Currently I am the Service Secretary for the Jackson Academy of Global Studies (JAGS). In this leadership role I am in charge of everything related to service that JAGS does. This year I have made it my mission to integrate service better into JAGS student lives so that we can have a bigger impact on our community and improve JAGS’s image. To do this I contact volunteer organizations and see if they need help. I then make sure JAGS students know about the volunteer opportunities. I am the founder and creator of a series of bi-weekly service videos highlighting organizations, teachers, and students doing great service work. These are sent out and shown in class, like a morning announcement. My idea is to show people doing service to try and incorporate service into the everyday highschoolers' lives and inspire them to do more service. I not only help organize this service, but I help to run large JAGS events, specifically the two volunteer days we run every year. This first one I helped to collect all donations for charity at Christmas time. Then everyone in JAGS helps to package these donations up. We are also going to a trail this year to help clean up trash and restore the trail as well.  

This represents the pillar "take action," as I am helping to actively volunteer and take action within my community. 

Abstract

As running participation grows and athletes push physical limits, there is an increasing demand for recovery methods to mitigate injury and fatigue. The purpose of this research study was to research the effectiveness of recovery slides, a popular recovery strategy amongst high school athletes, specifically within the context of high school distance runners. Existing research emphasizes that recovery is essential for high school athletes for both physical and psychological health, yet most studies focus only on medical-grade footwear and not commercially available slides. While foot biomechanics have been proven to affect the entire lower body kinetic chain, there is still a gap regarding whether specialty-designed shoes actually facilitate recovery faster when compared to normal everyday shoes. A mixed-method approach was decided on, using both a quasi-experiment and a survey in order to track perceived and physical recovery among 10 high school distance athletes over 48 hours. Physical recovery was measured through Countermovement Jump (CMJ) height using the JumPo 2 Mobile Application. Quantitative data on soreness and fatigue were collected through Google Forms. Statistical analysis of the post-workout CMJ using a paired t-test determined that the workout induced significant fatigue. However, the independent T-Test showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups at the 25 or 48 hour marks. Despite the lack of statistical significance, survey results reveal that the recovery group reported lower levels of perceived soreness and a high sense of perceived recovery by the 48-hour mark. The findings show that while recovery slides might not dramatically improve short-term recovery, they may provide psychological benefit and improve perceived comfort after a workout. The trend towards better performance in the recovery group over 48 hours might suggest that the use of recovery requires sustained use over a long time in order to yield more significant physiological benefits. This study addressed the gap in commercially available recovery footwear by using a CMJ in order to gain empirical data on recovery slides. Previously, this field had only been dominated by marketing claims, not science-backed research. By tracking high schoolers' recovery utilizing a mixed-methods design, this research bridged the gap between perceived comfort and physical recovery. Potential limitations included a small sample size and a potential placebo effect, as participants in the recovery group were aware of the intended benefits of their recovery slides. Furthermore, varying levels of fitness amongst the participants introduced physiological variables that may have influenced the rate of recovery. Despite physical recovery not reaching statistical significance, the trends in reduced soreness and perceived recovery suggest that recovery slides offer a psychological and comfortable advantage. These findings imply that recovery slides may provide a subject benefit and may enhance long-term recovery and well-being. 

This represents the pillar take action because I am not only researching results, but I am actively finding new results and putting it into the body of knowledge

In this project, we had to research the effects of Imperialism on certain parts of the world. I chose Africa and specified it to South Africa and the Congo, as these two specific countries have experienced lots of imperialism. I then had to explain the context of why imperialism happened in this area. I came up with my own metaphor, the "Dam of Imperialism." Then I had to discuss the effects of imperialism on both countries and point to a future direction in which they would go.

This is investigating the world as I am able tos see where many of the world's modern conflicts come from when looking at its history.