Blog Feed

For my second You and the World blog post I talked about the survey that I made and how much I learned from the results of the survey. Furthermore I learned new facts about the financial aid system. Click here to see my second You and the World blog post. For my first You and the World blog post I introduced my topic and I wrote about the numbers behind the financial aid system. Furthermore I gave my reasoning behind choosing the topic that I did. Click here to see my You and the World blog post number two.        

My process was much different than I excepted. My first idea for my agent of change portion of my blog post was to go volunteer at the Pennsylvania department of welfare but I was not able to make that happen so my next idea was to send a letter and to find out more about it and to find out how I could make a difference in the department. I believe that I did not find out as much information as I wanted but I did learn some things. The one big problem that I had was not being able to volunteer at the Pennsylvania department of welfare and the way I fixed that problem was by sending a letter to the Pennsylvania department of welfare and finding out more information.

I believe this project has taught me to never give up on something. At some points of my process I did not know what I was going to do but then I came up with the idea of sending the letter the Pennsylvania department of welfare. I believe that this project has made a difference in my community. The reason being is now that the letter has been sent to the Pennsylvania department of welfare they now know that people do appreciate what they do and are willing to help. I see myself as a leader but I also see myself as someone who can definitely learn more. I do not know everything I want to know about the Pennsylvania department of welfare and I would love to learn more about the department. I will take many things from this project. One thing that I will take from this project is my new learning of Pennsylvania department of welfare and all that I have learned from doing this project. I have also learned a bunch about myself. When I started this project I did not know what I would learn about Pennsylvania department of welfare but at the end of this process I was very pleased and I knew much more about the department at the end of this process.   

Click here to view a video of my process  

Click here for bibliography

    For those of you who don’t know, my topic for my agent of change was Gay Marriage/Gay Rights. This entire subject is very controversial and is a topic of debate everyday. I for one, haven’t told my stance on the topic. On whether I do, or do not support the movement. I wanted to be unbiased and go into this process with a free and open mind that could possibly be swayed. If you ask me, this is the best choice to do for anyone that is introducing themselves into a new way of life/element. All in all, it was a life changing experience.

  I may have been unbiased, but this didn’t stop me from helping out the cause. I began volunteer work for The Attic Youth Center. A community designed as a safe haven for lesbian, gay, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to find and develop into free thinking and healthy adults (If you are interested in joining like I did, visit their website here. Or if you'd prefer a different community organization, click here). There are many young people on the streets that have been kicked out/abandoned, especially gay youth that have accepting parents. The Youth Attic helps shelter some of the youth as well. These kids are still kids in my eyes. Gay or not. So I decided it would be an amazing idea to sell baked goods. From April 8th-April 26th, I fundraised for the Attic by selling donuts to the fellow SLA student body while also outside. Nearly $100 was made, which was greatly appreciated by the Attic. When first discovering the Attic, I really wanted to be hands on “involved” with them, volunteer wise. Sadly, in order to do so, I had to be 27. Being a minor can sometimes limit you in a sense! But not in this case because I did get involved and I was able to get my peers involved as well.

When setting out to make a change, I thought I had it all figured out. Originally, I had planned to get involved with Giovanni’s room, the nation's first gay library not too far from the Attic. I told you guys about it in my previous blogs. In my vision, it was going to be a sleek and smooth interview with the owners who would give me a piece of their life as gays. But then I realized, what else would have happened from there? There wasn’t much else that I could extend from and make my own. But from research and other numerous sources, I discovered the wondrous  Attic Youth Center. I found out about the organization whilst looking for other gay youth centers in the Philadelphia area. When setting out to find a place like such, I mainly aimed to connect with people of my age. Of my generation. To see what it is like growing up for them and how they deal with who they are.

   Some of the main, but minor problems that occurred were the fact that many of people I interviewed/that were involved, were very camera shy. They were pretty open with answering my questions, but when it came to documenting it, that was another story. I had to respect their privacy. I completely understood where they were coming from with wanting to stay discreet. But their words made up for the lack of identification. The main subject of my interviews was with the one and Mr. Jay Jacinto Grant, one of the directors of the Attic who enjoyed my company and my tons of questions. You can read the interview I had with him here.

Q1: Why do you support gay marriage?

    They should be able to get married. They are people too. It’s their constitutional right, let alone, human right.

Q2: What do you think keeps people from supporting?

Ignorance. They are people in this world that don't support gay rights mainly because of religion. I think this connects, because essentially, you’re forcing your religion on someone else.

Q3: Do you think sexuality defines somebody?

    No. It doesn’t define who you are, it defines your sexuality.

Q4: Knowing you as a supporter of civil rights, do you think there is a connection between civil rights of the early 20th century and gay rights?

    Yes. Before gays were getting discriminated, blacks were getting discriminated. Even though race and sexuality are different, it can still have the same affects on someone's mindset.

Q5: Do you know anyone that is gay?

      Yes. Nearly all of SLA.

Interview with Andrew Roberts:

Q1. Do you support marriage?

No.

Q2. Why not?

I believe that marriage should be between a man and woman and that man should not change it. Marriage is a scarcer thing with divorces and what not.

Q3. Do you think religion has affected your views on the topic?

Most definitely.

Q4. What do you think will happen if gay marriage is legalized? Will there be positive or negative effects?

A lot of democrats will be happy. The problem I see with gay marriage is it expands marriages ideals. If you expand the grammar to gay marriage, people could protest polygamy as well. People will say we did it in the pass, we can do it now.

Gay rights, I think that people will be happier, but it’s not going to benefit really.

   These people were amazing help to me in all ways possible. As the world gets older and generations grow, will there be changes? Interviewing two members of my day and age that come from opposite sides, it was nice to see that everyone is different. Even as youths, we still have our own independent beliefs and not everything is determined or set by adults.

     I feel like I’ve experienced the turn of a new leaf by doing this project. I’ve become more aware of the problems that do affect someone’s everyday life. At first, being a heterosexual, I didn’t think I would ever have to deal with the problems that gays do. Being unaccepted by family. Abandoned. Kicked-out. All because of your sexuality. In most cases the reasoning for being against someone’s sexuality is because of religion. But as a religious person, I would understand that you should love everyone. Even the bad things about them.

   I used to turn my nose up at the thought of community service. It felt as though you were being forced to help people. But after stepping down from the clouds and trying it, I actually felt pretty good afterwards. It was a rewarding feeling and made me want to do it again. I wasn’t earning anything physical, but strangely I was okay with it. This project has made me less selfish and more selfless. It’s made me acknowledge the world and one of the tons of problems it has.

   Most of the people  I’ve came to about my project were rather shocked at first. They knew the subject was controversial. The first thing I was being asked was “Do you support gay marriage?”. It seems that this question has became a casual phrase in everyday conversation. Mainly because it is one of the discriminatory topics that is frequently discussed by the Church and our government on a daily basis. It never bothered me when someone asked this, but I always took a mental note of who. The question itself is almost a trick question. If you answer yes, you can either get a congratulations, or a side-eye of disappointment. If the answer is no, you can expect complete avoidance from most and get labeled as a homophobic. There are positives and negatives.

    I see myself as a person who is still learning, but can be leader as well. Even without a full understanding of most topics in the world, I can still make a huge difference. It’s been one of my goals, in life, not only for this project, to make leave my fingerprint somewhere. Being commonly called a leader has it’s good and bad connotations, but I do prefer to have group collaboration sometimes. Sharing ideas and helping one another can only bring positive things. For most people who are used to doing this on their own, it can be scary. Having to share the attention with others can be anxiety filling. But it’s the things we don’t try that usually benefit us in the long run.

    Walking away from this project, I definitely will take away a better understanding of the world itself. Meeting new types of people and being exposed to a completely alien environment has definitely changed a part of my mindset. I’ve seen that stepping out of my own element was very beneficial. I’ve created a bond with people I never would have thought I would. Just by doing this project, It’s been made clear to my psyche that everyone is just a human being. The fight for gay rights is another mark that going to be embedded in history. It’s happening right before our eyes. But what we need to understand is that, we aren’t going to be perfect. The only thing I can do, and we as a whole can do, is grow and learn. Thank you readers for following me on this journey. I hope that from watching me explore the World and some of the things in it, you'll aspire to do the same. And possibly, make a change.

It’s been a hot year

Hi guys!, Today I am writing my 3rd  blog post, this is for  Mrs. Dunn’s English 9 class. I know it has been a very hot year for all of us and it’s really ad, but I will continue my agent of change to help this change in temperature and make more people aware of what is happening to the world each day.

For a project in my English class, final task was to act as an agent of change and make some sort of splash in the world. I decided to host a drive for school supplies to give refugees. I set up a large box to collect donations at my school, Science Leadership Academy. The box has been accepting contribution since the middle of April.

This all started back in November when I made my very first blog post about immigration reform. At that time, I really had no clue what I was getting myself into! I never would have believed that one blog post would make me care so much about such an intriguing yet complicated national issue.

After that first post, I took a small step back. I decided to look around me and ask some people that were close to me what they thought about possible immigration reform for our country. I gathered some interesting original research and compiled it into my second blog post.

Now, I am here, on my third and final blog post. Yet I can hardly recall how all of this came to be. What is it that I have been doing for the past month that makes me a true agent of change? For several weeks I called, emailed, and submitted volunteer forms to countless companies, organizations, and charities around Philadelphia that work with or for immigrants. To be completely honest, this was a painstakingly long and tedious process. For a while I thought I could work directly with immigrants and refugees; I could use my fluency in Hebrew and Russian to talk and translate for new Americans. Yet, as it so happens, I am a bit too young and inexperienced for a job like that. This was very disappointing news for me. This was all the volunteer work some organizations asked for.  Yet, finally, I found just the right organization that I needed and wanted.

HAIS Pennsylvania (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is an organization that primarily focuses on welcoming new Jewish people into the United States. Among the many things HIAS does to ensure total care and welcoming for the new immigrants, it provides the following programs: representation and legal counseling before immigration agencies and courts; citizenship, refugee resettlement and other social services to assist newly arriving immigrants, refugees and those recently granted asylum; advocacy and education related to immigrant issues and rights (mission). It is through this organization that I was able to set up a collection for school supplies. All of these supplies will be donated directly to refugees.

(Above, you can see just some snippets of my flyers, posters, and box. I posted flyers all around the halls, stairways, and doors; and even a huge poster right above the box.

Right now I think that I am at a point where I have done just about everything that I can do for immigrants/refugees. This experience, though it was short, helped me discover that I work better with a team. I clearly struggled when I was also, but once Marina Merlin began working with me, I gained confidence and resources. Eventually I became more stable by myself, yet I know that I will always prefer a team. As time goes by, I hope to stay tightly connected with this wonderful organization and to also keep a close eye on any immigration reform that will happen in the near future. I am still young and inexperienced, so I truly look forward to learning more and gradually changing my community and my world.

Jamie Turner

5-14-13        Orange Stream

Final Blog Post

Since blog post two a lot of progress has been made with my YATW project.  The biggest thing being that I did my Agent of Change part of the project.  Also this blog post will be wrapping up my YATW project.  On Saturday April 27 and Saturday May 4 my mom and I went to a soup kitchen to help out those who are living in poverty.  We also went there to set an example for anyone who wants to make a change in their community.  Now I will get into more detail about my agent of change.

My mom and I went to St. Michael’s LutheranChurch two Saturdays in a row.  We help set up, Serve food, and clean up. On the 27th there were a lot of people coming for food.  After talking to a few people the said that the reason there was so many people was because it was the end of the month and most people’s checks some in at the beginning of the month.  When we went on April 27th there was over 100 people served.  On May 4th there was about 80 people we served.  That is because most people got their checks.  Now I am going to talk about this project’s impact on me and the people around me.

This project has impacted me in many different ways.  One of them is that I now look at people that are living in poverty or homeless a lot differently.  I think that I also made the people around me feel the same sympathy which was my goal.  I would say that this task would have been a lot more challenging if I had to arrange something myself.  I am more of the someone who likes to collaborate with other people to accomplish a task like the Agent Of Change.  In a way I would consider myself a leader because in my community no one really tries to make a change and I feel as though I have set an example for people who are unsure about making a change in our world.  In the future I plan on going back to St. Michael’s to do more work so I feel as though this project sparked something new in my life.  It definitely changed as it went along.

When I first found out about this project I thought to myself “So all I have to do is some community service then I write about it?”  Now I know that this project was meant to be more than that.  The project has inspired me to go out, and do good things because I have the power to change and inspire our generation.  All it takes is one person then others will follow.  That is how my opinion of the YATW project has changed and what I will take from my experiences during the process of this project.

After Blog #2 I have gone out in the world and executed an agent of change. For my agent of change I created a box where students could express their feelings on the topic of teen depression or tell me what they might be going through. The box was originally in Ms. Dunn’s room but on April 28 and 29 I walked around at Y band lunch to get more notes. Many people were willing to put their thoughts about the subject in the box but the people who told me their personal stuff were few and I think that if I had more time and if I sat down with people and told them the situation they would be more willing to tell me something personal. The box had many instructions and it was easier to understand when told people. Sometimes the thing people need is the thing that only you can give.

My original idea was to do a support group but I knew that Amanda Thieu in Orange Stream was doing that and I didn’t want to do another support group. I helped her on the days that she had the meetings. That plan went better than me having a support group of my own because I would put my box out so that people could put notes in and people did. The idea of a box came from my experience of not wanting to talk about my own feelings around people because I was and still am an introvert when it comes to my feelings. I knew that there were others out there that didn’t like to talk so much about their feelings. They felt better when they wrote something or did something to just get it off their chest without feeling like they were burdening others with their own feelings. When I started I was scared to ask people to write the notes because of the subject matter, I had to get over that and ask people by the end to give me the notes I needed to do my project well. Also the location put a hindrance on my project, people would often forget about the box and even when I reminded them they forgot easily. When I started to take it a round at lunch as Ms. Dunn suggested I get the results I wanted.

This project impacted me considerably. I honestly was not expecting the experience to touch me in so many ways. The first thing that I remember is finding out how many teens are actually depressed in the United States alone; it was devastating. The next thing made me want to cry because at the interview I wasn’t anticipating the outcome of what happened between the two girls I have known for so long could be so unhappy and not I have known help one another. I could not imagine going through half the stuff that they went through. I hope that everyone that has seen me go through this process has been impacted at the numbers, the stories and now the notes. The community I touched was small but I believe that is where you have the most impact on people.

In the community I can see myself doing this for incoming freshmen, who are nervous or for the outgoing seniors, who are getting out of their comfort zones. I believe that I can make an impact if I try hard enough and I am thinking that this mixed with something else can become something of a capstone for my senior year and I am very exited now! I believe that you are always learning and that you won’t stop until you pass. I have learned a considerable amount through the “You and the World” experience. I would love to collaborate with m classmates on this subject and start something on the topic because I have learned so much and I want this to stop in America. We are supposed to be dreamers in America and our young people especially but instead we are having nightmares.

I will take away one thing in particular, young people are the future and if pressures from the media, school, or our parents don’t kill us we will kill ourselves.

Thank you for reading!

Bibliography

 All answers to the notes are on a private Google Doc located here you have to request access and be approved to see the answers to the notes.

This project has impacted me greatly. I learned so many new things about HPV, cancer, health issues on both men and women, what was really happening to my mom, etc. I know my project has been heard and that the message was received because if you weren’t listening to me, you definitely heard my mom. I’ve gotten messages and people thanking me for my presentation afterward, but I’m just glad they listened and didn’t fall asleep. What I’ve taken as an experience was public speaking. I feel like it’s helped increase my leadership skills greatly which was something I was very bad at before. I’ve learned that I like to work and think independently as opposed to following someone in a group. It’s all part of my high school development as both a student and a person.

The following video is an edited version of my presentation, but if you want to see the full version I’ll leave a youtube link as well. And that concludes my You and the World project of 2012-2013

Hello People, Today I am writing my last of my 3 blog posts on Mrs. Dunn’s English 9 Blog. Yes I know it is sad, but I will continue my agent of change and help the Jersey Shore rebuild from the horrific damage done by Hurricane Sandy.

Some Background Knowledge: 

Over the last year, I have been informing people all throughout the SLA community about Hurricane Sandy Relief. Now the reason I picked this topic is because I was effected by this. It destroyed where I spent my summers for 14 years of my life. I also chose this because most of the people in my school saw it as 2 days off. I saw this as a life changer. I knew I needed to help some how and some way.....

I had to do something, like start donating or making shirts, but I had no structure. When Mrs. Dunn announced this project, I knew exactly what I would do. Hurricane Sandy Relief. 

What I Did:

The Donation Jars I made are at the bottom of this post.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been collecting money for the Hurricane Sandy Relief. I put donation containers in my mothers work which is at the Franklin Institute in their private executive kitchen and over 35$ were raised there. I also did presentations to my Mom, Dad, and my Mom’s Boyfriend. I sat them down and explained what I was doing with this project and exactly what my agent of change was. It was very successful and in those cases I raised over $40. Now I am a huge Supreme Collector, Reseller, and Enthusiast; now over the last month I have made over 15 sales. From the money that I made, I set aside 10% to donate to the cause. I raised over $20 from that.

Over that time I raised over $95 for the cause and all of that money will be going to the Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief. 

I am still getting donations from family members and I will do the final tally of donations by May 23rd. This will be an ongoing project. 

Some challenges I encountered when I was doing my agent of change was how to get myself out there. Well like I said above I went up to my family and that is where I got my word out to and I was collecting money from them. 

The Impact:

Some people lost it all and that is not fair at all, they never deserved this.This may not sound like a lot of money raised, but it actually is. This $95 is going to a great cause. The money is going towards the nails that help rebuild a families house, the wood planks that allowed the kids to play cars on, the clothes that the families use to wear, and the food they use to eat.  I feel that this will go very far and that the people that have actual organizations are doing such a great thing. The families that you are helping are so happy and thankful for what everybody is doing for them. 

Goodbye’s: 

I am sorry, but this is coming to the end. There will be no more blogs, but there will be more donations. There are plenty of ways to donate and there are so many organizations being started for this. I will list them here: http://sandynjrelieffund.org/

http://sandyrelief.org/   https://www.ujafedny.org/hurricane-sandy-relief-fund/   http://www.robinhood.org/rhsandy 

All of these sources are very legit and will help people. 

Thank You For reading and staying till the end!

My process was very long. My original idea was to volunteer at the shelter with my mother. This experience would have been an advantage. I would have experienced how to work with other people that were in need of help. I had to change my idea because I wasn’t allowed to volunteer unless I was eighteen mainly because of safety. After trying to see if i could volunteer at a couple other shelters and getting the same response I had to find something else to do. My next option was to give a presentation with specialist on human trafficking. By this time there wasn’t enough time to put together a presentation so my last option was to make bags and donate them. This idea seemed to work out better than I thought it would. Even though I would’ve liked to go to the volunteer I feel as though I still helped out a lot of women. 

This project has impacted me a lot. I used to go to nursing homes, shelters, and drives because I had to for school. I never thought I would want to go just to help out people. This project helped me realize that there is a lot to do in this world and a way to make a change. Now I see myself as someone who can lead to help human trafficking i the United States be recognized as a highly important issue in this world. I am still learning more and more about the issue everyday through research. I will take a lot from this project such as leadership, confidence, and change. These three things will help me on my journey to help stop human trafficking. 

For my Agent of Change part in my You and the World service project, I have been volunteering at animal shelter for 7 months now. I started in early November, and have been going as often as I can. Overall, it’s been an absolutely inspiring project, and without having this due for English class, I don’t think I would’ve gotten into it so easily! Helping people is one thing, because you can communicate and encourage them to improve themselves and the community, but helping animals is another thing, because they can’t speak our language, and don’t have anyone to speak up for them. Through this project, I have learned so much and have been able to say that I’ve been making a difference in the world, one animal at a time.

To begin, I had to take an orientation session at Operation Ava, the shelter where I have been volunteering. They helped you get to know the ropes, and know exactly what you have to do, and where everything is. After that, you were free to go to the shelter as you pleased, walking dogs whenever you could manage, and playing with cats. I began by walking dogs in the yard, so you could get a feel for the dog, and understand how to hold the leash, etc. After a while, I could walk them out on the street and through the park. I started playing with cats as well. The cats were really adorable. I was petting one cat named Brody, and then leaned down to pet Soza, and before I knew it, Brody was on my back and licking my neck. I also washed and groomed lots of dogs. It’s strange when you wash the first one. There’s a huge sink, large enough to fit a pitbull, and there’s a hose connected to the top. Most of the dogs liked getting cleaned, but some didn’t like it, and I got all wet. 

This project has had an extremely huge impact on me. I realize that through just coming to the shelter, the people there are so nice. They have since then inspired me to be more outgoing. Being in front of people, or with new people has been really hard for me, but by taking the opportunity to help animals, I’ve also been helping myself. I have definitely seen the difference, and I’ve been saying as much as I can to new people. 

So far, I haven’t encountered any problems besides the fact that I can’t go and volunteer everyday! I have ice hockey four times a week, now that the season is over, so it’s been a little difficult to squeeze in the volunteering, but I’ve managed so far.

I feel like I’ve also inspired other people, because when I tell people about how I volunteer at an animal shelter, they might want to get themselves to go and volunteer as well. 

In the community, I see myself as a female teen that people may be bias towards. I know that through my experience, teens have many stereotypes, such as being lazy, listening to loud headphones all day, being rude, and not caring about school or the people/things around them. I hope that through this project, people will be able to have a more open-minded view on teens, and realize that the stereotypes are not all true, and that we can be whatever we want to be. I know that I’m still learning, and that nobody is perfect, but through this project, I have been striving to be a better person. I’ve usually been a follower, depending upon the group of people I’m with, but since I started volunteering, I’ve realized a definite change in my schoolwork. I’ve been taking more of a leadership role, and I feel that I’m becoming someone that represents Science Leadership Academy better.

I’m going to take this newfound courage and leadership, and use it to make a better community for everyone. I think that I have already started subconsciously, becuase I’ve been taking a leadership role in school already!

I hope you take the time to watch my video showing the shelter, dogs and cats, and featuring a few brief interviews that were done with the Operation Ava family. Please like, subscribe, or share with your friends! Operation Ava said they might even be able to feature my video on their site, so please like and share! It will also be passed along to the founders and their mother by the director of Operation Ava!

This is the third and final portion of the You and the World project I have been working on for the past six months. My first and second blog have both led up to this one post where I present the work I have done in the world to combat the problem of animal abuse and neglect. Just as a reminder, the You and the World project is an assignment that allows my classmates and I address an issue in the world that we want to assist in eliminating, We simply try to help solve the problem or be part of the solution by volunteering or raising awareness. So here is what I did.

I went to Operation Ava at 3rd and Poplar St. in Downtown Philadelphia and volunteered roughly 10 hours so far walking dogs. I do plan to continue my work there because it is requested you volunteer there at least 25 hours or three months, but I also enjoy working with the dogs, so for me, it is not even like working. I have served my 10 hours over 5 days, April 9th, 10th, 16th, 22nd and May 2nd. I worked an average of 2 hours each visit because I usually went after school and I had homework to do after I was done there. During my time here, I walked/played with about 20 or more dogs and sometimes the same dog multiple times. I have really enjoyed working with all of the dogs and cats at Operation Ava.

I am really proud of all the work I have done with this project and thrilled with what it has turned out to be. Thank you to Ms. Dunn, for giving us this wonderful opportunity to go out into the world and make a difference. This is absolutely, one of the projects I will remember for years to come.

Click here for my bibliography.

On a particular road near my house their have been some collisions with deer. Wissahickon Avenue runs between Carpenter’s Woods and the rest of the Wissahickon. Many animals, including deer, have to cross this road. The road is very busy, and the cars move very fast. Occasional collisions with wildlife are almost inevitable. Maybe if people knew about the risk of hitting deer, they would be more careful, thus reducing the number of collisions.

So, for my agent of change part I was able to get a deer crossing sign posted on Wissahickon Avenue, so that drivers will know to watch out for deer. The sign isn’t actually posted yet, it will take a while before the Streets Department manages to get it put up, but I do have verification that the sign will be posted.

It may seem like getting a sign posted is a pretty easy task. But trust me it’s not. Putting the sign up myself would be illegal, so I had to request it from the Streets Department. The problem is that making a request is not enough. In order for the sign to be posted I needed to get other people to request the sign. I put up signs around West Mount Airy and on the bulletin boards in the park telling people to go the Philadelphia Streets Department website, and request that a deer crossing sign be posted on Wissahickon Avenue. 

Presentation on my Process: https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/presentation/d/1E8rU-MdDL0QU6yeyZxbGVr8toQoJ5bjkFGROnxrcQj8/edit#slide=id.p

I also raised awareness of my issue by requesting that people go to the Streets department website, and report deer road-kill incident, on the Friends of Carpenter’s Woods website. People saw my signs and I got some publicity. Someone saw my sign and promoted my cause in the Chestnut Hill local newsletter, and in January, while I was photographing a dead female deer on Emlen Street, Brian Rudnick interviewed me about my project, and wrote about it on his blog. Also Barry A. Bessler, Chief of Staff

Office of the 1st Deputy Commissioner, Parks & Facilities Philadelphia Parks & Recreation requested that the sign be posted to the streets department. He also pointed out to them that there are deer vehicle collisions that occur on Allen's Lane, which is near Wissahickon Avenue.

Chestnut Hill Local Article https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1WXRglc-zwed5Mwhi9u9brL5amiSEhYeHai-Ek-U5Vjw/edi Rudnick Article: http://closeup.brianrudnick.com/2013/01/studies-roadkill.html

I needed to do a lot of things in order to get this to happen. The first step in getting this done was to request that the sign be posted on Wissahickon Ave. to the Philadelphia Streets Department. I also needed to write to Cindy Bass from City Council.  

In order for a deer crossing sign to be posted in an area, the area needs to be declared a deer crossing area. For that to happen, there have to be reported incidents of deer being killed in said area. The problem I ran into was that there weren’t any reported incidents. This was annoying because I have seen four deer killed by cars on Wissahickon Avenue in the past two years. 

1. A six-seven month old female fawn struck by a car, found dead ten yards from the road in  October of 2011. Her stomach was swollen due to the impact.

2. A full grown, eight point male found dead one hundred yards from the road in November 2011

3. A doe found dead 100 feet from Wissahickon Avenue in December 2012.

4. A young male with his antlers cut off (featured in photo) found on the edge of Wissahickon Avenue on January 3, 2013

There was also an article about a deer that was hit by a car on Wissahickon Avenue after being chased by a dog, which I put in my first two blog posts, in the Friends of the Wisshickon Newsletter. I sent this, along with the other incidents I had seen, to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. I also asked others to report any incidents they might have seen. I contacted David Dannenberg, who is on the Board of the Friends of the Wissahickon. He lives near Wissahickon Avenue and he had some incidents to report himself. 

Click here to read about them https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/18rX2vdXZGI4TV06HrMOqAASe9uXTDVmOZht-jN3Ttvo/edit

The main way that I wanted to go about solving this problem was to get a deer crossing sign posted, and to get people to watch out for deer. But as you can see by some of David Dannenbeg’s incident reports, and the article in the Friends of the Wissahickon Newsletter, off-leash dogs chasing deer across roads, and into oncoming vehicles is also causing these collisions. It is required by law that dogs remain on leash in Fairmount Park. This to insure the safety of people, dogs, and wildlife. Sadly this rule is often broken by dog walkers, causing dogs to harm wildlife. Some of theses collisions could be prevented if dog owners kept their dogs on leashes.  

I received email conformation from Job Itzkowitz that the deer crossing sign will be posted. It will take a while for it to be posted because these kinds of things take a while, but it will happen. This sign will hopefully reduce the amount of deer getting hit by cars on Wissahickon Avenue, and make Carpenter’s Woods a safer place for wildlife. Deer are abundant in Fairmount Park, and we have to learn to co-exist with them. Despite the fact that there is an over population of them, and they destroy gardens, demolish plant species, and spread lyme disease (which I have gotten twice) I think that deer are beautiful, peaceful animals that deserve to be protected from vehicles, as do all other species of wildlife.

This project has shown me that getting change to happen is a challenge. When I first started my Agent of Change I thought that it was going to be pretty easy. But it turned out that I had to get a lot of publicity and support to make this happen. I think I greatly benefitted my community by getting this necessary sign posted, and showing others that this is a major local issue. I made an impact on the rivers in my neighborhood and the local wildlife. This project was largely an individual project, buy I couldn’t have done it without the support of The Friends of the Wissahickon, the Friends of Carpenter’s Woods, from the Philadelphia Streets Department, City Councilperson Cindy Bass, The Pennsylvania Game Commission, Brian Rudnick, and my Mom and her connections with the Friends of the Wissahickon, and the help of my Community, and their willingness to take action on this issue. Thank you.

Blog 1 http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Animal_Vehicle_Collisions

Blog 2 http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Animal_Vehicle_Collisions_blog-2_Deer

Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/14hFwpveQ8vAPawj9qXVlfF69uZXki43pHuin_RFXKcw/edit

Since the second blog, I’ve taken my plans into action. Almost every week on Thursday, I’ve asked some class mates to come and join the SLA Support Group Lunch. Surprisingly a hand full of students arrived. It’s fine to start small, it’s easier to control.  I’ve had about 4-5 or so support group lunches and they’re around an hour long. I hold this lunch in my english teacher’s room during Y band lunch. This group of kids are ranging from 9th grade to 12 grade. My idea was to generate a “theme” for each week. For example, our discussions have been well organized with the help of Siobhan, our school's counselor's intern. She’s been guiding my support group lunch into something more planned out.

The first week, which was the introduction, consisted of getting to know each other and explaining what “Safe Space” is. Safe space is basically an area where students can say anything they wish and not get judged. Also in the safe space, we’re not allowed to discuss what happens outside of the area, therefore defeating the purpose. The students who came to the lunch, understood and followed that main rule. At first the group of kids were extremely shy about sharing. I thought, I’d talk about myself and my story first so my peers can see that it’s fine to talk about personal infomation regarding their lives. Everybody only shared little things in the beginning, which I’m alright with. They were making progress. It turned out totally different than what I imagined before the actual lunch took place. In blog one, originally I wanted to create a formal support group where everybody sat in a circle and discussed their problems. I've looked up images of "Support Groups" and that was the major theme of them. Here's one example that I looked off of when thinking about a support group.  Thinking back to it, that was such a horrid idea. I' I'm glad how it's really chilled and relaxing, and not stiff. 
The next week I held the gathering, we talked about what depression is, what it looks like (symtoms), and how does one cope with it.  The great thing about having these free discussions, is that we jump from one topic to another. In that hour lunch time we might either talk about the main subject or a couple different ones regarding depression. During the second or third lunch, I’ve been noticing an abundence amount of comfortablity within the members. They’ve been sharing more and they are comforting each other. This project has already impacted my life because I have this bond and trust with this group of people I’ve never thought in a million years I would ever talk to in my high school life. People are actually looking forward to my lunches now on. The people who are attending frequently are my motivation to go on wared through out my four years of high school.
This picture was taken on April 18th, 2013.

My process was very challenging yet fun. At first, I wanted to raise money in some way and donate it to LGBT places such as The Attic or the Human Rights Campaign. That didn’t go so well because I saw other people that had the same topic doing similar things for their project too. So, I went with a movie instead to present. I wanted this movie to be funny but serious. To execute a plan like this I incorporated multiple pictures and narration. I had pictures that came up as soon as I said a word or two that related to it. For example, I said “What has the world come to?” and for the picture I used a world with a question mark on it. I found this to be creative and fun to make.

The problem I encountered during this project was finding a song that would set the mood for the movie. I didn’t want a song that was highly sad or depressing. As a result, I chose to use “It Ends Tonight” by All American Rejects and leveled it out with “One Day” by Matisyahu.

I think personally the overall project went well. I am proud of what I made. If I had to choose what I think was the best part, it would be my choice in the words and tone  used in my narration. I believe I used it to my fullest potential. It is my goal to have people acknowledge and possibly make a change in the world we live in. If you’ve read my other blogs you can probably understand where I’m coming from and agree.

This projected impacted me in many ways. It’s easy for someone to say that they support an issue, but to actually make an attempt to change the world is another thing. I first had to ask myself “Am I really supportive of Gay Rights or am I just saying that for my project?”. The answer was clear seconds later. I support gay rights regardless of what anyone says. This project has allowed me to see my true self.

For my Agent of Change portion of my You and the World project on alienation of the elderly, I played music at a housing facility for the elderly. More specifically I went to Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley, which was previously known to me as just "Stapeley" sans "Wesley enhanced living". I am not sure how long it was like that, or even if it changed at all. I do think they changed the sign however. I wanted to do something like this because playing music is something I enjoy doing as well as is something I am not abysmal at. I would be a subpar agent of change if you do something that ends up worsening the lives of those you are trying to help. I did went in to play on the 21st of April with my father playing bass and a friend of ours playing guitar and even singing. 

I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do for a substantial amount of the brainstorming time we had to think about what we wanted to do for this portion of the project. My strategy to figure out what I wanted to do that could be beneficial to others, was to think about things I possessed some skill at. If I did something I was awful at, I can't imagine people would be able to get much help from what I did. In preparation we practiced songs that we might want to do. We kept in mind our audience and did song's that were catered towards them. This ended up paying off as many of the songs were recognized and interaction between musicians and audience was had, as well as reminiscence of times in the past. I called the facility and booking a date was easy. I imagine that finding free activities can be difficult. Overall, the idea stayed the same except for our having a guitarist was not true from the start.

This wasn't the first time I had played at a place like this, however it still felt good to do a deed where we could potentially be helping people. I really do hope that the people watching us at least enjoyed it, or it helped them not to be bored or something. It doesn't really matter how small. I think that I am still in the process of learning how best I can help the community, despite this experience, although, I am sure that I have also taken a step forward to realizing my full potential as a steward of the community. I think that I learned that everyone has the potential to aid their community if they make good use of their skill set.