The Happiness Project
This was the last project of my 9th grade year, the happiness project. For the past few weeks we had been studying happiness, in ourselves and others. Plus, we read Brave New World (BNW) and analyzed whether or not the people in BNW were happy. After we felt we had a strong grasp on happiness we were to write an essay describing what we had learned about happiness, then create an art piece to demonstrate our happiness. My art piece and essay are below.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
This art piece was suppose to represent my happiness, and while I was researching happiness I found that one of the biggest ways we can become or are happy is because we have strong social connections, like our friends and family. Knowing this I figured I should somehow represent this in my art piece, so I chose Aspens. Aspens are all connected by their roots and are the largest living organism in the world. This is part of the reason why I chose to draw Aspens, because they are all interconnected (like us humans) and they are found where I live (so they have a personal connection with me).
This art piece was suppose to represent my happiness, and while I was researching happiness I found that one of the biggest ways we can become or are happy is because we have strong social connections, like our friends and family. Knowing this I figured I should somehow represent this in my art piece, so I chose Aspens. Aspens are all connected by their roots and are the largest living organism in the world. This is part of the reason why I chose to draw Aspens, because they are all interconnected (like us humans) and they are found where I live (so they have a personal connection with me).
Model United Nations Project
In this project we were to act as the country that we were given, and to solve the problems we were faced with in the conference as if we were that country. The country that I got was Brazil and the issue we were faced with was the Israel-Palestine conflict. In this project we had to write a Policy Paper (the second document below), a Resolution for the problem (first document below), and a speech for the conference (the last document). After doing all of these and studying the Israel-Palestine conflict closely we had a conference at the College in professional dress, using official UN language. There we were to give a speech and question the perspectives of others as often as possible. To see my reflection go to the bottom.
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REFLECTION:
Throughout the course of this project I have learned many skills and lessons, and I feel that this project was really beneficial. If anyone were to ask me why I felt this conference was important I would explain how it teaches you public speaking, research strategies, professionalism, critical thinking, evidence gathering, and all the college skills you need. I would elaborate on how we were to research our countries perspective and act upon their opinions even if it is against our own, and how we were to create our own resolutions according to the format the UN uses. I would also mention how this project prepares us for our future in strengthening us in all of those skills, and perhaps how we even had our conference in professional dress at the college. Now, the Habit of Heart and Mind that I am most proud of using during the conference is Perseverance. I say this because in the end all the hard work we did with writing our policy papers, resolutions, and speeches all payed off. The conference was amazing! I also felt really proud of sticking through my speech. During the beginning of the conference no one was going up to read their speech, it was the last thing that most of us wanted to do. Yet, I knew someone had to do it. So, I conquered my fears and called to be added to the speaker list, hoping I could start a chain reaction, but nothing happened. Shaking with nervousness I went up to the podium and read my speech. I persevered through my speech without faltering, and when I was asked to step down I felt proud. I had persevered through the hardest part of the conference! I’d have to say that my speech was the greatest challenge throughout this project probably because I'm not a big fan of public speaking and It was really hard to go up first. Plus, coming up with a speech I thought was suitable was also a challenge considering how professional writing is not one of my strengths. How I overcame these challenges was by just taking a chance and going up there to do my speech when no one else would and advocating for myself when I needed help during the writing part of my speech. What was awesome was that in the aftermath I felt really proud of myself and it makes me feel a little bit more ok to do it again, then one day maybe these won't be challenges anymore. Speaking of speeches, the most interesting speeches that I saw were Roland’s and Amina’s and the differences in between them. Roland’s speech sounded incredibly intelligent and the biggest point that caught my attention is how he mention that the resolution that we were leading up to was unbinding and if we did not get to a resolution that Israel would agree on, then nothing would happen. Amina’s speech was very set to her resolution and she was clearly determined to get her point across. She even used some very strong hand gestures. It was actually quite enjoyable to watch. In the end, I thought that this project was very informational and enjoyable, definitely a very valuable experience.
Throughout the course of this project I have learned many skills and lessons, and I feel that this project was really beneficial. If anyone were to ask me why I felt this conference was important I would explain how it teaches you public speaking, research strategies, professionalism, critical thinking, evidence gathering, and all the college skills you need. I would elaborate on how we were to research our countries perspective and act upon their opinions even if it is against our own, and how we were to create our own resolutions according to the format the UN uses. I would also mention how this project prepares us for our future in strengthening us in all of those skills, and perhaps how we even had our conference in professional dress at the college. Now, the Habit of Heart and Mind that I am most proud of using during the conference is Perseverance. I say this because in the end all the hard work we did with writing our policy papers, resolutions, and speeches all payed off. The conference was amazing! I also felt really proud of sticking through my speech. During the beginning of the conference no one was going up to read their speech, it was the last thing that most of us wanted to do. Yet, I knew someone had to do it. So, I conquered my fears and called to be added to the speaker list, hoping I could start a chain reaction, but nothing happened. Shaking with nervousness I went up to the podium and read my speech. I persevered through my speech without faltering, and when I was asked to step down I felt proud. I had persevered through the hardest part of the conference! I’d have to say that my speech was the greatest challenge throughout this project probably because I'm not a big fan of public speaking and It was really hard to go up first. Plus, coming up with a speech I thought was suitable was also a challenge considering how professional writing is not one of my strengths. How I overcame these challenges was by just taking a chance and going up there to do my speech when no one else would and advocating for myself when I needed help during the writing part of my speech. What was awesome was that in the aftermath I felt really proud of myself and it makes me feel a little bit more ok to do it again, then one day maybe these won't be challenges anymore. Speaking of speeches, the most interesting speeches that I saw were Roland’s and Amina’s and the differences in between them. Roland’s speech sounded incredibly intelligent and the biggest point that caught my attention is how he mention that the resolution that we were leading up to was unbinding and if we did not get to a resolution that Israel would agree on, then nothing would happen. Amina’s speech was very set to her resolution and she was clearly determined to get her point across. She even used some very strong hand gestures. It was actually quite enjoyable to watch. In the end, I thought that this project was very informational and enjoyable, definitely a very valuable experience.
The Tragedy Project
In this project we were learning about greek tragedy and what makes a tragedy a tragedy. Once we learn the basics we had to create a tragedy off of a current problem in the world. Like, Assisted Suicide, Abortion, Gun Laws, etc. and then we got to chose which perspective we wanted to support. The topic my group and I chose was GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and we were against them. I do not know why we chose this one, because it was extremely hard. Here it is:
Socialization Project
In this project we learned what socialization was and how it has influenced our lives. We researched many culture and situations in which lack of socialization has taken a part in. After all our research we were to write an essay about how we have been socialized. Then off that essay we made the "mask" that we wore in society. Here is the result to all of that!
Reflection:
- What are you the most proud about on your mask? What i'm most proud of about my mask is, well really the way it turned out. Though, I especially like how my hinges turned out. I really like that they actually lasted! My friend used metal hinges, bought from the store, and they broke, yet mine didn't! What my dad and I did was take a milk carton and cut it to an appropriate size, then screw it into the mask very carefully, to make sure the mask didn't break, and then ta-da! We made hinges! Because milk carton plastic is bendable yet sturdy it was a perfect substance for making a hinges. I personally thought that it was going to break, yet it didn’t! They were a great turn-out!!
- What are you the most proud of on your essay? The part of my essay of which i'm most proud of is the introduction. I really liked how well I described everything and how “smart” or “professional” I sounded. Like, when I used “aspect” instead of “thing” or “component” instead of “part”, little things like that. I also liked how I gave examples of what a target and agent are. I believe it is always helpful to give examples, so that a person can relate the the subject to better understand it. I felt that the introductory paragraph was clear and concise and i’m very proud of it.
- What was your biggest takeaway form this project? My biggest takeaway from this project is probably that socialization is a huge part in all of our lives. Before this project I didn’t even know what socialization was and what it meant, but as we got deeper into the subject I realized how important it was. I also realized some of the ways how I was socialized, stuff that I never realized before. At the exhibition not many of the adults knew what socialization is, it was cool how we knew that and they didn’t, it made me feel really smart. Now that I know what socialization is I see it all around us, and I am, also, more aware of who I am and what I am.
- Which Habit of Heart and Mind can you most improve on? One of the habits of heart and mind really have to improve on in the next projects and all the others upcoming is perseverance. Don't get me wrong I always finish my work, yet I do it at the last minute so its not to its fullest extent. I've done this with almost every project that I’ve worked on and I need to change for the better. How I was thinking of doing this is by having my mom check my planner with me every night. So that we know what we’re going to do and so that she can make sure I do it. I was also thinking f making my own dead -lines with certain parts of the project, so that way I force myself to finish something everyday. Thats how i’ll change!