Service Project Idea.

Five Faces is a course that teaches my classmates and I about the different variations of Five Faces. The course explores the beauty and challenges of life through the examination of personal creativity and how it can impact my life and communities. In this unit which is called Understanding of Five Faces, we learned about the strengths and challenges with each face. There are 16 parts to this unit which was really interesting because I never had a course that had so many units in one. I think with many units it was helpful because this prepared us for our service project planning, that comes along with this course. The purpose of this action project is to reflect on all of the five faces, myself, and my service project. I am most proud of all the work that I did throughout this unit because there was so much information that went along with this unit, I loved learning about all faces it was very interesting.

Created by JV, 2014*

Here is the five definitions to each face.

A Seer is a person who visualizes what is on their minds eye to identify or create an entirely new idea. An Observer is can collect things into a mental basket and create an idea by transforming what they noticed. An Alchemist brings an apparently disparate ideas into a new one. A Fool demonstrates the power to celebrate weakness. A Sage is a person who can simplify complex situations.

The Five Faces survey results said that I was a Seer 23%, an Alchemist 23%, Sage 23%, Fool 19% and Observer 12%. In a way I do agree that I’m an Alchemist because I like to bring different ideas together like when I’m working out, I love combining different cardio moves to make the workout harder. I’m also a Seer because I visualize things a lot, like putting an outfit together. But I do not agree that I’m a Sage because I don’t make complex things easier for myself. The survey also said that I was a Fool to celebrate weakness, I like to make bad situations funny and more happy because I hate when people are sad or upset. I think its interesting that I'm equal in all three faces.

I interviewed my friend RD to see what face she fit in and she is an Observer because she like observing situations rather than talking in them. Here is a quote from our interview , “I think I am a Observer, I’m quiet so I can focus on many things, I can notice things that other people wouldn't pay attention too." The two faces that I think RD is would be an Observer, and a Seer. She belongs in these two faces because in observer she likes to sit back and pay attention to what is around her, and a seer because she comes up with great ideas that she envisioned in her head.

One person that we studied my class that inspired me was Georgia O’Keeffe, because she is an artist and I love art. She is an Observer. Seer by being these two faces she created beautiful art. She is a Seer because she would have really bad migraines and would visualize images in her mind, that is how she created art. She is also an observer because she would pay attention to her surroundings of nature and would also create that into art. Here is a quote that inspires me. “I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” (O’Keeffe.)

Another famous person that inspires me is Beyonce, she is such an incredible person and does so much like giving back to homeless people. Helping children around the world that is suffer from lack of education. She helps out a lot and made her own foundation, which is called the Survivor Foundation. This foundation helps with social, economic and catastrophic hardships by providing assistance, education and support."I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run the world." (Beyonce.) This quote is so strong and is so close to me because I feel like Beyonce is so true to herself and doesn't let anything get in her way of life. I love that so much because I think that is so important to have in life, just to be yourself and stay true to what you believe in and want. I think the face that Beyonce is would be a Seer, and Alchemist I say these two because she comes up with such good ideas, she is an incredible artist she combines different music styles to make it her own that would be a Alchemist technique, and she envisions how she wants her music videos to be or how she wants her concerts set up that would be a Seer technique. Beyonce does so much work and is such a role model to me. 

The issue that I'm addressing for my service project is poverty and education, I want to do these two problems because they concern me very much. I would love to work with Oxfam which is an organization that workers with these two topics. I think by doing this service project will help me and others because we are helping the people that actually need it, we aren't just sitting back and watch all the problems happen. The strengths and techniques I will use for my service project is my seer face to map out what the success would look like. I will use the Observer to see how people react to the problem that I’m addressing. I will use Fool to make bad situations more happy and not sad because of the situations that are happening in the world. After I find what the similarities are for both problems I will use Alchemist try to place them together to come up with a new situation. After I found out about all the problems I will try to simplify them by using the Sage face so it becomes easier to work with. Lastly I will use my Seer face to envision the world being a better place, because I did something that is important and helped.

Citations:

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.okeeffemuseum.org. Robert A. Kret. Web. 2011. Dec 13, 2014. 

Beyonce. beyonce.com. Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter. Web. 2013. Dec 13, 2014.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

This unit in the Ollywood class is called “Production”. We learned about the main elements of film production: lighting, camera angles, and acting. We practiced analyzing these techniques by watching different movies in class, and this action project, we were asked to produce a movie critique video. I was paired with a classmate named NOA; the movie that we picked is Beetlejuice. We picked this movie because we both grew up watching it, and thought it would be fun analyzing and presenting a movie critique of it. What I found most challenging about this action project was the actual filming; it was hard talking in front of a camera, but I’m sure I can work on it and now I have a better sense of how actors feel . What I enjoyed most about this project is how the movie critique came together and how well me and NOA worked together. The video is serious, yet funny and very informative. I hope people enjoy it!

Citations: 

Beetlejuice. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton. Touchstone, 1994. DVD.

Hamamura, Michiko. Banana Boat (Day O). SoundCloud, 2014. MP3.

When You're Sad, Eat Cake!

Marie Antoinette: A Film Critique

For my elective this term I am taking a class called Ollywood, which teaches me about the production elements of camera angles, and how to critique movies. The first action project for this term was to pick a movie and critique it based upon some of its pre-production elements. I chose to review Marie Antoinette who is played by Kirsten Dunst, one of my favorite actresses. What I found most challenging about this project was critiquing the movie because I had to pay attention to specific certain things, and that was so hard because I just wanted to watch the movie. What I enjoyed most was finding a new movie that I love.

"Let them eat cake" by onscreenfashion.com.

Sofia Coppola is the screenplay writer and director of Marie Antoinette (2006), the movie is,  very creative, flashy, fashionable, and adorable production design throughout. The movie starts off with a 14 year old royal Austrian girl, named Marie who is leaving her own country to live with her new fiance, French Prince Louis XVl. She’s scared because she is leaving her family behind to go to a country that she knows nothing about! Plus she is marrying a prince whom she has never met, after only having seen a picture of him. She ends up marrying Prince Louis, and is getting used to her new royal life-style. The man responsible for her marriage is Louis XV, the current king of France, who is Louis XIV's grandfather. The king has a mistress named Madame du Barry, who has a very wild personality, with her dark lipstick, which is why the film’s costume designers dress du Barry in wild colored dresses, and high stilettos. No female royalty like her because they see her as trash and a favorite of the King. In her bold, seductive clothing, du Barry asks “Why do they look at me that way?” After the old King of France died, Louis XVl became king making Marie Antoinette the new queen. At this time, Marie was still trying to conceive a child with her husband, but he didn't seem attracted to her in that way. This increasingly frustrated the queen who would say to her friends, “Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.” From this quote, it is clear that Marie cared about what her people wanted, and wanted to make everyone around her happy. France wanted their king and queen to create an empire to be ruled by future royalty, so finally, after seven years of marriage, Marie and Louis had their first child--a girl named, Marie Therese.

Marie and Louis wasted so much money throughout their lives as royals, instead of helping the masses of people in their own country, who were literally starving. Instead of improving the lives of her people, Marie would hire famous designers to make her dresses, heels, and she would also have a makeup artist do her hair and makeup. Her dresses are pastel colors like baby pink, duck egg and mint green, which matched the interiors of her house and the variety of cakes, and macaroons. She always had the most fabulous and expensive dresses in the movie, and would also buy dresses for her friends. Marie and her crew would have so many different kinds of treats and desserts; they would throw huge parties and just have fun. Louis would also spend money on games and going out with his friends. My favorite scene in the movie is when Marie is purchasing all of the luxury items she can, trying on hundreds of dresses, shoes, and even costume wings and eating tons of cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates. I love how music is playing in the background of the scene, without it having a lot of dialogue (throughout the whole movie), just showing a lot of facial expressions and activity in this scene. I think this lack of constant talking between the characters made the movie interesting because you don’t need the characters to speak a lot to understand and see what's going on. I love how you just get to watch Marie indulge her own lavish life, not worrying about anything but herself. I love how she is so innocent and just wants happiness for ” everyone” in her circle of rich friends.

The set design for the movie was perfect because it was actually filmed in France, at the Palace of Versailles where Marie and Louis actually lived. I think that Coppola’s use of the real French palace made the movie really come together. The costume design was amazing as well. When I think of the 1700-1800's, I think of big, fancy dresses, fun accessories like wings, and the women looking beautiful, and that is exactly what Marie Antoinette showed. Marie room was so big, with floral wall paper, a queen-sized bed, and a huge chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. The room had a door that led to another room, where Marie and her friends would have tea parties. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie! It was amazing getting to watch and just see Coppola’s vision of what Marie Antoinette’s life was really like!

What Can Be Genius?

My winter class that I am taking is called Five Faces Genius, which is about the beauty and challenges of life, through personal creativity and genius. In the first unit called Life of Genius I learned about how people are geniuses no matter what background, country they're from, or race. Every person has their own unique way to be creative and be a genius. For our first action project we had to pick four people that we think are creative, research their backgrounds and see what made them genius not including what they do for a living. I picked four famous people because I felt like it would be much easier because I can do a lot of research to find out more about their personal lives. What I found most challenging about this action project was doing the research because I had to find things I think made them geniuses. What I enjoyed most about this project is how it all came together because I worked very hard on it!

Created by JV, 2014*

My class created a Genius Gallery, showcasing who we think are geniuses. From our gallery I had to pick four people I think are geniuses. The four that I picked are Kanye West, Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, and Dr Seuss. I picked these artists because as a child I grew up on all three of them so it made this project go more smoothly. What I have noticed that all geniuses have in common is several things one being all dropped out of school at a very young age. Kanye West went to Chicago’s American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. But later transferred to Chicago’s State University to major in English. At the age of twenty Kanye dropped out of college to pursue his musical dreams. Jay-Z went to high school but did not graduate. At the age of fifteen he was a drug dealer, but started getting interested in music industry. Michael Jackson did not finish elementary school, he joined his older brothers group at the age of five, they later became the Jackson Five. By them dropping out of school gave them time to focus on what they were really chasing for, and gave them more courage to become what they all wanted be. I think by them not having a father figure made them all creative because they had to grow up really fast, and be their own man figure in their lives. That taught them to be independent at a very young age because, they didn't have both parents to look after them, so they had to look after themselves.

Another thing that I noticed that all three artists have in common is they all grew up with no father figure. Kanye West is an only child and his parents divorced when he was only three years old. He moved to Chicago with his mother, Kanye's father wasn't really in Kanye's life. Jay-Z grew up with three siblings were raised by their mother, after their father abandoned the family. He never had a father figure in his life. Michael Jackson did have his father in his life, but had a troubled relationship with him. He would physically and emotionally abuse his kids. Even though Michael had his father in his life he never saw him as a father. 

All artists were really young when they first got interested in music Kanye starting rapping when he was in third grade, Jay-Z started making beats when he was only three years old by banging on pots and pans, and Michael Jackson grew up on music because of his father but started singing when he was five years old. They all knew what they loved and wanted to pursue their dreams. No matter what issue they were in they still loved and enjoyed making and listening to music. I consider all these musical artists genius because of their path that they took. They sacrificed a lot throughout their life to be as successful and they are today!

The other genius that I selected from our genius gallery is Dr Seuss, because he is an amazing person! He went through so much throughout his long life and he showed gratitude, success, and passion and to me those are his 3 strengths that got him to what he is known for today (First). He lived through many historical events including the Great Depression, World War 1, and World War 2 (second). During these events he would write many of his children books that are well known today so he can get his mind off all the terrible things that were going on. He would also draw, and collaborate with other authors and during this time he also met his first wife.

Three of my own key strengths that I have is working very hard, caring about people, and appreciating what I have in my life. I find these strengths creative because many people can't have all at once, and I feel very special that I do. These strengths help me so much, and can continue helping me throughout my career that I choose and my future. One challenge that I have faced is believing in myself, and not working hard enough. I would always doubt myself in elementary school and not really care about work, but as I got older and attended GCE my whole life changed because I realized I am a great worker! I feel like many students experience this throughout the world but can't find their spark. I found mine by going to my high school, I think if many other states and countries had high schools like GCE many students would succeed. I got inspiration from my older cousin who went to school and became a Optometrist, she is an amazing worker! I interviewed her because in my eyes she is also a genius. Here is a quote I got from her, “Helping people every day, makes me feel amazing!” My outcome that I would like to see is people finding and realizing that they are genius and the people around are as well. I think many of us don’t realize how smart and creative we are, so it would be nice if the world can all come together and see how awesome each of us are!

Citations:

"All About Dr. Seuss".catinthehat.org. N.P. Web. 2002. Nov 16, 2014. (1) and (2).

"Jay-Z". rollingstone.com N.P. Web. 2014. Nov 14, 2014.

"Kanye West Biography". biography.com. N.P. Web. 2014. Nov 14, 2014.

Vargas, Arielle personal interview Optometrists. 10 November, 2014.

Pictures:

Dr. Seuss. wikipics.com

Jay-z putdollard.com

Kanye West flavorwine.com

Michael Jackson huffingtonpost.com

Overload on Babies?

In the last unit in the Population class, which is called If/Then. In this unit we talked about the population and tried to predict what the human population would be in 2050. We did this by using a method in math called the geometric and arithmetic sequence. For the last action project we were ask to come up with a topic and write a script about the human population going up so quickly. The discussion had to have 2 viewpoints that had strong evidence. For the math part to fit in we used the geometric method to figure out what the human population would in in 2050. What I found most challenging about this action project was the math part, but when we went over it as a class I understood it much better. What I enjoyed the most about this project was doing the research and how my project came together. 

Right now the human population is at 7,125,000,000, by 2050 my class predicted that it could reach up to 10,715,465,520. We got this answer by using geometric method our work is show below. 

Created by JV Geometric Sequence 2014*

Human population is too over crowded in certain areas in the world. All around the world many babies are born to young teen parents, this is causing our population to go up. 

Below is a discussion between too young teens that have noticed how much teen pregnancy has gone up over the years. They are talking about ways that this can be prevented so that way our population doesn't go over 7 billion. 

Dustin: Hey Haley, is it just me or have you seen like 10 girls pass by that have a baby bump?

Haley: I was thinking the same thing! But just didn't want to mention it. 

Dustin: Do you think they are in some kind of competition or something because there are so many girls at this school that are pregnant?! 

Haley: I have no idea, but I hope that is not the case! You know I was watching the news and I heard that there are 72% births per 1,000 adolescent females. The U.S teen birth rate is higher than any other developing countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. (1)

Dustin: That is insane! Knowing that our population rate worldwide is growing so quickly, too many teen girls are having babies! 

Haley: Right now our world population is at seven billion, but if we stay at our current rate of growth we can reach up to 10 billion by 2050! 

Dustin: So the 72% of birth rates are in the United States alone?

Haley: Yes, I know its a high percent. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world. 

Dustin: But do you honestly think that these young teens that are having babies and increasing our population affecting our planet? I mean I don’t think having too many humans well harm us. The more people we have on our planet the better because we would have more resources!

Haley: That is true, but have you thought about our planet and how its handling all of us? We should run out of food, and water. Plus women and young teen girls in developing countries that have high fertility rate will suffer the most. (2)

Dustin: So teens having babies at a high rate the will cause commensalism because its benefiting our population, but hurting the planet’s population. But since that population is growing, it will than turn into competition because than we will be fighting for food, and other resources in order to survive.

Haley: Exactly! And this can hurt the U.S because we have such a large population rate for teen pregnancy compared to Canada, which has 27.9% per 1,000 adolescent females. (3)

Dustin: So what can help this rate go down?

Haley: Schools can have more well educated classes, to inform teens on how to prevent pregnancy!

Dustin: Oh yeah this school definitely needs that class!

Citations:

(3) "Seven Ways Seven Billion People Affect The Planet."newsecuritybeat.org. Geoff Dabelko. Web. 2011. Oct 27, 2014. 

(1) "Trend in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing." hhs.gov/ash/oah. Evenlyn Mkappeler. Web. 2010. Oct 22, 2014. 

(2) "Why Teen Pregnancy Is One The Rise." theglobeandmail.com. Zosia Bielski. Web 2013. Oct 27, 2014. 

My Batman.

For this last action project for my humanities class called Stories, we talked about heroes and how we can analyze them in stories and in movies. In order to do that we learned about Joseph Campbell's the theory of Monomyth. What I found most challenging about this project was understanding Campbell’s theory, because I don’t really think that way when I watch a movie, or read a book. But now that I know Campbell’s theory, it makes movies and stories easier to understand. What I enjoyed the most about this action project was creating it. This action project is so different from any I have done during this course and I like how it challenged me. 

For my project I picked Batman as one of my heroes. I grew up watching the movie Batman Returns, so it really reminds me of my childhood, plus Batman is the only superhero that I actually like. For my real-life hero I picked my mom, and the reasoning for that is because she did so much for my sibling and I; as a young mom she got to graduate high school and continue with college. My mom is a very brave and strong woman. I look up to her everyday. She is also very caring, and just like Batman, she always wants to help other people and puts those she loves first before herself. Below is my 8 stages of my hero's journey, its a slideshow on paper that explains what Batman went through. Also below is my interview with my mom, learning about her 8 stages of a hero's journey. 

Created by JV, "Batman" 2014*

Created by JV, "Batman" 2014*

Me: What made you want to become a nurse, and working at a nursing home?
Mom: I always wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl, it was just something that I always wanted to do. I wanted to work at a nursing home because I knew that I would be helping seniors who needed extra care and I wanted to give them that. 

Me: what motivates you to keep doing what you do?
Mom: What motivates me is you and your sibling, you guys mean so much to me and I know what I am doing is so good for your guys future. What also motivates me is all the people that I am helping.

Me: Do you have a mentor?
Mom: Yes! your father is my mentor he helped me grow as a person and pushed me when I was falling. He also helped me raise you guys, and helped me go to school.

Me: Have you ever mentored anyone?
Mom: Yes, I have trained many people at my job! I trained them very well so they can learn and pass down good working habits!

Me: What were you doing before you became a nurse?
Mom: I was in school and raising you, when I left high school you were a baby. Than when I entered college I was pregnant with your sister. Nursing was my first job ever, so it was a big transition and hard to get use to.

Me: What was the biggest challenge that you went through when you first became a nurse?
Mom: The biggest challenge was raising two little babies when I first became a nurse, and learning all about nursing because it wasn't easy at all!

Me: What was the biggest challenge that you face throughout your life?
Mom: The biggest challenge that I faced was finding out that I have a heart condition. I was so scared because I was always in the hospital and I didn't even know that I had a heart disease. That changed my life so much.

Me: How did you finding out you had a heart disease change you for the better?
Mom: Finding out that I had a heart disease changed me for the better because I wanted to get better for me and for you guys. I started exercising more and eating healthy, also started to appreciate life more as well.

Me: What skills have you learned/held on to your whole life?
Mom: Good question! Um, I would say one helping other people because you're giving them your time and when you help other people, in return you will receive good things in your life. Other would be to be patient and never take nothing for granted.

Citations: Movie and Pictures. 

Batman Returns. DR. Tim Burton. Prod. Tim Burton. Warner bros, 1992

Curtis Lopez. Curtis & Movies. January 2, 2013. Internet: curtisandmovies.blogspot.com. 23 Oct 2014.

German Shepherd on Mars One?

During this Unit in my population course called From/To, which means where did we come from and where are we going. In this unit, I learned about Darwin and his theories of Natural Selection. For this action project, I had to pick a organism that would be best suited to live in a new environment which would be Mars One. The animal that I picked came from a dog rescue. What I enjoyed most about this action project was learning about the history of different organisms and how they died off, and our future to life. What found most challenging about this unit was the math, I always struggle with math, but I am practicing and feel like I’m getting much better. What I am most proud of is my research for my project and how it all come together.


While looking at the animals online at the rescue shelter, I chose to record my information about the weight of dogs and cats, in lbs. The box -and-whisker plot is representing my data. 

Created by JV "Box-and-whisker plot" 2014*

This is my standard deviation chart. My chosen animal is 21.82 standard deviation which is below the mean. I did have a outlier, the animal is 80 pounds. 

 Created by JV "Standard Deviation chart" 2014*

Citations: 

"Alive Rescue". aliverescue.org. Kristen Gerali. Greg Raymond. Web. 2008. October 13, 2014. 

"German Shepherd Hope Rescue". gsdhope.org. N.A. Web 2014. October 13, 2014. 

The Diamond Shell.

During this Unit called lessons in my Humanities Stories, I learned about fables and how they work. For this action project, I had to create and share my own fable to teach a lesson based on my values and life goals. My fable is to teach how to be comfortable in your own body, and not to care what people think about you. I feel like a lot of people deal with this all around the world, and especially teenagers because we are going through so many changes as we are getting older. What I learned during this unit is to really understand what a story is trying to say, and what meaning the author is trying to tell the reader. What I found most challenging about this project was writing my story; I love writing stories, but writing fables is so much harder because you have to show the meaning, and use animals as humans. What I enjoyed most about this project was coming out of my shell like Ina did, to write about how I feel in real life.

 Created by JV "Ina the Turtle" 2014*

It was a cold autumn morning in Camon France, where the leaves are dark fall colors and the wind is chilly. Ina was laying in her shell looking up wondering, why she looked so different from the other turtles in her village. All the other girls, had dull colors on their shell, like gray and brown with no patterns. Ina’s skin is gray but her shell looks like colorful diamonds were placed on her back. Ina has a great personality. She is very outgoing, open-minded, and gets attached to people very fast. Even though she is amazing, she is very quiet and shy because other animals judge the way she looks. Some say she is weird looking, some say she is boring and mean because she never talks. Some don’t like her because they are too jealous.

When Ina stopped thinking about how she looked, she popped out of her shell and started getting ready for school. When she arrived she saw her best friend Mora, who is a rabbit and is very open and flirts with everyone she loves every inch of her body and never care’s about what anybody thinks. She is very slim has beautiful rosy red cheeks and eye lashes that are as long as weeds in a field. 

Mora went up to Ina and said, “Hey what are you doing after school?”

Ina spoke very softly, “I don’t have any plans why whats up?”

More smiled, “Lets hang out with Cindy, and Jay?”

Ina Chuckled, “Um oh I’m not sure.”

Ina didn't want to join them because everybody always treated her so weirdly, because of the way she looked. She always felt very uncomfortable around other girls her age because their bodies looked so different from her’s. But deep down, Ina didn't want to care what people thought about her, as Mora was walking away, Ina shouted, “Mora I’ll go!” She wanted to show everybody who she really was, not just who she is because of her body.

After school all four of them met up by the French coffee house, as they talked they got to know in better. Cindy told Jay, “Ina is a really cool turt!” Jay replied back “I really loved getting to know her, she is amazing!” As Ina got to know more people at her school, she realized that she can be herself completely. She can be comfortable in her own colorful shell!

 Created by JV "French Cafe" 2014*

Planet Balance.

The purpose for this first Action project for my Humanities class, Stories, a history and culture class that focused on past, present, and future stories. During the first unit, “Creations”, I learned about stories and myths that come from a variety of cultures. For this AP, I had to come up with my own creation myth using descriptive language that helps explain the features of my world as I imagine it to be. I wanted my myth to be a fairy tale, because as a kid I loved reading stories like that. What I found helpful was using similes and metaphors in my story because those are devices I need to work on. What I found most challenging was writing out my ideas using sensory imagery because I am not use to writing out ideas. I enjoyed creating my own myth; I thought that was very different, and it helped me open up my imagination. 

Created by JV "Balance" 2014*

The Planet Balance gets its name from the balance of witches, fairies, and vampires that live on the planet. All three creatures are responsible for the existence of Balance. The witches were created with Balance; they are like the heart and soul of the planet. Balance is right next to that boring Planet Earth, but Balance is so small that no one can “actually” see it. Balance is the ideal world to live in because it has anything and everything you can think of, like being happy the fairies can hypnotize other creatures and make them very sleepy dreaming of magical things. The shape of the plant is oval, because that represents the Black Jewels symbol of magic.

The witches are called Black Jewels because sometimes they can be insidious with their black magic. At other times they shine like diamonds and can be so peaceful and harmless. The witches love their hocus pocus. The closest relatives that the Black Jewels have are the Human Fairies, which are the rulers of the west side of Balance. An enchanted fairyland that has nothing but peace and happiness. There is nothing evil in the west no sadness, either. The fairies are as sweet as honey - they bring balance to what life is with their happiness and enjoyment of life and what it means, The witches love nature, and the west side of Balance is clean and undamaged. The fairies love and care for everyone no matter how others treat them. Human fairyland is like a dream but way better, anything and everything can happen there. The fairies fly around spreading love and happiness, they make the whole planet light up like a bright highlighter. Their house are made out of leaves and twigs, so big that a thousand can live in one. The planets smell like sweet candy.

The Vampires are the evil ones, but they also provide balance in the planet because they create drama and suspense. They like to feed on any animal that is a part of Balance, but don’t like to feed on fairies because their blood is too sweet. The Vampires were created by the Black Jewels because they needed something evil, carefree and dark to take over the eastern region part of Balance. Cold-blooded creatures were needed because of the temperatures in that area.

The weather in Balance is always autumn-like, because none of the creatures can live in warm weather the sky is always dull with black clouds, and there is always an eclipse. None of the creatures can live with much sunlight, yet the plants bloom in different colors like dark purple, burnt orange, mist yellow, and bold red, looking very whimsical and vibrant. The land itself is covered with very dark green grass, and the animals of Balance look crazy and creepy, made of different dark colors, like they came out of a Halloween movie. It is always raining on Balance and is a time when the witches’ spirits come out to clean any darkness the vampires have created, which is constant.

There's one holiday that all the creatures celebrate and that is Devina. The name of this special day comes from the oldest Black Jewel, who was the most powerful of all the witches, but died while creating the Vampires. When Devina created the vampires she gave them everything she had which was her happiness, darkness, and sadness. All her magic went to the Black jewels and fairies giving each one their own unique power. Till this day no Black Jewel or Fairy knows who will be the next Supreme Witch. The holiday happens at the end of every three months when all of the creatures get together in the deep and wicked woods, where the branches have eyes and the leaves bite, they gather to see what creature can be created next through the Black Jewels’ magic.

Mexican Mole Lizard.

The purpose for this first Action project for my STEAM class called "Population", which is a Global Health series that talks about why our population had changed throughout history and what this means for our future. During this unit, I learned both Mathematical and Scientific systems of classification; I also learned about Taxonomy, which is the branch of science that classifies animals, which helped me a lot with my project. I picked the Mexican Mole Lizard (Bipes biporus) because it looked so interesting to me, and how it's one of a kind because it doesn't have a relative. The MML is cold blooded, its Bipes because it is a Carnivore and Squamata because it has scales. Using Taxonomy helped me a lot because I got to see what class my animal was in as well as other information. What I found really helpful with doing this AP was really understanding what Taxonomy is. What I found challenging was doing the Mathematical language because I'm not that great at it, but I would love to improve. What I enjoyed about this project was learning about all different kinds of animals.

Here is the Taxonomy classification of the Mexican Mole Lizard.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Bipedidae
Genus: Bipes
Species: B. biporus

Created by JV, "MML" 2014*

Here are the set theory statements explaining in mathematical language what my animal is categorized in and what it's not.

Created by JV "MML" 2014*

Here is a three circled Venn Diagram, I compared my animal with my classmate RD who had a Blue Tailed Skink, and my other classmate AMK had a Fennec Fox. To see what we have in common or what we don't have in common.

Created by JV, RD, AMK 2014*

Food Production.

In the last unit of Food for Thought, our humanities course, we were assigned to team up in four groups to demonstrate the understanding of our four units in pictures. The main points of the whole drawing are agricultural history, and to envision a sustainable future of food production. Each group had to have 3 topic points to demonstrate in the drawing. My group was assigned the first unit which was Life. This unit talked about the beginning of agriculture and ancient civilization and how different foods were found and domesticated. For inspiration the whole class looked at a very interesting piece of artwork done by "The Beehive Collective," called the "True Cost of Coal." The major challenge of this drawing was to connect all the units together through different styles of artwork. The other challenge was thinking about the future of food, with all the experiments that scientists do with food, is there really a bright looking food production ahead of us? 

Created by JV, DR, NVA. Unit 1, 2014*

This drawing is based on the first unit, called “Life.” The main focus of this unit is how and why humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies, and how different ancient societies domesticated and found food. In my group, we decided to make a road timeline to connect all the units together. For our unit, we drew an assortment of different foods on the road. The reasoning for this is to symbolize how people grew crops to survive. There were no chemicals or fertilizers, so societies grew organic gardens. In 10,000 B.C.E, people were hunter-gatherers, which means they hunted animals and fish support their diet.

We drew trees and plants on one side of the road to represent life and peaceful times. We used keywords to guide our drawing. We used organic, domestication, and life. On the other side of the road we drew trees and plants to represent life. We also drew hunter-gatherers to show them hunting for food, and how they lived a natural lifestyle. We showed the society by water and we showed the people farming and hunting. 

The beginning of agriculture is where the word “life” comes from. We wanted to show in our drawing, how our ancestors settled where they did and how they domesticated their foods. The importance of this unit is vast and it all comes together since this is the first of four units. Unit 2 revolves around monoculture, death, and colonization. Unit 3 revolves around this world’s food industry and the way that our food is made and treated today. Unit 4 revolves around the modification of the food industry and how life has transitioned through all 3 units, and imagines what the future of food might look like.

GS. Food for Thought 2014*

Anti GMO!

In the last unit of Food, an integrated math and science course, we studied plant genetics and genetic engineering. For our last action project, we had a debate whether to allow GM seeds in our rural community in Illinois. I am anti GMO because I believe in letting nature be itself. GMOs change nature’s habits, making food not natural or organic.The USDA approves GM seeds but have not included the after effects of GM foods on our bodies. This is scary because we have no idea what GMOs can do to us in the long run. One Field Experience that I went on during this term I visited an organic farm. That experience really opened my eyes and made me more proud of eating healthy. I will definitely shop at farmers markets this summer to support local and organic produce. What I am most proud of is my argument. I think they are really strong and will give people something to think about!

What would you rather have? A tomato that has been injected with fish DNA to last longer, which is a GM tomato or an organic tomato to put in your dinner pasta? Well I would rather have the organic one because it is so much healthier. We eat GMOs every day. It is basically in everything. Wouldn't you want to change that? Wouldn't you want to know where your food comes from, and what's in it right? I am just saying that organic is a better option. I know it can be expensive but it is so much better for your health, and you won’t be eating different organisms at once. You will be eating wholesome vegetable and getting the nutrients that you need. Trying to make food “better” when scientists are just making food worse, by adding so many chemicals and sugar. Food should be left alone with nature. Scientist are doing all theses experiments. They don’t know what could happen in the future, GMOs can cause so many problems. I am pro organic seeds. I chose this position because I think mixing foods together is wrong. Coming up with different ways for food to last longer is so wrong because that is causing people to become sick. I do accept that GMOs are in everyday foods that we eat and provides other foods, but I do think there should be another option. That option is to ban GMOs from the United States. My reasoning for that is scientist are getting out of hand with all of these experiments making food into chemicals.

 My classmates and I went to an organic farm, where we met a farmer, Marc, who practices organic farming. He states, "GMOs are bad, we do not approve putting chemicals in our fields. It is not right to change nature.” Marc does not believe in adding fertilizers, which kills nature’s habits. Nature gives us such beautiful and healthy foods so why change them? Marc eats healthy every day because of his organic farm. His body is clean and he saves a lot of money by not going to the grocery store as often. He is also outdoors a lot working on his garden, getting vitamin D and enjoying nature. Not only is he eating healthy and getting vitamins, he is also building physical, and mental health. Gardening burns so many calories, Marc is getting so many benefits by just having one thing. That is an organic garden.

 Eating healthier, and the highest quality of vegetables keeps your body clean. Organic vegetables have more taste and also more nutrition. It can help with body growth and can help your brain grow as well. It can save lots of money if you plant your own organic garden. It gives families a hand on supply of fresh foods.Being Outdoors, will do more for your mental and physical health. It can give your body vitamin D and can help maintain bone mass. It will also give you more activities to do rather than sitting inside with the air conditioning on or the heat, which can cause headaches and dizziness because of natural gas that controls them. Being outdoors will be better than in a lab testing foods to last longer or taste better. People sit all day trying to change good healthy foods adding chemicals and putting different types of DNA in the foods. 

Getting Exercise, each garden task can burn 200- 400 calories per hour. Over a six month growing season, a gardener can burn 35,000 calories enough to lose 10 pounds. Working the arms, legs, and abs all at once! This can help with a humans mind and making them more active! It will also provide a care for the environment for organic farmers. They start to see what natural can provide healthy and fresher foods, that GMOs cannot and take better care of it. GMOs can make lots of food, to travel from country from country without going bad. This could help developing countries, which malnutrition is a big problem adding vitamins to other foods can help save over 2 million lives, and to prevent becoming permanently blind. With that I think there should be another option, in developing countries should be a organic garden, a local place where different villages can have local and fresher foods, that doesn't have so many chemicals in it. That can save so many lives and make people healthier. People in the villages can also have jobs to support families and different organic groups can help support with seeds and money.

 My brother eats chips, lunchables, candy, foods that a regular seven year old would eat. The down side to that is he is getting hives every time he eats those types of foods. He is allergic to a chemical that is in junk foods. It is sad to see that because now we need to give him foods that cause the hives so we can see what foods he can’t eat. Since he has stopped eating junk food, he is now eating organic and healthy foods. We can see the difference. He has more energy. He is happier. And his skin looks glowy and healthy. This is a big reason why scientists should stop their experiments. To stop this from happening please vote for NO More GMOs in our community!

Quality vs Quantity.

During this last unit called Birth, I learned about how technology influences what and how we eat since the Industrial revolution, which improved technology and transportation with food. I also learned about fresh vs industrial food, fast food companies and how they control over half of our dairy and meat products. For this last Action Project I had to determine whether there is a difference in taste between fresh and processed food. I chose to eat at Panera bread, which I think is an okay fast food restaurant. When I made my homemade meal it was fun to make something different. I made the dish for lunch for my Mom and I, which I usually do because I like to cook a lot. This unit has changed how I think about food. It influenced me more to eat healthier, which I have been doing for a little over 6 months now. I really love to keep my body healthy and watching what I put in it as well. I like to eat a lot and try different foods, but the more you eat healthy the more you will feel better, and notice a change. Over all I really enjoyed this whole unit, it taught me so much!

Photography JV "Panera Bread" 2014*

The restaurant that I chose to eat at was Panera Bread. The reasoning for choosing this restaurant was because I think the food is not as bad compared to other fast food restaurants. The dish that I chose was the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich because it is one of my favorites at Panera Bread. Once the dish arrived at my table it smelled like basil, onions, and cucumbers. The appearance was bright and colorful. It looks like a summer dish and really full with all the vegetables in it. When I picked up the sandwich to take a bite, the soft slightly toasted bread touched my fingertips. As I was taking my first bite, I instantly tasted the hummus, which was sweet, yet bitter, and a little spicy. The vegetables were crunchy as they hit my tongue, feeling cool and a little damp making a loud noise while chewing. The dish appeared fresh because the vegetables were still wet and had water drops on them, but the sandwich looked really perfect and clean.

My homemade dish, however, was completely different. I switched up the recipe a little when I made the homemade version. Instead of using basil bread, I used 100% whole wheat bread that was USDA Organic, which means the bread is made with 100% organic ingredients. I spread basil pesto and hummus inside the slices. I used my taste and visual senses I saw a lot of color, so I tried using that while making the sandwich. I used cucumber, red onions, spinach, tomatoes, and a yellow bell pepper. The sandwich came out really good, and tasted just like the Panera one. The sandwich was really colorful and bright. It was also really compacted with all the vegetables that were in it as well. It smelled like basil, that smelled spicy; cucumber that smelled sweet; and the onions, that smelled bitter. The texture of the bread was soft, while the texture of the veggies in the sandwich was crunchy and a little damp. While eating the sandwich it made a lot of noise while chewing, because of all the vegetables that were in it. The sandwich was also bitter, yet sweet, and a little spicy cause of the red onion.

Photography JV "Homemade" 2014*

The sandwich is small but it fills a person up so fast because it is filled with vegetables. The sandwich relates to a Michael Pollan's reading that my classmates and I read in class, when he talks about how fast food is quantity vs quality and how people over eat too many bad foods. I think my sandwich is definitely quality vs quantity, because the veggies that are in the sandwich has so many vitamins and nutrients that our body gets fuller so much faster. That makes us not want to eat so much because we are eating a lot of greens. If we are eating high quality of foods, we won't need to eat a high quantity of foods. I think that people should keep this in mind, because eating healthy and right is so much better for your health, rather than eating fast food with no limits, which causes high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. I think that people should realize that fast food isn't really food, it is actually food science that is made by scientists. Scientists make those kinds foods so customers can buy them. Industrial food is made with loads of sugars, and salt, which your body would want more of. That is why people have cravings for bad foods. I know that fast food is easy and cheap and can taste good, but it is really bad for your body. Try to cook good and healthy homemade meals, that taste better than eating out. Then fast food can be more of a treat once every few months rather than eating it weekly. 

Overall I would recommend the homemade sandwich, because it is super easy to make and cheaper than buying it at Panera Bread. Most of the ingredients will probably already be on hand, and it is also really healthy and tasty. The organic bread that I used had a lot of fiber and vitamins, rather than the basil bread that has more sugar and salt in it, and less fiber because it is white bread. The homemade sandwich is really different and gives your taste buds something different to try which is nice. 

Vanilla Cupcake Experiment.

In food a math and science course, our second unit, Cooking, is focused on the chemical reactions behind cooking. This Action Project we had to change an original vanilla cupcake recipe to fit with Passover, which symbolizes a time when Jews had to change from eating certain foods including leavening agents. We had two different kinds of experiments, one was the control group, where we followed original recipe for a vanilla cupcake. The other group was the experimental group, where we had to take out the 1 most important ingredient. The ingredient that we had to take out was baking powder, which has both an acid, cream of tartar, and a base, baking soda. We learned about the pH scale and we tested the pH of different cooking ingredients to see how acidic or basic the ingredient is so we can substitute that in our cupcake experiment. My group picked olive oil (base) and lemon juice (acid). What I learned during this project was how you can switch out an important ingredient and find substitutes to replace it. What I am most proud of is how my experiment came out, and learning that I don’t always need a leavening agent to make cupcakes.

Photography AC Control Cupcakes 2014*

Lab Report: 

Control and Experimental Cupcakes. 

Introduction: 

For this cupcake experiment my group chose to use olive oil and lemon juice to substitute for baking powder. Our reasoning for that is olive oil is a base and on the PH scale it has a pH of 8. Lemon juice is our acid which, on the pH scale s a 2.2. When acid and a base are mixed together, they neutralize the acid and base properties making salt, water and co2. Hopefully olive oil and lemon juice will react to help our cupcakes rise, we had to measure the height of the cupcakes to determine if they mimic the control cupcakes. 

Research Question: 

Will Olive oil and lemon juice help cupcakes rise, like baking powder does? 

Hypothesis: 

If we replace the leavening agent, which is baking powder with olive oil and lemon juice, then the experimental cupcakes will rise as high as the control cupcakes. 

Materials: 

1/12 cup of sugar 

1/24 cup of butter 

⅙ eggs 

⅙ tsp of vanilla extract 

1/48 cup of all purpose flour 

⅓ tsp of baking powder (for control group) 

1/24 cup of whole milk 

olive oil and lemon juice (for experimental group) 

For Control Group: 

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2.In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. 

3.Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. 

4.Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. 

5.Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. 

6.Grease or line a muffin pan. 

7.Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan. 

8.Bake for 20 minutes. 

For Experimental Group: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. 

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. 

Combine flour and add to the creamed mixture and mix well. 

Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. 

Grease or line a muffin pan. 

Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan. 

Mix olive oil and lemon juice into cupcakes one at a time. 

Bake for 20 minutes. 

Data:

The graph shows the height for both the control, and experimental cupcake trials. 

Recipe in Metric: 

Conclusion: 

From this experiment, I learned that it is possible to replace a leavening agent because in all six of my cupcake trials, my cupcakes rose. In conclusion my hypothesis was wrong because our experimental group cupcakes did rise as much with our replacement ingredients. The cupcake was 0.25 cm shorter than the control group cupcakes. All of our cupcakes were around the same height, except the 6th cupcake, which was 1.05 cm shorter than the control group cupcake. The reasoning for that is the batter is more basic than acidic. It had more, olive oil than lemon juice. I believe that the 5th cupcake was my favorite and the best out of all six cupcakes because it had more lemon juice in it, which made it taste really delicious. The cupcakes were a perfect golden brown on top and a dark brown around the edges. The outside was hard, while the inside was nice and moist. Overall I think the experimental cupcakes came out better than the control cupcakes did.

Photography JV Experimental Cupcakes 2014*

The Travel Of Tea.

The purpose of this Unit, Death, was to learn about our global food system by tracking the distribution chain of a specific food. We also had to make a Prezi to feel like we are actually traveling with the food. The food that I choose was Tazo Green Tea. I choose tea because I love it, and I drink tea every morning. An interesting fact that I learned about Tazo tea is that Starbucks owns it. What I enjoyed most about this unit was learning so much about the food chain, where different types of foods came from, and how food is processed. I used to wonder why there were apples in the middle of winter and now I know why. The reason for that is apples will be grown in places that are warm, and then shipped to the United States. Do you wonder how many hands touch the apples before you eat them? That is what I wanted to find out during this Action Project. What surprised me the most was how much the tea pickers in China get paid. Their salary is around $4.00 a day while Starbucks-Tazo tea makes 1.5 billion yearly. What I am most proud of is my research, it was really hard finding the salary of the workers but at the end it all came together. I also view food differently because most foods travel across the world without us knowing what’s happening to it or who is touching it. Check out my Prezi down below.