Legalize it! The Eleventh State

     For the winter term, I'm taking a class called Equality. In the course, we learn about the history behind societal dynamics and how they affect people within their groups or personal identity through race, class, and gender. I saw many different cases of inequality and individual perspectives on the topic. My classmates and I read Case for Reparations by Ta Nehisi Coates, this was something that I've never looked into before or even had the opportunity to learn about. With looking at different historical events and impacts, as an Action Project I had to follow the guiding question of “How can you retell history?”.
     In recent news, marijuana has been becoming more regulated and decriminalized in the media as well as medical spaces. As of January 1st 2020, recreational use of marijuana became legal in Illinois. I think that it's interesting being able to witness something that was once banned on a federal level slowly become legalized for recreational use. Through this Action Project, I used historical research and perspectives of affected people to make a textbook entry of the legalization of cannabis in the united states but more specifically Illinois.

Curriculum SWOT Analysis

For the winter term, I’m taking a STEAM course called Social Entrepreneurship and you. So far, we’ve completed the majority of our first unit: "Organize", which was focused on behavior through individuals and groups. During this first unit, we had a very rich internal investigation. I was introduced to a number of different concepts like I-O Psychology (Industrial and Organizational Psychology) and I learned how to solve equations with complex numbers.

In class, my classmates and I took a few personality tests: the Myers-Briggs test, TKI Conflict, and the Big Five. I’ve completed the Meyers-Briggs test before and according to my results, I am an INFP (which surprisingly was the same as when I took it years ago). With the results of these tests, I saw a common theme between them all, being that I am more of an empathetic, creative, and introverted person. Reflecting on my results from all tests, they weren’t that surprising and as a senior, I’ve seen these work for and against me throughout my high school experience. At GCE, I’m not only able to, but encouraged to integrate creativity into my learning experience. One of the biggest ways that I’ve done that is through action projects and independent studies. From my experience here, our curriculum helps me with using all of my strengths and weaknesses to get the most of what I need out of the classes. The teachers are a great help with that and it'c commonly encouraged to do so "It's you're curriculum, not just a curriculum in a perfect world" says my STEAM teacher, AMD. In addition to being able to grow in that area, I’ve also been able to grow in a social aspect as well, although I am introverted, at GCE I've learned to be more comfortable with expressing myself and actively being apart of a close community like we have here.

For the external investigation of this unit, we prepared for our Action project by compiling a SWOT chart (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) as well as interviewing different members of GCE’s community. For the Action Project, the guiding question was “How can we improve our school?”. To answer this question, I completed a SWOT analysis of GCE’s curriculum as well as a proposal of how we could improve the individual student experience at our school.

 

After completing a SWOT analysis of the curriculum at GCE and assessing how the curriculum covers Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I talked with a couple of students and staff members and collected some additional information. With this information, I mostly took away that students desire to get more out of their classes based on where they’re at. I spoke with two students about the curriculum at the school and both of them had something to say about the pace of the classroom. One of my classmates, being at GCE for all 4 years had things to say about the rigor and coverage of what we’re learning. “I think that it isn’t rigorous enough. I think that there are a lot of good things about it (the curriculum), it teaches you to think differently, it teaches you to question why you’re learning it but it definitely misses on the key aspects ... it’s scary to me to know that my high school education isn’t as good as it could’ve been.” -CM. Another one of my classmates had related opinions on the curriculum, “Sometimes I feel like we could spend more time on certain subjects to get more familiar with some of the traditional subjects so that I feel more secure with the transition between high school and college” -TM.

I wasn’t surprised to hear things like that, as it has come up before in classroom discussions. With this information, I came to the conclusion that although we are all exposed to the same coursework, students should be able to feel comfortable about what they're learning as well as how it's going to benefit them. There were a number of improvements that I thought would be beneficial to the curriculum design like an Individualized Student plan, a better way to collect student experiences and feedback, college and or post-graduation prep classes, more test prep classes, and alternative assignment opportunities. 

A SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) goal is a system that helps make sure goals are practical and digestible. As a senior, I’ve finally completed all my college applications and seen my peers go through the process as well. I feel like I had a very good support system through my family, GCE counseling, and an extracurricular program. With knowing all that I do now, the best improvement plan that I would say is to have it required that students take two workshops focused on post-graduation exploration and preparedness. This year I took a workshop “Personal Branding 101” which focused on us presenting ourselves the right way to prospective employers and college counselors. Towards the end of the class, we focused mostly on college applications. This class was helpful and I’m glad I had the time to do those things during my school days, however it would be more beneficial to have classes based solely on college prep as well as alternative options. Here is my improvement plan based on the SMART acronym as well as my experience.

Proposal: Provide 2 required workshops for students to educate and prepare for life after graduation. The first course being towards the end of junior year and the second being at the beginning of senior year.

Specific- Facilitate 2 workshops for upper class students, that exposes students to the opportunities that could rise after graduation and helps guide the students through college prep/planning.

Measurable- This would be required for each student and treated as an actual course. 

Achievable- We have the resources and connections to provide to students, Staff is already a big support for students, it would be more beneficial if provided structurally. 

Relevant- GCE actively wants students to be prepared for “the real world” and having these workshops, it would add more college prep that students need and desire during this process. It’s important to stress that these would not ONLY be for college prep but as well as a place where students can learn about alternative paths and ultimately be aware of what’s best for them after graduation.

Time-Based- I think that this is something that could start next year, given the fact that this year we have already started exploring more options for college prep classes through the Personal Branding workshop.

As far as my role in this plan goes, I plan on giving more feedback on this subject and getting more opinions from other seniors in my class so that the seniors and juniors next year would have more support from GCE than we got. I believe that this plan could help so many students be more confident in what they want to do and how to go about it. I’m glad that I was able to use a lot of my personal experience while coming up with this goal. For me, my process has been pretty smooth compared to some of my other peers only for the fact that I’m apart of a college-prep/development program. Not everyone has accessibility to that and as a school, we could do better with providing that support in a more foundational way. I’m also glad that this could potentially help students in the
future.

Citations: 

SL interview  MW. January 30, 2020.

“INFP in depth”, Truity, https://www.truity.com/personality-type/INFP

AMD talks. MW. January 31, 2020.

“Our Values”, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, https://gcelabschool.org/about/

TEM: on curriculum. MW. January 30, 2020.

CM Interview. MW.. January 30, 2020.

Professional immersion with LightThink

At my professional immersion experience, the mission of what I’m doing with LightThink is to make meaningful design. At the beginning we started somewhere completely different to where we are now and where we plan on going. We’re creating new ways to look at GCE and Chicago as a whole. Along with my coworker and host, we come up with different ways to look at a problem and how we can solve not only that problem alone but other problems connected as well. I usually don’t like history but through this experience, I’m learning that what I educate myself on can spark new ideas and help me in the long run, this has made me more patient. 

In this P.I.E, I’m also learning valuable business, entrepreneurial skills which I think would 100 percent help me in the future. My biggest takeaways would have to be paying attention to detail and focusing in on things, even if it isn’t completely engaging. A lot of times, I found out that what we’re learning is easily applicable to a widespread audience, and not just what I’m doing. I will use these skills to be bold with what I do and make it into something big and limitless.Innovation and thoughtfulness has been something that has been the backbone of our process. 

Shadow affairs within the US economy

The United States Economy is a complex system. There are many things that go into our economy running well or possibly recessing. I was able to learn what it means to be a part of a system for my Economics, Risking Value course. During this unit, we looked at a book titles “Doughnut Economics - 7 ways to think like a 21st-century economist.” by Kate Raworth. In order for my classmates and I to comprehend each principle, we each learned one and taught it back to each other. I had the fourth chapter, “Get Savvy with Systems”. As well as learning about doughnut economics, we had an external investigation to visit Rheaply, a business built on the concept of having a circular economy. To apply all of the things that I investigated, I elaborated more on an economic perspective. The perspective that I chose was something that I thought about a lot during this course, which is shadow affairs and corruption with the United states economy.

Shadow affairs within the US economy

Summery:
        Whether it's abuse of power or illicit activity, shadow affairs are activities that aren’t accounted for officially in the United States Government or overlooked. This principle will specifically cover exploitation of wealth and power as well as other factors such as fraud, drug transactions, and government corruption. Although black market transactions and wall street transactions seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, both can end up being detrimental to everyone else and our economy as a whole. Ultimately, shadow affairs need to be brought into light to have a somewhat fair economy.

MW, Iceberg of the Economy, 2019

Further Context:

        In Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth talks about how we need to get savvy with systems. Throughout the book she pushes the idea that our thoughts and everything that we know about economics should be questioned.

        Shadow affairs within the US economy is pushing a similar narrative. The underground economy consists of the black market, smuggling, unreported income and more. This actively harms our economy by tampering with official statistics that’s used to determine taxes.

        Black market transactions aren’t the only thing harming our economy. We’re made to believe that the white collar workers on Wall Street are helping our economy grow but its causing more harm simply through their capitalistic traits, often overlooked by the government. There are too many factors that are negatively affecting our economy and there’s no way we will be able to rightfully thrive unless we rethink and directly address these issues. Raworth says “It’s time to stop searching for the economy’s elusive control levers and start stewarding it as an ever evolving complex system.” I believe that we are so used to questioning what so obviously wrong, powerful individuals and institutions have gotten comfortable with the idea of exploitation but what about the unethical role that private banks and financial institutions have in harming our economy? According to the BIS (Bank for international settlements) when private credit becomes larger than the GDP, it slows productivity growth. According to the World Bank data, private credit has reached as high as 206% of our GDP within this decade. This is just one of the many serious indications that we have to holistically account for all things affecting our economy.

       This project seemed simple on the surface but just as the illustration shows, there was more beyond that. As I kept researching different subjects that would add to my principle, I fell down the rabbit hole.The reason that I chose to do my project on this is because I wasn't familiar with any theories or principles that was based on the shadow economy or economic exploitation. This made it harder to put what I wanted to say in words and research my ideas. Nevertheless, it was stimulating to build my argument as if I were a 21st century economist. There are so many things that go into an economy and that’s what this class has taught me. I think the best part of this project was how as I kept researching, I was able to put together information that I learned during a course I took last year called Policy.

Citations-

1) Cecchetti , Stephen Enisse Kharroubi G, and Enisse Kharroub. “BIS Working Papers No 381 Reassessing the Impact of Finance on Growth .” Https://Www.bis.org/Publ/work381.Pdf, Bank for International Settlements, July 2012.

2) “Domestic Credit to Private Sector (% of GDP) - United States.” Data, 2018, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FS.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS?end=2018&locations=US&start=1960.

3) “Plans: Elizabeth Warren.” Plans | Elizabeth Warren, https://elizabethwarren.com/plans.

Earl Sweatshirt: A Voice of the Generation

The following podcast is my final Action Project for my Journalism course. For the third and final unit, Sound , we focused on Audio journalism. The intentions of this project is to represent “The life of a voice” and their impact just through sound. I chose Earl Sweatshirt, a 21st century musical artist. For this podcast, I included recordings of 2 of my peers and used multiple soundbites to enhance the quality and entertainment of the project.

Preferably, follow along here or down below

I’m pleased with the way this project turned out. I think this is my best project for the Journalism course. My biggest hurdle was deciding what information to include. Earl sweatshirt is one of my favorite artists so I have a lot to say about him. I had to look outside of my perspective and really try to think of what someone else would want to hear in order for this to be an easy listen. As always, I enjoyed discussing with other people about Earl sweatshirt. I did feel like sometimes it was tedious and if I were to do it again I would include more personal information or stories and less about his discography. In the end, I was really glad to see everything come together.

Pitchfork, "Earl Sweatshirt Does Not Exist", 2018

The Meaning of Your Life

Photographs impact our lives greatly. In my journalism course, my classmates and I explored different influential photographs and how they tie into being a journalist. There’s a lot that goes into taking a photo. In class, we learned about the different components of capturing something, those being: aperture, shutter-speed, focus, composition and the rule of thirds. For an external investigation and to test our abilities, we went outside of the classroom and used our own cameras to take photos while being aware of these different properties. To apply what I've learned in this unit, I did a project on the meaning of life.

I’ve never heard a clear meaning of life that applies to everyone across the board. There are too many circumstances and too many perspectives to have a clear cut meaning. For this project, I interviewed the people I am surrounded with. I talked with them about their identity and what their world looks like, ultimately leading up to me asking each person “What is the meaning of life?”

The Meaning of Your Life, AP2

     

After interviewing my peers, I still don’t think that there is a clear meaning of life but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. Just like if you ask someone “what is love” there wouldn’t be a clear definition. Intentionally, each interview was as natural as I could make it. It was interesting to learn more about my friends and how they view the world.

Assumptions of my future

Life is full of making decisions. Soon I will be making some of my most impactful decisions. What will I do after I graduate? How will my decision affect me financially? These questions are not easy to answer with so many options. For my Economics class, I’m learning about risks, opportunity costs, and how they affect an individual as well as a collective. My classmates and I went to Lyft and learned more about the market of a ride-share company. We also went to the Chicago Ideas week and listened to professionals talk about algorithms and big data. These experiences were both connected with this class and gave me insight on our economy as a bigger picture.

As a senior, I have a few ideas of what I want to do and how to get there but for this Action project, I focused on 2 completely different career and educational pathways so I can have some ideas on what's accessible and possible for me.

If you want to look at my choices more in depth, click here, or you can continue reading.

Econ AP1, MW, 2019

For both pathways, I made some assumptions.

If I were to go to Scripps college for an undergraduate degree in neuroscience, I assumed that:

- I will receive $35,00 in financial aid and $5,000 in scholarships.

- I will stay on campus all 4 years

With these assumptions, the cost of attending this school would be $168,264

(Year 1- $33,642

Year 2- $41,778

Year 3- $44,869

Year 4- $47,975)

To pay off the loans, it would take 16 years and my true cost, including the compounding interest would end up being $201,123, including $32,859 of interest. Here's a link to the full chart. 

 Becoming a psychiatrist 

Assuming that I would become a psychiatrist, I calculated my lifetime earnings.

MW, LIFETIME EARNINGS, 2019

Lifetime earnings chart

This shows my salary going up as the years go by. The blue, red, and yellow lines represent my entry, middle, and senior level salaries. The cost of living increases so it only makes sense that my pay will increase too. In total, my lifetime earnings would be

Here is the supply of demand of psychiatrist

MW, Psych SD, 2019

This shows the employment and wage rise that is expected in the next 10 years as well as where it is now.

If I were to go to The New School, I assumed that:

-I would receive money from multiple sources (scholarships and student aid options)  adding up to around $50,000 

-I will stay enrolled into this school until I graduate 

-I will stay on campus for all 5 years

- I will be attending the BA/BFA Lang/Parsons program

With these assumptions, the cost of attending this school would be $140,194

(Year 1- $23,642

Year 2- $25,778

Year 3- $27,975

Year 4- $30,236

Year 5- $32,563)

To pay off loans for The New School, it would take 16 years as well. This leaves me with the true cost of $191,193 including $50,999 in interest paid. Here's a link to the full chart. 

Becoming an Art Director

If I become an Art Director, here is my intended salary and lifetime earnings.

Total Entry	269722.1687
Total Mid	987059.1107
Total Senior	7328860.989
Lifetime Earnings	8585642.268

Lifetime earnings chart 

Here is the supply and demand of Art Directors. 

MW, SD Art Director, 2019

The growth rate is 1%, so the change is very small, the two lines represent that 1% growth for the next 10 years. 

While doing this AP, I was able to get more insight on one of the career paths. I talked to a doctor, who happens to be a friend of my mom's. The doctor that I talked to wasn't a psychiatrist exactly but I wanted to know if they enjoyed their life as a doctor and if they would ever go through all of those years of school again? "I absolutely would go through everything again, even though it wasn't fun, it was rewarding. I love being a doctor now." Dr. ED told me. I then asked him for advice and he left me with "You need to be disciplined, Study hard, be positive, and always remember why you started" 

With this information, I don't have a final decision of what I would want to do. Both paths have pros and cons. Ultimately my biggest takeaway was the amount of money an education costs. With both paths, the school costs aren't that much different but my salary cost had a substantial difference.

I compiled some pros and cons of each path 

The New School, Art Director

The pros of this pathway:

Graduate with 2 degree's

Be in a city that will be easy to get this career after graduating

The cons of this pathway:

Really expensive true cost

Scripps college, Psychiatrist

The Pro's

High Lifetime earnings

More education options

The Cons

Longtime payment

Longer school time

 I believe either path I would be okay with but I would for sure have to try to get more money in scholarships. Before this action project, I didn’t know most of these things that I’m displaying. Not only did this project give me the opportunity to explore my options and get a sense of what I want to do, financially and educationally wise. Researching different pathways left me with more confidence in what I can do after I graduate.

1 . ) “29-1066 Psychiatrists.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 29 Mar. 2019, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291066.htm.

2.) “Art Directors : Occupational Outlook Handbook:” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/art-directors.htm#tab-1. 

3.) “Scripps College Overview.” College Factual, 13 Sept. 2019, https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/scripps-college/.

4.) “The New School Overview.” College Factual, 13 Sept. 2019, https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/the-new-school/.