Tech campus

What is tech campus? Is a question i get asked frequently when i tell somebody attend it suring school hours. I have my regular classes; weights, math, english, issues and at 12:20 everyday i board a bus to take me along with a few other students from deerfield to the Highschool Technology campus of Grayslake. tech campus offers numerous of opportunities to students to explore fields or get ahead start in a certaing career. For me, the idea of working in the medical field interested me. My sophomore year here at DHS, i heard about this program and asked my counslor about it. I studied the medical assisting program for junior, so as a junior i took medical assisting and we learned alot of things. We studied out own blood undermicrosopes, learned to take basic care of the sick patients or residenta. And for my senior uear i took the following program...CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTING. It crazy to think that as a graduating senior in high schooh you have the opportunity to get certified in something in the health care field. Of course its not easy, it takes alot of time and skills to be able to accomplish this. This saturday May 19 i will be taking my state exam to evaluate if i have the skills to become a certified nursing asisstant and if i do i will be a CNA!! Its exciting and alot are impressed to hear that a senior fresh out of highschool can already be a certified nursing assistant. I think that more kids would take this opportunity if they knew a bit more about it, and schools should do a better job at presenting apportunities like this to the students. And that more schools should have the right programs to offer these sort of opportunities to their studets.

Graffiti : Form of art or a crime?

For an artist, art has no limit. Creativity is endless, there arent any rules as to what makes art , art or what makes art appropriate/right. For some people, graffiti is a form art, a different way to express an idea about something using A wall or property. And for some graffiti is a crime, vandilizing property. In my opionion graffiti is art. And it should be charged when done. And individual should be allowed to express their art in any form. That are shouldnt have any limits or rules or else not much creaticity, and creativity is a key point to art. I am. Confused about that people who think that graffiti is a crime, what is their definition of art, and what fo they is arts limit.

Marketplace of ideas : cyber bullyin

For my market place of ideas, i wanted to study an issue that affected the lives of others so that we could become more aware of the issue and help it. Cyber bullling is an extension of bullying done at school though cyber bullying is dine through text, emails, online harrasibg, threats or sending mean messages in attempt to hurt somebody . Cyber bullying is done among young adolecsents and teens, the reasons for why kids take part in this action is because kids either do it to get revenge, because of frustration with another individual, or maybe for a just a way of entertainment. Its also a way to feel power and have control over somebody else. In this sense i mean someone who would be seen as ". Unpopular" or weak, is able be a bigger person online annonimsouly and has the capality to hurt someone who would be seen as "popular" or big/powerful in school. And its said that girls are more likly to be the bully and bullied Kids who take action in cyber bullying find it funny to torment somebody through the internet, but what they dont think about is how serious the consequences may be. For some kids who have expirienced cyber bullying their attitude and personality changes, they change schools and seek help but for some their life ends. And it does t have to go on like this. I think that one way that we could help is by starting to talk about the consequences about cyber bullying and what it is to kids in school at a younger age because it is most common in young adolescents and teens and i think that parents should be more attentive to thier child as they use the internet, cell phone etc. and its because that in studies i found out that only 1 out of 6 parents know that their child has been bullied online. Parents should limit kids time on the internet and they should study the signa of cyber bullying, to take notice if their child has problems after using the internet or their cell phone. And hopefully they can catch it early to prevent any furthor damages to this childs life.

Coming Out, what makes it so diffucult ?

coming out as gay, lesbian and so on can put alot a pressure on the individual. And alot of it is because they fear they wont be accepted, so they keep it bottled up and some for years. And it isnt healthy for anybody. I belive that once your an adult that maybe your alot more confident and its a bit more easy for you to comeout, but when your a teenager and you its not so easy. And I would think thats so because teens tend to be immature and don't tend to take things so seriously and dont take others feelings into consideration. And kids/teens these days have I think set trends suchas  what music is cool to listen to , what to wear and what not to wear and whos popular or not and I think having that also adds in whats " normal". And some may see being gay/lesbian/bisexual as "unnormal" or out of order and therefor judge and sometimes bully and make fun of those who are. But the pressure doesn't just come from teens but parents to play a role. Majority of parents invision a future where their kids get married and live happily ever....with the opposite sex .And when kids grow up with their parents teaching them that being gay/lesbian'bisexual ect. is not appropriate and show dislike to people like that, then kids don't wanna comeout because then their parents wouldn't love them anymore and won't want anything to do with them. And unfortuntely for some its true and for others, parents learn to live with a child like that and at some point learn to accept them as they are. As children we tend to look for adults when we get scared or nervous because we feel that because they are big they can protect us. But when a child/teen can't come to an adult because they don't accept the child as they are then who do they turn to? Adults play a major role in a child growing up becuase it who we go to when we get into trouble and who can help us fix out problem , but when we can't go to one then the individual is left alone and that hurts. And for some kids/teens their lifes end in tragedy because no one was there to listen and help. And some don't bother to seek help unfortuenly. I think that the only way this will improve is that society accepts any gay/lesbian/bisexual ect. indivual as normal as it is for a girl and boy to be together. Will it ever happen, I don't know. Can it?

"Make Joseph Kony famous"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Wow this video is absoloutly outstanding. I was at home late last night when I sat on the couch and decided to watch the news for once. The first thing on was the talk about a youtube video " Kony 2012". I saw mere clips of the video on the news and immedietly recognized it as the video we had watched in class, I had never before seen that video before, the time we had watched it in classs had been my first exposure to the video, I went onto youtube and searched up the video...AND WOW! It struck me hard that something was finally being done, we were the ones fighting to bring this evil man down to " make him famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice." what they want to do and they way that they plan to achieve it something that I TRULEY admire. Someone has finally cared enough to stop the bad instead of waiting for someone to end it for them and everybody else.

Fantasy/violence should not be used for learning!

Recently I came across an article regarding a teacher that used racisim and inapproriate violence in oreder to " encourgae" math. The teacher had given thrid graders math problems using things such as " Humans in ovens" " a SWAT team memeber kills hundreds of terrorist". The teacher had said that she was trying to get math exciting for the kids by using what " they like most ". I don't think that this is approriate action to get the children a bit more excited for the subject. Especially for third graders. At this age kids should not be exposed to such violence. The parents were furious and these " math problems" cost the teacher her job.

" If I were a poor black kid" response

                                                  

As I read the article, I was asounted with how through it I agreed with the ideas expressed. The ideas are much like my own. It takes motivation and confidence to succeed. There is no real excuse to why you can't go far. We all have resources and its up to an individual to take them and use them for their own success.  Like the article said " It takes brains.  It takes hard work.  It takes a little luck.  And a little help from others.  It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available." Its up to the individual to realize how bad they want something and to go for it, face the obstacles and work their way through them until they have hit a point of happiness. I remember my social studies teachers moto " Every obstacle is a stepping stone to your success." I was introduced to this saying six years ago! But I have kept it close and in memory becasue it says it all. In order for you to find success you have to go through challenges and work your way through them. Nothing is easy, your dedication to something makes a difference and if you really want it, then you have to find ways that would suit you to reach those goals.

The second article I read in response to " If I were a poor black kid" it got me a bit aggrivated I must say. The writer seems ignorat. Atleast thats how I took the it. One thing stated in the article said "to the lure of the drug game" giving us a reason that kids can't get help or do any better becasue drugs are one problem. I don't think so. Drugs are bad, kids are told they are not to be used, even youngster can distinguish between something being good for you and whats not. Everyone has a choice. Their choice to use drugs is clearly a state of simply being dumb. When they choose drugs knowing the consqeunces, and especially being surrounded by people who do use them makes them incapable i think of wanting anything better for themselves. I don't think there are any excuses to why one can't succed. You want something, work for them. Challenge yourself and prove to others that things are capable of being done . You want to show that the impossible IS possible. I disagree with this article completly.

My results

My results read "Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American." I to be honest believed that I have no preference, and so when I read my results I was slightly surprised and yet at the same time I had expected it. I think that becasue I am Latina , my results make senese to me, and I say this because I am Hispanic and have a dark color to my skin. And so I belive that being sensitive to having color may have had an affect on my results for this test. But honestly I don't prefer one over ther other. I do belive everyone is equall, the only difference is our skin. I think of it like a pair of shoes, you go to the store your picking a pair of shoes, they come in blue, black and pink. Their the same, made out of the same material, same quality just a different color. 

Book posting 4

Enrique the boy from my book endured a long journey to get to the United States from Honduras. He came alone and young. He struggled to survive, he starved, he was beaten, he was cold, no place to stay and felt abandoned. He had to arrive to the United States alone like many other illegal immigrants. A lot  of my family members also came here to the United States undocumented. They came  from Mexico in hopes of a better life but they didnt have to go through what Enrique went through. They travel was easy and fast and they werent alone. they were probably around Enriques age but they were the ones leaving their mothers and family behind becasue they wanted to earn a better living for themselves and their family.Like Enrique though, they had family awaiting them in the United States and so when they finally made it to the United States it was easy to settle in and everybody was caring and happy to have them there. But with Enrique he was very happy to finally have his mother with him, but their relationship still had its ups and down. It was like a rollarcoaster.At points Lourdes ( his mother) and Enriques could not stand each other and go on each others nerves. There were times that Enrique even disobeyed his mother because he said that his gandmother was his real mother because she was the one that raised him not lourdes. I must hurt a mother and child to have their relationship torn because of so many years of each others abscene and then when you have them with you, its hard to think of one another as family.

Book posting 3

F

From the book I read , I  learned that there is an estimated of 1.7 million kids illegal in the United Stares most coming from Mexico and Central America. And that now a days children coming from Central America to find their mothers in the U.S face a tougher journey then ever before. Immigration is a serious issue. These people come here hoping for a better life so they take the risk of losing thier lives to coming here. In my opinion I think that the people who come here crossing the border illegaly are brave and strong individuals. It takes alot of courage and determination to make it. The journey is harsh, there are some who can pay or a smuggler to take them but that is alot of money to pay and so the ones who dont have the money have to go alone . These people have to go through pain and suffereing. They ride "frieght trains" where people tend to lose their lives and or a body part. These travelers have to hid from " la migra" and police. The police either ask for a bribe to let them go, or beat them Woman and girls are raped. If this seems difficult to an adult, think of what it must be like for a desperate child to be with their mothers or fathers. They are strong at a young age, couragious to endure the harsh journey that could only end their lives. Enrique from my book tried multiple times to get across. He repeated the same suffering seven times each time getting deported back home yet he lwas determined to keep trying. The love for his mother his mother kept him strong it allowed him to keep moving forward and try again. On his eigth try he finally made it home.

Book posting 2

( Picture above is a picture of Enrique still on his own trying to get back to his mother, here he is working for money to get him through)

Sometimes families leave loved ones behine in hopes of a better life for them. But what happens when its a mother/father leaving thier children behind. In the book I am reading Enrique shares his story about being left behind because his mother left Honduras to go to the United States. On Enriques side as a child Sonia Mazario says " the children show resentment becasue they were left behind. They remembered broken promises to return and accuse their mothers of lying." ( 191 ) But as a mother Nazario writes " The mothers, for their part, demand respect for their sacrifice : leaving their children for the childrens sake" I think that its kind of hard to decide who is it that should get more understanding...it feels awful to feel abandoned and unloved even if that isnt the case...and kids just want their mothers...and it becomes easy for a child to feel hate towards thwir mothers but should this lids be more grateful and understanding towards their mothers. Because at points its hard to see a mother love their child when they decide to abandon them but they do it because they want only better for these kids and the only way they think they can achieve it is by leaving them behind

' Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nario

( picture above shows the movement to jump fright trains )


The story of Enrique is very heart breaking and difficult to belive. Enrique's mother Lourdes wants a better life for her children and so she sets for the United States in hopes of getting a job and send money to her children. Enrique was five years old when his mother left him. And only hoped that she would come back to him someday. His grand mother, father and mother kept reassuring Enrique that she would soon be back. But time passes by and he only hears from her over the phone. I wonder how a mother, no matter what circumstance can leave thier children and not know whether they will see them again. I think that its terrible for a mother to leave their children behind in the hands of others to take care of them. Especially when the chances of actually crossing the border to the United States is risky and there being only a slight chance of you making it through. I know that alot of my family members came here having to cross the border but they didnt have any responsibility such as having to take care of anybody else but themselves. And so wtih eleven years or so passing by Enrique is frustrated/disappointed that his mother has not come back and he misses her very much. And so alone he sets his journey to cross the border alone, still a child and has to go through challenging obstacles such as riding fright trains, getting caught by " la migra" immigration and getting beaten by police and gangs. Enrique loves his mother so much he takes the risk of being with her and Lourdes his mother doesnt know that he is on his way to find her. Why is it that Enrique still feels a close bond with his mother and risks his life to find her after so many years of not seeing/being with her. Is it that the relationship with a mother and child never dies?

Teen dating is it a problem?

Alot of people start dating once they go into high school right? But can we really say that we are ready for a relastionship at this age. I can not tell you how many teens I have met that begin dating and within two weeks they start saying " I love you" to one another. And when thier relastionship ends they get hurt and make a big deal out of things. Some take it well others dont and it affects them in and out of school. Sometimes when your in a relastionship it distracts your during school. I know its happened to me. But it annoys me to think that some teens think that now that they have either a boyfriend or girlfriend they make their world revlove around that one person, whether you " love" them or not.

The Invisible children( " Tell me why " By Declan Galbraith)

Not to long ago did I come a across this song called " Tell my why" By Declan Galbraith, his song has made me think and question our goodness. We say we care and we want to help, but we don't  try hard enough at one verse the song goes " In my dream children sing a song of love for every boy and girl
The sky is blue and fields are green and laughter is the language of the world
Then I wake and all I see is a world full of people in need " we fool ourselves to say that life is good....it may be so for us who arent out there starving, fighting to survive everyday. We all say we want a peaceful world where everybody is happy, if so why doesnt everybody contribute to help this all work out? As the song continues its lyrics read as followed "
Everyday I ask myself what will I have to do to be a man?
Do I have to stand and fight to prove to everybody who I am?
Is that what my life is for to waste in a world full of war? Tell me why  does it have to be like this?
Tell me why  is there something I have missed?
Tell me why  cos I don't understand.
When so many need somebody we don't give a helping hand.
Tell me why? "




www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKMoHLxDncU " Tell me why"
These kids are made to fight, they are made into "men" their childhood is destroyed and there is no healing, they will have scars for the rest of their lifes that is if they escape the horrible nightmare.  The questions sung in the song are ones that I find myself asking constanlt, why do so many of us say we care yet, we do nothing to help the ones that need it. And finally the song goes on as "Tell me why (why,why,does the tiger run)
Tell me why (why why do we shoot the gun)
Tell me why (why,why do we never learn) Can someone tell us why we let the forest burn?
(why,why do we say we care)
Tell me why (why,why do we stand and stare) Tell me why (why,why do the dolphins cry)
Can some one tell us why we let the ocean die ?
(why,why if we're all the same)
tell me why (why,why do we pass the blame)
tell me why (why,why does it never end)
can some one tell us why we cannot just be friends?"
Why is it that this song holds the truth, if i may say it makes us seem ignorant...and i think sometimes we can be. Why is it that we sometimes say we dont help because its not our problem.... but it could be. And these problems will never end fast enough as long as we dont do anything to help. When I first heard of this song it instantly reminded me of Invisible Children and the heartful truth of us...that we say we care, yet we dont lend a helping hand.

Childhood

We all love Christmas, its when we get presents and give. We are ready for that great family dinner, and the children are shot with excitement for Santa Clause to come. One of the many joys is putting up the Christmas tree, but what happens when your parents forbid you to believe in Santa, or the Easter bunny. As I was growing up my parents always encouraged us to believe in Santa Clause to ask him for our presents, but my best friend in the 2nd grade had it different. Her parents told her and her younger siblings that nothing was real. They were all nonsense and that they shouldnt be wasting their time with such daydreaming. They had their Christmas tree but there was never a surprise, instead her parents took her and her siblings shopping for what ever they liked. Now today I see the same thing with my two little cousins Anthony and Bengy. My aunt is strict with them and tells them not to believe in Santa. And now we only have them confused because when ever they come over to my house, all we do is incourage Santa clause, we have them write their letters asking for toys and tell them that we personally will give it to him. They are still very young and they should have that right to believe in what makes a child happy. They have never even put one christmas ornament on any tree, so the last time they came over they helped decorate our christmas tree and we told them its their too and a few days later they came back and the youngest one said looking up at me " My Christmas tree looks beautiful".  Thats what the joy of Christmas brings down to the last ornament on the tree, and its unfair that sometimes parents want to keep their kids away from the fanasty world. Now it brings me into the idea of role play. My two cousins anthony and bengy can sleep with stuffed animals because their boys!!!! Its silly to say that because they're boys they cant have/find security in a stuffed teddy because its " NOT RIGHT"  supposidly. I know that my sister growing up all she had were dinasours and trucks and trains the usual toys you bought for a boy, but not once did my mom worry about that. Why is it that latley parents have become more strict with what they allow their kids to play with or belive in?

Abortion- Thoughts

Recently the topic of abortion has been coming up a lot lately both in and out of class. Recently I have discoverd that one of my friends is a mom. Two actually, one I was well aware of and I know how scared she was to comfront her parents and have to go through with it. But never once did she say that abortion was an option. I find it hard to understand how it is that an adult woman cant make the decision to keep their child. My friend was 17 when she found out she was pregnant and had told me that she was determined to keep the baby because there were no other option that was acceptable. She of course had to comfront her parents in one way or another. I recently caught up with her on facebook and messages me that she is more then happy with '' her little angel". She couldnt have asked for anything better right now and to think that she is still a child in her parents eyes, now she has one of her own. When things happen like this they make me question whether sometimes people get abortions in order to fullfill their wishes, maybe they do have a strong steady job, have had a long life of youth ( more then my friends life because she had to grow up fast) and has the right enviorment to raise a child. Because I know for a fact that it doesnt matter what age you maybe, its not necessarily an excuse. It depends on the kind of person you are, you have to have the right mind and know that you can go through the 9 months of pregnancy. Because thats another thing, you have to know how to take care of yourself, you need to take the right precautions for the safety and well being of you and that child. And may I add that my friend has had a healthy baby, becasue she knew what she was doing. She didnt do it alone obviously, she had help/support from the people that care for her and that baby.

"Enrique's Journey" By Sonia Nazario

So for the Outside Reading Assigment, I have looked at many books and have settled on one in particular. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario is about a hispanic boy who is in search of his mother. His mom left him when  he was only five years old, its been twelve years now that Enrique has seen his mom. So he will endure a long harsh journey to be with his mom.
I choose this book because not me personally can relate to this, but the majority of my family came here having to cross the border. Most of them have been here around 17 years and now know how to speak english, but I can't imagine what it must of been like when they had to come. The majority of my family was arounf Enrique's age.
I am eager to read about (Enrique's Journey) and learn about the challenges one faces coming to the United states as an illigel immigrant.

Jim Crow and Fraternity Row

What do I think.......I can't believe that this issues are still going on. I definetly think that it should be banned. These students wore these"costumes" to make some sort of a statement, for they all wore the same clothes depicting the same thought or idea. This students were immature and don't know how to respect. Apparently they thought it would be fun but even the national director of Delta Sigma Phi was not pleased with what the students had taken action in he says "We're absolutly disgusted by what we've seen,"..."The pictures completly contradict what we've always stood for" Obviously this was something of the students own doing and it seems that they were all in the same political mind.

Illinois State University (ISU) I think has a well rounded set of rules regarding the students rights to free speach. ISU has regulations set only to proctect their students in hope to keep a safe enviorment where every individual attendting ISU can feel welcomed. Their rules are your basic rules that should be followed everywhere. Such as setting rules towards sexual harrasment, harrasment, code of student conduct, ect. Before this blog, i had never looked into ISU's policies and now that I have it has helped me see that this Univeraity just like any other school, they care about their students. And I do believe that they school's speech rules are legal to the students right to free , its only in the students best interest. I believe that schools wouldn't need to make so many rules if the some students wouldn't act out. Students are always suing the schools for not allowing them so many actions, but the schools put these rules depending on students previous behaviors.

I beilieve that if the school were to come across a conflict like the one read in the article I believe that the school could have the student kicked out. ISU has a set of values and if that individual breaks or steps on one of their values then they student doesn't value the school. And I don't see why they student should stay at a school where they don't like their policies. I honestly don't like the way that FIRE works, it doesn't make sense. Are we not always talking about want peace in our country, yet their mission is to allow the students rights to free speach that could pottentially lead to some sort of violence.

Whats Happend since then

Well, I really have enjoyed the back and forth thoughts between the students in my class. I find it fun and interesting about what the teens think about what is happening to our world. It makes my head spin, becasue some of their points can really make me think about something twice. Its mind blowing. There have been many topics discused in class so far, the most recent one being about the students rights to freedom of speech. Should there be limits to the students 'rights to freedom of speech'.
I don't think that there should be any limits, and thats becasue it depends on what kind of personality each student holds. They can be rebellious and simply not care whether or not there are limits to thier speech, or just because they believe that they do have the rights whether they are in or out of school. I as a student believe that I do have the same rights as a student in and out of school. Now just because I believe I do doesn't really mean I am going to abuse those rights. I am not that kind of person to use inappropriate language in the first place, so I really wouldn't think that those rules would apply to me.
You see now I begin to think that those rules are really meant to those who do use inappropriate language. But how can we set them apart from those who don't use "bad" words. Thing is no one really can't. And so becasue we really can't, it has to apply to everyone.
Not that I find it a bad thing but there could possib;y be some people that could find it some what offensive. That would be because it would seem as though the schools would'nt see us responsible or mature enough to control our language to be appropriate enough.