Happiness

Watching all these people getting hurt and being situations that change their whole life, being after all being happy, maikes me think that sometimes i shouldnt complain about my life. Happiness is a huge part of life and if your not happy, do you even have a purpose in life? I believe that we should all pursue happiness in order to have a good life. We all have different lives and are in different situations and are not as fortunate as many people are but that shouldnt stop us from being happy.

GMO's Senior Project

Casey's documentary on GMOs was very informative on a topic I never learned about and a topic that was barely touched on in school. It was great learning that GMOs are kinda safe but there have been studies that show that their use may have very harmful affects. The information presented in this documentary was important for life and great to know. Overall I enjoyed watching and learning from Casey's project.

Rape senior Project

Karen's documentary was very informative and compelling. The documentary focused on a very important topic and provided the audience with many important pieces of information. One of these was that "One in four women are raped or sexually assaulted before the age of 18." Karen's documentary was informative on a very important topic and I enjoyed watching it and learning from it.

The Truth about Law Enforcement Senior Project

Especially with recent media documentation of improper conduct of law enforcement officers, Jesus's documentary brought some light to the institution. The documentary showed that most police officers risk their lives for the greater good of society. This message was backed by facts like "95% of NYPD officers have not fired their firearms." Jesus's documentary was well put together and had good music and a great message.

Non-profit Organizations Senior Project

Azad's senior project was filled with interesting things. The two groups were cool to learn about and I think the class liked learning about the protection of animals. It was interesting to see how one organization was working to end world hunger. The documentary was interesting and the groups were fun to learn about.

Tobacco Senior Project

Paul's (M) documentary about smoking was well put together, was filled with good interviews, and overall was very interesting. The interviews the documentary incorporated added to the message by showing how smoking affected an individuals life. The rest of the documentary was filled with other interesting things such as the history of cigarets and the harmfulness of cigarettes.

Marijuana Senior Project

Chad's documentary on marijuana was pretty fun to watch and it had information worth knowing. The documentary had interesting interviews. Overall, it was nice to learn about something I haven't done much research on and the documentary had nice music to it.

Service Trips Senior Project

Avery's documentary on service trips had lots of great footage and a great message. It was really nice seeing the work that she and the Haiti club has done. The beginning was also very funny. Overall, the documentary conveyed a great message and did so in a very peppy and interesting way.

Mental Health Today Senior Project

Evelyn's project was very informative and interesting. the documentary presented relevant and attention catching facts. One of these facts was that one in five people today have a mental illness. The information presented is valuable and will likely be used by all of us at some point in our lies. Evelyn's documentary covered an important topic and did so in an enjoyable manner.

Psychotherapy Senior Project

Jenice's project was well put together and interesting. The personal story Jenice shared was very powerful and added a lot to the documentary. The documentary presented interesting information such as the benefits of group therapy over individual therapy. Overall the documentary was powerful and informative.

Cheating Senior Project

Maddie's documentary on cheating in school systems was a topic I related to and enjoyed learning more about. The survey results used in the documentary added a lot to the documentary. I liked the part of the documentary where the punishment for cheating and its effectiveness was discussed. I agree that punishment stops a cheater from cheating after one time of cheating, but, if the cheater almost never gets caught (or doesn't get caught) he continues to do so. Overall, the documentary was a pleasure to watch.

Why Women have Abortions Senior Project

Carina's documentary on why women have abortions was very good. With this topic it can be difficult to present the evidence without bias and from a position of neutrality. Carina was very neutral on the subject which made it easy to watch and easy to learn from. The part where the documentary explained what abortions actually are was very new and valuable information. Overall, the documentary was well put together and interesting to watch.

Alzheimers Senior Project

Matt's documentary on Alzheimers was informative and moving. Matt used powerful interviews and messages to get his information across. The documentary held my attention and taught me lots of this about the topic such as how 2/3 of Alzheimers patients are women and how most Alzheimers patients are above the age of 65.

Drones Seniors Project

Cristian's documentary educated me on a topic I've wanted to learn about but never did. The documentary talked about controversial issues such as military killing through methods that disassociated the killer from the victim making it less emotionally stressful for the killer (which isn't a good thing). The documentary covered important information and was overall very interesting.

Beautiful Minds Senior Project

Caden's documentary was well put together and interesting. First off, the packets Caden passed out were a cool touch to the presentation. After that, the interviews and discussions of laws were thought provoking and informative. The part about how laws were created for those with learning disabilities was something I didn't know about and is something I'm glad I do know about. Overall, the documentary was very interesting.

Planned Parenthood Funding Senior Project

Sammy's documentary on planned parenthood funding was a nice refresher to what I had already thought. I never believed that planned parenthood was primarily for abortions and the documentary backed by belief. The documentary did a good job describing ALL the things that planned parenthood provides for people. The project was informative and I'm glad I learned everything I did from the project.

Participation Trophies Senior Project

Trevor's documentary about participation trophies was informative and fun to watch. The documentary had some great interviews and ideas about the topic. In the end, I agreed with the conclusion presented-that participation trophies are only beneficial at an early age. The documentary was well put together and fun to learn from.

Faults in the Legal System

Amanda's documentary about faults int eh legal system was both interesting and informative. I had some knowledge about how prison sentences aren't completed due to overcrowding and incarceration for minor drug charges Amanda's documentary brought up an interesting point that prisoners only serve 5% of their sentences. In general, the project was interesting and fun to learn from.

Athlete's and Crimes Senior Project

Cole's documentary on athletes and crimes was interesting and filled with great facts. Points such as "38 percent of athlete's crimes and either not reported or dismissed," made the documentary hold my attention and made me learn about athletes and their crimes. The documentary was fun to watch and learn from. It's crazy how much the athletes get away with just because of their status at the school.

Casinos Senior Project

Kyle's project on casino's was in general pretty cool. I never really questioned why casinos were so successful-just kind of assumed it was the whole gambling addiction thing/people like the opportunity to get money. Kyle did a great job explaining how the absence of time and disassociation from real money draw people  in and keep them gambling. Other things are also n place such as free drinks. Overall, the documentary was a pleasure to watch and I enjoyed learning about the topic.

Working Teens Senior Project

Angel's documentary on working teen's was interesting and fun to watch. The documentary was relatable to me because I worked a couple summers ago. What was nice about the documentary was the whole side of helping support families and how teens work for different reasons. The documentary had some humorous moments and some serious moments which made it enjoyable to watch.

Standardized Testing Senior Project

Ivonne did a great job with her documentary about standardized testing. I've always wondered where those ridiculous tests came from and how they were actually helpful. The project talked many interesting things such as kids having an incomplete education because there is so much focus on doing well on one type of test. Overall, the project was interesting and clarified some questions I had so that was great!

Hip Hop Senior Project

Juan's documentary on the growth, development, and history of hip hop was pretty really great. I really liked learning about all the different artists and how the influence the genre. I really liked all the music choices. The images were awesome and so were the soundtracks. Overall, the documentary was a pleasure to watch and learn from. Good Job Juan!

Prompetition Senior Project

First off I'm sorry if I used the wrong title - I think it's right but yeah. Anyway, Anna's senior project was fun to watch. It was very relatable and I think most of the class could connect to stress and competition found in high school and in the college process. The project was informative and the things I learned were things I wanted to learn about. Overall I enjoyed Anna's project and I enjoyed the topic she chose.

Coming Out Senior Project

Nano's documentary about coming out was well put together and enjoyable to watch. Among other things, I found the portion of how labels shouldn't change how people interact with one another interesting. Overall, it was a pleasure to watch and I learned some new things from the documentary.

No Fat Strippers

While I was on Facebook, I came across a video of Representative Ken Havard proposing regulations on the age and weight of strippers.He announced that strippers should not be over 28 years old and above 160 lbs, and he claims that it isn't that those women that don't qualify aren't fit enough to be dancers or strippers, but he is concerned for their health and doesn't want them hurting one another. Some laughter was heard when he proposed this, and one House member spoke up on this topic. She claims this is the "perfect forum to talk about" since she hears derogatory comments all the time in these discussions with politicians towards women, and that it has got to stop. The Representative quickly withdrew his proposed amendment after she called him out. This proves that women need to continue to stand up for themselves, because even in political places, we are underestimated. There are far bigger issues rather than the size of dancers and entertainers.

Impacts of Animals on People Senior Project

Haley's documentary on the impacts of animals on people was very interesting and enjoyable to watch. The interviews were done on interesting people and all the cute animals aided in keeping my attention the whole time. The whole portion on horse therapy was also very interesting. The documentary was well put together and a pleasure to watch.

Internet Senior Project

Raph's senior project on the internet was very interesting. I never realized how much time the average person spends on their phone or connected to the internet. The Documentary was well put together and the information provided was beneficial to probably most people in the class.

Meth Senior Project

Lauren's documentary on meth and drug abuse was well put together and interesting. The interviews were a great component of the work. The historic background of meth with Vietnam and all that was interesting to me. All in all it was a pleasure to watch and to learn from.

"high blood pressure" review

This was an interesting documentary! Before viewing this documentary, I did not know much about high blood pressure besides that it can lead to heart attacks and other problems. It was well put together and clear!

"non profits" review

Azad created an interesting documentary. He very well explained the work of non profits and how they impact the world today. The humane society is an awesome organization!

"service trips" review

Avery put together a nice documentary. I agree with her that some organizations act like the Americans are saving the world. I admire the Haiti club because they work with the people, learn from the people and help the people. This creates a great sense of community!

"mental health today" review

I read something about how the US was one of the most accepting countries for the disabled. But after viewing this documentary I understood how many people with mental issues felt. Some felt excluded or isolated. I did not know that 9.8 million people in the US have been diagnosed with a mental disability. Great documentary!

"why women have abortions" review

This documentary was very well put together and all the information was clear and concise.
Abortions is such a hot topic. It was interesting to learn why some women chose abortions over options like adoption. I did not know the rate of children waiting for an adoption was so high.

"Academic cheating" review

Great documentary! In my opinion I think cheating is not beneficial at all because you are not showing your own knowledge. If you do it more often it becomes a habit. Many other institutions are more harsh when it comes to penalizing cheaters. What was interesting was when students got interviewed. Some said that some teachers did not teach well or students were not given enough time to study for exams. That is totally understandable. Maybe less homework or a required two weeks notice that a test is coming up?

"Tobacco industry" review

This documentary touched every aspect of the tobacco industry! I agree with Paul, the marketing is completely insane. Gas stations are marketing these harmful cigarettes.  I did not know that they advertised on kids TV shows. To me that's even more absurd. But in the end I could relate this to my Soda consumption documentary. One, It's an addiction and two, they both spend billions on marketing and targeting certain population groups like teen. At least there is a warnings on each box of cigarettes! Great documentary!

"Psychotherapy" review

Before I viewed this documentary, I did not know much about psychotherapy. I know some friends have gone through some sort of therapy but I was not sure which type. It was interesting to see why so many people were not willing to join group psychotherapy and to me it seems understandable. After viewing this, in my opinion, I saw the benefits of group therapy outweigh the fears of the new patients. Great documentary!

"Alzheimer" review

Great documentary! I learned a whole lot about the disease that I did not know like which part of the brain it affects. It seems like a big problem like cancer, yet I hear more about Cancer research than research done on Alzheimer's. Great job!

Blogging For Senior Projects Pt1

Paul Duvillier – Frequent Soda Consumption

        Paul’s project touched on the affects that soda has on people long-term, like obesity, diabetes, and heart problems. I was not aware that frequent soda consumption reduces the effectiveness of some drugs and cancer treatments, which did slightly change my opinion on soda. While I do agree that soda is bad for you, I still went on to drink 2 cans of soda later in the day, so my actions did not change based on this new information. The comment that Paul made about a soda tax would be interesting to see if it would reduce soda consumption in the US, and I would like to see if passed. While most Americans agree that soda is bad for them and know many of the risks of soda, we still drink it because of the addictiveness of the sugary ingredients.

Bailey Thayer – A battle worth fighting

        Bailey’s project described the support networks available for siblings and families during a patient’s cancer treatment through research and a personal experience. Bailey also noted that Child-cancer has one of the top 3 lowest survival rates of all cancer in the country, but only gets 1/25 of the research money given for cancer. Childhood cancer has a lower survival rate than breast and lung cancer, which account for roughly ½ of the research grants from the cancer research funds. Bailey also said that hospitals need to provide more in hospital resources for siblings and families who are dealing with a loved one in the process of cancer treatment. While I cannot relate because I have no personal experience with long-term hospitalization of a loved one, the two-three days that my dad was in critical care this past school year, I received no support from hospital staff and had to reach out to outside sources and friends for support. I can see how the lack of support for siblings of cancer patients/long term hospitalized patients is and becomes problematic quickly, leaving young children to deal with the hardships of dealing with the situation virtually on their own. While I don’t believe it should be the doctor’s jobs to support families and loved ones, I do think that hospitals should provide funding for support of families.

MJ – Picture Imperfect Family

        MJ touched on what life is like, living and growing up in a family that is either a single parent, another relative, or an adopted kid. A few things I learned that I was somewhat aware of, but not sure: Growing up with a single parent makes kids two times more likely to have a drug or alcohol addiction. Often, adopted kids feel abandoned and have identity issues, but it isn’t all that way with adoptions, because Travis feels that he is treated just like a normal child with loving parents. I did get the wrong sense from MJ’s video that she was condoning kids who have drug addictions, because I still do believe that there are other ways to escape identity and rejection issues besides drugs and alcohol. While that is a common way for teenagers especially to escape problems, I don’t believe that this behavior is acceptable, even if there are in house problems. Domestic violence also runs as an issue with imperfect families, where either the mom or dad was abused, and the relationship splits, and the child gets stuck in the middle. Adults mistakes often affect children more than the adults themselves, because the children don’t receive the proper love and affection they need to grow up healthy and fully emotionally developed.

Liz – Domestic Teen Violence

        Liz’s project described teen domestic violence and it’s (to me) surprising prevalence in today’s society. People between the ages of 16-24 hold the highest rate of domestic violence in the country right now. Dating violence is most prevalent with teenagers and young adults in college or coming out of college. The control and isolation of people or a significant partner leads to teen domestic violence. By the age of 18, 25% of girls have been abused either physically or sexually before they compete high school. This issue remains close to my heart as well, because I have a best friend who was stuck in an incredibly abusive dating relationship for about a year, and struggled to get out. The guy she was dating was abusing her personal boundaries, and taunting her with other girls and hook ups while they were dating. Teenagers are the most vulnerable and most dangerous, because they are still developing, and also like having maximum control over situations and realize that using people for their own good is wrong but believe they can still go through with it because of the vulnerability of people at this age.

Gredys – CULTURE

        Culture, as defined in his video, is a set of teachings or beliefs passed down from generations. Religion, food, ethnicity, ways of life, and living habits all are defined as part of culture. America is very multi-cultural, which allows people to practice their own cultures and adopt teachings or beliefs from other cultures. Culture defines America, the people of America, and the people around the world. I believe the reason America is so multi-cultural is because we open up doors for so many people to move here without too many limits. While the process of moving here continues to get more difficult, the cultural aspects that continue to define America and America’s people will exist through the next century through the passing on from each generation.

Pro Athletes and Crime - Cole Botsford

From Cole’s senior project, new discoveries in rape, violent crime, and DUI’s was surprisingly lower amongst professional athletes than I thought. While athletes are highly publicized, especially when they commit a crime. The numbers that Cole cited in his video, less than 5% of athletes commit felonies, was surprisingly low in my opinion. In college, ⅓ of all the sexual assaults are committed by athletes. This number isn’t surprising, because colleges do prioritize their athletes above other students, using the atheltes for the college’s benefit. And the NBA having a larger rate of crime than the NFL also surprised me, considering that the most headlines in mainstream media are NFL players. I believe that cole brought up a good point that athletes do get away with things, because of their powerhouse lawyers and money, but also because they feel that they are better and higher up than other people because of their fame and fortune.

Amanda’s project:

Amanda’s project highlighted the faults in our legal system, specifically the prison system and it’s overcrowding issues, as well as states and national government’s failure to adequately address this situation. I completely agree with her project, and actually have explored this topic myself outside of school. New information, including prisoners being released after only serving 5-10% of their sentencing was surprising. I do agree that we need alternate options for prisoners, especially non violent crimes. But i believe that this system of bringing about systems or the systems that already exist could have been explained or elaborated more in the project. Overall, the project was well made and very informative.

Legalization of Gambling: Patrick Aceves

The beginning of the project was very difficult to follow, but from the entire project, I gained the knowledge that people who have gambling addictions, like other addictions, tend to lie about details, leading to the stories not making sense. I thought the hands on project that Patrick did was a great edition to the documentary, providing both funny moments and insight into the topic that Patrick was trying to further that people gamble/play differently when money is on the line. One of the facts that I found very surprising was that 93% of money gambled is won back by players. I thought personally that the house kept much more than that. Overall, the project was informative, but could’ve been presented in a more interesting tone.

Misrepresentation of Women - Andrea

While this movie was very similar to the documentary we watched in small group in global, the newer insights and hooking entry that displayed real life evidence of how women are used in today’s media. The idea that the media sells the looks of girls and women and uses them as objects rather than people is really nothing new, but our world is becoming more aware of this reality today more than ever. I thought that Andrea’s documentary was a very good mix of outside videos and resources and her own voice. Women in the media, as Andrea said, is much less than men, despite being more than 1/2 of the United States population. The documentary was very well put together, and very interesting :)

Military’s use of children - Frida

While I was aware that some children are used in military warfare, I didn’t realize the extreme risks and the surprisingly young ages of children used in warfare. Friday’s documentary was well put together, with a good balance of information and video clips to reveal her main points. Frida’s documentary described the ways children are used in warfare, often as the messengers or spies, some of the most dangerous positions in the army. The fact that countries are taking steps to get children out of warfare is great, but of these children getting taken out of the army, there are very few resources available for them once this happens. 12 million children are left homeless after their use in warfare. The rate of PTSD in children is also higher. While countries may be desperate for soldiers, Frida’s point resonates well that children should never be used in warfare to start with, despite the situation.

What casino’s don’t tell you - Kyle

Kyle’s intro was very good, hooking me immediately. Similar to Patrick’s Project, Kyle relayed that the house has a 5%-10% advantage on the players when gambling. Kyle’s project focused more on the decision making behind the casino doors, not the person. He pointed out that very few casinos have windows or clocks, causing you to lose track of time and the amount of money you have spent. Casinos try to make it seem like there is no sense of time or needing to be anywhere, to lure customers in, and make more money for themselves. Kyle’s overall project could’ve been produced in a more interesting tone of voice, but overall very informative about the casino industry

Rastafarians - Jess Houdek

Jess’s project had great video graphics and interviews throughout, and I thought was very well done. The ideas were clear, and the graphics went along well with the ideas. I had never heard of the rastafari until today, but am now intrigued by their culture and lifestyle. They all have long dreadlocks as part of their culture, to represent freedom strength, and rebellion from society. The rastafarians are not necessarily a religious group, but do believe in a higher power. There are 12 tribes, and their goals unite: to build a better tomorrow. On a side note, they smoke weed and worship weed like a holy chalice, and believe it provides happiness to the people.

Child abuse and serial killers - Claudia Gomez

Claudia’s documentary depicted the relationship between child abuse in early stages of life and serial killers later in life. While her introduction was clear, the ideas needed a little more explanation rather than just facts. I learned that Child abuse is extremely common in the United States, about 3.6 million children are affected each year. And I also learned that there are three types of serial killers: medical, organized and disorganized. I wished to see more evidence linking child abuse and serial killings, but all the facts were there and displayed in an organized fashion. Overall, very informative documentary. I also wish there was something at the end that described what the US is doing or what you would recommend they do to help this problem of child abuse.

Trevor - Participation Trophies?

I really enjoyed Trevor’s project, as I have grown up playing sports all my life and had leagues with both participation trophies and just champions trophies. I believe his project overall relayed the point that participation trophies were beneficial for children. He relayed the point that participation trophies boost a child’s self esteem, and are key especially at a younger age. I completely agree with his project, that at a younger age, participation trophies are key to keeping the child interested in playing sports and staying active and enjoying the game. For what it’s worth, there’s more to be gained from sports than just winning, and I believe participation trophies instill this at a young age.

Samantha - Planned Parenthood Funding

Samantha’s Planned Parenthood Funding documentary was very informative and well made. Although, the interviews could’ve been edited better to be included within the content rather than on their own. Before, I thought that planned parenthood was mainly there as an abortion clinic, and had heard all the rumors/truths that they were selling baby parts. PP provides contraceptives, as well as STI/STD testing. And surprisingly, they help people without insurance get abortions that otherwise could not have been accessed. While my opinion on funding PP has not changed, I still believe that this was informative for myself and the general public.

Caden - Beautiful Minds, Special ED teaching

Caden’s documentary was well put together, with a good balance of interviews, live videos, and pictures along with his voice recordings. Also, it gave me insight on the special ed programs, which I had very little knowledge of before this. The ideal learning environment would be 1 on 1 teaching, however that is very unrealistic with the constraints of money and funding. In 2004, bush passed a bill for special ed (no child left behind). Private institutions are becoming ever more desirable for special ed children, as most have the 1 on 1 education needed for a special ed child to thrive in that type of environment.

Drones - Cristian

Cristian’s video was well put together, but i thought maybe instead of his face during the voice recordings, maybe some pictures or a video clip. It also had humor (whether intentionally or not) that I very much enjoyed. He talked about the US drone usage for the war on terror, and how we are in fact creating more terrorists and suicide bombers because of these deadly killings of innocent civilians, despite maybe hitting the targeted “terrorists” as well. There is also a security issue within the US with drone usage and surveilance cameras on drones watching us, which many americans feel is against the US constitution. While the US has very little options in Iraq or Iran because of the no capture zones besides drones, they still should consider another option as Cristian said. Overall, very informative and interesting documentary to listen to.

Drone Usage for Surveillance in the US?

Drone usage in the US for surveillance?

Should drone usage be allowed in the US for surveillance of people, or is this against the constitutional right to privacy? I mean, if a drone started flying into my backyard, I don’t know about you, but I’d feel very invaded. I do however believe that drones could be a key weapon against counter-terrorism in a non-violent way. While I don’t agree with the drone strikes used for the war on terror in the middle east, I do think surveillance cameras within the US borders could protect us in a way, despite losing some privacy. While I don’t see this ever getting passed in congress in the near future because of the breach of privacy so many would feel using drones, I do believe it should and  could be put out there to stop the next big terrorist attack in the US before it happens. I don’t  know about you, but I sure would feel safer at night knowing the drones flying around are just there to protect my safety and the people of the United States and defend our constitution. What is your opinion on this issue?

White

Before I took this class I didn't really see how the color of my skin had changed or altered the way I had been treated. Miss B's story about the perfume she tried to ship back to the U.S. and that whole idea of how a white person is less afraid of authority really connected with me. After hearing that story I looked back on some of the things I had done and realized that if I were not white I would have acted differently. I've been confronted by police officers and believe that my  color factored into me getting off without any punishment. I never thought about it but things like asking police officers for stickers would be harder and more stressful if I wasn't white. A lot of what this class did for me was make me see the inequality in the world and see how certain individuals are treated. With this knowledge I'll hopefully be more sensible in my interactions with other people and be respectful of the situations others are in.

War and all

So Trump kind of really worries me and it's somewhat seeming like more and more of a possibility of him being elected. Being 18, I'm eligible for selective service and until I'm 23 I will be in the age where it most likely that i'll be selected (if selections are made). So, between the age of 18-22 I'm at risk- four years. Presidents serve for four years. Trumps Could be president. See where I'm going with this? America has been at war for 91-93% of it's existence. We're currently in a hand full of wars. Somehow I have hunch that Trump will make things worse. Now I don't know how America can get dragged into a wars big enough where selective service becomes necessary, but, it is concerning what kinds of conflicts we'll get into with a comb-over at the head of the government. While my concerns aren't very founded I'm still concerned about possibly having a hateful and hated president during my risky aged years. How likely do you think it is that something this bad could happen because of one man?

Racial Discrimination

One day I went to Bloomingdales with my cousins and boyfriend to look for a birthday present for my uncle. We were walking around looking for something to buy when my boyfriend pointed out that a worker was constantly following us around pretending to organize clothes. I just told him to ignore it and continue looking and he pointed out again. That's when I just told him we were used to it and that I wasn't surprised at all. Now that I look back on what I said, I find it sad that I would say that I was used to something like that. This brings it back to all the civil rights documentaries we have seen this year, like how in Selma they were discriminated against and all the hardships they faced (obviously my experience wasn't as extreme). This experience personally shows me how little things like following someone around a store is considered racial profiling and discrimination.

Are we going to be different?

With the elections and well, Trump-I'm a little worried for us. I've seen more than a hand full of articles about how Trump is using the same tactics that Hitler used. Now, I'm not going to stretch things out and say Trump is going to start committing atrociousness and all that, but, what if he did? Would we as a nation be ready? Not everyone takes Global and not everyone i educated on genocide and acceptance and equality the way that the students of LAHS are. Plenty of people are supporting Trump for non racist reasons but a large number of Trump supporters are following him because of malicious similarities in the way one looks at race. In Nazi Germany, the population was not entirely supporting Hitler. Sadly, enough of the population supported Hitler to make it possible for him to do what he planned on doing. If Trump is elected and if he has a alarge enough backing, will the rest of the people in the U.S. be active enough to suppress the ill intent or will they be passive and allow for atrocities to occur?

Breaking the Family Norm

My parents, but mostly my dad, have been strong republicans since I can remember. For awhile, and especially throughout global I have seen myself siding almost 100% as a democrat. I said to my parents one day that it seems like what republicans believe in like, how they don't support in gay rights or how they don't want to have to give their money to people struggling, are just completely wrong and I just don't side with that at all. My parents went on to say how they don't necessarily side with the social part of the republican party, but focus more on the financial part and that's what they support. I understand where my parents are coming from because since they grew up as very poor people, they believe that they worked hard and shouldn't have to give so much of their hard earned money to people that messed up their lives and dropped out of school. However, I still find myself disagreeing to some extent. Obviously my different views have to do with the way I grew up, but I fully support the democratic party over the republican views. At the beginning of this Donald Trump nonsense, I told my parents I was going to register as a democrat and my dad was like "no you're not". But as time went on and Donald Trump got crazier, even my dad being the strong republican he is does not even side with his crazy views. My mom for the most part is very lenient and doesn't get to into the whole politics thing, and she was supportive from the start and it's nice that my dad eventually took my side, So here I am registered as a democrat rdy to vote!!

The Elderly in America

In a communication class I took last semester the teacher brought up how poorly America as a whole takes care of the elderly. I never really thought about it because my grandma lives with my family so my family does a pretty solid job taking care of our elderly. My doesn't really represent most American families as it pretty European. In America it seems pretty normal to be placed into a retirement home at a certain point in life. In other countries/cultures, parents are supported by the children once the children grow up. In America, elderly people are often very lonely because family rarely visits them in these homes and their spouses often are not with them. Both types of supporting of the elderly have their benefits. On one hand it is easier for children to prosper without having their parents on their backs. On the other hand, I don't want to be lonely and playing bingo when I'm old. Hopefully by the time we're old America has a shift in the way it treats its elderly people.

Why do we have to leave?

As you scroll down the LAHS Class of 2016 Post Grad Plan facebook page, you see a huge number of Big 10, Pac 12, and other out of state colleges on the list. Why are so many people going out of state this year? For some people, these schools might have been there absolute first choice, but I know for a lot of people they had to look further out of California for college because the big top California colleges are just too hard to get into these days. The acceptance rates for the UC's and other top California schools are dramatically decreasing year by year. Even just 3 years ago we see a ton of Los Altos students heading to UCLA, CAL, UCSB, and other schools for college. But now, it's almost impossible for students with only a 4.0 to get into these schools. When did a 4.0 become average? Three years ago my brother applied to UCSB and UCLA as an out of state resident and got into UCSB and waitlisted at UCLA with much lower grades than I have. The population is growing and it's getting too hard to get into college. Why should so many students that have grown up in California there entire lives not be able to get into the colleges in their own state? There has also been complaints to the UC's that they are accepting out of state students that are much less qualified than some in state students. The UC's have a cap on how many California residents they can accept, so they lower there standards for out of state students. California is becoming too populated for the universities to support the amount of people we have. You might think that California has a ton of universities and colleges, but it's getting to the point where we need more in order to support our population. And now, even if you can get into the UC's, can you even get classes? Can you finish in 4 years? If this continues we are going to have a big problem at our hands. As the UC's get nearly impossible to get into, we see the smaller private schools like LMU, Chapman, USD, and others getting harder to get into as well. A couple years ago, these schools were fairly easy to get into, but now even these schools that aren't considered top of the top are needing almost 4.0's to get into. As these lower schools get harder, more and more California residents are being pushed out of California. California needs to fix this problem, because of out state schools aren't going to be able to just accept every single California resident that applies. We need to expand our schools in order to support our population, we need to help ourselves. Right now what we keep seeing is that colleges usually have the highest number of students from the state it is in, with California typically being the number 2, no matter what state.

Laws and Taboos

I've always looked at laws as being in two categories. Laws are either in the "yeah of course obviously" category (like murder, stealing, etc) or they are in the "well I guess" category "J-walking etc." A lot of the time, these "well I guess" laws aren't heavily enforced but are rather there to deter most people. In the U.S. people can drive before they can drink. In many European nations, drinking is allowed earlier than driving. With this in mind, it seems that to the U.S. drinking is more taboo and so it is pushed farther away from teens/youth. In some European nations, it seems as though alcohol consumption is more accepted and because of this, it is allowed at a younger age. This idea of laws ,that should affect individuals equally, being altered based on where the law is implicated seems kind of inadequate. I understand that laws such as J-walking can';t be equal everywhere because of things like automobile distribution and how rods are in certain places. It seems odd that laws for human health are different and not standardized for all people everywhere.

Los Altos Lifestyle

My mom is a volunteer for AVID at Los Altos and Mountain View High School and every week she tells me different stories about how one kid literally couldn't afford the $45 to attend grad night or how one girl chose to go to Santa Clara University so that she could come home on the weekends to help support her family. On the other hand, most of my friends have travelled out of the country and have their own cars.
I just think it is so crazy that I just happened to grow up in an affluent family and the boy sitting in the back of class could be living off food stamps for all I know.
I can't even imagine how difficult it would be for teens who work to support their family to be in the same class as teens who refuse to wear anything else but True Religion Jeans.
I have so much respect for people my age that work to support their families and make life decisions based on what would be best for their family. They certainly have hearts of gold.

Forced Diversity

All the time we hear about how diverse Los Altos High School is with it's diversity assembly, camp diversity, ASB, and more. However, I feel like a lot of the "diversity" that is occurring at our school is not true diversity. When I applied to ASB as a junior they chose a girl in my grade that was Indian instead of me. This didn't bother me at the time because I just told myself well maybe she was more qualified? But later when I became friends with the girl she told me that some people in ASB said they selected her because "they needed an Indian, since an Indian in ASB just graduated." This kind of pissed me off because I knew I could bring a lot to the table at ASB with different ideas. I wanted to be in it because ASB has been run by a group of girls that have been in the same friend group since freshmen year, therefore ASB is run one specific group that all with the same ideas and all appeal to their one group of friends at the school. Okay, so this one friend group has an Asian in it, a Mexican, and an India, so that's diverse and that makes them qualified? I think what's more diverse is chosing different students from completely different groups at Los Altos to get the most ideas generated. Time and time again I have seen things put on my ASB that the organization or the idea is just not logical whatsoever and it makes me upset that so many "white girls" I know that would have benefitted ASB got denied because they weren't "diverse."

Growing up to fast

In 8th grade I had braces, wore a low ponytail, and had no desire to wear yoga pants in order to emphasize my butt. How in the world are 8th graders now the complete opposite of that? Why is everyone growing up so fast? Freshman year I didn't even know what marijuana looked like or frankly what the hell it even was. Freshman now are partying, having sex, and doing drugs???
When did this change.
Maybe its because media is becoming more flamboyant or maybe its because younger girls are looking up towards older girls as role models. Who knows.
My braces, low ponytail days were some of the most fun and least stressful times in my life. I hate to see young girls throw away their youth because they think its more "fun" acting older.

Picking the "best" college

After going through the whole college application and decision process, I think it is SO overrated that people tend to chose the "best" college they got into. Rather, everyone should think about the BEST college FOR THEM. When I tell other students I'm going to CU Boulder next year, I know they associate mediocre grades with the school. Boulder is usually a "safety" school for people because they have such a high acceptance rate. When parents find out that I chose to go to Boulder over Santa Clara they are shocked. One parent I told even had her jaw drop in front of me. I think this is so unfair. Why would I go to the "better" college when it would be a horrible fit?
My mom, dad, and brother all went to Santa Clara. Both my parents were very successful there. My brother on the other hand struggled a bit. He wanted to go to the business school but didn't get in when he first applied. For the next 2 years he tried to apply to business school but never got in. He's going to be graduating in a few weeks with a economics major-which is great, but is it really what he wanted? Also, not being at the top of his class has really made job searching a struggle for him.
Having the same grades and work ethic as my brother, Santa Clara sounded like a horrible option for me. Not to mention the fact that I wanted to go to college out of state.
When deciding between colleges this was a huge factor. Do I want to go to the "better" school and potentially be stuck in a major that isn't my first choice for 4 years or have the freedom to switch to whichever major I wanted.
When I visited Boulder it was immediately apparent that I belong there. Everyone was so nice, there is so much to do, I could easily switch majors if I wanted to, and the area is so frickin beautiful.
I'm very glad I chose the best school for me and not the best school I got into.

Hierarchy of High school

Something I've observed and lived throughout my years in high school is the feeling of a hierarchy. I'm not going to get into what creates the hierarchy or why it is there. What I want to talk about is how it affects the interaction between individuals. I've always thought of high school as a pyramid of people. The top are on top and the bottom are on bottom. The higher a person is on this hierarchy the easier it is for this person to communicate with people under them. The lower someone is on this hierarchy the harder it is for them to interact with people above them. I started thinking about this idea because of Jenice's senior project (your documentary was full of great idea and topics I'm just focusing on the labels aspect). The people in this hierarchy are labeled as popular or nerdy etc. In doing so, it seems as though many teens are blocked off from opportunities because they can not interact with many other students (at least not easily). Los altos doesn't seem that cliquey but this hierarchy seems rather prevalent. 

Private vs public school

It really bothers me that some people think that private school is so much more highly regarded than public school. I went to private school for 9 years and here's my take. I definitely think that private elementary school is a good option if economically possible. I grew up with manners, respect, integrity, and honesty practically shoved down my throat. I feel like I was so sheltered from bad habits at a small private school of 40 kids per grade that I grew up at a nice slow pace-something very rare now. In 8th grade I didn't even know that high schoolers drank and smoked for fun, I had never even met anyone who did anything like that.
Talking with people that went to public middle schools, it seems that they were definitely exposed to drinking and smoking at a younger age- not to say they did it that young but they definitely knew about it.
On the other hand, I think that private high school is a total waste of money. Freshman year I went to St. Francis and quite honestly hated the private catholic education system. There were rules for almost everything and I had some of the worst teachers I've ever had. To take AP and honors classes you had to test into them-if you didn't pass you couldn't take the class.
When I came to Los Altos I felt like I could finally be myself. I could pick exactly what classes were right for me-without testing into them. I felt a sense of freedom and responsibility and could make my own choices.
I hate when people say that private school is "better". In my experience, public school may even be "better".

Women's Ideal look

Women are sexualized all over TV, Video Games, Movies, and advertisements. What we see on TV, Movies etc. influences a lot of people to think that it's okay for girls to have this high standard how they should look. When we watched the documentary they said about 78% of 17 year old girls are not happy with there bodies. I was surprised it wasn't higher actually because of the amount of girls I hear a day complain about there bodies and even if they are thin, they still find something else wrong with their appearance. Girls have like an image engraved in their heads about how an ideal woman is supposed to look like because of the media. Women in the industry have even admitted that they themselves don't look like how their portrayed in the magazines. Even women who are in the media don't have this ideal body that the media has made up. I think it's ridiculous that we are held to this standard and that us girls actually go along with it.

Rape Culture in the United States

I think that there is a lot of things wrong with the way rape is handled and talked about in our country. I feel like the line is just too thin right now on what determines rape in our society today, and a more organized and logical way to handle rape in our country needs to be developed. It seems like all we constantly hear these days is either about a crazy girl accusing a guy of raping her to ruin his life or we hear about someone that says they were raped but nobody will take them seriously or help them. I think it is messed up how fine this line is, where any girl can accuse a guy of rape if they are angry at them or anything. However, I also think it is messed up if when someone claims they were raped, they don't get any support or people don't believe them. I think we need to find a way to correctly be able to determine what counts as rape, and find a consistent punishment for the actions. This is really hard to do because for the most part these things happen in private, but I think the issue needs to be taken more serious and we need to take steps to be able to figure out both of these different problems that involve rape.

Overthinking of High School Cheating

I feel like teachers or parents are always trying to find some deeper meaning behind cheating and why kids do it, but I feel like there is a much more simple answer to this question that people have been overthinking for quiet some time. Why do students cheat? The answer is simple: because they can. I think the ability for a student to cheat depends absolutely 100% on the teacher. If the teacher is very strict about homework and tests and constantly has her eyes peeled for cheating students, they will be able to find the cheaters every single time. In classes like this with these type of teachers, it is practically impossible to get away with cheating in their class. In situations like this, the risk is way too heavy to make the cheating worth while. On the other hand, if the teacher is either lazy, oblivious, or laid back, cheating now becomes a viable option because the risk just isn't there. Yes, I think that a student considering cheating is based mostly on their own personal integrity, but for the cheating to actually be carried out is 100% on the teacher.

Thoughts from the tobacco and marijuana documentaries

After watching Paul's documentary it's obvious how serious the effects of tobacco are. I'm not sure why anyone would believe there aren't negative effects of smoking. My thought is, why do so many teens smoke? If they know it is proven to cause cancer and other serious health effects, why is it still so common? In Chad's documentary he talks about all the health benefits of marijuana. My question is what are the effects of mixing tobacco and marijuana? If tobacco causes cancer and marijuana has sometimes cured cancer, what happens to your body when you mix them? Does the tobacco still have full consequences on your body? or does the marijuana cancel the effects of the tobacco? How can we find out?

Miss Representation

I decided to do my senior project based on the misrepresentation and inequality of women in the entertainment and business industries (basically society in general). I have grown towards the concept of feminism and gender equality a great amount this year and have become very passionate about the importance of learning to raise your voice and being unapologetic about my beliefs. It is unfortunate because when you hear the term, "feminism" automatically, some men AND women run off in disbelief and disgust as to how someone could possibly believe in such a "man hating" concept. It is also very humorous because those who choose to associate any type of hate towards another gender with being a "feminist" simply lacks education. The concept of feminism is literally believing in gender equality between both a man and a woman.

As for my project, I noticed that the very same day our class was to preview the documentary, "Miss Representation," it had some clips that I used on my very own project. Apparently, this appalled some students in my class since the alarming amount of clips I had used were also used in the very same documentary that we were watching in class. To shed some light into this very exaggerated shock, I would like to make it clear that a great amount of my project was actually created by the months I spent gathering an extensive amount of video clips, interviews, and vevo music videos that were all collected and edited into my movie. I did not use the "Miss Representation" documentary for any large portion of my documentary. I just spent a lot of time in front of a computer until it literally felt like my eyes were going to bleed, collecting and gathering the video clips that were seen in my project :) I will admit, I was extremely inspired by the "Miss Representation" documentary when I first saw it a few months back in AP Psych earlier this year and, it was then, when I decided to take on the same topic and base my senior project off of that. Besides that, I have been happy to learn about the many topics, each and every student, has shown passion towards. What we chose to shed light on says a lot about what interests us and captivates our minds towards learning about.

Stereotypes of White Athletes

Christian McCaffrey, a Stanford football star, believes that his race has affected how he is perceived as an athlete. He thinks that "his athleticism isn't fully appreciated because he is white." He believes that people look at him and underestimate his abilities because he is white. His father stated "there are immediate stereotypes about a white running back who grew up in the suburbs of Colorado. When we've gone to camps or all-star games, he walks on the field and people look at him like he's nothing." We have learned about many stereotypes through the course of the year, so it's interesting to see why this white male feels under appreciated.

Non Profit organizations

Azad's voice over was really quiet in the beginning but after a little bit of time it got better. Azad explained really well what the organizations were and how they worked. I also liked that he talked about animals because kittens.

It's Time

Chad's hands on gave us an inside look on how easy it is to get a medical marijuana card. He also made it a point to show the historical background of medical marijuana. Also, he showed us that marijuana can help people who have serious health issues and doesn't have to be used for just getting high.

What's your status

Evelyn's thesis question was really good and her video of the man working is a reality that a lot of people don't know about. I also liked that she related this major question to Donald Trump because that's going to effect the world very soon if he wins.

Birth Order

I really liked Megans project she had good clips amd added personel videos of her which were so cute.

Sexual harassment in colleges

The video we watched about rape and sexual harassment on college campuses really makes me nervous about going to college next year. The numerous interviews in the documentary emphasized that it can really happen to anyway. It is absolutely CRAZY that colleges do not take extreme measures every time they get a complaint about sexual harassment. I mean how many suicides will it take for colleges to take these complaints seriously.
Also, I couldn't believe how easy it is for men to spike women's drinks. I saw an ad for a nail polish that changes color when put in contact with date rape drugs. I think that absolutely every girl in college should have this. There should even be objects like lipsticks or even straws that change color as well.

Papercuts

Yesterday during the yearbook signings and senior dessert I got a papercut from handling a yearbook and turning its pages. However I didn't realize until I pressed my finger on the paper and suddenly got a jolt of stinging pain going through my finger. I looked at it but it was the smallest cut ever and wondered why papercuts hurt so much. And why being cut by other things doesn't hurt as much. I've discovered why papercuts hurt so much. Usually they happen on the hands and fingers because that's where people handle paper usually. Paper when it cuts you does not cut deep at all. In fact sometimes the cut doesn't even bleed. The fact that hands and fingers have massive amounts of pain sensors means that these small cuts are exposed to air. However there is little to no blood that covers and clots the hole so the nerve endings are exposed to everything and air which is why it stings so much for such a small cut

Tabacco Industries

Paul introduced me to the idea of how long ago the cigarette machine was made, I always pictured them being handmade until more recently. I also thought it was crazy that in 5 years they sold over 5 billion cigarettes.

Hidden Treasure From the Holocaust

I found this article that talked about how workers at the Auschwitz Museum discovered a necklace and gold ring wrapped in canvas and hidden under a false base of a mug. As we learned earlier this year, the Nazis benefited greatly from robbing those that were sent to concentration or death camps. Prisoners knew the Nazis wanted their valuables, so they went to great lengths to hide them. "The hiding of valuable items... proves on the one hand to the awareness of the victims as to the robbery nature of the deportation, but on the other hand it shows that the Jewish families constantly had a ray of hope that these items will be required for their existence." Nazis usually told those being deported that the prisoners were simply being resettled and that they would be starting life in a new place. So within the small amount of items they were able to bring, they tried hiding their valuables. I thought it was super cool how these items were found exactly how the original owner left them. They found so much history in just a mug.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/europe/auschwitz-museum-hidden-ring/index.html

Transgender Bathroom Debate

I was having a conversation with one of my best friends about transgender bathroom yesterday, and she is against them. I have no problem with different opinions and views, but I feel that the justification for their beliefs should be good or at least not ignorant. Our conversation quickly turned into a debate, and she began telling me how she thinks that "you don't know what could happen if you let these people use the same bathroom" She then began to talk about how "if you give these people the right to use our bathrooms, the next thing they'll do is rape people, hold office, corrupt the next generations" It was so ignorant and a pretty shitty reason. I had an hour long debate with her over it. And towards the end, she finally snapped at me and said "Does it even matter? It's just a bathroom. People just go there to pee" And I stopped and said, "Exactly. Why should it matter then?" And she stopped and realized that it shouldn't matter. Towards the end, I felt pretty satisfied, but it was interesting to see how her reasoning unfolded and how she realized how ignorant she was being and how her views had no basis.

Zika in the US

According to CNN, the number of pregnant women with Zika virus in the United States has more than tripled. It has skyrocketed from 48 cases to more than 147. All of us have been hearing about the virus in foreign country but now it has reached our own. Zika can lead to serious birth defects, such as the most well known microcephaly, which is the abnormally small head size relative to normal healthy babies. Although a majority of these women contracted the virus outside of the US, this could be come very dangerous to other US citizens.

EgyptAir Flight 804

Most of you have probably heard about the missing EgyptAir flight that went missing earlier this week.  Many quickly assumed that this was an act of terrorism. The flight on Thursday was traveling from Paris to Cairo and went missing early Thursday morning as it was approaching Cairo. The plane was carrying 56 passengers along with 10 crew members. Today according to CNN, officials have located "A couple of seats and aircraft parts. Some belongings, including a suitcase or two. And what's described as a human body part." As of now, those parts are believed to be a part of the EgyptAir Flight 804 but their investigation is still underway.

Service Trips

Avery opened with a funny parody commercial and it immediately hooked everyone's attention. Avery was very clear with the differences between actual service trips like Haiti solidarity and trips that are taken just to take pictures and leave.

Cheating in School

I can remember seeing cheating in school ever since I was in elementary school.  I remember we were doing times tables and the girl next to me decided that she wanted to start early.  I also remember from an early age that people would look at other people's paper for answers to a question.  I think that with texting and iPhones it has only gotten worse.  Now you can set up a group chat and have one person do all of your work and send it to the whole group.  I think that cheating in school's long term effects are not beneficial.  If you never do your notes and you get them from somebody else you will not know what you are supposed to be learning from the notes and therefore you will not be ready for the test.  Also, if you cheat on a test or quiz, then chances are the next test or the Final you will not be ready for it because you copied off of somebody else during the first time instead of getting the question wrong and learning from it.  All in all I think that cheating in school might help you at that very moment, but down the line the effects are detrimental because you will either get caught and get in trouble or you will not learn the subject you are supposed to be learning about.

Mental Health

Evelyn's documentary was well executed, and I like that she told everybody that mental health problems are common with high schoolers because it made it personal to everyone in the room. Evelyn was also clear in stating what needed to be fixed (people feeling ashamed of their illness) and how to fix it (people being more open to talking about it and to accept it).

Cheating

Maddies documentary related to everyone in the class because it happens all the time. I also liked her music choice and that her interviews were from a teacher we all knew.

Therapy

I like the Jenice started her documentary with the historical background of how people viewed mental illnesses like saying that people thought they were witches and even imprisoned them. I also liked how Jenice ended her video by saying "Asking for help doesn't mean you're weak, it makes you human".

Why Women get Abortions

Knowing Carina is pro life, I thought her presentation was going to be the exact opposite of Sammy's and it was going to talk about why women shouldn't be allowed to have abortions. I like that Carina used common sense and knew this topic was very controversial, so instead of saying what she thought as right, she just explained reasons why women would and wouldn't feel the need for this service. My favorite part of Carina's documentary was that she explained specifically how abortions worked by using diagrams and videos.
Ps Carina: you spelled religion wrong in your video

Alzheimers

Matt told us exactly what Alzheimers was from the get go and I found that very useful. I thought it was crazy that women are more likely to get alzheimers than men, it was kind of like a warning for all of the girls in the room. I also thought Matt's hands on was pretty cool, how he kept a diary of how his grandma was feeling each day, it made it more of a visual of how badly this illness effects people and how it can easily affect people close to us.

Cheaters Everywhere

Let's all take a minute and try to remember all the way back to preschool and kindergarten. This is when we learn what is right and wrong, how to be kind to each other, and that cheating is not acceptable. Actually, now that I think about it, they drill the "no cheating policy" into our heads basically every year of our academic career. So why is it still happening? As stated in the presentation today, I think competition is a huge factor.
On my softball team, I have a teammate and her dad is keeper of the record book and enters the stats online. Over the past couple of years, I have seen patterns that don't match with what actually happens in the games. For example, if she made an error in the game, I would see the error given to the other person involved in the play (in the record books). Who actually sees the record books? Well, college recruiters and coaches do, so it is obvious what the motive is. However, I think it is totally immoral and wrong. It's interesting because an adult is cheating in this case, and he should know better.
In my math class, a girl sitting behind me had all of her notes open on the floor, under her desk during a test. Now, this test was tricky so I understand why she felt like she needed assistance. However, I believe it is unfair for those that don't get that extra assistance. As we were handed back our tests, I glanced and saw that her grade was higher than mine. It was totally unfair.
Humans are competitive by nature, so I am sure cheating will be around as long as there is competition.

College Campuses and Rape

As we watched The Hunting Ground in class, I realized how messed up college campuses really are. Previously, I had heard of schools trying to hide and cover up the rapes happening on their campuses, but I never thought to really look into it. This documentary has opened my eyes and sort of scared me. We have grown up all of our lives taught that authority figures are there to stand up for what is right and guide us through times we may need help. However, from this documentary, authority figures at these universities, such as the deans or presidents of the schools, fail to do what we expect of them. What surprised me most was that these figures not only refused to do anything about it, but they also blamed the victim. It is completely unacceptable. No wonder rape victims have such a hard time asking for help; they are afraid of being blamed. It disgusts me the lengths these schools will go to to maintain their reputations or to keep their star athletes.

Internet Impact

Growing up in this generation, the internet has always been the source to hear the "breaking news" or the new headline. After watching Raphael's documentary I learned that people on average spend 47 days per year on the internet. To me, this is concerning because that adds up to 47 days people spend inside staring at a screen running the risks of arthritis to the wrist. There is too much to do on the internet nowadays with all the different forms of social media which becomes so time consuming for some people. I believe if we cutdown on our Internet, we will all begin to live more social lives instead of being glued to a screen all the time.

Cheating Scandal at Los Altos High

With Maddie's presentation on cheating, I feel like I need to share this experience that happened just a few weeks ago. In my calculus class, we are allowed to take make up tests if we weren't there the day of the test. One day there were two girls, who sit in the same row right in front of each other and not that far from me, who were taking a makeup test. The teacher, Mr. Randall, allows you to take the test at your seat as long as no one talks to you. So these girls are taking the test and the one in front finishes. She then proceeds to hand her test(literally the whole test) back to the girl behind her taking the same makeup test. It was pretty slick because i didn't even notice until she got caught. So girl #1 finished her test and proceeded to play games on her phone. Mr. Randall saw her on her phone and asked where her test was. She then, literally, reached back to grab her test from girl #2's desk. It was the most awkward experience in the class. Anyway, Mr. Randall took both of their tests away and talked to them after class. I don't know what ending up happening but it was crazy to me that these two girls were so blunt about cheating. I don't understand why they didn't wait a couple more days or weeks to take the make up test. Mr. Randall is super flexible and would have let them take it when they were ready. Another thing that makes me a little upset is the policy in place for those who do get caught cheating. Apparently they just get a zero on the test and it goes on their record. That's pretty bad but who really sees your record? Is it permanently on your transcript for your college to see? Or does it go on some imaginary record that no one really sees?

Cheating Epidemic

Everyone knows that cheating happens everywhere and it's kind of turned into the norm. Today, Maddie specifically covered cheating at Los Altos. She surveyed a group of students and all of them admitted to cheating at least once in their high school career. Students today would rather risk getting caught and face the consequences than receive a bad score on a test or other assignment. If that doesn't tell you something is wrong with our schooling system than I don't know what will. In Tucson Arizona, students were caught after logging on to the teacher database and changing all of their grades to passing. They ended up charging other students to change their grades. Ultimately, a total of 50 students are currently under investigation.

The End is Near

As i'm trying to crank out the last couple of blogs, Frank Sinatra's song "My Way" came on on my spotify. I think this song is a great representation of my and perhaps your high school career. The song opens with "And now, the end is near/ And so I face the final curtain" which is where we are all at in this point of the semester. We are so close to graduating and going into the next chapters of our lives. I love how this song repeats the phrase "I did it my way" because its very true. I did everything my way and i couldn't be more happier at where I am in my life right now. Even though this song is a little slow and emotional(it is Frank Sinatra after all), I think you guys should listen to it because you might get a little emotional about our time in high school coming to an end.

Cheating in High School

Cheating in high school has been done and will continue to be done for years to come due to a few reasons, one of which being the student not knowing the answer and simply looking over the shoulder of a peer for the answer. There is more to it though, nowadays students resort to much more desperate and stealthy ways to cheat like writing the answers on their water bottles, or having the formulas prewritten in their calculators. Cheating is seen throughout all ages and I believe children should learn at a young age that nothing is benefited from cheating.

Hunting Ground

I think that Hunting Ground is one of the most interesting things we have studied this year.  I am really engaged and I know we are supposed to be taking notes, but I have not taken any because I am just watching it and taking in what the documentary is saying.  I think it is really good that we are watching it because it is so important because a lot of us are going off to college and seeing how colleges handle these sexual abuse cases is eyeopening.  I would think that as soon as it gets reported that a girl has gotten sexually assaulted that the abuser would immediately get expelled and the school would try to show that they do not stand for that kind of behavior.  Instead the colleges really do not do anything and the abusers think that they can continue their actions because half the time the girl will not report it, and even if she does nothing will happen.

"Service Trips" Reaction

I've always been told that most service trips don't accomplish a lot of things overseas, and Avery did a good job on explaining it.  I liked how she talked about Haiti Solidarity club and how it does a lot for the people of Haiti.

"Mental Illness" Reaction

I never realized how many people in the United States actually have mental illnesses.  It's unfortunate that it is such a high number and that there is still stigma around it.

Why Standardized Testing Should be Banned

Starting from a young age, we as students have always experience standardized testing as part of our typical educational  curriculum and experience. We have always been taught to study for what will be on our next big standardized test. "Will this be on the AP test? Will we need to know this for the SAT? What is a good score to receive on our STAR test?" These are questions we are all too familiar with, and they show just how much standardized testing has taken over our education. When students are trained to study only to prepare them for a standardized test, it not only teaches them improper study habits of short term memorization, but also prevents them from completely exploring topics in depth and truly learning all they can about a subject. Not only does standardized testing promote bad study habits, many people also find that with their test scores playing such an influential role in their academic futures, cheating becomes more prevalent especially on their standardized tests. When students feel that, despite all of their hard work at memorizing what they think they need to know for these tests and they still feel the need to cheat on these tests, this is when you know something is wrong with this system.
How do you feel about standardized testing and how can our curriculum be changed?

For more information on the pros and cons of standardized testing, see this website.

Don't Touch the Turtles

A salmonella outbreak began around April this year and has sickened over 150 individuals throughout 26 states. 36 of those individuals were so gravely ill they were needed to be hospitalized. This outbreak was all caused by little baby turtles. Salmonella can live and grow on reptiles without sickening the animals. Many clueless tourists and beach-goers see the small turtles and immediately want to pick them up and take a selfie. As a consequence many of these individuals will soon become sick with salmonella poisoning. Not only could you sicken yourself but picking up the baby turtles is putting them in danger as well. In the media recently, we have heard about baby dolphins dying due to idiotic people taking them out of the water to take selfies. As a note to self; don't touch the animals, you'll get sick and they'll die.

"Psychotherapy" Reaction

I never really viewed group therapy as a different thing from solo therapy.  It was interesting to see how so many people disliked group therapy.

"Abortions" Reaction

A strong part of this film was showing different people and their views on abortions because it showed why people either supported or were against abortions.  Carina did a great job on explaining the numbers on abortions.

"Academic Cheating" Reaction

Maddie did a great job with showing why students cheat, and it's because of a lot of pressure around them in society today.  I liked seeing a student's and a teacher's perspectives on cheating.

SFPD

Today, the head of the San Francisco Police Department stepped down at the request of mayor, Ed Lee.  It is in the wake of a shooting of an African-American woman who was shot by a police officer.  Suhr, had already been pressured to step down after there was another two shootings of minorities by police officers.  After the two previous shootings Suhr was part of a texting scandal that had racist and homophobic slurs and opponents to Suhr have had protests and food strikes to try and have Mayor Lee to make him step down.

Who has the most Courage?

With Caitlyn Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY's, I saw a lot of posts on Facebook saying she didn't deserve the award. Their reasoning was that it isn't brave to come out as transgender and that it takes more courage to be a veteran with 2 limbs instead of four. I cant help but get very upset at these types of post. Its literally these types of post that make it courageous for a person to come out as gay ,lesbian, or transgender in our society today! I am in no way saying that being in a war and surviving isn't courageous, but it isn't the only way to show courage and/or bravery. Courage and bravery can come in all types of shapes. If someone who suffered from depression even just ate a meal or went out in public for the day, that might have taken a lot of courage for them! I do not like it when being the most courageous or brave turns into a competition because nobody every wins! Its just a cycle of shaming others for doing things that do require courage. What do you guys think? Is it fair to have a competition on who can be the most courageous?

"Alzheimers" Reaction

This was a really good documentary because it showed well done research and a lot of emotion.  It's interesting that women tend to have it more than men, and I never knew there were stages of Alzheimers.

Placebo Effect

The Placebo effect is when a patient receives medication from a trusted doctor or medical expert and told that the medication will help heal them from the illness that they have. However in reality the medication given is useless and doesn't help at all with the illness whatsoever. However what is baffling is that there is a high percentage of patients that undergo the placebo effect that actually heal quickly when taking these "medications". I thought this was fascinating. Does the human mind really have the power to heal the body physically if it is under the impression it is being helped and will get better soon? This is still a great mystery in the scientific world as to why the Placebo Effect even works at all.

Another Reason to Hate Donald Trump

A delegate who was elected for Donald Trump to the Republican National Convention was indicted for a variety of charges ranging from possession and creation of child pornography, possession of explosives, and possession of illegal guns. Caleb Bailey from Maryland was indicted this past Wednesday the 18th. At his home, authorities found hundreds of illegal weapons and explosives. If you don't hate Donald Trump enough already, he is backed up and supported by a man who exploited a minor to create and circulate child pornography, and possessed and sold illegal weapons and artillery.

Tobacco in Baseball

Tobacco has been in baseball for forever.  "It's part of the game", is what you hear a lot people say who are chewing tobacco.  I'm all for tradition and baseball is a game that is known for being old school and keeping the game the way it's always been, but I think that chewing tobacco needs to go.  This year is the first year a lot of stadiums have banned all tobacco from being used including by the players, coaches, and fans.  You hear about the old guy who has been chewing for 40 years who finally gets mouth cancer and so you think okay, maybe if I do it only a little bit it will not affect me.  But, Daniel Norris a top prospect, 22 years old, got cancer from chewing tobacco.  A 22 year old player who is expected to be great had to spend most of the offseason treating his cancer and not being able to play or do anything.  I think growing up and seeing big league players having a huge hunk of tobacco in their lip gives kids the idea that it is okay to chew tobacco, but they do not understand the major health consequences that can occur.

Jameis Winston

I totally remember hearing about the Jameis Winston case a couple of years ago.  It is really amazing how the media portrayed it and it was almost like he tried to play the victim card.  They talked about how it came out after he became a star, but really it came out after it happened but did not get the nation attention until he was a star.  The way ESPN and other media outlets portrayed it, was that the girl had sex with Jameis and was trying to get fame and so she made up the story that the sex was nonconsenual.  After hearing her side of the story it is pretty clear to me that this was definitely sexual assault and rape.  It is amazing how now only a few years after and nobody ever talks about it.  Most people do not even know about it, or remember it and that is absolutely upsetting. Jameis got into a lot of trouble at Florida State, but the coaching staff and the administration let him get away with it.  Now as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers it never gets brought up that he raped a girl, or he stole crab legs, or he stood on a table in the middle of the quad and yelled and obscene phrase.  Instead he is a great quarterback and a leader and I think that is awful.

Mind the Gap

As we all prepare to explore our own paths in life after graduation, many of us have chosen to continue our education at college, the typical path many students choose to take. However, another option that has grown in popularity in recent times is to opt to take a gap year in between high school and college, heck even the president's daughter is taking a gap year before joining the Harvard class of 2021. A gap year provides real world experience and a sometimes well needed break from school to people who may not be sure if they want to continue their education at a university quite yet, or even want to experience something other than school, like a job or traveling/studying abroad, before returning to the routine life of school. More and more students have been opting to either participate in service trips/study-abroad-type trips during their gap year, providing them with exposure to other cultures and educational experiences outside of a classroom. I believe that, when used properly, the things that people experience during their gap year can be extremely beneficial to them in the long run whether they decide to return to school after their year or continue on to another path in life. What do you think about choosing to take a gap year after high school?

The Case Against 8

This Case Against 8 was probably one of my favorite documentary we've seen. Same sex marriage has been a controversial topic for years and it's been a right people have been trying to fight for. I think if it wasn't for kris perry and Saundra Stier putting there relationship out in the open for and for Ted Olsen they wouldn't have gained their 14th amendment. People for prop 8 made propaganda saying if they allow same sex to be legal it's like allowing prostitution to be legal. I think this is absurd and don't relate to each other in anyway. If two people love each other what gives other people the right to stop them from marriage. So I'm glad that they finally got the right they deserved.