Embedded Files
| Junior Year |
English
Seminar IWA: State of the Roma in Europe
The goals of AP Seminar’s Individual Written Argument assignment were to choose a research question and investigate multiple perspectives solutions to said question. Then, the assigned students are to create a 2000 word essay on the research question. For my IWA, I chose to investigate the Roma ethnicity in Europe. The question I would examine is how the Roma culture was preserved by either their own actions or outside influences. The essay would look at 3 historical perspectives, looking at how the Roma in each of the historical countries mentioned managed to preserve their culture. The three perspectives were Hungary, Romania, and Spain. After examining the perspectives and the history of the Roma people in each country, I had come to the conclusion that the Roma’s survival was mostly influenced by a divide between the Roma and European cultures enforced by legislation.
Through my IWA, I expressed the Investigate the World ISSN domain. I read through historical records about events involving the Roma in each country I investigated. By observing the different perspectives, I could create conclusions on how the Roma in each of these countries managed to preserve their culture; whether that be through governments, decrees, or just the Roma themselves. I was able to effectively investigate the world and determine, through its history, a topic which is relevant today. I learned a lot about the Roma people and their history during this IWA and have been able to more accurately understand their socio-economic issues in the modern world.
History
Model UN Freshman Reflection
The Freshman Model UN began on Thursday, March 2nd. On Thursday, we focused on teaching the Freshman the complexities of being a delegate in Model UN. We handed papers out to them with example directives, example motions, and a game which would come into use later. The day started off with us beginning a roll call and, after that, we gave them an example crisis which could be used for the day to give the Freshman examples on motions and directives. We then moved into motions. I was one of the daises during a portion of the first day, meaning I would help teach the Freshman how to participate in Model UN. During the motions explanation, I was part of the dais.
Me and a few other students explained the several motions which a delegate can make in the MUN Chamber. We directed them towards the papers that were handed out at the beginning of the day, which had around 12 different motions on it with explanations of their purposes. I then talked about voting on motions and the process a motion would go through before it could be approved. We then moved through teaching directives, signatories, moderated caucuses, unmoderated caucuses, and voting for the next few periods. I contributed a small amount to teaching directives but, outside of that, my participation in teaching during that day was over. We ended Thursday off with a mock crisis revolving around the train derailment in East Palestine, which I helped my assigned Freshman through.
Friday, the second day, involved the actual crisis league event which we were preparing the Freshman for. Initially, I was not part of the dais but after the initial introduction I was pulled down. After that, I served as one of the main dais until the end of the Crisis. I spoke to the freshman delegates about updates to the Crisis, called on motions in the chamber, and did everything else a dais would usually do during a Crisis League. We organized an event in the middle of the Crisis League where one of the delegates would be taken away by Mexican Cartel members and in the end set the earth towards World War III. The second day was where I shined the most. I was always at the front of the room talking to the Freshman or helping the other dais members figure out our next choice.
When looking back at the entire event, the first day was definitely the less organized out of the two parts of the Crisis. There were too many people on the Dais teaching the Freshman and none of us knew what we were going to say. Some of the dais were at the point where they were reading off of the papers we initially handed out since they ran out of things to say, which upset me because the information they were providing through it wasn’t making sense to the freshman. There were times when I didn’t get the opportunity to say anything at all because we ended up moving on and not explaining a portion enough. Between the first and second periods of the first day, we realized that we weren’t giving the Freshman enough time to read and process the information we provided them. I think while we tried to fix it, it didn’t end up working because from the Freshman I spoke to, they still ended up being confused. I think all the dais that day could agree that we could’ve done better that day. The second day was much better though. While it wasn’t completely organized, me and the other dais ran with what we had and even altered some of our plans so that it would fit what the Freshman wanted to do with the crisis. I didn’t expect for the Freshman crisis league to give me more insight on Model UN, but having enough Dais members who are free enough to discuss and create entirely new stories for the direction the delegates wanted showed me something that I would definitely want to see be done again in future crisis leagues. One thing I learned during this experience was improvisation. I didn’t know I was going to be a Dais during the actual Crisis. I was under the impression that I would be laying back, helping my Freshmen work on directives that day, but there ended up being some complications which led to me becoming one of the main daises. I had been a dais in a crisis league before so I wasn’t confused on what to do, but I certainly was not prepared for the crisis we were hosting. When the Junior class was preparing for this crisis, I was involved in working on the teaching schedule for Thursday, so I had no idea what was going to happen on the crisis day. Fortunately, I was able to improvise and be the best dais I could be. In Short; I think that, while the first day of the Crisis League went poorly, the second day went better than I could have ever expected it to be. We showed the Freshman how to be a good delegate and from how they performed on Friday, I think we taught them well.
Spanish
La Familia Talent Show
In our Spanish class, we were put into groups of four during the entire year called familias. In those groups, we would learn spanish terms through creating scenarios for our familia in different projects that were assigned. One of these projects was conducting a talent show to “raise funds” for our groups. The talent show would have each group come up with some sort of talent which they’d do for the class and, at the end, there would be a vote by the class over who won. Our familia chose to do a strong-man show, where one of the members of our group would grab a cartoonishly heavy fake dumbbell and struggle to slowly deadlift it into the air. The lift would be dragged out as other familia members would watch in awe. Meanwhile, I played the role of the ringmaster, where I would introduce the crowd to the strongman and present the show to them.
Through the construction of the project, I worked with my group to create a working script, assign roles out to group members, and add spanish terms that we’d have to use in our script. In these discussions, I was able to effectively communicate my own ideas for how to construct this talent show. At the same time, I was able to accept the ideas of my other group members rather than push them to the side for my own ideas. I worked as a member of the group rather than a leader and pulled my weight effectively by constructing props and acting out my lines well.
Economy
Macroeconomics Unit 6 International Trade and Finance
Macroeconomics Unit 6 is an AP Macroeconomics unit which focuses on international trade, foreign exchange markets, and the effects of domestic and foreign production on the standard of living of American consumers. It taught students to graph the foreign exchange rate and demand for foreign currencies to determine the shifters of either curve. Through this graph, students are able to determine if currencies have depreciated or appreciated over time. Another concept of this unit is how interest rates have an effect on import and export ratios. Overall, the focus of this lesson is to understand the functions of trade between countries on the average population.
The average American household, the domestic producer, the foreign producers, and international governments are all perspectives which are emphasized in this unit. Unit 6 is generally built around recognizing the perspectives of different countries to understand how their country and its citizens react to changes in foreign currencies and foreign markets. For example, as Americans desire more and more Japanese products, more Japanese yen will be purchased in the Foreign exchange market. Through the understanding of international communities and their market demands, I have gained skill in the ability to recognize different international perspectives.
Co-Curricular
Walk for Freedom
Human trafficking is one of the worst global issues occurring in the world today. Human trafficking rings exist all across the world and an estimated 28 million people are being trafficked at any given time. Because of this, it is our responsibility as JAGS students to stand up against this injustice. At Walsh University, JAGS students arrived to watch a lecture over the dangers of human trafficking in Ohio and the world while also learning the process of rescuing these people. Afterwards, we were given signs which we had all previously made ourselves and would walk along the streets outside of the university so that people passing by would be able to see our message.
It’s possible that more than a hundred people saw our posters that day; and it’s also possible that some of those cars passing by went home with a higher understanding of the dangers of global human trafficking rings. I learned more about Human Trafficking to understand the issue more and stood up with my fellow classmates against a global issue. We walked along the streets informing many about the horrors of human trafficking. For this reason, I displayed the Take Action pillar of the JAGS Program.
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