Food For Friends

In our elective term class called Global Peace, we had to do a nonviolent action based on an issue. For our last AP of the term, I went to my church to help make food and give it to the homeless, it was called Food For Friends. Using that we had to see how one or more of Gandhi four principles related to what we did. Overall I really enjoyed giving back and making sure the homeless don't go hungry.

Nail Climbing

In our STEAM course “Game Changers” we just finished our only AP for the term. We learned about the different types of games, and we learned what kind of mechanics are in games. During this term, we playtested a lot of fun (and some boring) games. Some of the games that we played that I enjoyed were Egyptian Ratscrew and Mancala. For our AP we had to go in a group and build our own game. My group members were RP, and DRS. We build a game called Nail Climbing. In this game, you are a rock climber who has to climb up nails and go around obstacles. Whoever gets to the top of the mountain first wins. This game is a game of skill, luck, and betrayal. I really enjoyed making this game with my group. I would have preferred to make the game board smaller because it would be easier to make more and to carry around or put in a box.

The game was created by many versions. Our first version was a foam board with ripped pieces of paper for cards. In all, our game went through 2 versions for the board and 3 for the cards in order for it to get what it is right now for our final version. We had a lot of people playtest our game. One of the reasons why our game is the way it is, because of the corrections people had for us. Some things did not change at the beginning we had nails in our board and we still have this now for our final version. In our second version for the board, we wanted to make sure the nails would stay nailed into the board because with our first version they kept on falling off. We then decided to get wood and make that our board. For the character pieces for the first version, we just put a sticker on the back and poked a hole in it so that it can stay on the nail. Now for our final version, we drilled a hole in it and put an eyelet in it. The whole board has 500 nails put in it. We wanted to use more because we thought that our first board had too many blank spaces in it. Our first version had around 300. Overall I think that every version we made and new things we added or took away for our game made it better.

I really enjoyed putting together this game with my group. My biggest contribution was helping with thinking part of the idea of what the game will be. I also nailed in the 500 nails for the wooden board; in total that took around 3 hours to put all 500 nails in that wooden board. I also created and partly designed the cards that were used for our game. For our cards, we made a back it is a drawing of a white mountain. What I am most proud of is creating the back for our cards. I am proud that I created that because it took forever and I think it looks cool and it fist just right with our game. It took a while to create but it was worth it. What I could have improved on more are the character pieces. They are a little bland but they are still an important piece in our game. In all, I think that our game wrapped up pretty well. Our group worked really well together because we enjoyed each other’s company and worked equally on the work for the game. I really helped the group focus on the task at hand, and that really helped in the long run. That everyone had a part in our group for doing different tasks. I mostly did tasks that were at my skill level. In all, we all worked on the game equally and I had fun building and designing the game with my group.

Rachel Carson And Pesticides

In our Global Peace, we are researching about activists and what they do. For our first AP, we had to research about an activist and write an essay about them. Gandhi made four principles that he created in order to live in a better society are sarvodaya means the uplifting of all, swadeshi means that it is the principle of a community that people should have a relationship with the economy and one person should not own just their own money, swaraj means self-governing or self-government, and satyagraha means saying or showing the truth in a peaceful manner. While doing research our class learned about three types of violence which are Cultural means violence that happens because of a culutre and example is in Pakistan there are honor killings where if someone in the family dishonors the family they are allowed to kill that person, Structural means any kind of violence that occurs through institutions like schools or jails like not feeding someone who is in jail, and Direct violence means violence that a person can directly see like if someone punches a person. We also learned about 198 of nonviolent way to protest according to Sharps method. The three I used in my essay are the first letters of opposition or support, second records, radio, television, and the third teach-ins. During this process, we also used conflict analysis tools which are the ice burg. The top of the ice burg is where you can see some violence. Behind that, there are more issues that you can’t easily see which would be the part of the ice burg under the water.

The activist I chose for my essay was Rachel Carson. She was a biologist who wrote a book called Silent Spring, which was about pesticides. Rachel Carson wrote this because she wanted to show people what humans were putting in their bodies. She wanted to know exactly what chemicals are in the food and drinks that people consume. What I learned from this person is the true form of what pesticides really does to humans.

(orionpozo, Rachel Carson, 2018)

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

This is for my class called Journalism. This is the third unit called Photo. What we learned in this unit is how a photo can tell a story. But if you change to photo and photoshopped it, that it can tell a different story. For our AP, we had to interview someone about what is the meaning of life. Then we had to take a picture of whatever they said was the meaning of life is. We also had to photoshopped the photo to show a different meaning. For our project, we had to write an essay about our interview and the two photos we took. Take a look at my project below.

                                                                              (AA,Interview,2018)


    Throughout time, religion has been able to bring people together. But there is still that one question that everyone wants to answer, what is the meaning of life? I wanted to ask someone who is a leader at my church. I decided to ask the Rev. Brian Hastings who is an Episcopal Priest and rector at Church of Our Saviour where I go.
    The interview took place at COS (Church Of Our Saviour). The interview was on Sunday, October 21, 2018, at 12:05 pm. Throughout the interview, Fr. Hastings shared with me his beliefs about the meaning of life. Here is some of his verbalizations:
    “The closest thing to the meaning of life is the zest and joy we get when we grow and when we sort of open up our arms to those bigger, broader, deeper experiences of our own humanity and how we share humanity with other people.” His reason for this is that he saw a bigger and deeper meaning for life. The changes he witnessed during his life, were when he found the “zest and zing” to the meaning of life, It was when women, all ethnicities, and LGBT obtained equal rights. The meaning of life is being joyful and having open arms to everyone.
    Part of the meaning for life for him also is enjoying life and being joyful. He added, “I think that zing and zest is a gift of God working in the world. You can be a secular humanist, you can be an atheist, you can be a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, Confucian, you can be a Taoist, you can believe in Yoda and still see that zest and zinging when life kind of opens up.” What he means by this is that you can’t find the meaning of life in a place, but it is something that is much deeper meaning than that. Anyone can still find what the meaning of life is or as he says it “the zest and zing.” He says that no matter what you believe in, or what type of person you are you would still will be able to find the meaning of life. He believes this because in the Church that I go to we are one. We should not judge people for being different and finding their own paths to deeper meaning, that is a part of what the meaning of life is, but that is a fairly important part.
    The image is of Fr. Brian Hastings in front of a cross at Church Of Our Saviour on Sunday, October 21, 2018. Both of the photos are of the same, but I manipulated the photo to tell more of a story. The one on the right enhances more of what Fr. Hasting is verbally expressing. The way I took the picture was straightforward. For visual perception, people can visually perceive the glow like God is there. Often when people see a glowing light, they equate it with God’s presence since we can’t visually perceive God with our own eyes. God’s presence is too powerful for humans to optically discern and understand. Humans can’t really see God’s actual form since we are humans and humans do have the capability to see his true form. For touch, people can feel the presence of the Lord through the picture that is on right. People can feel the Lord from the cross that is hanging in the background, and from the energy that is permeating the Church. For me, the image also has a smell of burning candles, which are always present. It also evokes the sound of the choir singing and the congregation singing too. You can taste the bread which Jesus gave his disciples, and we now do every Sunday.
    I photoshopped it so everything is blurry except for Fr. Hastings and the cross. The reason why I did not blur out Fr. Hastings and the cross because the cross is a symbol for his meaning of life. Additionally, I made the picture glow in a way so it looks like God is there, or at least what people verbally express God looks if he shows himself to humans. I did this because it enhances the picture and makes the image more informational and powerful.
    The picture on the right is meant to serve as an enhancer, to give the story more detail. The subjectivity of the right photo was to give you a happy emotion since you see God and the cross in one photo. In the end, the photo on the left has only one story, but the one on the right has as many as you can perceive. Fr. Hastings’ message throughout the whole interview was that no matter what you believe in you will still be able to find the meaning of life. He also states that the church has open arms and will accept anyone.

Investing

For our first Economics, we learned about the market and how to buy and sell stock. We also learned about how a company can make money or lose it through their stock. For our action project, we had to get an app called rapunzl a training stock app. We had to invest in some stock and record our data. We had to estimate what our future percent would be if he would gain money or of lost money. My favorite part of this project was actually learning about real stocks. I made a mistake which cost me some money, at first I only had Tesla as my stock. When Tesla stock started to go down a lot, I lost money.

Chris Kyle

This is for my class called Journalism. This is the second unit called Sound. For our AP, we had to interview two people about someone who is inspirational to us. We had to record it so it will be like a podcast. The person who is inspirational to me is Chris Kyle. The thing I had trouble with was editing the recording. I overcame that by taking my time and being careful. What I loved about this project was learning more about Chris Kyle.

This blog is an introduction to a podcast where an interviewer and two interviewees discuss how Chris Kyle, the noted Navy Seal, inspired their lives. Kyle became an American hero in the Iraq War. His sniper skills saved countless American lives. Later he became a hero at home by helping physically disabled and PTSD vets regain as much of a normal life as possible. The impact that Kyle had was the direct result of wanting to help others before he helped himself. For many Kyle represents the American ideal—sacrifice, dedication, and teamwork. He did that as a Navy Seal by putting himself at extreme risk to make sure his fellow sailors and Marines were protected from armed militants, snipers and others trying to kill them. Once he resigned from the Seals, he found his new mission by helping those disabled during the conflict. The interviewees are two typical Americans who know some facts about Kyle. They and the interviewer discuss what Kyle meant to them, why they look up to him, and why he is an American hero. The intended audience for this podcast will be those who appreciate the sacrifices that American servicemen make for their country, those who want to learn a little bit more about the man himself, and perhaps those who are just curious about what makes a man like Chris Kyle tick. The point of this podcast is to inspire comments from listeners who want to share their thoughts and observations about the Kyle and what he stood for.

Military Track

For our first Economics, we learned about supply/demand and to see how it functions. For our action project, we had to think about what we want to do after high school, and do research about it to see how much money we will make and how much we would be in debt by the time we retire. My family supporting me in my career choice really helps me because it motivates me more. I want to join the military and serve as a Naval Officer.



Script:
Hello, I am a Senior here at GCE Lab School. After High School I would like to become a Naval Officer. I would like to be able to serve my country. I think serving your country is the best way to show your love for this country. I chose the Navy because it best suits my temperament, which means a person nature as it affects their behavior. The Navy officers seem to me to perform at the highest standards. In order to become a Naval Officer I have two ways of getting there. The first way is to join the United States Naval Academy for 4 years. Then afterwards get commissioned. The second way is to go to UIC for 4 years, then afterward go to OCS which stands for Officer Candidate School, which is 12 weeks long. Then afterward I will get commissioned. Both ways I can achieve my end goal, but the academy route would be best. This is the best way of becoming a Naval Officer, because I will get more training out of it. Take a look at my presentation to see why I came to this conclusion.