Dawe: Week 1

 

Unseen Impacts of Covid-19

This past week I watched a youtube video by Molly Burke. She is a blind woman who creates videos to inform others what living as a blind person is like. She currently has a guide dog named Gallop who is trained to get her place to place, alert her of any danger, and basically just be her eyes.

The video that I watched was about her having to retire her guide dog early because of the coronavirus. Her dog has been working for about 6 years and the average amount of years that a dog will usually work for is about 8. Due to the Coronavirus, she has not been able to leave her house for anything but walks. Meaning her guide dog is starting to act more like a pet and forgetting all his training since he is not constantly working. He has started trying to take food from tables and wondering off while on walks, instead of guiding her. She also cannot adopt another dog for another 2 years because the dogs take over a year to train and they cannot currently be trained due to the virus. Therefore her mobility is going to be taken away from her. 

This overall showed me that everything in the world is being affected by the coronavirus. These aren't just short problems that can be fixed when the vaccine is distributed. Businesses are closing forever, people are losing their jobs, and the obvious: people are dying. Even the things that we may not think are being affected actually are in some way or another. This makes me fearful for the future and wonder if our world will ever be the same. 

Before watching this video I would have never thought about how the virus was affecting people with disabilities. I am very glad that I stumbled across this video because it was a little bit of an eye-opener to show how society is being affected. 

Molly and her dog Gallop

Image Link

Ps. I couldnt figure out how to put a link to her video into this, since the video is bloced on the chromebooks, but you can easily find it on Molly Burks youtube channel on another device. 

Goodricke Week #1

    

                                                                            Heartbreaks :(

Brougham Week 1 Post

Living Happily

    Graduate college, work for 40+ years, retire, move somewhere you have always wanted to live. This seems to be the formula for many people in America. Although there is nothing necessarily wrong with this habit, the idea does not sit well with me. Ever since I was little, I have been attracted to the sand, waves, boardwalk, and everything in between. Every year I spend a week at the beach, and spend every single day on the beach. I eat on the beach, sleep on the beach, go in the water, and just gaze at the mystical water. Why do I want to wait until I am past my prime to truly be happy with where I live?

    My grandparents recently moved down to Rehoboth, Delaware after living in New Jersey for 44 years. Now, they live on the brink of the ocean, finally ending up where they have wanted to be their whole entire life, only now, my grandmother can't stay outside for too long due skin conditions, and my grandfather is a 76 year old man who gets winded easily. Although it is great that they love where they are, I do not want to wait until I am shriveled and old to live where I have wanted to live forever. This is why I am striving for a job that I can do at home, therefore the choice of where to live is completely up to me. I can spend my whole life living near the ocean, being excited of all the different places and opportunities around me in this unique environment. 

    The reason I love the beach this much is all due to nostalgia. My parents owned a condo that was a three minute walk to the ocean and boardwalk. This was located in Ocean City Maryland. For nine years, this was my summer vacation. This was associated so much with my family that my parents got married here in 2007. I know the boardwalk like the back of my hand. I have favorite restaurants, shops, and rides. There are just a multitude of memories with my family, as well as such a calming and laid back environment, that helped me developed my love for the ocean.

    In regards to where I would like to live, I would have to say Rehoboth Beach. Although I love Ocean City Maryland, this is a very popular vacation home. There are very few local residents. However, there are a lot of neighborhoods with nice houses right outside of the boardwalk in Rehoboth. I think this would be a great place to live because it is the best of both worlds. There are neighborhoods where you aren't bombarded with tourists and vacationers, but you also have the choice to visit the certain tourist places such as the boardwalk or the beach. 

    Overall, I think it would be a waste of a life to stay located in a place where it may not meet your emotional needs. Pennsylvania weather is not for all, and is certainly not for me. One of my goals is to live down by the shore by the time I am 25, and then hopefully live a long and peaceful like in my forever happy place.

                                                      My favorite sunset picture I have ever taken

Grimm: Week 1

Wonder Woman 1984, 

More Like Wishy Washy 1984 😆 🙈

SPOILER ALERT!!!

    If you're excited to see the second Wonder Woman movie from DC Films like I was, rewatch the first one instead. I had a weird Christmas, like I think every did last year, and this movie just intensified the weird. To clarify, the movie was very well made and started out great, I just wish DC spent more of their money on better writers than their amazing film editors.

    To understand my review of this movie, let me first summarize it a bit so you can understand my analysis later. It all started out like I mentioned before with this jolt of excitement. Maybe it had a lot to do with the action music, but seeing young Diana (Wonder Woman) again gave me confidence in the future storyline. The first Wonder Woman movie begins with a tail of young Diana as well which explains my naive enthusiasm. There was a huge competition among the Amazon's, a group of women who raised Diana, that concludes with young Wonder Woman learning an important life lesson from her mother. Fast forward to the eighties where we find Diana all grown up with her big eighties hair holding a gallon sized can of hairspray. Actually, no, it appeared society hadn't changed Diana, her only character development was becoming a local superhero in D.C. Later we are introduced to a quirky Kristen Wiig, her character Barbara becomes obsessed with Diana's popularity and eventually steals her identity. A dream stone, similar to a genie lamp, gave Barbara her power to do so. She physically and mentally transforms, Barbara even gets Diana's super powers. The main villain of this story is Max Lord, a failing oil baron, who finds the dream stone and wishes to become it. Max now can get whatever he wishes for, not through the stone, but by forcing others to make their single wish to benefit himself. I find this new approach to genie magic very original, but that's the extent of creativity in the writer's office for this movie. Prior to all of these wishes Diana gets her hands on the stone and asks for her dead boyfriend, so of course he comes back from the dead. Eventually we figure out that wishing takes your best qualities from you, as a result Diana's powers slowly decrease. She then takes her wish back which reverses all effects from the dream stone for her only. A big battle between Barbara and Diana takes place. Barbara knows Diana is after Max Lord and the stone, who are now combined, so she defends it by wishing to become "the apex predator." As you can imagine this is when everything falls apart for me. If you are planning to watch the movie as well you'll see what I mean. That is assuming you don't fall asleep before that scene from the hour long character development of Barbara and the pointless storyline of Diana's dead boyfriend experiencing the modern world. I won't spoil the ending, maybe this movie interests you, maybe it could be a good laugh, maybe it could be a good nap.

 This was a blockbuster, huge film for the year and it didn't live up to my expectations. However, I did enjoy the ending. Max Lord, the genie-like villain, finally was honest with himself and his son. It appeared as though they had a bright future together, that is if Max isn't imprisoned for life. As a side note I found an interesting connection between both Wonder Women movies. In the first movie Diana is introduced to normal 1940's society by Steve, her now dead boyfriend I mentioned earlier. There's a slight irony in the 1984 film when Diana then shows Steve the modern day (1980's) world. One of my favorite scenes is when Steve and Diana steal a plane, which is most likely the notorious invisible plane like in the comics. Steve is enthused by the many scientific discoveries, being a pilot himself, planes look very different 70 years in the future.

    To add onto my already extensive list of reasons not to waste three hours on this film, here's another. The drastic inconsistency between films, the one that bothers me most being the ability to fly. Ending WWI in the first movie, Diana learns the ability to fly and eventually destroys the god influencing the war. For some reason the writers decided in the second movie the only way Diana could fly was by using her lasso to fling herself in the air. My final issue with Wonder Woman 1984 is the usage of such a famous saying as the main theme, "be careful what you wish for." Can we not base an entire blockbuster film on such an unoriginal thought please? I really wanted more from this movie and I would like my three hours back. You'll be hearing from my lawyer DC Films.

Cuevas Week 1

    

 "Employee of The Month's" Fatal Flaw

Well, ladies and gentlemen, today marks the end of our winter break (technically yesterday, but today we actually had to get out of bed to complete the school day.) Ah, I miss it already. Since we couldn't really go anywhere, I'm sure many of us chose to spend our days inside watching movies. I, being one of those people, watched a movie over the break that fueled me with enough anger to write a blog post about it. That movie was called Employee of the Month.

Now, some of you might have had the same reaction my boyfriend did: “What? Are you kidding? You didn't like that movie? Are you okay, mentally?” Of course, that's a fair reaction. However, it isn't that I hated the movie as a whole. I actually really enjoyed it, but the main character, Zack, is what ruined this movie.

Okay, quick movie summary, my deepest apologies for any spoilers. Zack is a box boy at a grocery store called Super Club. His whole ‘thing’ is being the cool, laid back worker, who has pretty much designed his days at Super Club to work in his favor. He and a few of his friends created their own lounge hidden in storage, and they basically spend their days at work hanging out and having fun. Zack seems super likable at this point. His arch-nemesis is a guy named Vince, who dedicated his life to being Employee of The Month every month. He is an extremely hard worker who, despite being the villain of the story, actually deserves this title for the work he puts in. Here is where I start to hate Zack. 

A new, beautiful cashier comes to the store and it is exposed that her transfer was due to her relationship with her old job’s Employee of the Month. Zack suddenly decides that he needs to become the employee of the month to win her over. He does this by essentially running the lives of his friends and his enemy, Vince. Now there are two problems with this. The first is Zack’s selfishness and how it affected his friends. To gain praise from his boss, he sold them out, got rid of their lounge, got his close friend-  who is a single father- fired, and all-around became an unrecognizable person and a shell of a friend. 

The second reason is something I like to call the “Sharpay/Gabriella Phenomenon.” We all remember High School Musical, where Sharpay practiced and prepared her entire life to star in the school musical and it was taken from her by Gabriella who barely auditioned and had never performed before. No hate to Gabriella- she was an amazing character with a voice like an angel- but we have to admit that Sharpay was more deserving of the role given her endless hard work. The same thing happens in Employee of the Month. Vince needs to win this last month in order to set a record of consecutive wins- and earn himself a new car. But, Zack swoops in and completes mediocre tasks to best him- even after finding out the girl still likes him when he isn’t Employee of the Month. That's right, even after he realizes he doesn't need to work for that anymore, he continues to torture Vince- even stealing and selling his car and ruining his friendship with his best friend. 

I enjoyed the movie, but Zack was not a role model main character. He was unnecessarily mean, selfish, and undeserving of the praise he gained. 

Ahearn Week 1

"Are Cell Phones Really That Great"

    I am going to admit, I heavily rely on technology and spend a good amount of time online. I am constantly using my phone or laptop to talk to others, watch movies or shows, or to check social media. Phones are amazing because all of my friends are one call away and with the click of a button, I can have the answer to any question. Don’t get me wrong, this aspect of technology is amazing, but the more I think about it, technology does just as good of a job disconnecting me from others. 

    When I was younger, I didn’t have cell phones in my back pocket. I spent every summer day playing outside with my parents from sunrise to sunset. My friends would come over and we’d all play with dolls, build with legos, or make huge forts in the basement. Now when I hang out with my friends, we just take cute pictures for Instagram, we watch movies, or we make TikTok. Everything we do is based on technology. In addition to just sitting around on phones when hanging out with friends, conversations are becoming more and more superficial. How many times have you responded to someone’s text with, “hahaha that’s so funny” and never even broke a smile? I know I’ve done it multiple times. Conversations through the phone are becoming shorter and shorter, and less effort is being put into them. 

    I’ve also noticed that technology has kept me from making more meaningful relationships with “friends.” I have followers on Instagram and I communicate with many people on Snapchat, but are all of those people really my friends? Maybe you would think so because we may send funny snaps back and forth all day, but most of the people on my Snapchat I have never hung out with outside of school. Social media can make you feel like you have a large handful of friends, but when I actually put the phone down, I am able to see the true people in my life. 

A woman checking through her Instagram to see
who is interacting with her account.

Olson Week 1

 My Favorite Show I Couldn't Watch

When I was around 4 years old my parents introduced me to this Japanese show called Ultraman. The show takes place in Japan, and every episode a building sized monster shows up. It's up to Ultraman to show up and fight the monster. Since the show came out in the 1960s, it is clear now that the monsters and Ultraman are just people fighting on a stage. Back when I was 4 though, I thought these fights were very realistic. So realistic in fact that I thought the fights were real and that they actually happened. I would say that it was my favorite show growing up. Here’s the funny part, I never even watched a full episode until I was around 8 or 9.

From ages 4 to 8 I would just look up “Ultraman” on YouTube and back then there were only the fight scenes. I would watch the fight scenes and be blown away that beings larger than skyscrapers were clashing in the streets of cities, the dunes of deserts, and the peaks of snow capped mountains. It wasn’t until around my 8th birthday that I received a DvD of the first 13 episodes of the original Ultraman series. I would watch these 13 episodes over and over again.

By the time that all the Ultraman episodes were available everywhere, I had lost interest. My favorite show for about 5 years, and I only ever watched about 20 episodes. I’ll be honest, looking back the original show isn’t the best, however it introduced me to many key aspects of narratives. The suspense of when Ultraman is about to run out of power, the terror of when the monster appears and destroys everything in its path, the resolution of Ultraman defeating the enemy (which he did pretty much every episode). I am very happy that my parents introduced me to Ultraman, and unknowingly introduced me to the Ultra series. Since the 60s new Ultramen would be introduced every few years, all the way up until the present. My favorite is Ultraseven, mostly because he had a cool knife on his head. I suggest you watch this fight scene, because I still think it's awesome. And hey, if it interests you, you can find the episodes of Ultraman and many of the other Ultra series if you look hard enough.

Buezo Week #1

Getting Involved 

    Have you ever sat in your room, bored, felt like that was making you go insane from boredom. Well, that's how I tend to feel. I hate the feeling that my day has been wasted. Nothing aggravates me more than knowing that I have just spent hours on my phone scrolling through absolutely nothing. There is pointless information that can be pondered upon for hours. I feel as once in a while that I do enjoy having my relaxations, but the feeling of procrastination and feeling like I haven't done anything drives me insane. That's why at a young age I knew I wanted to be involved in my school and keep busy by joining clubs and doing activities that I love.

    As far back as I can remember I have always involved myself in clubs, I have always loved being part of best buddies, that was my first club I joined in middle school because of my brother with autism, from there on I knew I wanted to join more clubs. I then joined the student council. I found myself interested in art club, and in middle school, I also joined chorus, and I also cheered and did dance.  

    When I started high school there were many clubs that I dropped, I just lost interest in them. I stopped dancing, that was not because I lost interest it was because I was overwhelmed by all the new activities I was doing. I wish I had more time in each day so I could be involved and do more for myself and for others.  I dropped chorus because I realized I wasn't all that good at singing and should just stick to listening to the radio, and unfortunately, our high school does not offer a good best buddies program for students with disabilities, they do not give students opportunities to interact with kids with disabilities, it was very disappointing as the prior president of best buddies. 

    I do continue to cheer in high school, I found out that I was really interested in debate and I like public speaking. I also learned that I love learning about our law, which is why I joined mock trial. I like being involved in the community and impacting others which is why I am the president of interact club which is the largest volunteer program that our high school has than lots of students are free to join. I also to Model UN where we discuss world issues and how we can work on improving the world. Referring back to helping kids with disabilities I am also involved with Special Olympics, the middle school certainly did do more, but I knew I still wanted to be involved with helping others out, any opportunity I got. I also found myself interested in FLBA , which involves public speaking and many

Falzone H. Week 1 The College Search Solution

                                                The College Search Solution

To kick off the New Year, I created a small list of things I need to accomplish, which in actuality is a plain piece of white paper filled with small phrases and words indicating things that need to get done. The glittery pink words written on this paper form a to-do list for the next 12 months. Within this list is a note about determining which colleges I want to apply to by the end of the year, (or more like September). This college search saga is a very daunting task for me, as I am sure it is for many of my classmates. At this point in time, I have 100% no clue as to what I want in a college. Close to home, far away, big, small, city, college town? I have no clue what I want or what I need in a university or college. I think the process of looking for colleges can be exciting, eye-opening, and thrilling especially when you find that one place that just fits you, but lately, all I have felt is stress and a want to curl up into a ball and live with my parents forever because any other option is just too overwhelming. 

However, I think I have found a way that can help with these decisions. It is a simple and common idea, but I truly found it to be so helpful that I thought I would share in case someone hasn’t thought of this incredibly useful tactic yet. I have created a massive pros and cons list, almost like a compare and contrast diagram, in google slides that I am constantly writing things on, and deleting things as my head organizes and tries to make sense of the different aspects I may like or not like about a college. As I learn something new about a college or myself, I change some slides and create a new ranking of schools. 

Up until this point I had been completely sold on a new college every other week, convincing my family members that this college was the place for me until I realized maybe a different school was more fitting. Now all my family has to do is look at the slides I have shared with them and they know where my head is at during that small window of my commitment to being a Triton, Leopard, or Eagle Warrior at my “dream” college. Creating a list and typing everything in my head, helps me sort my thoughts and feel less stress and pressure over my quest to find the “perfect” place. I believe just utilizing this one system to keep your thoughts organized provides a world of a difference during this undoubtedly stressful time.

Here is an example of one of my slides!

Falzone M. Week 1

To Connect or to Disconnect?

I am the type of person who can get easily wrapped up in my own thoughts and lead myself down a rabbit hole of confusion and make believe scenarios. While this trait of mine is definitely distracting and not always very positive, I recently began thinking about a topic that I think many people are familiar with: iPhones.

During my childhood up until I turned eight years old, my family never owned a smartphone and we were left on our own to find sources of entertainment during long car rides, days off from school, and boring engagements. I look back at pictures of my sister and I in the back seat of our car playing with popsicle sticks, pipe-cleaners, and countless crafting materials and wonder how I used to be so creative as to keep myself busy for so many hours. I also notice small foldable TVs that on special occasions my parents would hook up for us to watch a movie in the car. It seems like a more simple time, when the outside world was not at my fingertips and my imagination had free reign of my mind. 

In thinking about this, I realize how attached to my cell phone I am. Between keeping up on social media and watching the latest Tik Tok dance, there is always something new to click on and view. I often wonder while I stare at my phone, what I would be doing if this phone did not exist. Would I be a more creative person without the hindrance of this mobile device? Have I changed as a person now that this object holds so much of my attention? I am convinced that using a smartphone is an addiction that we are all living with and I wonder what it would take to disconnect. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to find out the answers to all of my questions is to do just what I am insinuating. I am going to take a leave of absence from my device and live in the moment. I am committed to see if I am still capable of being my own entertainment and whether I change as a person without knowing the news of what is happening, exactly when it’s happening, and where. What I fear is that I will not be able to control myself from tapping the screen of my phone and ignoring instagram notifications. I suspect it will be a challenge, but I think that this is something that could be interesting to find out. 

A creation I (Marina) made on the car ride to Virginia

Marina and Hailey(left) as happy as can be
with our pile of shared craft materials

Rodrigues Week I

 

Aluminum Wings

    In life, there are few things that bring me as much joy as traveling the world. Each experience is new and captivating whether it is experienced alone or shared with my family. The part I find most intriguing, however, is not the destination, but rather the means by which I choose to get there. As a part of my life for as long as I can remember, airplanes have truly shaped my perception of the world. Each time I embark on a flight, I feel empowered. Having a bird's eye view of the world fills me with a sense of hope and motivation I simply find nowhere else. 

    Each year, my family and I travel to the Azores, an archipelago off the coast of Portugal, to visit my grandparents, two aunts, and extended family. Being there and experiencing the culture has opened my eyes to the world as a place full of new things to discover. Being there on the islands is one thing, but flying over the Atlantic is another. While peering out of the oval-shaped aircraft window, you may indulge in a fantastic visual display of colors that is guaranteed to fascinate anyone. It appears as though the deep satin ocean performs a seamless dance with the blue hues of the atmosphere mixing to create an unimaginable gradient. Simultaneously, the clouds act as brief intermissions to form an overall marvelous sea and skyscape. 

    The reason I named this blog post Aluminum Wings is simply because of the symbolism. The wings of an aircraft are always in your field of view, so they represent all of the positive feelings I associate with flying. To illustrate this phenomenon, I included a photo I took on my first flight to Lisbon, Portugal. 

A photo I took on my first flight to Lisbon, Portugal.
August 3, 2007

Regan Week #1

     More Than Sisters

    2020 was a year full of uncertainty and hurt, but I am so thankful that I had a chance to experience it. Being in quarantine was not how I envisioned spending a part of my year. At times I felt like there was no end in sight. Luckily, I had my three sisters (Claire, Molly, and Maggie) right there with me. In quarantine, I realized that they are more than sisters to me, they are my best friends.

    Claire and I have been inseparable since the day I was born. Something really special about us is that we are born on the same day, just four years apart. When I was younger, I wanted to be just like her. Everything Claire did, I did. She was, and still is, my biggest role model. She has the biggest heart and always goes out of her way to make sure everyone is happy. She currently attends school at Purdue University. Claire being so far away from home was really hard for me in the beginning because out of all three of my sisters, she is the one I relate to the most. Claire’s personality brings me happiness because there is no one that understands me like she does.

    Molly and I are one year apart in age, so we are very close. Molly and I have very different personalities which lead us to fight a lot. There was a time in our life where we would fight almost every day. It was always over pointless things, but that didn’t matter, we still bickered. As we have grown and matured, the fighting has lessened, and we do everything together. After Claire left, we grew even closer because at the time I knew she was the next to leave for college. Here we are, Molly is in her senior year of high school, and I am already dreading the day we drop her off. Molly and I have created such a strong bond, I cannot imagine life without her.

    Maggie is my only little sister, and I adore her, even from the day she was born. She is one of the bravest people I have ever met in my life. Just five days after she was born, she was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder called Isovaleric Academia. Luckily her doctors found that her case is mild, but it is still something she will have for her whole life. Even though she is younger than me, I admire her so much. She has always been there for me and is always someone I can talk to when I am having a bad day. She truly is one of my best friends.

    Before the quarantine, I took for granted the love and support all three of them have shown me. Having a lot of time to think and self-reflect was very beneficial for me. I encourage everyone to take time and find the people that bring them happiness. I was lucky enough to have them from the very beginning.

Here are all four of us in the Outer Banks. This is pictured in the summer of 2008. 

This is all four of us now. This was taken over winter break.
From left to right: Molly, Maggie, Claire, Kelly (me)

    

Ricci week #1

     

                                                                       Orange

    Orange is my favorite color. A perfect mix of red and yellow. When I think of orange, it reminds me of all the things I love. Sunsets, warm weather, the desert. A few years ago I went to Utah. I had never been there before, but one thing that stood out to me was the colors. When you left the city and drove down the highway there was nothing but empty land and the sunset. It looked like a painting. Everywhere you went, orange was the color that stood out.

    Even in ordinary places, orange is the color that stands out to me. Whether it’s a traffic cone or just a random sign, it is always the first color I notice. Sure, there are lots of other colors out there, but orange is by far the best. 

    Every color is associated with a certain feeling or emotion. Some of those feelings are the same for everyone, but some are different. The color yellow is often associated with feelings of happiness and joy, but for me those feelings are associated with orange. Whenever I look at the color I feel better because it reminds me of all the things that bring me happiness. I think that’s the main reason I love this color so much.

                                                     This is a picture I took at Bryce Canyon National Park

Hunter Week 1

I Haven’t a Clue 

Millions of teenagers enter outrageously expensive colleges to pursue something they have yet to discover. Is it too judgemental of me to criticize the fact that 17-year-olds are expected to make decisions that will impact every aspect of their future? Probably. As someone who comes from a family of overachievers, it was hard to grow up knowing that I will not be as influential as they have been/will be. My sister, Megan, was one of a kind, seeing as though she knew what she wanted to pursue at the age of six. On the other hand, my dad was just as clueless, if not more, than I. He first got a degree in journalism and proceeded to work at a newspaper and then for the House of Representatives. Following journalism, he became an EMT, International High school Principal, and 4 degrees later, he became Dr. Bill Hunter, working for Lehigh University and the United Nations. Though he went to college in Australia and had loads of fun, he constantly reminds me that he wished he had found his place sooner.


When I was younger, I wanted to be a camp director, the President, Luna Lovegood, etc. My dreams have not shrunk since then. If anything, they've grown into more realistic goals surrounding my true passions. As I finish the thrilling Cyber Junior Seminar course, I have gained virtually nothing except the visibility of my confusion. I have been a musician since I was four, so a large part of me wants to obtain a music therapy degree. Not only would this allow my empathetic self to thrive, but it would also enable me to do what I love every day. On the contrary, I want to contribute to the protection of the planet by studying Environmental Science/Policy, as the climate crisis is growing, and my passion for sustainability is immense. In that field, it is a dream of mine to work for the United Nations Environmental Programme. I have spent most of my life outside, so an environmental career aspiration is no surprise. Because STEM and music are nothing alike, it’s not possible to combine them into one “dream career”. You might be thinking “Why is she worried about her future now?” Well, to put it simply, I would like to attend the college best for my major (whatever that may be), and the top schools for each option are so different. My envy of those who do not have to think twice about their dream grows every day. Regardless, I plan on being in their position one day.

I cannot risk making the wrong decision, as I am sure you cannot either. Personally, I do not think teenagers have the ability to make such life-altering decisions in circumstances such as these. Despite that, I am jealous, but I applaud those of you who, like Megan, have a direct path to your dream. Because college tuition is about 30x more than it was in 1970, it is extremely unlikely that I will be able to unintentionally experience all of my career aspirations, as my dad did. I hope to have some sort of awakening in the near future because college applications are opening in a matter of months, and I am torn. Considering we are in the midst of our junior year, I am almost positive that I am not the only one facing these predicaments. In this life, I would like to reach my full potential within happiness, music, as well as living sustainably. Nevertheless, I know that my ability to reach goals, despite their branch, is up to me. To those of you who are as lost as I am, I wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors that have not been uncovered yet. As for me, I long for a career that is a perfect fit but not rushed in the decision. I long for a career that fulfills the ambitions of six-year-old Caroline while making lasting change.

Pursuing Environmental Science: The 2020 International Day of Women and Girls in Science at the United Nations! The RASIT (Royal Academy of Science International Trust), consists of various platforms, and one that I am on called Girls in Science for SDGs (SDG's are the UN's Sustainable Development Goals)! By definition, our platform is "created and managed by 30 young change-makers and passionate girls-in-science advocates from around the world to present their vision on how they can utilize sciences to achieve Sustainable Development Goals"!

The beginning of my musical endeavors: 

4-year-old Caroline playing piano :-)

Kryemadhi: Week 1

 The Beauty Behind Decisions

    Isn’t it absolutely insane how one random choice can change the rest of your life? Something as simple as where you chose to order dinner from or whether you go to that party or not. For me, that decision was where to sit in my first ever high school class.

    With my eyes the size of saucers, I wandered aimlessly throughout the halls. I passed many different groups of people as I searched for my first block class. Jocks, theater kids, the intimidating seniors, and of course, the group I was a part of- the terrified freshmen. Just as the bell rang, I walked into my German class, and I sat in the first seat I could find. Little did I know that this choice was going to affect me for years to come.  

    I swiveled in my chair to see who I sat next to. To my right, all girls, and to my left was all guys, but even with all those people, there were only a few familiar faces, and they were on the other side of the room. Wow, seemed like I was off to a great start already. 

    The class began with a bunch of icebreaker games. The brunette girl who sat behind me tapped my shoulder and with a sarcastic laugh she said “Can’t wait to talk to some random people for an entire 75 minutes.” I instantly remembered her from one of my middle school classes and felt a rush of reassurance.  We stuck together for the rest of the class (and for the years to come). Class eventually came to an end, but I saw her again the very next morning. We had some time before class started, so we talked about our favorite songs. She was already listening to music, so she handed me her other earbud, and we listened to Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift together. 

And that was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Here we are, juniors now, closer than ever. She’s been my best friend, and rock since freshman year. From being the shoulder that I cry on, to sharing countless laughs together, she is truly the best. Where would I be if I hadn’t sat next to her that first day of school? I honestly don’t know. We never know where exactly our little decisions will take us, but they have the potential to bring amazing outcomes. And that, is what I view as the beauty behind our choices.

A picture we took after spending hours getting ready for sophomore homecoming!

Sheka Week One

 The Curious Case of the Cavendish Banana

Fun fact! These bananas are genetically identical to all of the other bananas you have ever eaten in your life. 

So, I hate bananas. Like, absolutely hate them. The scent of them alone causes me to gag, and the taste is just revolting. I even hate that garish yellow that they come in. This fruit is my nemesis, and I truly mean that. Then I came across a chapter on the banana in “50 Foods that Changed the Course of History”, which I had been enjoying up until that point. My blood boiling, I stormed my way through the chapter. What I read completely changed my worldview. 

According to the book, the bananas that you find in the store were not like the ones that your grandparents ate as children. Prior to the 1950s, the banana that was commonly eaten was the Gros Michel variety, as opposed to the Cavendish banana that you would find at grocery stores today. In the 1950s, the Gros Michel plants were struck with Panama disease, a fungus-based wilting disease that affects banana plants. The disease struck the Gros Michel hard; they were completely susceptible to the disease, and there was no known way to curtail it.

Scrambling for a solution, horticulturists came up with the idea to use the Cavendish banana instead. They were more resistant to the disease than the Gros Michel, and had other advantages to resellers, like a high yield rate and slower ripening time. It seemed like we would (unfortunately) save the banana. 

However, there was a catch. Cultivated bananas are notorious for their inability to breed naturally, due to a lack of seeds. Therefore, Big Fruit had to resort to taking cuttings (placing a piece of the stem or root of the source plant in the soil), meaning that every banana you will ever eat is genetically identical to each other. In other words, they are all clones. This is pretty cool in the abstract, but it has some disturbing (or awesome, if you’re like me) implications. If all the banana plants in the world are genetically identical, then that means that there is next to no genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is how nature prevents extinction, as all it takes is one deadly pathogen to completely wipe out the entire population. And that looks like what’s going to happen now. According to the BBC, Panama disease has resurfaced in Colombia. It looks like the disease was able to surpass the resistance that the Cavendish had, and now the bananas are in grave danger, yet again. I hope that Panama disease can finish the job this time. *

*My criticisms and snide comments about bananas are purely facetious. I still hate bananas, but a lot of people depend on the banana industry for their livelihood or on bananas as a staple crop, so I don’t actually want bananas to go extinct.

Rodrigues Test Post

 This is a test post.

Minions?

Leszcynski Week #1

Not every negative situation needs to be negative 

    A couple of days ago, I was asked a question that made me think. I was asked, “if you could go back before Covid occurred, would you?” The first words before I even thought that came out of my mouth was “YES,” however after thinking about it, I would say “no.” Throughout Covid, I had so many different events be canceled and my heart became devastated time after time.

    Our basketball team’s state championship run was canceled once we got into the elite 8, my family vacation was canceled, my spring track & field season was canceled, and so many more. These times are tough, getting through days sometimes is very challenging for everyone. However, despite all of the challenges, I, for one, have been taught many different lessons and still was able to make good memories.

Before we got shut down on March 13th, my family’s lives were crazy. Everyone was running around and doing so many different things. There were days that I wouldn’t even see my parents until 8:00 at night because we were all on such different schedules. When we got shut down, it allowed all of us to slow down. We were all able to relax and finally have time for the little things that are very important. My older sister in college was sent home for the rest of the semester, so my family began whole again. We all were finally able to spend some quality time together. Throughout the shutdown and through the summer, we went on many walks, runs, spent time out at our pool, and played many many games together. It allowed us all to reconnect with each other which was what we all needed. We made the best of the situation and grew closer together which has made a difference in all of our lives. 

Although this situation is tough, we are all being taught many lessons. For one, it is teaching us to be grateful for what we have and what we are able to do. To be grateful for being able to play sports, go to concerts, see your family and friends, go to restaurants, and all of the fun things that we are able to do. Another thing that Covid did was bring us all together. We all need to be there for one another through these tough times. We need to come together as a country and beat this everyone. It will take a full team effort to beat this virus. 

Although these times are tough and we, unfortunately, can not do everything that we want to do, it has given a lot of us time to better ourselves. It has given us the opportunity to try something new or spend the needed time with our family. It is teaching us to be more grateful for the things that we have. It is showing us that we need to unite as a whole. I hope that this soon will go away. I hope to go back to normal again soon. 

Would you go back before Covid?

My sisters, Dad, and I sitting by the pool in quarantine

My sisters and I on a hike we went on with my family