Embedded Files
| Freshman Year |
ENGLISH
Our Personal Odyssey
After reading the Odyssey in our class, we were given the assignment to create our own “personal Odyssey” and present it to the class. We would choose 3 countries that we’d want to go to, find the flights and their prices, and plan out an itinerary for each day. I chose the countries of Ireland, Scotland, and Italy. I was a fan of Gaelic culture at the time and wanted to learn more about it, so Ireland and Scotland were obvious choices. Meanwhile, Italy was chosen due to my interest in Roman history. I researched the culture of each country and put a few points of information per country on the slideshow. These points were either traditions, sports, or just differences between the country’s culture and the United States’. One of the most interesting points I found was Gaelic Football in Ireland. It’s a more aggressive form of normal soccer, where the ball is heavier and the rules are altered to be more rough. Afterwards, I researched flight times and activities for each day to finish my slide and present it to the class.
The Odyssey Project was my first real experience with learning other cultures in JAGS. I had the opportunity to research the cultures of other countries and I found it extremely interesting. While researching Ireland, I found their culture was dying. Their language was only spoken by a select few as their native language and the pagan holidays which the country usually celebrates loses meaning every year. For Scotland, I was able to learn more about their relationship with England as a part of the United Kingdom, something I was unfamiliar with as a 14 year old. I was also able to learn more about the legal system in the United Kingdom. For Italy, I was able to learn about Southern European Culture, how slow life is and how important family is there. After learning about each of these countries' cultures, I exhibited the Recognize Perspectives performance outcome.
HISTORY
Model League of Nations
For the entire year of Freshman World History, our teacher had used games to portray political decisions of world leaders from the french revolution to the cold war. While many of them involved group work or negotiation, the league of nations was important for one reason. That reason was it involved all three class periods to participate in. The goal of the game was to work in groups and simulate the decisions of the league of nations. Groups would vote on what action they would want to take after a specific event occurred and then later vote on what they believed the actual league of nations did. It was a great precursor to the introduction of Model United Nations in junior year by showing how diplomacy can be handled from different country’s perspectives. For this assignment, I chose to be part of the Finland group.
The team I was in consisted of four people who all had varying opinions on the topics we had discussed in the class. Furthermore, I had never met any of these people before. Because of this, there were a few arguments between me and my other group members on what answers we should choose. When it came to our policy actions, we had disagreed on how to act towards our aggressors. I would want to vote for actions that called for more aggressive moves to be taken on country’s which were dangerous to Finland, such as the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, my other team members wanted to take a more peaceful approach towards diplomacy. In the end, we would come to a conclusion, either by one side of the argument giving up or making a compromise vote. While we were not the best at the game by a long shot, this group effort was influential to me as a Freshman because it taught me how to be more capable of speaking to people who I am unfamiliar with and being able to recognize when I’m wrong.
WORLD LANGUAGE
San Fermin Festival
At the conclusion of our first year of Spanish class, we were assigned to work in duos to create a presentation about an aspect of Spanish or Latino culture. Me and my partner decided to present the San Fermin Festival, a festival in July in Spain dedicated to Saint Fermin. The presentation went over each day and an event that happened during the festivals. The first day began with fireworks and the second day began with a religious ceremony. The San Fermin Festival is the origin of the bull runs and the bullfights in Spain. At the end of the presentation, my partner and I showed a video of the beginning of the festival, where fireworks are shot off into the air.
I learned a lot about Spanish culture during the research of this presentation. I was well aware of the bull runs and bull fights but I was completely unaware of their historical background and origins. I think that most Americans would have no idea about the San Fermin festival and how it’s where these hugely known aspects of Spanish culture, at least in the eyes of an American, originated. For these reasons, I effectively displayed the Investigate the World aspect of the JAGS Program
Science
Russia and China Comparison
As our first big JAGS project, our freshman class was assigned to create a presentation comparing two countries of our choice. Our group chose China and Russia to compare in our presentation. The presentation covered both country’s history, current events, and government systems. I researched the history of it and presented the Chinese Civil War and how the Chinese Communist Party came into power and became a global power which rivals the United States. After our presentation was complete, our group would present our findings to parents on GO Night.
This project was my first experience of public speaking in high school. I was very nervous throughout the presentation but I still managed to muster up the confidence to present my portion of the presentation to parents. Through this, I was able to learn how to be a better public speaker and also learned how to effectively research global issues. This was my first experience with what the JAGS program really did, and it was exciting. I was happy to get any opportunity to research history and governments, two things I’m passionate about. These initial JAGS projects were greatly enjoyable to me in Freshman year because I loved learning and talking about geopolitical issues.
Co-Curricular
Russia and Ukraine Country Investigation and Comparison
Our first Summit Night project for JAGS was to make a poster and slideshow about two different countries and compare their geopolitics and history of their relations between one another. My group chose to compare Russia and Ukraine, two countries which, at the time of this project, were having rising tensions that would eventually lead to a full on invasion a year after this presentation was complete. Our infographic covered the brief history of Russian and Ukrainian relations from Chernobyl to the invasion of Crimea. At GO Night, we would present these infographics to parents and teachers and answer any of their questions about the relations between the two countries.
During the creation of this presentation and infographic, our group researched an immensely important global issue, that being the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. We were able to recognize the issues and spread awareness to parents about how Russia has been taking advantage of Ukraine. Through doing this project, I was able to learn how to recognize global issues better and how to converse with people who I am unfamiliar with. This infographic and presentation was a great finish to my JAGS freshman year and prepared me for investigating global issues in Model UN.
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