Introduction
Welcome, you have found my second semester weekly blog! This part of the year is jam-packed with end of the year projects, internships, college trips and even more. This blog is to give those who is wondering how my life is as a junior year student at High Tech High CV. Some hopes and wishes for this semester is to get an idea of which college I want to attend. I already have a few in mind but to be totally prepared I wish to shorten my lengthy list into my reach, range, and really sure categories. Along with that I hope to obtain an internship with a company that I have general interest in. Biology would be great to see if it actually is for me. A goal that I wish to come out of that is making more connections through my internship as well as start figuring my life to prepare for the bridge of junior year to senior year over the summer. Continue to read further into my life through these blogs! Enjoy.
TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE WHEN IT COMES TO ADVOCATES!
March 9th, 2018
This week I was able to contact and schedule an interview on the same day! The interview went so well talking about their experience in STEM. The most effective part of it was probably that they were able to jump off of one another to expand and add to their ideas. And a highlight from that is how they were able to continuously answer the question about them giving me advice on what I could do to prepare myself for college and how to get ahead. They were also super excited about the zine festival and asked me questions on where will it be how is it set up and so on. So now o have 2 attendees for my work! I also took their photo for my stencil and at first they were like uhh a photo!! But they were fine with it after! Now I feel really pumped to get all of my stuff done for exhibition because I hope to put my best work forward and also present at our zine festival!
This week I was able to contact and schedule an interview on the same day! The interview went so well talking about their experience in STEM. The most effective part of it was probably that they were able to jump off of one another to expand and add to their ideas. And a highlight from that is how they were able to continuously answer the question about them giving me advice on what I could do to prepare myself for college and how to get ahead. They were also super excited about the zine festival and asked me questions on where will it be how is it set up and so on. So now o have 2 attendees for my work! I also took their photo for my stencil and at first they were like uhh a photo!! But they were fine with it after! Now I feel really pumped to get all of my stuff done for exhibition because I hope to put my best work forward and also present at our zine festival!
It’s pure science!
March 2nd, 2018
This week our team was blessed with the opportunity of being invited to Dr. Kauffman’s lab at UCSD. He was kind enough to open his lab to let up understand his work with the differences between the male and female brain. I loved the tour of the lab very much and the mini workshops we got to do was great, but I now know that pure science research is not for me. The purpose of this field to ask questions, find the answer then produce a research paper for the other side of science to create some sort of product. That is what I would rather do. I enjoy biomedical engineering with coming up with solutions to medical problems using engineering. Although, I really enjoyed the techniques we learned. The pipette the DNA into the gel was probably my favorite part due to the feeling of carrying the mice’s DNA in the name of science! The whole lab itself was messy in a beautiful way knowing that this mess has a purpose. What really intrigued me was learning the differences of the male and female brain in the AVP and ARC. It really stunned me that the different aspects they did in the lab resulted with the lack or more of KISS. Overall, this trip was truly amazing and I look forward to hopefully visit another lab to get more experience on what I hope to pursue.
This week our team was blessed with the opportunity of being invited to Dr. Kauffman’s lab at UCSD. He was kind enough to open his lab to let up understand his work with the differences between the male and female brain. I loved the tour of the lab very much and the mini workshops we got to do was great, but I now know that pure science research is not for me. The purpose of this field to ask questions, find the answer then produce a research paper for the other side of science to create some sort of product. That is what I would rather do. I enjoy biomedical engineering with coming up with solutions to medical problems using engineering. Although, I really enjoyed the techniques we learned. The pipette the DNA into the gel was probably my favorite part due to the feeling of carrying the mice’s DNA in the name of science! The whole lab itself was messy in a beautiful way knowing that this mess has a purpose. What really intrigued me was learning the differences of the male and female brain in the AVP and ARC. It really stunned me that the different aspects they did in the lab resulted with the lack or more of KISS. Overall, this trip was truly amazing and I look forward to hopefully visit another lab to get more experience on what I hope to pursue.
What is empathy
February 26th, 2018
This week we did our first Socratic Seminar that we’ve done in bio. The preparation for it was really simple yet helpful. The set up that I decided to do was answer the questions directly on a google doc instead of writing it in essay formatting because It was easier for me to follow and share my points. The second question was harder than the first for me because it was kinda broad in the sense that the American Values can be defined in different ways and mean different things to many people. Participating in the seminar was easy for me because I always had a lot to say as well as having a good understanding of the topic also helped. What prepared me the most was the paper I wrote, especially my notes in which I referred back to several readings and research I did on my own. Something I learned last week that I might not have thought |
before is that people may not have the same understanding as certain words and topics I do. That is not their fault and it’s not anyone else’s from not teaching them. Empathy is a word that is tossed around and gets confused with sympathy or just used the wrong way. We never really established what empathy really is and this is how things got miscommunicated during the discussion. The correct and positive thing to do is to first ask them to explain more of their thinking to see what sources and how they came to their conclusion. Once that’s done, we voice our opinion and how we thought things differently to get each other on the same page! This will defiantly be helpful in the future so that I can be able to understand someone’s opinions in a way that is not rude and not as effective way, yet also being able to voice my opinions as well.
Road to College
February 18th, 2018
The only college I had in mind when I was young was UCLA. Amazing college and most applied to. Yet once I actually figured out what I wanted to study in college, I met the love of my life. Cal Poly Slo. I knew I wanted to go to a four year university of course because my family has influenced me to become a successful person to be able to supply more for my future family than my parents did for me. They want me to succeed. On the trip this past week, my advisory had the opportunity to head up to Sacramento a day early to check out UC Davis and USF. Although USF is beautiful and great for my major of biomedical, it is kinda on the pricey side. To rank the ones we visited, 1 being my absolute first choice, it would go like this... (1) Cal Poly Slo of course! All of my |
social needs would be met from the fairness with the SAT and GPA requirements and status due to the small school feel yet it is a big school with many opportunities. (2) SJSU because my basic needs would be met with how many great facilities the school has. (3) UC Santa Cruz due to the beautiful location and the status of certainty with the academic successes they have. (4) USF but the one this that won’t be met is fairness because of how expensive it is, and how much financial aid money I won’t be getting due to being middle class. (5) UC Davis because my need of status would not be met due to the location and the environment. And Lastly (6) UC Berkeley, although they have great academics, the social aspect of the school is definitely not the place I’d want to be. In a little over 1 year, I hope to say that I will be attending my number one school.
Inter-of-the-view
February 12th, 2018
This week was interview week! I feel lucky that I am already on a path to secure an internship with a friend of my cousin´s. This way, interview day wasn't going to be as stressful with the pressure that it may have to be my internship site. I was also very lucky that I did have a personal connection with the site that I did my kind of “mock” interview with. The City or Chula Vista, cultural arts representative, Lynette Lopez, wasn’t able to make it because she was sick so her assistant came. The first thing after our hellos I noticed she wasn’t there so I said was Lynette not able to make it and my interviewer was connecting me and her connection since childhood and how I knew her. So it was cool because I felt a little more comfy because of the so say “bond” that we formed. The interview itself was great. I was great at connecting the different topics to sort of leading into what I wanted to talk about to lead into my strengths. A takeaway that I can definitely use is the prepping what I am going to say a few days before for any interview, as well how I connected my topics. |
Big brains and big schools
February 7th, 2018
This week I learned lots and lots of neuroscience! Thank you to Dr. Kauffman, whom I spoke with about a possible internship with, for coming to our class to lecture us about the differences between the female and male brain. Going into the lecture, I already had some clue about the brain due to the past reading assignments in class (What Do Asthma, Heart Disease And Cancer Have In Common? Maybe Childhood Trauma, and Why Are Teens So Moody?) and this definatly prepared me for some of the terms he spoke about. What really caught my attention was the physical differences in the brain because I did think before the lecture that the differences would be microscopical but parts of the brain in males or in females are physically larger than the other gender! Overall, this |
lecture took my interest in neuroscience to another level. I was so invested in the conversation that I am so eager to learn even more! My hopes for the next months is to learn even more about the adolescent and adult brain with the differences and maybe about the difference of the female and male brains during the adolescent years? Something other than class related content was a college trip with my 6th period once again to Chapman and UC Irvine! Chapman is a great college and offers lots of opportunities, but for me personally I do not see myself going there. I have visited UC Irvine my freshmen year and my views on the school switch into a little more positive. The last time I went our tour guide wasn’t the best so maybe that was what made me uninterested but since we had a HTHCV alumni to talk to us, she made it sound like a great option for me.
My beautiful creation
January 26th, 2018
This week we had the opportunity to take another field trip to MCASD. This time we got to do a workshop with making our zine covers about our social justice topic. At first, I was just going to focus on the topic of women in STEM but I decided to switch it up into a much broader category of women just influencing other young women in any profession. The “look” I was going for throughout my entire zine was black and white with gold words throughout. I had a background of palm trees to just set the mood a little differently and to focus more of the 3 photos of women and especially the title. I saw it in a magazine and I knew it was perfect for what I was aiming for. I definatly connected with compassion this week with realizing how much I do actually care about my chosen topic. I decided first because it is a big issue in the STEM fields but then I realized that it is beyond that as well. I could also tie in some of our amendments based on the constitution from humanities based on some of the inequality in the workforce. My hopes for my zine is to bring a sense of hope and show other young women |
that we can shoot for the farthest stars and accomplish any dream you have as long as you work for it and don’t let any hateful energy block your way. Next week I hope to focus more on the broader category. On another note. I had a great college trip on Saturday and got to learn so much about Claremont McKenna and USC. At USC I met with an alumni from HTHCV and what really stuck with me was how she is exposed to many great opportunities on her college campus. I really hope to join a club when I get to college about empowering women in their career goals. Maybe for my senior year I can create a sixth period just for that! USC is a great school, and I have definatly keeping my eye on them.
Coca-cola and PESTICIDES, yum
January 19th, 2018
This week we got to attend the MCASD and have an almost 2 hour tour! Then, we got to walk around the museum and do two activities, a flag drawing on and also telling your partner how to draw an abstract drawing. What really stood out to me thought was the mail art section. It really told a story on how it was back then in Chile, how they would communicate a message any way possible. To the right, is a photo of a coca-cola glass bottle and there’s text on it conveying a secret message only those who could really figure it out understand what it was trying to say. Also those from the time period as well. This wasn’t really considered art, it was more like a way trying to communicate. Seeing how expressive people were with something that really affected them was |
surreal. Unrelated but just as interesting part of this week was the reading excerpt from “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson was confusing to read but made lots of sense once we discussed it as a class. It went on to talk about the use of pesticides on our farming and how we overproduce crops and kill living things. Rachel used the word “biocides” which then translate to killing life (bio=life/living things and cides=killer or killing). It can be used as a broad term to discuss any type of chemical, man-made object to kill living things. Earth was made and was at peace, until mankind started creating new chemicals and unbalanced nature. The title of the book made our class struggle a little bit. Why is spring time, silent? Springtime is usually associated with life, birds chirping, the birth of species. But if she’s talking about a silent spring, it means none of that is happening because of the biocides humans has created. I can definitely relate this to when my mom would tell me to wash the tomatoes before we cook them! Because they may have chemicals on it, we do not want to eat that so we wash it off. It goes to show that humans can create something that may seem beneficial for the farming business, growing better crops, yet it can affect our bodies and environment in a negative way. This coming week, I hope to dig even deeper and Rachel Carson’s perspective on the environment. I wonder if she had any ideas on how humans can change the environment in a meaningful and impactful way.
Did you go to the party, or did your social needs make you go
January 16th, 2018
This week we did an activity to connect the article, “Your Brain, excerpt from Brainstorm, the purpose and power of the teenage brain” (2013) to real life examples that may happen to any teenager. My group focused on status, one of the 5 basic social needs (Certainty, Status Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness.) We also connected it to addictiveness. In our case, it was to alcohol. Our activity was to show the class a little scene that occured. My story was about these girls who were invited to a party but only went to be recognized by the “it” crowd. Once they got in, they continued asking for more parties, for opportunities to |
drink more alcohol. Teens may go to a party only once, have a drink, then it may become addictive for them. This could also continue into adulthood and they would become an “Alcoholic”. The human brain is wired to minimize threats and maximize rewards. Our brains develop from the back to the front (where decision making takes place), so our reward system is magnized during our teen years. Instead of one going to a party to “fit in” and obtain the social need of status, the teen could go but not drink because of (1) being underage and (2) the possibility of becoming addictive since dopamine in teens is at a lower percentage than in adults, so when we do something “risky” or new, it is released at higher levels. One thing that I wish to learn more about is the chemical reactions that happen in our brain that causes us to do those “impulsive” decisions. I understand the baseline of what happens, it minimizes the threats, but I want to know exactly. One other thing that would be interesting to learn about is how (for example) a teenager who makes poor decisions rather frequently slowly change into a better young adult making better decisions. It obviously doesn’t happen overnight, so what are the steps?