Freshman Firsts with JAGS
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: Saudi Arabia GO Night Examination
Completion Date: Second Quarter
Teacher: Mr. Preston, Mrs. Depriest, Mr. Marlet
JAGS Pillar: Communicate Ideas & Investigate the World
For GO night, I partnered with another JAGS student, Ava Brown, and we discussed the nation of Saudi Arabia. We focused on learning all aspects of the country's government, culture, and economic status. This was a hefty project, as we were expected to create a document with an overview of Saudi Arabia and a tri-fold board to demonstrate our work. This project helped us to investigate the world as we dove into Saudi Arabia. This was also such an interesting project as we had to connect the values and current events found in Saudi Arabia, it a completely different nation. Ava and I were paired with two students who focused on the nation of Argentina. We were able to connect our projects by communicating our ideas. Since the nations were so different (different government, culture, and economics), the only way we could connect the nations was their love for the game of soccer. Argentina during that period had just won the World Cup, and they had the best soccer player in the world: Lionel Messi. We were able to connect this with Saudi Arabia as they had just begun building stadiums to host the FIFA World Cup, and they had just begun a brand new soccer league. This project really helped me understand how connected every individual is, even if it's something as simple as the game of soccer.
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: League of Nations Review Sheet
Completion Date: Third Quarter
Teacher: Mr. Marlet, JAGS World History
JAGS Pillar: Communicate Ideas, Recognize Perspectives, Take Action, & Investigate the World
In my freshman year history course, we spent the majority of our year on four main topics: the Enlightenment & French Revolution, the League of Nations, World War I & II, and American history. This class was truly a highlight of my freshman year as Mr. Marlet emphasized interactive learning through games and competitions. The particular artifact I focused on was the end of the conference League of Nations review document. In this assignment, we were challenged to grade the League of Nations on its effectiveness and decision-making, why the League was hesitant to take action, and whether WWII was preventable based on prior actions. I chose this particular assignment as it was my favorite activity we completed. When learning about the league, we were given a fifty-page packet that we had to work together in tables to complete. The preface of the game was to learn about the league, the decisions they made, and their failures by role-playing as the league and guessing their decisions. I was able to connect the class overall and the League of Nations activity to all four pillars of JAGS. For communicating ideas, since we were forced to work in groups of four, communication was key to figuring out each puzzle and question. Communication was especially important during games when each person would be given a different hint or clue. It was also very important that we recognized the perspectives of each nation throughout the game in order to correctly guess their decisions and win the game. The last two pillars, taking action and investigating the world, connect as we have to investigate global history, politics, and current events to take action to maintain world peace and cooperation. Overall, the League of Nations made me a more globally minded student as I was able to learn more about world politics and history while becoming better at recognizing perspectives and working with others.
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: Genius Project
Completion Date: Second Quarter
Teacher: Mrs. Depriest, JAGS English 9
JAGS Pillar: Recognize Perspectives & Investigate the World
In Mrs. Depriest's freshman English class, we had the opportunity to create our projects based on something we truly enjoyed. For the project, we had to choose something we could do consistently for ten weeks and show our progress through pictures. We then had to create a presentation that showed our steps, successes and failures, and our overall reflection. For my genius project, I chose to focus on my love for baking. I tried a new way to bake muffins each week to try and create the best muffin recipe I possibly could. For the first few weeks, I would go on Pinterest and try other bakers' recipes to see what they thought the best recipe was. I then took each aspect of every recipe that I liked and used it to create the best possible recipe. However, I struggled at first with perfecting the measurements since each recipe was very different. In the end, I was able to find my favorite ingredients for banana chocolate chip muffins, and I made them for the class and my family. I connected this assignment to the pillars of recognizing perspectives and investigating the world. I recognized perspectives when I tried other recipes, and I recognized the perspectives of my family and what they thought was the best, since they were tasting my baking each week. I investigated the world through the different recipes I tried. For example, I tried a vegan recipe and different ingredients, which helped me to see what others liked and why. This assignment overall made me a better JAGS student as it forced me to take and apply feedback in my work, as before this assignment, I had difficulty accepting negative feedback on something I worked hard on.
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: Ireland Investigation
Completion Date: Fourth Quarter
Teacher: Mr. Preston, Biology
JAGS Pillar: Recognize Perspectives & Investigate the World
For the summit night, we completed a science-based project where we had to choose a country and investigate its current issues with climate change. We utilized Google Drawings to create a visual that we could share with the class and the other JAGS students. I worked on this project with my friend, Hannah Barda, and we researched the nation of Ireland because we both had ancestral roots in the nation. We researched the country for about a week so we could truly have the best understanding of Ireland and its largest issue. At summit night, we were able to bring attention to the issue of water pollution and climate change that Ireland is facing through discussions with other parents and students. We connected it to the JAGS pillar of recognizing perspectives. We learned about how Ireland's current issues with water pollution and the detrimental impact it was having on Ireland's citizens and their ecosystems/wildlife. We connected their pollution issue to the United Nations sustainability goal 6, which is clean water and sanitation for all, and goal 13, which is climate action. We also recognized the perspective of the Pine Marten and how they are an endangered species in Ireland. This is where we used our sustainability goals as well to see how we could help the Pine Marten remain a species in Ireland.
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: NSE Award
Completion Date: Third Quarter
Teacher: Senora Browne, Spanish 2
JAGS Pillar: Investigate the World
During my freshman year, I took Spanish 2 with Senora Browne. I enjoyed that class because I was able to have a deeper understanding of the Spanish language and the culture of different Spanish-speaking nations. I was also able to make a lot of friends in the class, as I was in a class with a lot of upperclassmen. Through this experience, I was forced to put myself out there more and be more extroverted if I wanted to make friends, which overall made me a better JAGS student. For Spanish 2, I chose my artifact to be my honorable mention award from the National Spanish Exam. For the NSE, you have to have a complete understanding of all the lessons and chapters from the specific year you are testing. So for this test, I had to have a complete understanding of four tenses, including when to use them and their proper conjugations, and I had to be able to listen and understand Spanish off a recording. For this specific test, I received my highest honor, which was the honorable mention award, and even though it wasn't the best I could do, I am still very proud of myself. I connected my Spanish 2 class to investigating the world. I investigating the world by looking into other Spanish-speaking nations. I learned a lot about Peru and Bolivia, their culture, attractions, and geographical features. One specific example I remember is when we investigated the role Lake Titicaca played in the economy, culture, and environment of Bolivia. This class made me a better JAGS student as I was more culturally knowledgeable and able to communicate with new groups of people. It also made me more open to meeting new people and making friends with people I do not have a lot of things in common with.
Name: Kate Delaney
Artifact Title: Heifer Global Village
Completion Date: Fourth Quarter
Teacher: Mr. Preston, Mrs. Depriest, Mr. Marlet
JAGS Pillar: Communicate Ideas, Investigate the World, Recognize Perspectives
Travel has been my favorite part of the JAGS experience, as there is truly something so special about learning about global topics outside of the classroom. Freshman year, we took a field trip to Heifer Global Village in Maryland. A few memorable memories that I made at Heifer were sleeping in the cabins with my friends, visiting the Flight 93 Memorial, being able to understand more about the people who gave up their lives, and cooking over a fire for my village family. I learned that I don't have to be a certain age to be a leader, but that I can be one now. I also learned how privileged and fortunate I am after being in the simulation. I learned that I can get along with others when there is a task at hand. I can take action in my community by organizing food drives and participating in those set up by others. I can also volunteer my time at local food banks and shelters. In the simulation, my country was Upper Mozambique.