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In my last Blog Post I mainly discussed Online Predators. In a nutshell Online Predators are people who commit child sexual abuse that begins or takes place on the Internet. This needs to be brought up and have more awareness for many reasons. One; most children are not educated or not educated enough about this topic. If we could teach kids how to be safe Online, there would be a lot less of this crime going on. Two; some parents are not educated enough in this field. If more parents knew the signs of a predator, then more of these instances can be avoided or cut off before it goes out of control. And finally; our society is mostly based off of modern technology. This allows Predators to stalk in the depthness that is the internet and can get away scott-free. If we educate and teach more individuals about this issue, more events like these can be stopped. There has been cases where some police units are trying to bring up awareness, however it is not brought up enough on a global scale. So what are some of the signs of an Online Predator? According to the Washington Police there are several tricks Online Predators use including, but not limiting to; chatting privately, flattery, intimidation, asking for personal information, and sympathy. The main way predators lure in their victims is by ‘grooming’. “Grooming is how online predators manipulate children into meeting in real life with their sole goal of having sex with them. Predators will spend weeks, months, and/or possibly years "grooming" their victims before asking them to meet in real life.”

To find out how much our students actually know, I gave out a quick survey regarding Online predators. The first question was seeing if students can define the term Online Predators.

These are just a few responses from the survey results.

As seen above, most responses were correct, however there were some questionable ones. “Predators Online.” was one result. So this topic is brought up, but not to the extent people should know about.

The next question was if you actually know the first signs of a predator.

As shown on the graph, many people answered yes. However I asked them for specifics. Most people in fact did not know the first signs which are chatting privately, flattery, intimidation, asking for personal information, and sympathy. Participants stated that the first signs were asking to meet up or pictures. These are when the Predator already has you in their grip. So this means children are being taught what the most noticeable signs are, but not necessarily the first red flags.

We also have to be wary how much time children these days spend on the internet.

Because our generation spends so much time on the internet, we are easier targets. In fact most of the students claimed they were contacted by an outside force on the internet.

Overall I would say my findings are what I expected. Kids know about it, but not enough. Which is why my Agent of Change ideas can bring awareness to this subject and teach the full extent of this issue. I plan on giving a detailed presentation about this subject. I have to still work out the kinks on this plan. I was also thinking on hanging posters in our school and outside to bring awarness.

On my previous blog post  I talked about feminism and how it should be a common goal for everyone, and not a battle of the sexes.

Since the last time I posted a lot of things have happened in the media that relates to feminism. The hashtag #HowToSpotAFeminist has become viral. People use this hashtag to share their thoughts on feminism and express their thoughts, concerns, or even disagreement about this topic. It became more popular when people started to create memes and pictures that would appeal to a younger audience, and would catch their attention through humor.

Even though it's great to see people become vocal on this topic, new issues have arisen as well. A couple weeks ago a high school suspended a girl over a moderately modest dress because “plus sized bodies must be fully covered” As seen in the image below, the girls dress covered her up really well besides some cleavage which is something she can't help because of her size. “ #IAmMoreThanADistraction” is what I want to hear people like her say and share on social media. I want people to become aware that's it's wrong to shame women for their attire and their bodies. She can't change herself, so why should she be punished?

Earlier this week I sent out a survey on feminism with questions like “do you know what feminism is?” and “do you believe that genders are currently equal”. My results were something I expected, but still shocked me as well. 5 out of the 26 people I surveyed said they did not know what feminism was, and 4 out of the 5 people were males between the ages 14-15. 12 out of 26 people who took the survey said they dont believe theres gender equality, and unsurprisingly they were mostly women. For that exact same question, 3 out of the 26 people who were surveyed (excluding the 12 who said genders are not equal) said they are not sure. 2 out of the 3 were males. These results show me that many men are unaware of feminism, and is probably why they don't fight for it. My goal is to try to spread awareness and educate everyone, of all ages and genders, about feminism.

These results made me feel more aware of my own topic. This shows me that even though this is a topic i'm passionate about, I could still learn more about it. For my agent of change project I want to spread the hashtag #IamMoreThanADistraction all over social media, and to take photographs of girls and women with labels written on them so I can make digital posters for people to post on their social media with the hashtag.

From my previous blog, I talked about my father’s Sponsor, William Sloane, and Tan Le, who talked in a Ted Talk about her immigration story, which is part of my topic. And now I will talk about more info that I’ve gathered the past few weeks. We’ve talk about how Sponsor has two different meaning towards the U.S or America and towards Immigrants. I hope this summary refreshed your mind!

First, I’ll start off with an organization that I have recently been in touch with. They’re called SoarLegal. They help immigrants today come to America. Their office is in Oregon which is out of my reach so sadly I was not able to have a personal interview with them but thankfully I have just gotten in touch with them, recently. At May 11, 7:58pm, I called and talk to the woman on the line for SoarLegal. She said that she was new to the job, so she doesn’t know much. What I’m surprised about, is how there’s people still getting hired to be helping immigrants. Other things they do is; Domestic Violence Victims, Farm workers, Human Trafficking Survivors, Individuals who are not in legal immigration status, Individuals with criminal histories, Individuals with physical/mental disabilities, Juveniles, Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender, Torture survivors. What I wanted to do is an Interview and Survey. Sadly, I wasn’t able to interview anyone, and I had only received 11 responses for my Survey.

On this graph, it shows me that everyone who’d participated in my survey, has had experienced it or heard stories. That shows and tell me that immigration is big; but not big at the same time.

For this, I asked question about immigration, and explaining about experience, or stories, because other people can have different perspective about immigration and maybe I can get more info that I can would usually receive. Majority of the people who took my survey, had known people close or friends that was immigrants. Some say that it was hard to explain, or even heard stories from many people.

When I asked about immigration, and sponsors for immigrants. Many say they support it, although Richard Yoeung who said;

“Nothing wrong with it. In my opinion. Politics say otherwise.” That spoke out to me because it shows the fact that Politics refuses to bring immigrants.

For this, I asked about being curious of Sponsoring for Immigrants, or even how the process is.

A few say that they know about the process, Some say that they’re confused, some say that what different ways can a sponsor help an Immigrant. Most people asked for the process from back then and now. We need more information about it, and he process about it. Maybe some more videos that will, at least show how the process is. Even blogs that tells us what we don’t know, or probably give us more information about immigrants and sponsors.In conclusion, This has expanded my knowledge about Sponsoring for Immigrants. From help to those who had completed my survey. Hopefully, I can actually expand my knowledge even more with the information about immigration and their sponsors

​In my first blog post I talk about how to much screen time before bed can lead to difficulty in getting to sleep depending on how long you are using or watching the device.  A Study showed that teens who spend an hour on their screens before bed usually take an hour to get to bed.  I also talked about how teens who play violent video games after a while even if they don't start out this way tend to get more violent and aggressive because of what the game is showing them.  I discussed how tv shows give kids a biased perspective on life and how things should or should not be.  For instance if you watch a news program a lot they would probably have a lot of sad and depressing news.  

For my original research I interviewed lots of classmates like Elias, Johny, Kara, Fabian, Jorin, Alexa, Elani, Sandra, Java,Mehki, Eli, Obie,

I interviewd these people to ask them sort about their daily lives and how they interact with screens.  I also interviewed a man named Jeff Adams who works for Google specifically Google Maps.

This hyperlink is snapshots of the conversation I had with Jeff)

My personal opinion is that screens themselves are not the issue it’s how we use them that's the issue.  Say I watch TV for an hour a day and use the computer for 30 minutes a day that would be fine that is barely any time at all, unfortunately that is not the case for most teenagers.  I think the general vibe is if it’s made it’s better and “I” need to update my old device.  Teens will look for any exuse to get a new phone not even if they want it but because it’s made makes you want have the earge to get it, so you look for every small detail wrong with your current phone and say that the new phone doesn’t have those so you get it.  You get even though there absolutely no difference from your old phone to the new phone. Now I don’t actually have an Iphone so I can’t speak to this example but I am sure that plenty of you would agree.  I would say I agree that many of parents decisions to cut their child's screen time however I had a discussion with my brother in April and he was defending screens using teens and brought up many interesting points; such as if a person [teen] is being forced into a conversation where they know the people will not take their side of course they are going to want to talk to their friends because their friends will support that person.  I agree with this statement somewhat however if you know someone is not going to take your side that is a debate right there and that could be fun.  I have a cousin who before he is a teenager spends more time on video games in one day than I have probably in my life.  I am quite worried for him because he can finish a whole DS or XBOX game in half a day.  Whenever we go to visit him I usually babysit him and we usually end up playing role playing games taht are about whatever game he finished that day and it usually ends up with me being killed or injured in some way because I like to play out my part.  

Screens are good sometimes to good you should moderate yourself when using them even if it is a school project.   

I have personal experience with sleep deprovision aspect of the effect of screens on teens before bed because I always watch videos on youtube and finish my homework before bed.

I am curious about  gorilla glass I know some about it but I would be fasinated to see how it is made.     

This is a hyperlink to y annotated bibliography

In my previous blog post, I discussed the different probabilities, the age range, and the multiple kinds of attractions for Leukemia. I explained my reasoning behind why I wanted to focus on this topic and gave various details about what Leukemia was as a variation of cancer. I noted that not everyone who is diagnosed with Leukemia has a high survival rate, depending on the type of Leukemia that you attract.

As this second blog will continues to shed light on the topic of Leukemia, I have returned from a 3 hour tour of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. With the consent of Dr. Abby Green, I have acquired an abundant amount of information, learned the ins and outs of Leukemia and how it doesn't just affect the children diagnosed with it, but the families as well.

My interview and field observation was taken with Dr. Abby Green, an oncologist pediatric, who works with patients diagnosed with Leukemia frequently at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She has been admitted to this hospital once she exited medical school and has been assisting over 100 children for 8 years so far. Throughout my tour and interview, I got to see different patients and their recent statuses on how well they are taking this disease. Some were surviving and were being dismissed early. Others weren't so fortunate. It's hard to roam the halls and hear the voices of children, yelping in pain and agony. But I persevered and continued on with my tour with Dr. Green. When I first started asking Dr. Green my questions about Leukemia, it seemed like her mindset was up all night, waiting to answer these questions that would change her life forever.

With Dr. Green's assistance and her 8 years of experience, diversifying and deeming with information will be useful from here on out will be hassle-free. With the information that I gathered from Dr. Green, I can use that as a foundation for what information I can use to build off of it. This will help add on to my new information with new upgraded statistics, rather than those from about 2012. Her responses are influential to my mindset of this disease. After going in to take a tour of the hospital, my mind has not been the same ever since my trip. I've often gone back to think about the screaming children which definitely disrupts my focus often now. Getting a firsthand experiences really did open my eyes a little. And it even put a little but of tears in them as well. Going from not knowing much about Leukemia to knowing enough to keep you up and night was definitely something that I'm happy I realized.

For my "Agent of Change: Blog Post #3", I think I will plan on volunteering at Ronald McDonalds House of Charity. I will try my best to volunteer here and go back to the Children's Hospital to help with one of the Family Rooms. For those that don't know, Family Room's are selected rooms that are scattered across CHOP. They are there to give moral support to children and families by giving them different activities. For children and families alike, coping with Leukemia is a very difficult process, and by volunteering with this organization, I can try my best to explain my personal stories and also give different families that have been affected by this disease moral support and sympathy.

Information I have gathered from my original research indicated that youth are aware of stereotypes and some are bothered by them. When asked “have you ever heard a stereotype?” 100% of people answered “yes”.

For my original research I have conducted a survey. This survey was sent to the 9th and the 11th grade class of SLA. It included a question asking for a personal definition of the word stereotype. More than twenty people took the survey and majority ruled that stereotypes were “false statements that are generalized or expected out of a certain group of people.” Sources from the internet concluded that a stereotype was an “over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people”. I and a few others and definitely agree that these two definitions are pretty similar. The results have also shown that majority of stereotypes witnessed were portrayed in Reality/Public which includes social media. Since my last post, I have also found that 91.3% of the people that took my survey make use of stereotypes.

I think doing a survey was the best choice to do. Doing a survey allowed me to collect a lot of information that helped me understand that majority of youth are aware of stereotypes. Even though 91.3% of people said they make use of stereotypes, 83.4% of people said that they were bothered by them. I believe that people are unaware of their wrong-doing until they are pointed out to them. If you do not want anyone stereotyping you, then you should not stereotype anyone else.

Annotated Bibliography

In blog post #1 {Blog Post #1} I talked about how police brutality has been affecting African Americans ever since the 1900’s and is still occurring in 2015 today. Not only are black people being affected by this but many other races as well. American citizens are blind to this and believe that the citizens affected by this are only black people. Cops have killed and beaten people of many races, which gets into this second blog post. I’ve found new information that proves it’s not always black on white crime but it’s all police of all different races on the many residents of America.

Here is a case that involves a homeless man by the name of Kelly Thomas who was beaten to death by cops in Fullerton, California. Thomas was not only homeless but schizophrenic and the horrid sight was caught on tape. The outcome of the beating closely resembled the case of Emmett Till, a 14 year old boy who was beaten by white people during the Jim Crow era in the South and his offenders as well as Kelly Thomas’ offenders were pleaded as not guilty. Kelly Thomas’ case was a white on white crime but it was committed by police.

I asked : How do you feel about the protest in Philadelphia and the protest in Baltimore?

She responded : The protests in Philadelphia were very calm and very peaceful, the citizens stood up for what they believed in and made that very clear and moved along with their night, but the riots in Baltimore were uncalled for. We didn’t need people to throw rocks at cops, or burn down other people’s businesses just to prove a point. Baltimore could have gotten their message across in a entirely different way than they did.

I also asked another question on whether or not she believes we can change the way police are treating American’s and here was her response.

I asked : Do you think you could make a change?

She responded : Yes by prayer and regular everyday respect for cops. If we do not respect cops, cops will not respect us. It all starts with communication.

I also interviewed Matthew Kay, an African American drama and reading teacher at Science Leadership Academy. Mr.Thompson runs the poetry club here as well and one of the topics happen to be police brutality and Black Lives Matter. I asked him the same questions I asked Mrs.Tzouras but the responses were completely different.

( Picture of Matthew Kay )

I asked :  How do you feel about the  black males that have been shot in Florida, Ferguson, Baltimore and Missouri ? ( Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown )

He responded : Sad but not surprised, black men have been being shot for a while now. America was born on the killing of black men.

I asked : How do you feel about the protest in Philadelphia and the protest in Baltimore?

He responded : The kids who are doing these protests do not have good intentions about what they’re doing, just because you march down the street with a bunch of signs in your hand doesn’t make it a protest.

I asked:  How do you feel about the slogan “ #BlackLivesMatter”?

He responded : Clearly catchy, not very sure when black lives mattered in this country and they sure as hell dont matter as much now. The poorer you get the less you matter. The slogan itself gives people imaginary hope.

I asked: Do you think you could make a change?

He responded: There are common sense things, language about body cameras, reviewing techniques, someone who has their mind set on killing someone, badge or not you can’t really change that.

The whole process of finding new information that you actually created yourself was hard. I ran into a lot of challenges when it came to finding people to interview. I came up against lots of walls where I couldn’t find anyone to interview. I tried to ask #BlackLivesMatter a couple of questions as well as a student from SLA but I got no response there either. Even though I only have two people which whom I interviewed I got a lot of people’s opinions and things they believed could change the world.

( Picture of Dianne Tzouras )

Annotated Bibliography }

The issue of affirmative action is one that has been intensely debated shortly succeeding its implement into society. My first blog post informed potential readers on the specific facts that are an effect of affirmative action as well how it's utilized in many higher education and working facilities. I explained how the use of affirmative action was to the support and disadvantage of multiple ethnic groups, while speaking on what generally happens to those who are affected by this. For my second blog post I chose to focus more on how individual people interpret this topic and its stance in our community. I also narrowed my information more on the general public and higher leveled businesses and institutions takes on this.

Since writing my last blog post, I aimed to get a better feel for how people themselves perceive affirmative action. Originally I believed that the masses were all on a similar viewpoint on this issue, but further research showed that we are split right down the middle. Both groups those being who support and are against affirmative action have strong reasons for why they feel the way they do. According to a poll done on debate.org, 57% of the population viewed affirmative action as a fraud, 70% said it was not needed to achieve equal opportunities, and 75% agreed that the United States does not need it. Prior to uncovering this, I was not aware that so many were against it. Opponents often point out that it's a reverse form of discrimination by favoring one group over another, it keeps societies aware of the barriers that divide it which would ultimately promote alienation and resentment between ethnic groups, it may be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment. Critics have also pointed out that affirmative action is illegal under the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination based on color, race, national origin.

( This picture is a protest fighting for the abolishment of affirmative action, and was brought to the front line due to the case of Bakke vs. California.)

While there are many who are opposed to affirmative action, there are as many who are in complete support of it. Those who believe in it feel that without affirmative action in place the amount of space for minorities in the workplace as well as universities will increasingly drop. Statistics have shown that after the departure of affirmative action in California in 1998, the percentage of minority students admitted to the UC Berkeley fell 61% and UCLA fell 36%. Similarly, after Texas abolished affirmative action in 1996, Rice University freshman class had 46% fewer African Americans students and 22% fewer Hispanic. There have also been major universities and businesses who agree with affirmative action.

These businesses include: Coca-Cola, Intel, Microsoft, Nike, Pepsi, Reebok, Kraft Foods, and Johnson and Johnson just to name a few of more than sixty leading fortune 500 companies that believe this. Universities such as: Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton, Yale and Upenn voiced their support of race-conscious admission programs.

For a closer inspection of how people consider affirmative action, I interviewed four people of different race, age, and gender. With these interviews, I wanted to know how the people around me felt. I asked a series of questions ranging from ¨ what is affirmative action¨ to ¨ can it be noted as racism. From my findings I liked that teacher Mark Miles believes that we need affirmative right now because there is not a better option out there. Art and technology teacher Marcie Hull believes that because women are not given and expected as much as their male counterparts, that they should have special treatment. I did not think of this as a good option for short term not long term. It wasn't something that I thought of before and made me lean further to the side that we need it. One thing I kind of agree with is women getting special treatment. I'm all for equality, but I don't know if I would necessarily say special treatment. Another thing I found interesting was that both of the students felt that affirmative actions should only be used in some cases, and it should not just be tossed around. Doing these interviews gave me insight on things that I hadn't thought about, and kind of changed my opinions on a few things. I no longer feel that it is something that predominantly affects African Americans and Hispanics and have a sound effect on many different types of people. I know understand that there should be affirmative action in some cases and that the way it is being used known may not be the best way for it to be used. If there is anything else that I want to know it is how has this gone on for such a long time with so much negative publicity onto it. Also, how does this have an effect on people after they graduate on from college. Doing blog post two as given me a better understanding of this issue as a whole instead of statistics on a page. For my blog post three, I plan to get an editorial published somewhere that will inform those in the public who aren't aware of the issue.

( This is a poster made by The Conservative Coalition for American Values, a Purdue University student organization that was made to represent the University's racial division based on their affirmative action laws.)

In Blog Post #1, I have written about the general definition of what my topic is, Sex Trafficking. I stated my findings on the matter, specifically: statistics on the occurrence of the issue, and also ways this concern could be prevented.

I have recently discovered this organization in which deals with sex trafficking victims up close. They listen to their personal encounters and help them move past it. This is their website, and I genuinely recommend that you check it out. Thankfully, I have gotten the chance to interview a member, as well as explore their website in great depth, and received amazingly informational responses. I decided to do an interview for my original research. My previous research had to do with personal encounters from victims of sex trafficking, therefore doing an interview with someone that is an expert in the area gave me further insight on the issue. The interview went as so:

What connection or involvement do you have with child trafficking?

The organization I am apart of mainly focuses on listening. They listen to survivors of sex trafficking. Members say “We’re particularly focused on understanding patterns of vulnerability and successful reintegration of survivors.”

In your experience, can you tell me what the typical age of someone that is exploited to this is?

The typical age of someone that is exploited to this ranges from the age of 18 and under.

Who do you think the typical recruiter is? A male or female, stranger or friend?

On their website it states “Too often the stories we hear involve pastors, diplomats, youth leaders, law enforcement, and educators—perpetrating unspeakable crimes against children, using their power and connections as protection and facade. They come from various walks of life.”

People doing the recruiting, do they most likely get the victims through kidnapping, false promises, or by taking advantage of the family because they are poor?

“Most often, children are trafficked through vulnerabilities.”

Once the victims are in the process, do you think they feel as though there is no way out, in your experiences?

What do you think are the long term effects of a victim who later runs away or is rescued?

The long term effects of a victim who is rescued, based on their experiences involve: “Drug and Alcohol Dependencies, Depression and Anxiety, Revictimization, Unplanned Pregnancy, Health Complications, Addiction to Money, Trauma Bonds and Stockholm Syndrome” and many more.

The process for conducting this interview was not easy though. I have in total contacted three people who I thought could help me get through this action. The first expert organization I contacted responded to me quickly, which I was excited about, though saying that they could not fulfill my needs and actually were too busy to be interviewed. The second person I contacted, yet not an expert, knew more information on the topic then them regular person, things did not work out. After this, I was stuck for a long while trying to find someone else to contact and I ended up finding an organization in which I happened to feel very passionate about. After looking through their site, I contacted them and got great results in which I have shared previously.

Some things I am still left wondering about after I have conducted an interview along with the research I have done is how effective are these organizations towards the victims and how many organizations are actually out there and aware of this issue. I also am curious of finding out the locations of these organizations and if there are these people trying to help right in the area of the trafficking. And I expect to find this out in further research.

My plan for bringing awareness to this issue is to make stickers and/or posters containing statistics of some sort of Sex Trafficking. I intend to post these throughout the city and possibly around the school to attract a wider range of people. These stickers/posters will also be promoting the organization I have showed to you today in this blog post.

This is the front cover of the organization that I got results from for the interview > website

      Help The Hopeless

In my previous blog post I gave some important facts on the homeless people. Such as the different causes of homelessness. One cause of homelessness as discussed in my previous blog is economic problems such as low incomes and lack of affordable housing. Also talked about the amount of people that were homeless last year. January 2014, on any given night there was at least 578,424 people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. I also talked about the different types of people who become homeless. For example, U.S military veterans who come back to find themselves homeless in a few months after they've served for the military.

I found a lot of new information after my first blog post. I've learned that their are different kinds of homelessness. One that I had researched was Chronic Homelessness. Chronic Homelessness is when someone with disabling health and behavioral health conditions is experiencing homelessness. According to researched they are trying to end it from 2015-2017. I've seen Chronic Homelessness myself. It kills me inside to see those people suffering not only from Homelessness but from other personal health issues. Another issue I've found during researching was Homelessness being restricted in some cities. Cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and  Lawrence, KS has banned panhandling in some of the different parts on the city. Also the fact that the local citizens of the specific cities actually signed petitions to stop the homeless from getting any help. In addition to my previous blog post where I talked about different types of people who become homeless and I found out that the majority of the youths become homeless usually because of family divorce, neglect and abuse which is really heart breaking.

Researching about homelessness was very interesting and really heart breaking. So I took it upon myself to do a survey about people stances and opinions on Homelessness. The responses were not as surprising as I thought they would be. I expected more harsh answers after researching about Homelessness. Although, the responses on one my questions shocked me. The ninth question(¨Should there be homeless people in a country where we live around money?¨) responses shocked me after I seen that people have answered yes. Almost half of the people who answered this question said yes. This survey helped me understand more of the opinions that the people have on Homelessness. Although I was not surprised with most of the responses, I personally believe those responses was because of the community the people are in. Considering that most of the responses, well all of them were sent to people of my school, I feel like that couldve been the cause of all the answers. Somethings Im still left wondering is, what if i had sent this survey to different types of people from different money classes or depending on where these people live. Something i am looking forward to doing is, giving money to the homeless and giving them hope and to keep pushing.

Survey response to question #9

Homeless spikes to restrict homeless from staying at that place.

Heres my Annotated bibliography!

The issue I’ve decided to tackle for my You and the World project was women’s rights within the workforce, as seen in my first post, Women make up almost 50% of the working population worldwide, and even still aren’t being given adequate pay or benefits. There’s no excuse for this injustice in the 21st century, considering that less than 100 years ago we were fighting for voting rights. What is the reason for this? Why are women still on the lesser playing field than men?

The first reason I think is the lack of education on this topic. Some women don’t realize their difference in pay between men until entering the workforce, and that discovery continues once they get pregnant and require maternity leave. I feel that education is one the biggest ways to combat this issue because women are still blinded by the fact that there is still imbalance amongst the sexes.

The second reason this issue is still prevalent in society is the ambiguity of women entering the workforce and not tapping into their full potential, which I covered a bit in my first post.  I recently interviewed reporter and journalist Ema O’connor of the popular media website Buzzfeed , and she responded to this question with: “It is not all men's responsibility to pay women more, a huge part of it is women being timid in pursuing their career, not feeling their self-worth and therefore not trying. This is a deeply ingrained societal problem that parents (future and current), schools, and employers need to work together to change for the next generation.” Gender stereotypes grow from the absence of education and also lack of female confidence, but also the ignorance of those who therefore buy into gender stereotypes.

The third reason for this problem is cultural and religious views. Like I mentioned in my previous post, women are only seen as providers for the household which in some cultures is a huge part of a woman’s life. In the survey I conducted over the course of last week, I found that out of the twenty-one girls that answered, two said that women are not seen with importance in their households and cultures.

Though the number is quite small, this is a sad reality that many face, which leads to the mindset that girls adapt which holds them back from pursuing their dreams which may involve work. We need to place the image of the modern working world of women into the minds of our young girls, thus creating a generation of fearless and powerful individuals who can undertake any career they wish to pursue. I also spoke with Buzzfeed video producer Ashly Perez who spoke a bit about how women are seen in her family and culture. “My parents are both from very male-dominated cultures (Cuban / Filipino) but my family is full of strong women, particularly on the Cuban side. Men might be in charge, but women are feared and respected.” This is the mindset we must enforce into our future generations because even though people may come from societies where women aren’t valued, girls can still believe in their potential and be brave enough to take on whatever they choose.

The fourth and final contributor to this topic is the beliefs that have stained our society for generations. There are still large amounts of men who believe that women have no place in the workforce, which weakens the populations of female workers. I feel as if this generation is doing a good job eliminating the issues we encountered with sexism in the past, but we have a long way to go. Both men and women need to collaborate to end this issue, so that our future workforce can be fully integrated and equally diverse. Some further questions I have about this issue are how long has equal pay affected women and what kind of sexism and gender stereotypes are still experienced in the workplace amongst women today? Below are some charts that show the participation and pay in the workplace between race and gender in the last year.

charts

Annotated Bibliography

For a recap the project that I chose for my PIC is the issue of animal abuse. I chose this topic than any other one because I have a lot of history with understanding animals that were abused and I want to educate the public about the topic. Also, I see animals as living creatures just like humans are living creatures.  Animal abuse is simply when an animal gets harmed, neglected, and/or a does not care for an animal responsibly by a person. In other words, to hurt or to be cruel to an animal would be against the law no matter what.  This the significance of the public being aware of the issue is really serious.

The issue of animal abuse does not only have negative impact on animals but it does a negative effect on humans. When someone abuses an animal they may be an more likely to cause violence. Also, if a child witnesses animal abuse they are at greater risk of becoming abusers themselves! Moving on, if you think that think that animals were only abuse in the one physical way you obviously never heard of the brutal acts of factory farming and Circuses. 99% of the food that come from farms are from factory farms which are focused on getting money, what is easier, spending the least amount of money at the price of the animal's’ life. Also, another example of heartless groups are circuses because the beat, whip, sometimes denied food and water, all to force them to learn their routine. This leads to diseases, damage, injuries and death of the animals.

As seen in the image above animals are forced to do tricks that there body is not meant to do.

For my original research I planned to collected data on a survey so I can  educate the public really is about animal abuse because my main goal is to educate the public. Unfortunately, according to the survey I took not that much people are informed of animal abuse. For example,

• 10/23 people got question #1 right

• 9/23 people got question #2 right

• 3/23 people got question #3 right

• 21/23 people think that animal abuse is a big issue.

• 17/23 people are aware of factory farming.

• 5/23 people are aware of animal testing.

Survey Results

The results helped inform me on my PIC issue because this research show how uneducated the public is about the issue of animal abuse.  The average person would fail my survey! Which brings to help out the issue of animal abuse and you have to educate the public so that they know what they are dealing with. This added to my understanding of animal abuse that a lot of people do not take animal abuse seriously.

Now that I have done my research I have some strong personal opinions on how people did on my survey. First of all, I would like to say that I am more disappointed than mad. For example, somebody really had the nerve to say that dog and cock fighting should not be banned because it has been a culture for many years and that would be horrible if it was banned. Also, the average grade for my survey is a failing grade. One thing that I am still wondering about is why my community is so uneducated about animal abuse. In addition, I still need to find more information on what drives a person to abuse an animal. I am thinking of of making a website for my as my Agent of Change part for Blog #3 because I know how to make one and it can easily educate the public. Furthermore, for my website I will be interviewing some employees at the SPCA for a page for my website.

Annotated Bibliography

 In my journeys into finding out more about the ever so secret investigations of Internal Affairs, I decided to interview Kelvyn Anderson, the acting director of the Police Advisory Commission to have a frank and honest talk about the issues of the Philadelphia Police Department.

In my Blog Post #1, I discussed the issue of peer pressure surrounding teenagers. This topic stood out to me because this issue affects a lot of young boys and girls everyday. Every teen wants to be accepted by some group of peers in their teenage lives, and many will do things they usually wouldn’t do to be accepted by them group of people. As I stated in my Blog Post #1, certain activities like smoking, drinking, doing drugs, stealing, and breaking the law are mainly what teens are pressured into, which I found out from one of my sources. Activities Involving Peer Pressure  

Since my Blog Post #1, I did in fact find some new information and compelling opinions from people around the world about teen peer pressure. I read in the comment section in a site talking about Teen Peer Pressure that it seemed more people felt teenage girls were more pressured by their peers than boys. I can say myself that I agree with this statement because in every grade there is always the cool girls or ¨cute girls¨. The ones that wear make-up and attract attention from the guys. These kind of teenage girls tend to pick on the girls or talk about girls that aren't as popular as they are. In conclusion less popular girls begin to change their appearance, personality, and their view on life to be accepted by the cool group of girls. Teenage Girl Peer Pressure

                                                        Not being Accepted Can Hurt Someone's Self-Esteem

¨It can be hard on teenage girls as showed in this picture, and with the group of teens just laughing this girl doesn't help this girl's attitude towards her teenage life.¨

Words That Surround Teen Peer-Pressure

             ¨This image shows important words to surrounding the meaning and effect of Peer Pressure.¨

For my Original Research, I created a short survey for different teens to take and receive different perspectives on what they think peer pressure is and how it has affected their teens years. My Teen Peer-Pressure Survey I sent this survey to only people I knew had a word or two on the issue of teen-peer pressure and how it affect their life. Here are some of my survey results. My Teen-Peer Pressure Survey Results One question I wanted to reflect on is the second question. ¨What is your definition of teen peer pressure?¨ And my responses were a lot similar, when another teen pressure or influence another into doing something that the other person wouldn't usually do and the only reason why they would do it is to be approved and welcomed as a friend. These responses connect with a lot of others teens that answered that question, which gives me a thought that most teens think similar on the what peer pressure is in everyday life.   

The results I received back from different teens on this issue informed me that they all seemed to go through the same thing. Breaking the rules or smoking because of their peers doing it. Being a follower instead of being a leader, and not realizing what is right from wrong. Survey results I found on the internet brought up a good point that teens boys and girls break the rules as a group decision. If all of your friends wants to go rob a corner store, and everyone is in besides you, they will single you out to not being cool and you will be pressured into making a choice. Many times that teen will tag along because of wanting to be accepted. This survey helps add the knowledge of why some teens are affected by their peers. And once again, it comes down to being ¨cool¨, ¨down¨, and accepted by your fellow peers. Since I have done more research I feel personally the reason teens face the effects of peer pressure is because being gossiped about. Teens see on a daily basis, mainly in school, others being picked on and bullied and many teens don't want to fall victim to bullying. So what do they do, they join in with the bullies which makes them cool to the ¨cool kids¨ in school. Connection between Bullying and Peer Pressure Even after additional research on this topic, I wonder if teens believe their experiences gave them more confidence in themselves to accept themselves as who they are and never try to change for others, or do they just look at them as mistakes to learn from. Lastly, for my Agent of Change for Blog #3, I am thinking of doing a presentation in my advisory, and for any other teachers/staff that would like to watch it based on the issue of pressure. My goal is to make it as interesting as possible. I hope to be working with an Organization called Child Development Institute, which works with issues involving children and teens. Here is their website CDI Website

Annotated Bibliography

In my Blog Post, I introduced my topic for the “You and The World” project. It is about animal abuse. I mentioned my experiences on the animal abuse topic and included online research and informational facts about abused animals. I talked about an animal in my Blog Post #1 named Lincoln who was brought to a high-Kill shelter. On 5/10/15, I visited the SPCA center on Erie Ave PA 19134. This building is a no-kill shelter. A no-kill shelter means the shelter does not “put down” animals to make more room, or doesn't have the rule, “If this animal does not get adopted in “a certain amount of time” it will be “put down”, or does not “put down sick or injured animals.” A high-kill shelter is the opposite of a no-kill shelter. On 5/10/15 I have learned a lot about the topic of animal abuse from the Paws building and the SPCA. My tour guide has sent me a slide about their information on animals and abused dogs. I have learned that some animal shelters do not rescue their animals themselves. Instead, they receive the animals from an animal control team. If not for shelters like Paws, who receive their animals, most animals would be “put down.” For my original research, I decided to do an interview and a field observation. I have recorded my Interview, I have come up with these questions:

Do you  work with abused animals?If so, what is your specific job?

Have any abused animals come in recently?

What is the average amount of abused animal coming in?

What is the ASPCA doing to prevent animal abuse?

How do abused animals act once they are in the aspca building?

Do you think that a little discipline is necessary?

How long does it take for an animal to get used to the facility?

Do owners bring in their abused animals or do bystanders bring them in? Or is there a team from aspca who go out and search for signs of abusement and or abused animals?

For my Field Observation I received a tour from Jennifer Johnston, a SPCA worker. Also visited a PAWS- Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society building.

                                                                                             This is Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter now is now paws with an ear infection, The animal control group does not support injured animals, if Paws did not save him he would have been put down. Now in better hands, paws have nurtured him and put a dog cone on him so he does not scratch his infected ear.

This is Robin, Robin has an eye infection, He was rescued from the animal control group. When he came into Paws both of his eyes were swollen shut and covered in gunk. He was kept in the back until he has healed. Two days ago today (5-9-15) he came out into the open, but he is extremely shy because he wasn't used to the attention. Also, he is afraid with all the dogs barking.

Plum was found caught in a fence, on April 15th she needed surgery to cut of her leg. She is now in the Paws- Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society. If Paws did not help Plum, The animal Control group would not bother to heal or care for her.

At the SPCA building, I was given a tour. I took recordings of our conversation and videos of parts of the facility. My original research helped inform me on my issue from the specific animals I have met and the interview. I have learned about how SPCA gets animals and how they react in the buildings. I now understand more about what animal shelters to to prevent abuse and what they do to treat them. My personal Opinion is about the animal shelters and animal control groups and animal mills. I think the animal mills and controls group should be illegal, what is the point of having a storage for animals where they are starved and caged. But I think the animal shelters are doing there best at keeping animals safe and healthy. I think they have the right idea on helping the poor animals who don't have a right to say what happens to them. I am still left wondering about what drives people to abuse animals and when and why do they get a thought to. Do they enjoy injuring animals? For my Agent of Change, I am thinking of doing some sort of teaching lesson where I would go to schools and day camps and teach children/teenagers about my issue and show them the right way to treat animals.

All of my online research is in my Annotated Bibliography.

PIC: Original Research

In my first blog post, I talked about the Syrian refugee crisis. I explained how there are over 11 million Syrians being forced out of their homes, and almost 4 million being forced out of their country completely. How people are forcibly being removed from their homes without all but the most basic necessities, because of a war that they don’t take part in. There are refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt, in need of water, clean water, blankets, and hygiene items. People are being exiled from their homes for upwards of 17 years, and there are over 2 million child refugees, most of which receive no educational support at all.

UNHCR Logo.

After some additional research, I also learned about how the refugee crisis has impacted the surrounding countries, such as Iraq. The Huffington Post says that there have been hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing their country, because of the increased population in addition to the fighting occurring in the country. I also learned about what things are being done about the issue, such as the International Rescue Committee, or IRC. The IRC is supporting refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and Jordan. They have reached hundreds of thousands of people with medical supplies and winter emergency kits, in attempt to help the millions of refugees around the region survive the risks that surround them. They provide sanitation, clean water, education, and emergency kits to refugees living in camps. They support women and girls who have survived sexual violence, and help to reunite children that have crossed the border on their own with their parents and families. They are one of the multiple organizations trying to help the refugees in need to survive and make it through the hardships that they have and are experiencing. I also did an interview with Melissa Fleming, Head, Communications and Public Information Service Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR.  The following is the transcript for the interview:

This interview aided me in multiple ways. It helped me understand how the UNHCR is trying to help the refugees, through registering them, helping identify their individual situation and needs, so they can help them with what they need the most help with. I also learned how the rate of the refugees is at the moment. The number of refugees is still increasing, with no signs of slowing down, however less countries are willing to let Syrians into their borders, so there is an increased number of Syrian refugees displaced inside of Syria. This also helped reinforced what I already thought to be true: The public knows far to little on this issue. Few people truly know what is happening within the crisis, and many people don’t care, or fail to realize how big the crisis truly is. I believe for this issue to make the most substantial progress possible, more people need to be aware of it. This is an important issue that needs far more attention than it’s getting.

After learning many startling numbers, and scary facts about gun control from my first blog post, I began to wonder about what further research I could do, to look at a different view of this. I started thinking a lot about gun control, and what I could use what was right in front of me all along. I did some further research, and found that over the years, that teens usage of firearms have been increasing. With that said, it brought me to a question, if more teens began to get involved in these sorts of incidents, maybe they don’t know what they are really in for. In our “You and the World Project”, we have to make our own difference, and do our own research, so in that case, let me tell you what I did. The fact that I am focusing my project on a younger audience, I found my myself in the best place to do my own research. Surrounding by teenagers, from all different backgrounds, exposed to a variety of different things, I made a survey about gun control.

I decided to do my project on misunderstood kids who also might struggle with Social Anxiety and Depression. This topic is something that people that many know about but don’t understand. Often times kids are judged, mistreated, and left out of things simply because people can’t comprehend what they are going through or how they feel. Sometimes jokingly calling a friend “ugly” or “fat” can mean a lot more than what you think of it. I really want to reach out to people regarding this subject because social anxiety and depression are both things I struggle with and also something people should be more aware about. This is significant because others don’t realize how much the things they do or say affect others. It is important for people to know this because this has ruined people’s lives.

Christian McCormac
Ms. Giknis
Blog Post #2 (X Band)
11, May 2015

The topic I am writing about is airport security. I want to explain to people why I feel like airport security guards go too far to protect people. They have the job of keeping us safe but they go too far with the scanners and pat downs. I decided to get two views on this topic. I have already shown my view points in my first blog post. I have the second viewpoint from a interview I did with a airport security guard.

Below is the interview questions and answers:

Questions:

1. How long were you a airport security guard?

“I was a airport security guard for 6 years.”

2. Describe being a airport security guard in one word.

“Confusing.”

3. As a security guard what did you do?

“During my years with this occupation all that I really did was pat people down, and watch the scanner.”

4. Why did you stop being a security guard?

“I decided to go back to school to become a Respiratory Therapist.”

5. How did some people react to you searching them?

“There were times when people would verbally attack me for invading their privacy.”

6. What was the craziest reaction you had ever gotten?

“A lady had become very upset with me watching her on the monitor that shows the body scan. She then verbally attacked me and hit the security equipment with her purse.”

7. How did you feel about invading people's personal space?

“I felt confused. At training they made it sound like everything we did was for the safety of others but when you're in the field doing the actual work you feel like a creep.”

8. Have you ever been attacked verbally or physically while doing your job?

“I have been attacked both verbally and physically on multiple cases by people enraged with being searched.”

9. Did you feel like you were harassing people when you did your job?

“Yes, I felt like I was invading the personal space of others but it was my job so I had to do it.”

10. How did your fellow workers see the job?

“I remember my friend David Johnson quit because he didn't feel right doing the job.”

A airport security guard watching a scanner. Source

This interview proves my point. Even a former airport security guard admits that he felt uncomfortable doing the job. This is proved when he says ¨I felt like I was invading the personal space of others but it was my job so I had to do it.¨ This shows that even airport security guards did not love their job. They did it because they had to. Now I am thinking about spreading the word about airport security. I will make posters/flyers and pass them out to people. On these flyers I will explain why airport security guards have too much power and I will use the former airport security guard to back me up. I will pass out the flyers in public places such as school and maybe give them to random people I see.

I continued my research and found this article. This article shows how big the problem is. It also shows that there are other people fighting the problem besides me. I believe that if I pass out the flyers that I can make a show more people how big the problem is. I believe that if people can realize how big the problem is, then we can take the next step of making a change.

My name is Julian Makarechi, and I am a senior at SLA. For my senior capstone I decided to organize an Ultimate Frisbee tournament with my fellow SLA Varsity captain, Brian Birkmire. This tournament was held in Oaks, PA and Edgley Fields on April 25th & 26th. It was a no brainer for me to incorporate Ultimate in my capstone because it has played a major role in my life, since freshman year.". With the help of my coach/mentor/principal, Chris Lehmann, I was able connect with many vital contacts that helped make my tournament successful. One of the first major steps I took was to create a website that detailed information about my tournament and a spot to register. Once I finalized all the specifics, I was able to announce my tournament at a captains meeting in March. In total, 28 teams signed up,for the 4 available divisions. Throughout the whole project I must have sent hundreds of emails about checks, field layouts, schedules, and team registrations. The two weeks before my event were extremely hectic and stressful because of everything from getting teams registered to creating schedules and laying out the fields. I had to make sure everything was in place, everything from having the right amount of cones for every field, at both locations, to making sure we had parents that could volunteer to bring food to the fields early in the morning were in place. While this project was a stressful because of some setbacks and difficulties, I am very proud of the product that Brian and I came up with. Since I would like to go into sports management, I feel like this tournament taught me a lot and gave me some experience.

Pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/106372030699151663118/albums/6142512916749175985?authkey=CPDLp5-6taTO7wE

Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x2NejGAFyj92NIVC09nAxrUqp8TnMWv13mSNpJJEOcE/edit?usp=sharing