​For my capstone, I worked with Penelope Deoliveira to create a video game using Unity. The game is about people wondering around in a village once they enter the 4th floor of SLA. The 4th floor is known to be off limits. For fun, we created a story where a SLA student walks into the 4th floor and enters into a different world. The SLA student then roams around the village to collect the 5 core values of SLA, Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, and Reflection. After collecting the diamonds, representing the 5 core values, the student then fights the “Benchmark,” which is a monster voiced by a math teacher. To make it even better, we both went around the school looking for students and teachers to record their voices and put that into the game.

      We were inspired by this project because we both had prior knowledge in codings from our internship at Temple University. Our outside mentor is Michael Korostelev from Temple and he has been helping us with our video game project throughout the school year. We constantly get in contact with Michael through emails for help with our codings and to debug our codes.

     My role as Penelope’s partner is to research what tools we should use and where/what models to use for NPC and wrote some of the codes for the game. Penelope’s role is work on the environments and coding missions and scenes. We brainstormed a lot of ideas together and we were able to make an awesome game with the involvement of the SLA community.

Deep in the expanse sparkling sea, lives a drop-dead gorgeous mermaid, Maria. Some might call her a sea goddess. Traveling through the sea one day, Maria came across a strange and beautiful creature.

“What is this beautiful creature?” she asked herself.  

“Uhh...hi...please don’t hurt me.” the creature said, looking indirectly at her.

“It talks!” Maria was surprised by this creature “Hi there! What are you? I’m Maria, the most beautiful mermaid!”

The frightened creature looked back and forth as if there is some kind of suspicion. “Don’t be scared, little one. I’m not harmful.” Maria said calmly. Maria carried the creature up into the palm of her hands and said “I’m here to help. I’m the good mermaid.” Maria looked closely “Wow, you’re a cyclops with antennas and very small ears! ”

The cyclops was scared to be touched and fear overcame him. As the cyclops was in Maria’s palm, the cyclops rolled on his back with his face towards Maria. They made eye contact for the first time and the cyclops never knew it was a stunningly beautiful and good mermaid.

“Wow! You’re different. You’re stunning!” the cyclops said.

“Hi there! I’m Maria...again. What do I call you?”

The cyclops felt comforted knowing there was someone to accompany him. He felt safe. “You can call me Plathro, Maria!” The sunlight was dimming and the dark moonlight overcame the horizon of the sea.

Together, they both swam and explored the bottom of the clear sea. “Look at all these fish, Maria. There’s so many groups of them.” Soon, they could see something gloomy and cloudy approaching towards the frightened mermaid and cyclops. It was darker than the night.

”What is that? It’s getting closer and closer to us. Look, ” the cyclops said. “I have seen a lot of weird stuff on my planet, but this is something surreal, for sure!”

Maria was astonished and anxious to see what could lie in front of her. As the mysterious object came closer, Plathro quickly grabbed Maria away from the mysterious object.

“Maria, it’s the Meranias! Get away!” Plathro said.

“A what?”

“Meranias. They are a group of wicked mermaids who seeks brains for them to form a one big Merania, called a Megarania. They’re vicious. Watch out!”

Together, they swam through across the sea looking for coral reefs to hide under. “Hey look! We can get in there. Come on!” Maria said. Maria was thankful that the Merania didn’t chase them, but she wondered why.

“Whew! That was close. How come the Meranias didn’t chase us? I thought they saw us.”

“Meranias can only see at a distance when their eyes glow red, meaning they are getting ready to take your brains out,” Plathro said, “The Meranias that we just saw were nothing like the one I saw before. They have grown from a medicine called Yortamite, created by humans that makes them five times stronger.”

Many questions arose for Maria as she listened to Plathro.

“How did the Meranias retrieve the medicine?” Maria said.

“Ahem. It is a funny story actually. A group of doctors were fishing on this sea and one doctor thought he caught fish, but it was one of the Meranias. The doctor was pulled down into the sea and got his brains taken out by the Meranias. Other doctors on the ship were unaware that the doctor was kidnapped by the Meranias. It all happened silently.”

“Wow, thats crazy!”

“Yes, very. Then the Merania took out his brain and used it for their own benefits in making a Yortamite medicine to make them stronger. They used the information and knowledge of the doctor’s brain to make the Yortamite. Meranias.... just be a lookout for them at night. They have changed.”

That night, they slept and comforted each other inside the coral reef looking out for each other. It was only the beginning of their journey.

It was finally morning, after the adventurous night.

“I haven’t even asked you this, but why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be in space on some planet?” Maria said.

Plathro laughed through  his miniature ears.

"Why yes! I am suppose to be there, but some rocks kept on hitting my planets. I came to the only planet that has water because I was thirsty and here I am! All thanks to my newly built spaceship control, where flying is always at ease. My spaceship equipped laser gun helped me so much by shooting out the rocks that were in the way. Thank the lord for that!”

Maria couldn’t resist his personality and laughs non-stop.

“Oh, wow! You’re a funny alien, Plathro. I’m glad that I met you. If you’re wondering, I’m here searching for my lost sister. She’s a mermaid, like me.”

Plathro thought for a second and looked at Maria.

“Hmm. How was your sister lost at sea?”

“My parents are human and they had two marbles. I was a marble and my sister was a marble. The marbles separated when my parents threw them into the sea. They wanted me to search for my sister. My parents claimed it was some kind of ritual that good thing would happen to my sister and I, if I found her in sea.”

Plathro had a blank and grossed out face.

“That is some weird ass ritual! That’s the first time I heard that.” Plathro said. “Yeah, well that’s my story. I’m on a journey to find her. Would you like to join me, Plathro?”

“Yes! Now, let’s get this mission on!”

They set out to search the sea together looking for Maria’s sister. It was midday and all the fish were swimming around the beautiful sea. Sharks, catfish, clown fish, and even stingrays all joined together with Maria and Plathro. It was an environment where anything can happen, fish eating another fish, sharks eating other sharks. “Wow, look at that clown fish stalking another clown fish!” said Plathro. Maria laughs as that got her attention underneath her. Out of the blue, Maria saw a beautiful mermaid a cuddled up in seaweed. “She’s probably cold.” Maria thought to herself.. Plathro behind Maria’s draft as she went straight to the seaweed, cuddled mermaid. “Be careful, Maria.” Plathro warned her. “Meranias are pretty sneaky and cunning and their powers are impressive” Maria got to the mysterious mermaid.

“She’s beautiful! Look at her sparkling scales! Amazing!” Maria said.

“Oh my, yes. She is beautiful. Hey, how you doing you beautiful creature?”

Maria ignored Plathro’s flirtatious comment and went on untangling the mysterious mermaid from the seaweed. Both, Maria and Plathro, carried the mysterious mermaid back down to the coral reef, allowing her to rest.

“She was gentle for first impression. She’s not growling, her crystal eyes seems normal. Maybe she is Maria’s sister after all.” Plathro thought to himself.

He kept quiet and didn’t want to lose Maria’s hope for finding her sister.

“Look at her. Beautiful as you, she could be your sister.”

“Thank you, little one...,” the mermaid said, “I see that you all are in shock. I am Elizabeth the Second. Nice to meet you.”

Plathro stood still and amaze of how soft and beautiful her voice is.

“It’s uhh...very nice to-to-to meet you too...” Plathro said.

“Where are you from, Elizabeth?” Maria said.

Elizabeth looked straight ahead for a while and moments later she said “I am from here. I was born here. How about you? What’s your name?”

Maria wonders why she didn’t answer her right away.

“I am Maria and I am from here as well. I was born artificially from a marble that my human parents threw into the ocean. My sister and I were the only marbles that ever grew into a mermaid. We were the special ones. My sister is lost and it’s my goal to find her.”

“Maybe I can help you look for your lost sister, Maria. As a matter of fact it’ll be my honor,” Elizabeth said, “And you only have one eye. It must be hard to search for Maria’s sister with one eye.”

Plathro felt offended and humiliated.

“Yes. I know. I’m a cyclops. If I have two eyes, you would be in trouble.”

Elizabeth ignored him.

“Cyclops...hmph”

As the day went on, they continued to roam the sea together. In the middle of roaming the sea, Plathro asked himself how Maria would know if a random mermaid is her sister or not and why didn’t she confront Elizabeth if she is Maria’s sister or not. Maria saw that Plathro was not being himself.

“Hey buddy, you alright?”

Plathro sees the careness that Maria showed towards him.

“Yes, I’m fine. But how do you know if a random ass mermaid is your sister or not?”

“That’s a good question. See this circular bump under my chest? When me and a mermaid make our tails touch each other and this bump and her bump glows up, that mermaid is my sister.” Maria replied.

“That’s amazing. So you can never mistake anyone with your sister. That’s awesome!”

“It sure is!”

As the hours get farther into the night, Elizabeth went out on her on path and forgets about Plathro and Maria. Elizabeth swims towards a group of creatures that can only look so disgusting from many different angles. Their glowing eyes can be seen for miles in the sea.

“She is found. What is that we must do now?” Elizabeth said.

The creatures all looked at Elizabeth.

“You must now find a way to get her brains out, before she figure out that her sister is a Merania. We will die from her crystal tears if it comes in contact with us.” said Suranian, the leader of the Meranias.

The Meranias, including Suranian, all looked at the incomplete formation of the Megarania.

“We will serve you well, Megarania.  We’ll get you your brains...eventually...”

Maria and Plathro came to a realization that Elizabeth was missing.

“Where’s my beautiful Elizabeth, I mean Elizabeth?” Plathro said.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her ever since I came over and talked to you.”

Out of nowhere, Maria sees something miles away that appears very odd to her. She figures out that it is nighttime and the only thing that she could thought of at night are Meranias.

“Is that...a Merania?” Maria asked.

Plathro hears Maria and froze. He was speechless only until when the hidden object came closer to them.

“Wait a second, that’s Elizabeth. I recognized her beauty and feminine scent.” Plathro said.

Maria looked at him strangely.

“You know you’re underwater, right? There is no scent.”

“Yes but I can sense it from my underwater antenna. Duh!”

The object appears larger and larger to them.

“Swim!” they both said.

“Don’t swim away! It’s me, Elizabeth!” Elizabeth said while still panting for breath, trying to catch up to them.

Maria and Plathro felt a sigh of relief from the surprise appearance.

“Where the hell were you?” Maria asked.

“I was just lost in sea. Good thing I found you guys though.” Elizabeth replied.

Plathro sense that Elizabeth is up to something. His brain is tingling under his hardish cartilage.

“I feel a tingling in my brain, Maria. Something’s not good.” Plathro said to Maria.

Elizabeth felt shakened and shivers got to her spine all the way down to her fin. “What is it, Elizabeth?” Millions of thoughts and reactions came to Elizabeth but she is afraid. She had no response but to flee the scene, roaming the sea. “Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” Maria shouted. Nothing was heard and seen except the shadow of Elizabeth swimming away into the night sea.

Moments later, there was still silence from Elizabeth. No sign of her. Silence. Neutral. “So are we still on a journey, Maria?” Plathro said. “Yes. My sister is still at lost. I will have to come in contact with mermaids for this bump to glow up.” Nighttime was much longer for them now as they wonder what Elizabeth is. “Come on, Maria. Let’s go get your sister!” They both swam together just like how they first met.  

The night lit sky is about to diminish and sunrise is beginning to shine through the clear, blue sea. The night left them wondering into different parts of the sea as they exerted all their energy swimming frantically.

“Man, I’m tired. Aren’t you tired?” Maria asked.

Plathro still trying to keep his head and staying awake.

“Hell yeah. Been up looking out for Meranias ain’t fun. Plus, we increased our chances of encountering them because we been all over the sea last night. Good thing we didn’t swam into them.”

Maria took a sigh of relief and guided Plathro to a beautiful resting place. “Come on, Plathro. Let’s take a rest over there. It’s much more calming and soothing.” Maria guided him and took him over to the clamshell, where they can just relax and rest for their adventurous night.

“Do you mind sharing your clamshell with us, little creature? We just need a place to rest and this is the most comforting shell that we can find.” Maria said. The little creature was more than happy to share some space for Plathro and Maria. “Sure! Here you are, guys! Come, sit down.” the little creature said.

The clamshell was so comfortable that they slept there for the entire day, forgetting about the consideration of the little creature. All their stress and tiredness all dissolve as the slept the day away. They both woke up that evening confused. Plathro grunted as his tries to get up from the clamshell. He stretched out his antennas, arms, eye, and his two short legs. Just when his eye is stretched out, he noticed something odd.

“Woah, why is it so dark in here? Hello?” Plathro said.

Maria was woken up by the high-pitched voice and is confused just as Plathro is.

“We are still in a clamshell, aren't we, Plathro?”

Platero took a moment to feel the surroundings him and felt something slimy.

“Yep. We still in the clamshell. It got shut.”

“Ugh! It’s too tightly closed. I can’t open it,” Maria said, “what in the world was that? Does this thing have feet?”

A sudden tilt of the clam left Maria and Plathro unbalanced. The clam rocked back and forth, causing Maria and Plathro to fall side to side. “It finally stopped now. What in the world was- AHHHHHH” Plathro yelled. There was a sudden jolt of the clamshell and unpredictably, the clam was opened by a Merania. Maria grabbed Plathro and swam to the back of the clam trying to hide from the Merania. Maria recognized someone very familiar. “Elizabeth? Thank you for helping us out the clamshell.” Maria said excitedly. Maria and Plathro both grasp as they saw something very unusual and shocking. “What the? Swim, Maria! Swim away!” Plathro said.

Just as the moment that Maria that she was saved, Elizabeth transformed from a beautiful and innocent mermaid to a vicious and ugly Merania. “Roar!” Elizabeth screeched. Maria and Plathro flees the area and they could still hear the distant screeching from Elizabeth. “There’s more!” Plathro said as he looked behind, hoping to lose sight of them. Plathro stopped and sent out mixed signals from his antennas towards the Meranias, hoping they would lost track of where they are going. “What are you doing, Plathro! We must swim and keep on swimming....far!” Maria said. Plathro continued swimming away with Maria. “Maria...why is your bump under your chest flickering? It’s trying to glow. Wait....is your sister nearby?”

Maria thought of this was almost impossible because in order for it to glow, both Maria and the other mermaid has to make contact. Maria was surprised by the flickering bump. “Plathro...I need you to stay by my side. I am going to to swim around here to see if my bump will glow brighter. Look out for the Meranias.” Maria said.

Maria swam side by side with Plathro in different directions, hoping to get a stronger signal for her bump to glow up bright. “Come on, Plathro. We can complete our journey together. We’re really close to finding my sister!” Maria said. Plathro felt confident and proud of Maria’s perseverance. She never loses hope. Plathro thought to himself as to why he never has a family. No siblings, mother, or father.

“Straight ahead, Plathro.” Maria said.

“Okay!”

“It stopped glowing... Did we went too far?”

Plathro sees this and continues to have hope for Maria.

“Probably. Let’s go back and we’ll get a signal. Let’s go back to where your bump was flickering.” Plathro said.

They both went back to the original place, where it first started to glow. This time was different. “Plathro, it’s not glowing anymore.” Maria said. They were too focused on finding Maria’s sister that they had lost thoughts about the Meranias coming towards them. Plathro still wonders about his family. They both stopped swimming and thought about where to swim next.

“Wait! Maria! It’s glowing again. Flickering still.” Plathro said.

“Yes! That means my sister is probably swimming near us. Maybe we should just stay still...right here. We probably have been swimming around too much causing us to get further to my sister.”

They both set still, looking around for any signs of Maria’s sister.

Out in a distance, they saw some object swimming closer to them in the sea. More and more was coming towards them.

“Umm..Maria.. I think we should go. It’s not safe here anymore. They’re coming.” Plathro said. Maria frowned and looks down at her flickering bump. “No. I am staying here. My bump is flickering less and less. I am staying here.” Plathro looked towards the Meranias coming towards them. “Maria, they’re getting closer and closer to us. It’s only for our own safety.” Plathro still advising her to go. “Maria! Behind you!” Plathro shouted out to the top of his miniature lungs. “Ahhhhh!” Maria, in pain as she was struck from behind by a Merania. “Maria! Swim away!.” Plathro shouted. Plathro tries sending out mixed signals from his antennas. It was too late. They were already too close. There was no point. A Merania sees Plathro doing some sort of alien cult, attacked Plathro. Plathro tried to gain back his conscious and swim towards Maria. Plathro saw a Merania coming towards Maria. They both race towards her, like the angel and the devil. “Maria! I’m coming!” Plathro said, trying to gain back his conscious. The Merania came first and gripped Maria by the neck. Plathro stopped and watched Maria suffers in pain. “Maria....” Plathro said softly, almost in silent. Plathro looked at the bump under Maria’s chest. Tears dripping down his alien scale face. “How?”

Maria still grasping for the sake of her life. She was in tears. “Look....” Maria said softly, pointing down at the Merania’s chest, still trying to escape the grips of the Merania’s hands around her neck. The Merania looked down to her chest, then at Maria’s. Her grip loosens. Maria’s tears mixed in with the sea water. Other Meranias suffocating, like a virus trying to escape from the body. Plathro watched the many beautiful mermaids in awe. More and more mermaids swam around Maria. Once Maria’s sister got back to her normal state. They both came together and tears of joy from both of the mermaids were strong enough to kill Suranian. The crystal, clear blue sea, full of mermaids. “It’s over, Mary. I’m here now. You’re here.” Maria said gracefully.  Maria’s sister was blessed to find her lost sister. “Your tears...your beauty....it’s you.” Mary said while touching her face, smoothing out her cheeks from the tears.

“Oh I want you to meet somebody. He’s the one who has been helping me find you on this journey and of course running away from you guys...,” Maria said, “the Meranias.” Maria continued in a whisper in Maria’s ear. Plathro still there crying in tears of how joyful the reunion is. They both head over towards the crying alien. “Maria, this is Plathro.” Plathro was surprised at how beautiful Mary is. “Wow. You are beautiful...you guys are beautiful.” There lies a tale of a happy alien and two beautiful mermaids sister living in a vicious free world, the seaworld.

In life, there will be many changes ahead. Sometimes, you have to change for the better, but many people takes the path that leads them in the wrong direction. There are times where you don’t want to make the change because you feel uncomfortable about it or scared of people making judgements. For a better change, one must accept the consequences of it and live with it. Sometimes, developing a change can be the best decision you’ll ever make in your life. In addition, you’ll need to learn how to sacrifice the things you love to make this change. In this essay, I will be writing about my close relationship with my brother and how he has affected my life before and after he moved out from Philly to California in 2009.

When I was little, I remember my brother would come home from high school and he would buy me meatball subs like twice a week. They were delicious. We were very close and we would tell each other everything. On the contrary, I am a shy person and I didn’t like expressing my feelings or thoughts to whomever I’m around. However, with my brother, it’s different. I remember the time when I accused my brother for the bad things that I had done around the house. I blamed everything on my brother. But now, I feel guilty in doing so. Ever since the day he left to California, my life changed completely. That is because my brother was the only person that I was close with. He was always there whenever I needed him. When my brother left, I thought my life would change negatively because he was the one who has been guiding me towards my goals and I relied everything on him. When he left, I felt horrible, thinking of what my life would be like living without my brother.

Loneliness tried to overcome me day by day. But the memories of my brother was haunting me. I tried not to think of him, but the voices that I hear everyday from my family saying how much they miss him didn’t help my self-confidence in overcoming the memories of my brother at all. I always wanted to change for the better when my brother left. It was hard overcoming the change, especially if you live with people that always recall back details about the missing person. The only person that I could talk to overcome my loneliness was my brother. Back then, I wasn’t close with anyone, not even my friends or my parents. I rely mostly on my brother to be there and to help me out with things. This time, there wasn’t anyone to help me. I had to learn to be an independent person and it was definitely hard trying to be one.

I tried to see my brother’s departure as a good thing. Maybe he will live a better life there in California than in Philly. I try not to think of all the negative things when my brother is gone, which was my accomplishment as days goes by after his departure in 2009. I seldom look back at the times of our brotherhood. Instead, I attempted to learn to do things myself. I came up with a mindset that I want to become an independent person.  I believe this is the best decision that I have ever made. Although, I made some serious mistakes before, but I learn from them. We all learn by the mistakes we make in life. That’s how we gain experiences for the actions we do everyday.

In sustaining this change of becoming an independant person, I had to sacrifice and give in to a lot of new things. The first thing that I had to do was to ask more of my parents of the necessities that I may encounter. Usually, it’s my brother that I go to for the things I need. Although, I do ask my parents for stuff that is more significant. Other than that, I just simply go to my brother. But during the course of myself coming to a change, I had to learn to become more independent such as making my own choices. This is where everyone has to go through in one way or another when becoming a teenager. This is my way.

I started realizing that I was making my own radical choices as life progresses. Some were bad and some were good. I made a choice to stay committed to school and maintaining my personal life and social life. Making the choice of being committed to my schoolwork has been rewarding for me. This made me more noticeable in the family. I was a straight A student in middle school and teachers absolutely loved me. Of course there were some rough times during the school years, but I make the best of it. That’s what I was taught to do. It was hard trying to be on top of my game in school, when you didn’t have anyone at home helping you with your homework, unless you call a friend up. My parents didn’t know English. They went to school in Vietnam, their hometown. Therefore, everything was up to me, even the decisions that I decided to make, whether to not do the complex homework or to get help. I was independent.

At home, I was the one who would do all the chores and help around the house. There are times where I have to lead directions in a car to a specific destinations because my parents are bad with directions due to their lack of English. I was playing the role of my brother. Ever since my brother left, I was left in charge of cleaning and helping my parents out. Everything falls on me now. I have to take the role of my brother and myself. At first, I was irritated because of the many things I have to do. But in a way, I find the best of it. By having the role of my brother and myself, I learned to do things more efficiently and collectivity. It was kind of a benefit for me because I get to handle the jobs of what an adult would do. This helped me become a more organized and responsible person in life. I made the worst to become the best advantage for me. Sure, it is hard. But it’s life and I would have to learn these type of skills sooner or later.

A couple years after my brother’s departure, I knew that I was in good shape and I was heading towards the right direction. I started to realize that change is possible. I was able to make significant choices for myself in becoming an independent person. I learned that motivation and determination was the key to accomplish something big in my life.  I changed significantly from when my brother was still in Philly between now and present day.

At first, I didn’t think change was possible because it was such a big change to my life. I know that I would get over the fact that my brother is away, eventually. I just didn’t know when I would get over it. Turns out, it is possible. I became a better person through the hard times that I have been through and I learned from it such as learning about the things and responsibilities that I had to do in my house without my brother. I am glad for this change and for my brother departure’s. Because of my brother’s departure, I was able to learn on how to become independent and relying less on others. This was my way of change of becoming a teenager and a young adult.

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “Hitch”

“I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.”

(Act II, Scene i, 234)

"In token of which duty, if he please,

 My hand is ready, may it do him ease."

Throughout this school year, Mr. Block had introduced us with various assignments and projects from both English and History. At the beginning of the English course, we began with descriptive writing. It was one of the first assignment that was started right after summer break. From all the assignments and projects that was given, my personal favorite is the poetry writing unit. We wrote poems on a website called WikiSpace that is shared with the entire class so that we can read each others. Here is a link to my WikiSpace poem. My WikiSpace tells various stories from the many different poems. This is one of my personal favorite project of the year because I enjoy writing poems and expressing my ideas. It expresses my emotions and how I feel towards certain things that can be interpret through poems. One of the poems that I wrote is called an ode poem. “Private speakers,/ Small and high quality/ moving me into a different state of mind./ A nice one/ A calm one.” That was a stanza from my ode poem. My ode poem expresses my emotions towards my headphones because I use it everyday.

In History class, we wrote monologues about the XL Keystone pipeline. This is a first major project of the school year. In this project, I worked with another student and as a result of this project, it came out really well. After the monologues were polished, we asked other students to perform at least 5 of the monologues. This following quote of mine is from an introduction of the monologue project “With this intention, I created several monologues expressing how many people feel about the pipeline, and how I feel personally as well.” When we were first taught about the XL Keystone pipeline, I didn’t understand it very well. or how to react towards it. However, when doing the monologue project, it helped me understand the harsh consequences of the XL Keystone pipeline. Working with another student, helped me even further because we worked and brainstormed together to get the highest quality monologue as possible. To do that, we had to make a lot of researches about the pipeline. For me personally, working with a partner or a small group really helps me understand things a lot better in the classroom. For example, the Sweatshop Trial. The trial consists of students having a role of either the prosecutor or a defender from each group of labor in a trial of a classroom. Working collaboratively with my group members, I came up with a very strong question for the defender during the trial. The question was “How do you plan to use the profit made by your workers? In which their salary is much lower than the cost of the products that they make.” This question was towards the defender of the Multinational Corporations.  I came up with this question from the things that was taught in class and from what my group members said during the trial. Here is a link to the Google Doc that was shared among my group members on the Sweatshop trials. I enjoy working in small groups or with a partner because it takes me further in learning. If I were to work by myself such as the WikiSpace poem, I would try to get the highest quality made and pushing myself beyond personal boundaries.

One of my project that I’m most proud is creating a podcast about the people I know on crossing boundaries. This was an individual project. I interviewed a friend and my two middle school teachers that I had a really good relationship with. The podcast was over 45 minutes long from the 3 people I interviewed. I felt really proud of my interview skills. At first, when I first heard about the assignment, I really thought that I couldn’t do a 45 minute interview because I had never interviewed anyone before and it has to be over 45 minutes. I felt accomplished after the 45 minute interview. I had never done anything like this before and I pushed myself into developing this podcast. As a result of pushing myself, my podcast was successful. For the final draft of the podcast, it had to be cut down to 8-10 minutes. From the 45 minute interview, I removed all the unnecessary points, keeping the important details to become an 8-10 minute interview. The link to my podcast can be found here. The main thing that my interviewees talked about were about violence. The things they said are very similar to what I wrote in my journal entry for history, which can be found here. Based on what I wrote in my journal entry, I was able to go in further details about their experiences with violence in the podcast.

One of my journal entries that stood out the most deals with human inequality. The main question of this journal entry is “Why do humans so often treat each other badly?” This question is really deep because it makes me think about the things that are going on in our world today and even in my neighborhood. My response to this question is stating that because of hatred of race, culture, or it could simply just be the attitude. My full response can be found here.

In conclusion, I have learn and discovered many new things throughout this year. I learned that working in groups can bring out a lot of new things that an individual cannot think of. Working in groups brings out the best in individuals. If I were to work alone, I would push myself to bring out my best effort. Out of all the work that I do, I would try to be original as I can and pushing myself beyond my personal boundaries.