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Agent Of Change

• The purpose for my Agent of Change is that I want to get other people’s perspective about what’s happening today. With people’s thoughts combined, I can be able to do more that would help and understand and focus on the main concept to prevent violence and brutality.

• I have permission to go around Philadelphia and getting people to understand the concept of what really happening in our society right now, considering the things that has already happened such as the I can’t Breathe Eric Garner case.

• I have emailed my parents about this and they believe that there can be a chance for me to take advantage of it, to do everything you can to change and prevent as much as I can. I have also emailed my neighbors, friends, classmates, as well as my family members.

• I am also working on a website so everyone can see  and hear my opinion about Domestic Violence and brutality with different topics upon what we can do, how can we prevent Domestic Violence and get opinions out there on social media so everyone will be able to see.

Hyperlinks: Blog Post 1, Blog Post 2

Things that have been done is sharing my blog out there, being able for people to see what they believe in and what they have to say about it is really important for the matter at hand. I’ve gotten so many feedback from people who inspired me to do more than this, that they acknowledge me to put my opinion out there, to put everything I know so far on a working piece that people can see and reply on. That is the reason why I created a website.

Link: Nate's Website

My opinion in the way these changes is talking about more and being able to do something, go on strike, talk about it to other people, do as much as you can to get the word out there, this isn’t a fight for ourselves, this is a fight to prevent violence to every black lives out there.

I have recently taken several surveys from different websites, as well as wearing a pin on my bookbag that says I can’t breathe on it representing Eric Garner. I have been apart in a donation for blacks lives matter, me and my mom who donated $20 together.

Doing this project was a dream come true for me, I feel like I have gained experienced a lot from this knowing the right path to take for human rights, as well as knowing my rights as a citizen and not abusing them, but knowing how to respect one another, but if we see others who are not respected or giving a good influence on others Don’t think were just going to stand by and watch, were going to do something about it, Doing this project was stressful but overcoming, I did it for a worthy cause and something I can see myself leading an example. A remembrance for the rest of my life. As i said, I learned how to be a better advocate and a lead of confidence towards others. What I learn from others is to do, then to think, because doing will get you somewhere in life more than thinking. What I think I could have done better is the deadline, I’ve noticed that I am really late and a little slacked off at the very end, but I am able to try my best finishing strong at the end. I think there is nothing left to do but to keep on fighting, we still need creative ideas, victory for us citizens isn’t done, what we need to do is Think before we do, we do take action before we think but if we want to surpass this, we must think of a way.

Annotated Bibliography

Editor, Author, or Compiler Name (last name, first name). “Name of Page (in quotes).” Name of Institution/Organization Affiliated with the Site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation/last update (if available). Medium of publication. You date of access. Website URL.

This year in History has been an eye opener for me. This class has help me to see the world in a totally different light. Before this year I felt like I had vague understanding of the world in some aspects. I knew the surface of some topics, I never took the time or energy to actually dig deeper. I want to thank Mr.Block for aiding my classmates and I on this wonderful adventure. From pollution to colonization, our learning has been broad.  I’m able to teach others what I know and ideas that I have explored. Mr. Block helped us to see both sides of global issues. It’s always easy to see the obvious side of things but it’s harder to play devil’s advocate and try to understand the not too obvious side of the story.  I enjoyed learning how to do this, because if you know both sides your arguments are stronger. The courses I enjoyed the most this year were the Modern Revolution course and the Sweatshops trial.  

As mentioned in the previous paragraph the first course that was meaningful for me was the  Modern Revolution course. With that course we studied many old and modern day revolutions. We explored the Arab Springs Revolution along with the Yemen Revolution and we researched information about the Haitian and French Revolution. After exploring all of the Revolutions we were asked to create a digital story that answered an arguable question about Revolutions. My question was “ What does success mean in a revolution ?”.  I was very proud of my Digital story, because I feel like people define success differently. At the end of Digital story I wanted people to know that  “just because the initial is not reached in a revolution doesn't mean the revolution was unsuccessful.” Researching different revolutions also help to see that the use of non violence is always better than the use of violence. Non violence sets you apart from your opposer when they are using violence against you. It helps you to still have respect for yourself and your people. It tells the opposer that they can take everything away from you except your pride. I think that’s an amazing idea and concept to understand. While exploring the Arab Springs Revolution I came across a quote that really touched me and will always stick with me. Political Professor Gene Sharp said ”Once the regime was no longer able to frighten people and people then act wisely and keep non violent discipline, which is extremely important, then that regime is in big trouble”. This quote said to me that once you no longer fear your opposer, your opposer is in big trouble because basically now you’re unstoppable. It’s very true, because when you’re no longer scared you have nothing to lose and people who have nothing to lose are the scariest. The Modern Revolution course will always be one of my favorites.

The second course I mentioned was the Sweatshops trial. Trials always helped me acquire understanding skills. Knowing all sides to a story always make your individual argument stronger. Although the verdict for the trial charged my group the Elites with the most guilt points I still believe capitalism was the most responsible for the treatment of the workers. After the trial I realize everyone played in a part in the treatment of the workers even the workers themselves. It wasn’t just one person's fault. That helped me to see something with the bigger problems we have in today’s world. We do things but don’t take in consideration the effects it has on other people all around the world. It’s an unending cycle that I don’t think will ever stop.

Throughout the year I found answers to a great deal of questions I had. I feel like I changed as a person. My inquiry and research skills have really improved. History has really changed my thinking so much that I’m actually thinking about looking into teaching history for my major. I want to open the eyes of people and fill minds with knowledge just how Mr. Block did for my classmates and I.  

I wish I had found a way to establish the disconnect between police and the people in a narrative. I wanted to show the human sides of each group that they're not just what the media portrays. I don't think I quite showed that they way that I wanted to. I know a lot already on this topic and I feel like anything I would learn would be on random research, Since I do do a lot outside of school research on things I find interesting.

       It went well. I think I could have taken more initiative and shown these people that I really wanted to interview them that they would’ve been more responsive to my project. I would change my topic as I mentioned, to the stigma of natural hair. To shed a light on how our society seems to value European standards of beauty above any other kind of beauty. How to make a crack in that giant glass system waiting to be shattered. I think one of the main things my final product was missing was the perspective of a police officer. It would’ve helped to show the prospective of the perpetrator and what they when a complaint launching incident happens.  

       I didn’t have as much of an impact as I thought I would. I wanted to show the more privileged parts of Philadelphia what is going on for the rest of us, what can happen when you involve police. I wasn’t able to get my petition to a high enough count that it could be view changing to many people. So they could take it upon themselves to learn more about the issues outside of their communities. No I did not have the exact impact I was hoping for but I did have some impact on how some students see police oversight as it occurs in the city of Philadelphia.

This is my third blog post on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. My first blog introduced OCD. It was very vague and was missing information. It also included my quiz on OCD. My second blog gave a brief explanation of what I had done and was planning. It wasn’t very thought out, but had my basic starting plans. It talked a bit about my results.

There are many organizations with a goal of higher OCD awareness. an OCD Awareness Week was even created! Many people have had fundraisers,I and other sponsored events. If your search the internet you can find many websites that focus or at least mention OCD. I like how these people take time to create and promote an entire event to help others. My own goal was simple, help spread awareness for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. As mentioned in earlier blog posts, I made a video about OCD.(couldn’t put it here) It describes the basics of OCD and the different subcategories. I also show some of my test results. This video is rather simple though.

OCD awareness event

In my first blog post, I talked about how teens are the causes of their own and other’s accidental deaths and how teens are not only distracted by their cellphones, but other people. I also talked about how hazardous teen drivers can be while on their cellphones and that teens need to be more aware about their safety while driving. The one big question that I had ending that blog post was WHY? The why question was for why do people keep on getting distracted and possibly not only putting their lives in danger, but others lives.

In my second blog post, I talked about how crashes are more common among the young drivers than any other age group and in 2009 3,242 teens from the ages of 15-19 lost their lives in crashes where the driver was distracted. I also talked about counting 500 cars, 126 of those drivers were on their phones and 26 of those drivers were actually texting while driving. The one big question that I had ending that blog post was HOW? The how question was for how are we going to stop this and spread awareness. That is the question that I am going to answer in this blog post and how I decided to find out for myself.

This was my pledge(on left) vs. what AllState already had in place(on right)

For my agent of change, I decided to convince a company, like AllState, to make a pledge that new drivers would sign as a friendly reminder not to text and drive. I then decided to ask an expert about their point of view on this topic and how safety is key. I went to an AllState office near me and talked to Ms. Rebecca Clemento about this topic and I had some questions:

What are the biggest dangers of teen driving?

What do you already have in place for managing cell phone use with new drivers? Does AllState have any incentives?

Are there any specific policies in place for teen drivers or new drivers?

Have the laws changed for texting and driving as the technology has changed?

What would be the effectiveness of the idea that I am proposing?

Do you think the laws will need to change for safety in the future? If so, how?

For the most part, I think that my agent of change went pretty well and was inspirational not only to me but to the people that I talked to about this. As I was doing this project, the thing that I enjoyed most was finding out all of this cool information that I never knew existed until I started this project. From this project, I learned that this topic was more widespread than I thought, but not as often talked about.

A recurring question that I had in both of my blog posts was: Why do teens, and even adults, go out in the world of driving and continue to be distracted? This question has still yet to be answered, but with more research this question will be answered someday.

Annotated Bibliography

Sydney Montgomery

Mrs.Giknis

English 1

June 5, 2015

Blog Post Reflection

Blog Post #3:

Blog 2

Blog 1

Hey, nice to see you guys again!

Originally, for my Agent of Change, I was going to do a fundraiser for the organization that I was hoping to work with, but there had been many technical difficulties. I had many ideas like teaching at a school and teach things about immigration. But through many hardships, I have decided to make a website here.

This is the front-page of my website.

I wanted to point this towards Cambodians, as you can see, there is Cambodian dialect under the English phrases. I tried my best translating it from English to Cambodian without using a translator and often going to my parents and other relatives for help, as they are immigrants from Cambodia. I was in a hurry so I to use the website, Weebly, which helped me a lot when it came down to my last resort.

On the website I talk about how in the past being a sponsor was a very dangerous thing. This is during the war when people looking for sponsors would get taken and killed. Today there are people that want to be sponsors in an effort to help others in bad countries. I made the website to show the good side of sponsors because when people hear migration they think of illegal immigrants. But sponsors just help start the process so that the immigrants can come to a country legally. I talk about this in the about section of my website.

I also talk about the history and talk more about sponsors in the front page of my website.