to get the wheels moving, but eventually I came up with a simple idea that can make change in a way. I decided to present the issue and I was going to originally present a solution but I gave the audience the choice t be able to decide what they were going to do after they learned some new information about how social media can affect you negatively. Before all of that I got another thing or affect to share. And then I started to make a short and simple slideshow with little bullet points( so they can focus on me rather then the powerpoint).

(Shown Below is my Attempt on making a change)

In conclusion to my attempt on change, I found the experience to be very satisfying. When I say satisfying I mean it in the way that you feel good when you make a change. I feel like I could;have planned a little better but it wouldn’t be game changing. This project overall was a good experience even if the process was not as smooth the end result is a positive one. I personally learned a lot about myself  and that I am highly involved in social media and how I need to make a change in myself as well as other people.

(Dr. Aaron Van Saun enters the stage as audience claps)

Randy: Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate the claps. So today we’re back on the show, Dr. Aaron Van Saun. Today, we have a special guest. Her name is Jeanette Walls. She recently made a book called The glass castle. She is her with her mother, Rosemary Walls. Can we get a round of applause for both of them.

(Round of applause for Jeannette Walls and Rosemary Walls as both enter the stage)

Randy: please sit down here,please sit down here ( shakes hands with Jeanette and Rosemary)

Isabella: I’m very happy to be here

Sarah: Yeah me too

Randy: So, hey Jeannette Walls how are you today?

Sarah: I’m good how are you?

Randy: I’m good. So talk about your book The Glass Castle

Sarah: So basically it’s about my family growing up and how there wasn’t always much money and my mother's free- spiritedness to growing up and kind of letting kids be kids. And learn whatever they want. And end up well in the end

Randy: So today you’re here with your mother. How long have you been seeing each other?

Sarah: Umm..well we see each other on and off. Our relationship growing up was kind of rocky. We kind of made amends a few years back.  

Isabella: yea we put all that stuff in the past.

Randy: so if we are going to continue with the past, growing up, were you ever afraid or ashamed by how other people see you?

Sarah: I think that in a way I was but then I was not. Kinda based on my parent's spirit of we’re gonna raise, or kids, we don’t care what anyone says. Like they can deal with than. So yeah.

Isabella: Yeah we always raised her to not care about what other people think.

Randy: Bouncing off of what Jeanette has said, are you proud of what Jeanette has become? And how she is as a person today?

Isabella: I am very proud of what Jeanette has done with her life. She has a very comfortable living, unlike she did when she was growing up. But I raised her right, I know I did. One thing I feel like she didn’t grasp on was how she shouldn’t care what other people think of her. She is ashamed of me and her father because we chose a lifestyle that wasn't conventional and we didn’t have much money. So you know, we lived on the street.

Randy: Going off of what rosemary just said, is it true about how you think about your parents?

Sarah: I wouldn't say that's totally true. I’d say that yes, there living style is different from mine. And yes growing up I did want to leave that style. And I’m and adult, their adults. I was also taught to respect other people’s ways of living. I would’nt say that I was ashamed, more that I was worried for them. And that’s different from being ashamed

Randy: Any questions from the audience please? Yes, the young man in the gray.

Ethan: Yes I have a question for Jeanette! Why don’t you live by the parents your parents raised you?

Sarah: I actually touched on this question before. I was talking about how I wasn’t exactly unhappy I just wanted more growing up. I wanted to create a better life for myself growing up. That doesn’t necessarily mean I completely forgot about my parents’ ways, I just used some things from them.

Isabella: Yes, I know you kids wish you had more than you got. But look where it got you. One it gave you a great story and you made tons of money off of it. You kids don’t need that physical stuff.

Sarah: So you’re saying I didn’t need food growing up or electricity. I didn’t need new clothes. Yeah, I didn’t need physical stuff at all!?

Isabella: Well obviuosly you guys needed physical stuff like water and food. But me and your father tried!

Sarah: Yeah my father tried

Randy: Woah, Woah calm down

Sarah: He went to bars, he got drunk.

Isabella: And you think that's my fault?

Sarah: Ms. I can’t get a job, I need to focus on my artwork. How does that help your kids?

*Isabella walks out*

Randy: Stay stay! …. Does your mother always act like this?

Sarah: Yea she can’t confront her issues. She’s all happy and go lucky and we’ll figure it out. Well what if we don’t figure it out?

Randy: Well do you think your father has any play into this?

Sarah: Yes,he was drunk all the time, he’d come home, get mad at my mother and things would go south.

Randy: So where is he now?

Sarah: He passed away a few years ago...

Randy: Oh. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for watching the Aaron Van Saun Show. Jeanette ( shakes hand) thank you for coming.

Sarah: Thank you for having me!

Script

Alaska’s mom’s death Scene:
Cindy: Welcome back to MNCC News. I am Cindy. Today’s breaking news is a mother of a 9 year old child, Alaska Young has passed away from aneurysm. We have Carol at the scene, take it away.  

Carol:  

As you can see I’m at the Young house where Ms. Young passed away late last night.  Sources say that Ms. Young was feeling fine later that day but passed away because of an aneurysm at January 10,1997.  Her daughter Alaska Young found her passed out on the kitchen floor. In shock she could only stay still as she watched her mother passed away before her eyes.

Cindy: Thank you Carol and that would be today’s news. I am Cindy and you were  watching MNCC News.

Night at the barn Scene:

Alaska: You won that round. Now what’s your worst day?

Pudge: My worst day was in seventh, grade when Tommy Hewitt pissed on my gym clothes and then the gym teacher said I had to wear my uniform or I’d fail the class.

Alaska: The day after my mom took me to the zoo where she liked the monkeys and I liked the bears, it was a Friday. I went to my room, and she sat down at the kitchen table, I guess, and then she screamed, and I ran out, and she had fallen over. She was lying on the floor, holding her head and jerking. And I freaked out. I should have called 911. But I just started screaming and crying.

Car Accident Scene:

Cindy: Breaking News. Today, a young girl from Culver Creek Boarding School has died from a car accident. Now we have Carol on the scene. Take it away.

Carol: I am on set of the car accident. Moments ago, a junior at Culver Creek High School, student Alaska Young had passed away from driving under the influence. We are on scene with the cop that Alaska Young ran into

Police: I seen plenty, but I ain’t never seen that. She didn’t tarn. She didn’t brake. She jest hit it.  I wasn’t more than ten feet from the cruiser when she hit it. I thought I’d die, but here ah am.

Obituary

Carol: Thank you police officers, Back to you Cindy

Cindy: Thank you Carol for the intense story.That would be all for today’s news. I am Cindy and you were watching MNCC News.

The Eagle talks about the Alaska’s death at the auditorium Scene:

Cindy: Welcome back to MNCC News. I am Cindy. Today, we have another story on the death of student Alaska Young from Culver Creek Boarding School.  On the scene is Eagle Martin, talking on the life of Alaska Young.

Carol: Is everyone here?  

Nickell: No, Alaska isn’t here.

Carol: Is everyone else here?

Nickell: Alaska Isn’t here.  We can’t start without Alaska.

Carol: Last night, Alaska Young was killed in a terrible accident.  And then she was killed. Alaska has passed away. She was on I-65 just south of downtown.  She hit the cop car without swerving. The police said they smelled alcohol.

Talk Show

Moriah, Justine, Rene, Vincent

4/7/18

Setting: Conference room

Props: Papers, Artificial applause,

Script

(Applause dying out)

Rene- Welcome back to the Black-eye-of-the-Month club.Today we have a very exciting show planned for you with special guest Junior from the Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian.

(Applause)

Moriah- In fact, that's what our show is about today!

Rene- For those of you that don’t know, The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian is about a kid, named Junior. He describes different problems he faced as an Indian and stories of his teenage life on the Spokane reservation. Even though the story is a young adult fiction there are many things in there that did happen in real life.

Justine- Okay, before we talk about anything can we please talk about Penelope and Junior. They were so cute together.

Moriah- She was a horrible girlfriend

(Audience gasps)

Moriah- She is, how did she forget Valentines Day?

Justine- Not everyone has a perfect memory.

Rene- Well technically, that wasn’t his girlfriend. And he wasn’t the best “boyfriend” either. Who takes someone to Denny’s without having the money to pay for them.

Justine- Not everyone is rich.

Moriah- Who’s everyone’s favorite character?

Justine-Penelope of course. She was so caring amd had a great sense of humor. I love the fact that she wanted to help homeless people during Halloween by donating to them.

Moriah- I love Rowdy. I think he really challenged Junior throughout the whole book. It makes it more interesting to read.

Rene: Now let's play a quick game before we introduce you to our special guest, Junior.

(Audience claps)

Rene: Before we get started we should go over the rules. Two of you Justine and Moriah are basically playing trivia but the answer is only him (junior) or her (penelope). Now there are only three questions but each question wrong you get slapped viciously across the face

Justine: wow ok

Moriah: sounds good

Rene: Number 1, This person has a brain disorder

Moriah: his mom

Justine: (slaps moriah vigorously)

Rene: that's gotta hurt but now for number two, who forgot valentines day?

Justine: penelope

Moriah: Junior

Justine: (Slaps moriah even harder)

Rene: yikes, Moriah this is your chance. Whose name is albert?

Moriah: penelope

Justine: junior you idiot (slaps moriah)

Rene- Bonus question,who won the rematch game against wellpinit?

(special guest enters)

Moriah- rowdy?

Vincent- (slaps moriah) actually, it was me

(crowd cheers and applauses)

Justine- OMG IT”S JUNIOR FROM THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART TIME INDIAN

(more applause)

Rene- well Junior, can you tell us about that day?

Vincent/Junior: It was an Intense game.. Especially against my bestie jawn but at the end of the day we came up with a W.

Moriah- What was life like growing up as poor indian?

Vincent/junior: It was a struggle but i got by. My grandmother was as support system that got me through it but like you guys know what happened, but it was fine it is where my bestfriend came from but, its my home

Justine- So what happened with you and Penelope after the book ?

Vincent/ Junior: Well we got serious but she cheated so yeah it's whatever

Justine- What can we expect in your future, drawing? Writing?

Vincent - I mean I am a writer but i will always love drawing

Moriah- Well thank you for coming here.

Vincent- Thank you

Rene- We’ll be back after this commercial break…

(applause)

End of scene