Everyday Survival

In our last unit in Entrepreneurship, the class we learned about ways to create a good business and what should go into it. I learned that it is the quality of the work not the quantity of work. We had to create a video pitch for our business. My business is called Everyday Survival. In the video pitch, I describe what my business does, who it is meant for, and what can it do for investors. In this business, we also had to create a logo that involves what your business does. My logo shows what Everyday Survival is truly about, it shows what kind of a business we are.

According to the United Nations, SDG which stands for Sustainable Development Goals. According to the UN, SDG 15 intends to Protect, 15 is to “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” SDGs are a set of goals that the UN wants to achieve 2030.

Everyday Survival wants to help achieve SDG goal 15. The goal that Everyday Survival will help achieve is: “By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought, and floods, and strive to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world.” Everyday Survival will achieve this by enabling our customers to plant trees and plants in the forest once a month during the weekend event. The weekend events that Everyday Survival will hold, will help the customers, with getting skills to survive in the outdoors or urban settings. Doing this will make customers do something that will help the planet, and create a better environment.

Everyday Survival has a partnership with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County in order to achieve the SDG goal 15. We will work together by working with one and another to plant trees. The mission of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County is to restore the land and the forest. With the help of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, we will be able to combine our events and be able to plant more trees.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this project and thinking of a business plan to do. It was more work than I had originally expected. I do feel that I could start this, but I will need some money to start out with. I am confident in making the items more durable in the US.

Work Cited

“Chicago Forests, Prairies, Savannas, Wetlands.” Forest Preserves of Cook County, 2019.

Donovan, John. “How to Be a Good Citizen on the Hiking Trail.” MNN, Mother Nature Network, 2 Jan. 2019.

“#Envision2030 Goal 15: Life On Land Enable.” United Nations, United Nations, 2019.

“How Much Does It Cost to Go Camping? Complete Price Breakdown.” Mom Goes Camping, 16 May 2019.

“Outdoor Skills.” The Patch Corner, 2019.

“Precision Reflex, INC.” Law Enforcement / Military Discounts | Precision Reflex Inc., 2019.

RolandCuthbert Yoda, et al. “Do White Collar and Blue Collar Workers Have a Basic Disdain for One Another?” GirlsAskGuys, 26 Mar. 2018.

“The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Backpacking.” Wide Open Spaces, 14 Feb. 2015.

Naval Manual!

This is the third unit of the term, the class is called endurance. For this AP, we had to create a survival manual based on our last AP. For my AP my manual called Naval Manual will talk about being in the Navy as an Officer. In this AP we had to create our own cover based on the topic of our manual. We then had to write what, we are doing and why we want to do it. We had to write what we have to do in order to achieve this, and why we wanted to do it. In the Lay Of The Land part, we had to describe what exactly we are doing, and any specific about it. After that, we had to create a timeline of important events that had or will occur. Read the manual below to see the rest of my AP and learn why I want to serve my country.

Everyday Survival

In our second unit in class Entrepreneurship. For the second AP, we had to create a business plan for a business we wanted to create. The business that I have created is called Everyday Survival. Everyday Survival is a business that teaches people ways to survive in the outdoors and urban areas. Everyday Survival will give you the tools in which you can survive in dangerous situations. In this AP I will write a business plan for my business. What I have done well for this ap is creating a business that I love and being able to make a profit off of it. What I could have done better was making the math part smoother.

In class, we learned about the Hedgehog Concept, which is part of a business plan that has three main questions to it. What is your business best at in the world? What is your business passionate about? What is your business economic engine? 

12 hour challenge

In our second unit in a class endurance. For this AP we had to do a 12-hour challenge based on what our mission was for our first ap. I did my 12 hours on a Navy Seal fitness test. I wanted to do this because being a Seal you need to be physically fit in order to do the missions. I wanted to push myself and see what I can do. The fitness test was three workouts; pull-ups which were a min of 8 and max of 20, push-ups which were a min of 42 max of 100, and sit-ups which was a min of 52 and max of 100. I wanted to see how close I can get to maxing out all of them. I really enjoyed doing the workouts and pushing myself. What I could have done better was pushed myself even harder for the push-ups in order to max it out.

Entrepreneurship

Throughout history, the teachers would always teach the students but never the other way around. In the last class called Entrepreneurship, the students had to be the teacher and give a lesson to the class.

In order to prepare for this, we had to separate into groups of two. With our partner, we then had to do research about a topic; my group’s topic was managing. While researching about managers, I found what it means to be a good and a bad manager. Bad; managers play favorites, they also micromanage. Good; managers act like a good coach, they also have a positive attitude. At the end of the lesson, we had to rate ourselves and our partners on how well we participated in the research and giving the lesson. In order to get ready for our main Action Project (which is a project we have to do around every 3 weeks), we had to create 10 questions and put all of them in a google doc. The 10 questions would involve what the class has done so far in class. After we created the questions, our teacher chose the 10 best questions and create a test for it. We took the test home and we had to do 5 out of the 10 questions for a take-home test. It was really interesting getting all of the slides ready so that I can teach the class. I had never really taught a full lesson to a class before. I really enjoyed preparing for it and actually teaching it. My teaching philosophy to get the point across was to make the lesson enjoyable and fun to learn the topic. I wanted the class to be engaged with the lesson and I wanted the class to actually want to learn the lesson. I wanted the class to participate in the discussion and the activity that was planned. There are a couple of things that if I were to do it twice that I would change. For one I would make sure that everything is all clear with the slides and no technical difficulties. I would also change some of the last activities we did. I would make them different and a little longer. I do think that my teaching was effective. I could tell that everyone understood what the information was saying. I also could tell that the information that was put out there that they were able to keep in their memory.

Throughout this whole process, I was able to take the role as a teacher. This experience I was able to see a new perspective that I would not normally see and I enjoyed it. At times, it was a little difficult but I think it was worth it. I thought that I could work more on creating hard questions. This can help me for next year in college by teaching me what being a good manager is, this will also help with internship interviews.

Food For Friends

I have been doing Food For Friends for the past couple of months now. I have really enjoyed giving back to the homeless and making sure that they would get lunch, I was doing this at my church. I think that feeding the homeless is good for everyone to do because it shows you what kind of a person you are. I would make a different meal for them every Saturday, with a different group of people. In all this was a great experience for me and I will continue to do this anytime I have to chance. 

This Is Who I Am!

In our first unit in a class endurance. We had to make an autobiography of us when we are in the future. The year is 2050 and I am a Navy Seal Commander. In the chapter, I will talk about how I got to this point in my life. What my life mission was, and how that helped me be able to join the Navy Seals as an Officer. In this unit, we learned about what physical and mental endurance people can have. I really enjoyed thinking about what my future might actually look like, I enjoyed writing the autobiography. I could have written more about the details of what happened in college and thereafter.

Homework

In our last unit in our third term called Systems and models, we learned about I-O Psychology and what it does. One of the major things we learned during Maslow’s Hierarchy which is a five-step pyramid. Physiological needs, Safety needs, Love and belongingness needs, Esteem needs, and Self-actualization needs. For our AP we had to find something in our school and in all schools and write about it whether you agree with it or not. Whether there should be more of it or not. I created my project on homework and why we don't need it. What I could have done better for this project was to interview more people. What I love about this project was learning more about why people like or dislike homework.

First Female Black President!

In our last unit called Herstory in our class Equality, we learned about what issues race, gender, and class face. We learned about the voices that are gone from our history books. During this unit, we talked about what it means being a feminist and why people are one. For this AP I to do my project on the first female black president in the year 2120. I had to write a news article with an ad of a product based on my event. What I could have done better was to create a long news article. What I loved about this project was figuring out what might come in the future.

Work Cited 

“About Kirsten | Kirsten Gillibrand | U.S. Senator for New York.” Biography | About | Kirsten Gillibrand | U.S. Senator for New York, 2019

“BillTrack50.” Home, LegiNation, 2019

Carroll, Lauren. “Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Campaign Promises.” PolitiFact, 22 July 2016

“Elizabeth Warren.” Ballotpedia, 2019

“My Story | U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California.” About | U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California, 2019

Newburger, Emma. “A Historic Number of Women Were Elected in 2018-These Four Are Expected to Run for President in 2020.” CNBC, CNBC, 26 Nov. 2018

“United States Senator Amy Klobuchar Working for the People of Minnesota.” U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, 2019

Suit

In our third term called Systems and models, we learned about the different ways people can do research. We took an FE to MediaScience where they do research tests based on observation. We looked at what people did for their own research paper. For our AP we had to create our own experiment and write a research paper. My paper will be about why wearing suits make people more confident. What I love about this project was learning more about suits in general. What I could have done better was asking more participants.

Chapter: Same-Sex Marriage

In our third term class called Equality, we learned about what equality means, and how other people have more or less equality than others. We are reading a book called Between The World And Me By Ta-Nehisi Coats. In his book, he wrote a letter to his son about his life and how his son can be better off, and be able to live a good life. For the action project, we had to make a history chapter about an important event and then interview someone who was apart or affected by the event. For this AP I decided to do my important event on Same-sex Marriage. What I loved about this project was researching more about the history of Same-Sex Marriage and doing the interview.

The Future And What It holds

In our third term called Systems and models, we learned about the different personalities tests. We took multiple tests and we made a test ourselves. During this unit, we also learned more about psychologists and what they can do with personality tests. The two main tests that we focused on are DiSC which stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. For this test, we learned how we fit it fits us and how our personality. The second main test we took is called Enneagram. The Enneagram test puts you on a scale of 9 numbers to see what kind of a person you are in a workplace. What I loved about this action project was taking the tests and seeing what kind of a person I am in a work environment or what my personality is.

Title: The Future And What It Holds

Medium: Digital Photograph via Instapainting

Size: 553,518 bytes

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.

  

Employees Protest About Harassment At McDonald's

This is for my class called Journalism. This is the first unit called Text. In this unit, we investigated why and how written journalism has been used to connect us today with print in the newspaper and virtually on TV and online. We took on the role of a newspaper journalist, practicing both the skills of observation as well as precise writing. For our AP, we had to write a newspaper article on something newsworthy that happened in our neighborhood. I did my newspaper article on the McDonald’s protest strike that happened because of sexual harassment in the workplace. The thing I liked most about my project was learning more about a topic that I did not know anything about--sexual harassment at McDonald's. The aspect I had the most trouble with was getting customers of McDonald's to interview. I overcame this by interviewing two customers who happen to be my classmates.

NBCNEWS, McDonald’s Protest, (2018)

McDonald’s workers and some social activists staged noisy two-hour demonstrations in Chicago and nine other cities nationwide at noon on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, to protest sexual harassment in the workplace. The Chicago protest took place outside McDonald’s new corporate headquarters in the Fulton Market area of River West.

According to NBC News, protesters like Breauna Morrow, 15, an employee at the St. Louis demonstration, came armed with specific examples. She quoted a male employee who said to her, “You have a nice body, have you ever had white chocolate inside you?” Morrow said she reported the incident to a manager who allegedly told her, “You will never win that one.”

As passionate as the Chicago headquarters protesters were, it appears that interest and knowledge of the event were uneven among Chicagoland McDonald’s workers as a whole. Four McDonald’s restaurants in the Lincoln Park area were visited on Wednesday, September 19, 2018. No employees interviewed showed much concern. Only a few had even heard about the Tuesday event.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Andrea Abate told the Chicago Tribune through a statement, “We have strong policies, procedures, and training in place specifically designed to prevent sexual harassment. To ensure we are doing all that can be done, we have engaged experts in the areas of prevention and response including RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), to evolve our policies so everyone who works at McDonald’s does so in a secure environment every day.”

The McDonald’s protests appear to be the latest example of the growing strength and awareness of the #MeToo movement that sprang up earlier in the year surrounding sexual harassment in the workplace.

When asked about their feelings toward the protests and the protesters, several McDonald’s customers expressed mild to strong support.  GCE High School student AA explained, “I go to McDonald’s a lot, and I really like their business. It depends on how they handle this situation.  I want to support them, but it all depends on how they deal with this.”

Another student, CG, had a stronger opinion.  “I think it's good that people are striking because they're doing it for a good reason.  As long as the corporation or the company leaders do their job and ensure the workers’ safety, I think that the strike was a success.”  Asked if she would go back to McDonald’s, she also added, “It's a yes and no. No, because I think their food is generally bad, so I don’t go very often.  Yes, because my small amount of business still helps some paychecks.”

Then she reflected, “I think if they had like a seminar for employees on what is appropriate behavior in the workplace that would be good. And also I think if the supervisors actually did their jobs and actually supervised there wouldn’t be any sexual harassment.”

It remains to be seen if the protests will create any lasting changes at McDonald’s.  If nothing else they were the first step to bringing awareness of sexual harassment in the McDonald’s workplace to the attention of management and the public.

WORK CITED

“McDonald's Workers Go on Strike over Sexual Harassment.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group

Trotter, Greg. “McDonald's Workers, Activists Protest Alleged Sexual Harassment in 10 Cities, Including Chicago.” Chicagotribune.com, 18 Sept. 2018