GCS Coursework

Design Thinking:

This course was a semester elective that taught us to think critically about real world issues and find possible and real solutions to them. One of my favorite projects was creating a way to help people adapt to the declining water supply the Colorado river region. We talked to people from the area via email and conducted research about average rainfall, water retention of the area, how mucch water is used in each city, and how the land is protected. We then brought our idea to a smaller scale 3D model allowing us to see any failures or succeses in the design. This project and class taught me a lot about trial and error along with how research impact certain descisions or designs.

AP Environmental Science

In this full-year course I learned about several pollutants, biomes, organisms, farming techniques, and more with a cause and effect focus. Everything I studied had a either a negative or positive effect which I was then taught to apply to ecosystems and climate change. By the end of the year it was clear that there were many harmful effects that were anthropogenic (caused by humans). One of my favorite units studied was based on Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification. This unit taught me about how harmful chemicals can be easily carried up the food chain and how bigger organisms, such as humans, can suffer. It also showed that if an organism requires more food it is more susceptible to being exposed to chemicals which in turn impacts the bigger and sometimes predatory animals in an ecosystem causing that ecosystem to become unbalanced. I found it interesting that some change so slight can have such a huge and devastating impact on everything not just animals. It taught me a valuable lesson that although humans seem to not be suffering directly by the impact of pollution, we are not exempt from any of it no matter how distant it might seem.

AP Comparative Government

This class covers many world governments looking at social, political, and economic situations in many countries.

Ceramics 1

Along with making projects we look into other art from other cultures and see how we can incorporate or learn from it.

World Religions

This course looks at religions from Yoruba tradition to Hinduism to Catholicism. The course covers a lot and for each religion we look at texts, holidays, and ways of worship.