Blog 4/27

Can one person change the world? I believe that one person can make an impact that affects major changes in the world. That person may not live to see those changes but because of their hard work, dedication and determination, the world will begin to follow. Some good examples of people who impacted started in their community and impacted world changes are Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandela, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks.

I believe that by helping throughout my community, such as tutoring and showing kids you actually care about them and interested in their education and encourage them will motivate them to want to do better in school. If even one of those kids can be impacted by someone caring about them then maybe one day they would want to make their community better and encourage other children.

Some of the things I have contributed to help better my community are participating in mission trips with my church. In 2011 I went to Louisiana with my church group and had the chance to volunteer at a food pantry, in 2012 I was able to visit the homeless and also help build a house for a woman that had lost her home in the hurricane. During my 9^th and 10^th grade years of high school I participated in Operation care in Dallas where we got to cater to the homeless feeding them, washing their feet and providing them with clothes and shoes. The past 3 years I volunteered on service Saturday with my church to provide food baskets to those in need in my community. This last year I have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. I helped build a house for a young family with a child who I got to meet and bond with while framing walls, hammering, putting up siding and eventually painting the finished product. All four years of my high school career I volunteered as a mentor at Rockbrook elementary. During the school year once a month we tutor the kids who are having trouble in math or reading, we also get to bond with them and talk about their interest.

By serving others you can show people that helping others can really make an impact in their lives and help motivate them to do better in their own environment and maybe use their time to help others as well. My dream is to make an impact in my neighborhood, community, city, state, country and maybe one day the world. 

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Representation means having a proxy representative in Government to speak for the people such as Senators, congressmen, etc. constituency means like the people that the official represents in government. As for congress mirroring the democratic profile of this country there is no way to do so without preventing government of the people. They should vote for what is best for their representation which may not always be what their conscience says, and also not always what the majority of their constituency wants but a government runs solely by opinion polls. This nation is simply a pure democracy, and everyone, each citizen of this country has an opinion and that opinion is given a chance to be heard. How would the Court be viewed if its decision making appeared to be guided by public opinion in most instances? The public eyes should always have a say but it is a decision that should be wayed out and determined with facts, evidence, and the court systems judgement as well. Gun control I think in this day and age is a major controversial topic, the topic honesty terrifies me because of the fact that almost any individual (without a criminal record) can receive a license and be able to carry a hand gun. According to the Huffington Post “AUSTIN, Texas, March 19 (Reuters) - The Texas Senate is expected to vote as early as Thursday to allow licensed handguns on college campuses, part of a series of bills being considered that would expand gun rights.” I think that the need for students to carry handguns on campus is unnecessary and quite unreasonable. In 2009, the University of Pennsylvania examined the link between gun possession and gun assault and found that people with firearms were 4.5 times more likely to be shot than those who didn't carry a gun. The facts prove that weapons of any kind should be left to the law enforcement only, and I strongly think that allowing guns to the entire public just promotes more instability and potential for accident.

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Test Taking 

Before a test always like to plan ahead set some time aside for my studying so that I know I can be prepared. Also if reviews are available I will print that ahead of time so I can study hard and be confident on the day of the test. 

During the test I like to chew gum because studies show that the chewing motion from chewing gum gets blood flowing to the head, which researchers say improves memory. The effect only lasts a few minutes, but can give students an advantage in some ways. Also during the test before I begin any of the questions I like to write down in advance any formulas or definitions I can recall from memory. That way if I forget something while test taking I won't have to worry as much. A third thing I take a habit of doing while taking a test is checking my work, this clarifies and helps me feel more confident in my work and once I feel I have made my best effort I can turn in my test. 

During this semester I used the method of writing down my formulas in advance while taking my test, this helps me just incase I go blank and forget something while test taking. I also like to chew gum during test or have something in my mouth to keep the blood in my brain flowing so I don't go sidetrack. I think that another method I use is using my resources by completing the review and using the review solutions that are available on canvas to check my work.

Academic integrity to me means that you are holding yourself accountable and maintaining your grade being honest in your work and achieving your goals. 

To have academic integrity I think you must honest and responsible this is important to student success because you are taking accountability of your own actions and being respectful of your peers and teachers.  I think academic integrity also shown a students understanding in what they would like to accomplish not only in school but in life. The effort you put forth into your work shows what kind of student and what kind of person you are, and to be successful as a student motivation is a key part.as a student I try my best to achieve good grades, and I do my best in making sure they are achieved properly. I feel accomplished when my grades that I worked for pay off because of my own academic integrity. I like to be honest in my work cheating is never the answer and cheating gets you nowhere in life. Motivation is also a big factor I think in integrity not only do I have motivation because I am paying the money to achieve an education but because one day I would like to have a career where I know my grades paid off and all those long nights studying and preparing paid off. I also take responsibility of all my actions which I think is a big part of academic integrity and I believe honesty and commitment is what makes a great student. Commitment to grades and commitment to becoming a better student is how one can be successful.

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Abortion

 Abortion is a topic that has been around for decades, and discussed worldwide but never has one solution been made. A poll was taken in the United States to see by taking a survey the voice of the people anonymously. A scientific poll was used meaning that the poll consists of surveying a Radom sample of the population in order to acquire significantly accurate results. The poll taken asks a variety of questions staying relevant to the topic of the matter and a percentage is taken to comapare within the population. About one in four Americans say that abortion should be legal in all circumstances, one in five say abortion should always be illegal, and slightly over half the public thinks abortion should be legal in some, but not all, circumstances.The results from this particular poll do show the results represented by the majority of the population and how a real vote would be presented. Polls can never be completely accurate because a sample cannot replicate the opinion of the entire population, but it is an estimate of the overall thoughts and vote taken. In my own opinion, I bet absorption will be one of the few debates never solved and never fully accepted. Mainly because of it's sensitive matter and the participation of human life and morals. I believe the purpose of the poll was to create a public view of the opinions of the people and to be able to compare the results of the polls overtime. According to polling data, Americans are split pretty fairlyevenly on where the are against or for the legalization of abortion. However because of the sensitive matter of the topic there are some individuals who are not as willing to take a stance on this debate. Individual opinion emerge fro many different backgrounds, politics, religion, morals all have to come into consideration when taking polls. I believe that these polls were made to measure the publics opinion as well as to mold the opinion of the public. They are used to measure opinions which first you have to find the right.people to ask. Polls generally start when someone wants a political question, then options are taken. Polls can also shape the public opinion as much as they reflect it, causing influence and alter the results. Any poll contains sampling error, the margin of error is expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. Margin of error applies whenever a population is incompletely sampled. It asserts a likelihood (not a certainty) that the result from a sample is close to the number one would get if the whole populatin had been acquired, it is an estimate basically . The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the true numbers, as well the larger the effected group the more room for error there is. Margin of error applies whenever a population is incompletely sampled. Identifying the error and doing you're own research one is able to calculate and determine an opinion of their own by referring to the polls as well as ones individual beliefs and data that may have been received by research. Polls have made a difference in the American culture and will continue to shift as our culture evolves over time.

Blog 3/29

Miles Teller I find myself finding new interest in different artists. I like discovering new things new and raw singers, bands, actors/actresses and I sort of stalk them. The band Paramore was one of the first bands I've ever listend to and I became infatuated with their expression of song and the message and sound of their music I replayed song after song of their career and studied them and became a big fan. (I run on with my sentanced a lot, I've noticed, oh well.) I don't really know if I'm the only one who does this or not but when I listen to music sometimes I will make playlist that include many different artists and genres, but most times I concentrate on one musician and listen to the sound of their voice that catches the specific attention of my ear that fall in love with their expression of beautiful tone, emotion, and lyric. My favorite musicians/artists (lyric and sound wise) are Tori Kelly, Justin Beiber, J. Cole and August Alsina. I think all artists have a story, some that I can relate to or stories that they make me relate to by putting me in their shoes in their perspective and listening gives me a whole new vibe. Listening to artists like these makes enspires me, but I hate the feeling when the music gets old I wish I always heard music like it was my first time hearing and really listening to it all over again because I want to always feel that attachment and that connection. Besides musicL artists I also enjoy movies a lot. And I also like to obsess over celebrities a lot. I like watching movies with my favorite actors and actresses in it, but who doesn't. I recently have a new found love for Miles Teller he is a young actor who has become really big lately. Miles Teller is in the hit series Divergent and he has also showed up in some other very big movies. Tonight actually I rented a movie from red box with him starring in it called Wiplash (I think that's how you spell it) but in this movie he plays this drummer who is in a musical arts school pursuing his dreams of becoming a great drummer. (Fun fact: miles in trial life is a musician which makes the movie even cooler because you know he is actuall performing the act, he went to a musical arts school and everything. But yea I would recommend everyone to check the movie out its really interesting, but there's a heck of a lot of cursing) Im not going to spoil the movie but, it won a oscar I believe, well I know for sure it was nominated. Anyways it was a very interesting and quite entente movie, definitely one I wou watch again. Miles Teller is a great actor to me because when he acts I feel like he's not trying to always be so attractive in a way, like he doesn't care more so about his appearance he acts in a way that seems real, like how real life people would resoond, he's charming and actually quite funny. I just enjoy seeing him on the screen and watching him do what he does and I will continue to see his movies, especially the one coming out soon FANTASTIC FOUR! It's gonna be great.

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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDAA) of 1984 was passed in every state in the United States of America to increase the drinking age from eighteen years of age to twenty one. The Act declared that any state that allowed any person under the age of twenty one to drink would be punished. The federal government enforced this act with some restrictions, punishing any state who decided not to increase their drinking age to twenty one, by reducing their annual federal highway funding by ten percent. After a few years every state raised their drinking age to twenty one ending the age of teen alcohol consumption. Today there is much discussion on the topic, asking the question: will the drinking age ever be lowered again? “Advocacy groups have been fighting against this law for nearly 30 years now, claiming it is a gross violation of civil liberties and must be repealed. They claimed the law is absurd and unjust that young Americans can vote, marry, enter into contracts and serve in the military at 18, but cannot buy an alcoholic beverage." The controversy is real, and as teens reach their age of adulthood it becomes more apparent that they are being restricted of some of their adult-like duties, including having the right to drink. Many of the states agree that lowering the drinking age has actually caused more harm than good and have tried to test the theory. Some states have tried by requesting government approval, but are shut down by threats of losing federal funding. "If Congress would grant a waiver, the states would be willing to try something, and at least then we could get some evidence and see whether things are better or worse," said former Middlebury College president John McCardell. McCardell brings up a point that in order for this issue to be resolved the federal government has to be willing to allow states to make allegations of their own. Once these claims are made then the sates can prove or disprove them with pure evidence. The Government views that “Politically, it's a hard sell, in part because there are other public health hazards associated with excessive alcohol consumption, not just highway fatalities.” The government provides assumptions that could be true but these causes have other factors as well, besides the usage of drinking involved with teens. One of the reasons the NMDAA act was put into effect was due to the public’s concern for teenage drinking, which was thought to have an effect on drunk driving. Many agree that the rate for drunk driving has not decreased since the passing of the act in 1984, some even claim that it has gotten worse. There is evidence that lowering the drinking age has caused little or no effect and there are others that say it has increased the outcome of drunk driving accidents. The federal government also defends their passing of the act trough some scientific evidence stating that “Prior to passing NMDAA of 1984, there were many studies conducted on the effects of alcohol on younger people. Several studies determined that a youth’s brain is not fully developed until around age 21, and alcohol affects youth’s brains differently than it does adults.” Understanding the effects of alcohol is a crucial part when taking this issue into effect. Both levels of government have defensive positions on the NMDAA and why or why not it should be adjusted. I feel that in order for our country to recognize which option is best we have to test the results. Each state should be allowed to choose their own drinking age and adjust to the circumstances of the outcome. If states are allowed to reinterpret the act I think that there will be a different reaction from the public involving drinking which will ultimately over time justify the choices from both the federal and state governments. There are many other results that come from the passing of the act instilled in 1984, including the increased rate of teenage binge drinking that affects the health of our nation’s young people. Underage drinking still occurs now and it will most likely never cease to continue, but if our society pushes to educate our younger generations on the effects of alcohol there could be more positive results in the future.

Blog # whatever

Marcus basketball through the years My freshman and sophomore years at Marcus high school were the most exciting I think for basketball or maybe even sports at that school. That is when our boys basketball team took home the 5A state championship title two years in a row, yea back to back. Not to mention that the now NBA rookie Marcus Smart (funny how the school and him ended up having the same name) was apart of their success. There was heavy criticism of our school concerning mainly Marcus. They accused the team of recruting Marcus, and there were many different rumors but that didn't stop our drive to greatness. My junior year was kind of a sucky year I played basketball since like the third grade I wasn't very good at first but I worked my way up went to training and also practiced a lot more. Bastketball became fun for me and I learned to love not only the game but the whole idea. I loved to watch it on television dreaming about becoming a star player on a big college team, and I loved playing it. Basketball was my one love, but it started to head towards a dead end. The summer just before my junior year I injured myself leading to the end of my basketball career. I had to go through numerous hours of therapy and that is where I began to know what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to become a physical therapist for athletes. I wanted to help them prevent injury and teach courses and better ways to train in order to devolp the body without straining it. I wanted to eliminate the factor that I and many other athelites have to suffer, injury. So my senior year due to the difficulty and scaring that my torn ACL and meniscus caused I decided that basketball was what I no longer chose to pursue. Being a student athlete is difficult as well as exhausting. So I decided to quit, my senior year I was still apart of the team I would. Just not pursue my dream of playing at a university. My senior year in basketball we made it all the way to third round but lost and that was the end. I will add to this. Blog in my next post😉