China Letters Response

These letters were really awesome. All my respondents were so sweet and had such positive and inspiring things to say. They made me feel so wonderful. I'm surprised at how many nice things they had to say. I wasn't sure what I was expecting when getting these letters but these exceeded everything. I will probably keep these letters forever and frame them. I think it's so fun to respond and share my feelings back with them. I wish I had more because they have such interesting things to say. I am really excited to get their autobiographies and their responses. I really hope to keep in contact with these people for a long time and continue to hear their stories.

Project Proposal

With this service-learning project I mainly want to focus on providing food for people without it. This project is a great chance to persue my idea to give back to people. My idea is to give gift cards to restaurants to people who are standing on the side of the roads, asking for money for food. With this idea, I feel like people will give back to those in need a lot more often. Many people are afraid to give money to those people because they think that they will use it for things like drugs or cigarettes. But if we give gift cards, the people donating know that their money will be used for something good. I would also like to hand out gift cards to the people who can't get into soup kitchens. These soup kitchens often have to deny people because they don't have enough room/food for everyone in line. If we can hand out gift cards to everyone, they still get a meal that day and don't have to go hungry for the night. I would like to pair with places like Subway who are very cheap but still can be healthy. Also, I would like to target the areas that are near the restraunts I get the gift cards from so it's not a challenge to get there. Eventually I would like to help people like the ones who sign up for food baskets. I want to give them gift cards for Walmart where they can buy groceries for the month. This goal would happen a long time from now, but it is a future goal I have if this project can really grow. With this project, we can really help some people out who can't always afford food.

60 Minutes

After watching this video, I am truly inspired. These teens have accomplished something bigger than themselves. They thought outside the box and focused on a serious problem. I think it's very hard for us to think this big, but they do it and try to solve problems that haven't been solved. It makes me think how can I do something like this? How can I make a difference like these kids did? Jack Andraka came up with a test for pancreatic cancer when he was only 15 years old. He think that he isn't all that smart, just creative. He is very passionate about what he wants to accomplish and he's already done it at such a young age. He has gone all over the world and shared what he has developed. He goes around the world sharing and inspiring people. He excells in school and still maintains his dreams of his achievement. I think it is truly incredible that someone so young has done what people have been trying to do for years. This is a remarkable achievement and it's even more inspiring because he's still in high school. He will definitely go on to achieve great things and I can't wait to see what else he does.

My Passion

It's kind of ironic that you based this assignment around organizations that give back and volunteerism. When you said we were going to be writing about our passions I immediately thought of volunteering. That is really my biggest passion in life. It's like my escape and where my true happiness comes from. When I volunteer and give back I am just surrounded by great people and know I am doing good for my community. If I wasn't so busy with school and the pressure of college coming soon, I would volunteer multiple times a week. During the summer I always volunteer at least once a week. Summer is my favorite time of year because I have so much time to dedicate to giving back. I would love to work with people. I have volunteered for many different organizations. My favorites are the ones I get to personally interact with the people in need. They are all so kind and the love you feel from them is incredible. I love to actually help people. Like donating clothes and giving them to people or serving food to them.

My favorite winners:
1. OAK Lifestyle (http://startsomethingthatmatters.maker.good.is/projects/oaklifestyle?position=5&sort=18)
This organization sells high quality backpacks. When someone purchases one, OAK Lifestyle will donate backpacks and school supplies. I think this is awesome because they're giving back to kids in need to give them the tools for education.
2. A 2nd Cup (http://startsomethingthatmatters.maker.good.is/projects/a2ndcup?position=8&sort=18)
A 2nd Cup is a non-profit coffee shop that helps stop human trafficking. They strive to educate their customers on what goes on with human trafficking. I took special notice to this because I used to volunteer for an organization that had a similar goal.
3. Dreamer's Orchestra (http://startsomethingthatmatters.maker.good.is/projects/dreamersorchestra?position=11&sort=18)
The Dreamer's Orchestra takes the homeless people from the streets who play instruments for money and put them on stage. They believe these people have great talent that needs to be seen. They help them have a shot at their dreams. This is extremely inspiring and probably my favorite one. I would love to help with this organization. To be able to help give back and help someone achieve their dream? That would be amazing.

Article Response #3

I think these articles were fairly helpful. There were a few rules I can never wrap my head around. For example, the verb ones always trip me up. "I'm tired, so I need to go lay lie down." In my head, I need to go lay down sounds more accurate. The difference between lay and lie is so confusing to me and I will sadly probably never understand it. The advice on the subjunctive was a new one for me. I've never even heard the word before let alone know it was an issue in writing. "I wish I was were an Oscar Mayer wiener."  I say phrases like this all the time. Not that I want to be an Oscar Mayer wiener, but you know what I mean. I never knew you had to use were instead of was! The second article was eyeopening in a sense. Half those rules I had been told to follow since grade school. And all this time, it was for nothing. The one I was most angry about was number four. "4. Don't start a sentence with a conjunction." I have been deathly afraid to use but or and as a sentence started. When according to this guy, "there is absolutely nothing wrong with starting a sentence with And or But." This would had been much helpful to know years ago. Also the last thing he said struck me. He stated that it is okay to use "I could care less to mean "I couldn't care less"". Since when is this allowed? I always thought if you said I could care less, it wasn't as powerful as the alternative. Thank goodness I read this article. It taught me a bunch of new things for my writing. 

Resesrch Topic

I plan to write about how media can negatively represent our society. Particularly, I am focusing on the MTV's Jersey Shore. I believed this shined light on a part of our society that nobody wanted to see, and it frankly made us look pretty bad. It made us seem that we condone crazy partying and nonstop drinking along with promiscuous sex. This caused a huge uproar and I understand why. Some people might agree with this side of the story, but others may think that they should be able to be whoever they want. Why try to hide any part of our society? I think some of our television shows really show the true side of America and that's how we are coming off to the rest of the world. It also is a major part of where the younger generation gets their influence from.

Article 2

I really like the fact that they have all public schools. There's no private schools and universities are free as well. I wish we had that. I think it's ridiculous that we have to pay to have a higher level education. We want to learn more and become well rounded pepople and we are punished for that? It's unfair that some people go to a place like OTC instead of a state college because they can't afford it. Or when they don't go at all because of the cost. Who really wants to be thousands in debt by the age of 23? No one. If we had a public university system, it would make things so much easier on the college bound students. I also think their decision to not use standardized testing is better too. Standardized tests are unfair to some students. Some aren't quick test takers. Those tests are all timed, and I know for myself the clock makes me panic and unable to concentrate. With things like the ACT, you're supposed to take it the end of sophomore year and beginning of junior year. Some juniors and sophomores haven't even seen some of the stuff that's on the ACT. How this makes sense, I will never know. I thought this quote was really interesting. "In the Finnish view, as Sahlberg describes it, this means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children. This starts with the basics. Finland offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance." And after that it goes on to talk about how Finland was suprised on how highly they scored on the PISA survey. I think it had a lot to do with how Sahlberg tries to make the best environment for the schools. I think if we followed along with some of the things he does for their schools, we would be in just as good shape. Obviously something isn't working over here. It's definitely time for a change. They were in need of a new reform and they did it. Look where they are now.