Weekly Reflection 1
To start off the semester, we did a mini project involving $5.00 and cooking. Our job was to create a dish under $5.00 that was able to feed 4 people. My group and I decided on creating a potato and egg dish, since it was both delicious and affordable. The main ingredients we used were eggs, water, potatoes, and bell pepper. I had never noticed how cheap potatoes really were. My group and I were working extremely efficiently especially since we had just learned new techniques. One person would be chopping while the other was getting the pan ready, or mixing other ingredients. Because of this, we were able to cook perfect potatoes that usually take a while in only a short amount of time. The only mistake our group made was when plating the food. Instead of plating right before taking it up to the tasters, we plated a couple minutes before. This caused the food to get cold which was not ideal. We also added bell peppers to both the eggs and potatoes which we thought was really good, but not to others. Next time we want to ask the tasters how they feel about different ingredients instead of just assuming.
Weekly Reflection 2
This week in humanities we did a Model United Nation (MUN) which was actually pretty interesting. Our MUN was based off of a Zombie Apocalypse that was spreading all over the world. The country my group and I were representing was China, which I thought was one of the funnest countries to play. I also feel like we had the most success with our country too. China is one of the leading countries in research of the sciences making our country the most wanted to be allied with. China would be making the vaccine and distributing it the fastest. We also acted just how the Chinese would and became somewhat enemies with USA, not letting them join our group. In the end we had about 80% of the countries on our side leaving USA and Brazil on their own. I feel like I really grew doing this activity by learning more about the different countries such as how Indonesia has an enormous amount of gold and how Russia has free healthcare. 5% of Russia's population are doctors and nurses which I find extremely impressive. Many countries in our MUN wanted to be allies with Russia just because of this. Through discussing with different countries, different terms were used. Some of them I didn't know such as "Quarantine" which I learned meant that when ships arrive to different countries, they are searched for any contagious diseases that might spread to the people on shore. In the end it was a great experience. I feel like I grew in many areas such as my vocabulary and politics and in a very fun/engaging way. Because of this, I look forward to doing another one in the future. Background- classroom.google.com/c/Mzk1ODEwNTc4N1pa |
Weekly Reflection 3
Similar to last week, we kept the MUN theme going except this time the theme we learned about was on a real topic, The Food Crises. We were handed a packet consisting of the country we will be representing during the MUN conference along with information on the topic. The country I will be representing is Mexico. We started by analyzing the packet, highlighting and summarizing each section so we could start a paper consisting of all the key points to talk about as we try our best to come up with a resolution on the global food crises. This knowledge of course being based off of our arranged country. I really feel like I grew from this experience because I'm usually not the best when it comes to analyzing articles. I learned a lot from doing some of the simplest thing such as summarizing paragraphs along with highlighting so you can find specific facts while also having your general clarification. It's simple things like this that I feel are going to help me a lot in college, so I try my best to learn from each opportunity.
Reading about our earth's Food Crises was also pretty interesting while also being a bit scary at the same time. There are a ridiculous amount of factors that come into play when trying to come up with a resolution to help feed the over 1 billion people that are malnourished on our planet. Factors such as political and economic standings when it comes to planing and funding the operation which is run by the Second Committee (Branch of the UN). There is also the scientific side of the crises where concerns of Global warming and how it's messing up agricultural patterns are being discussed. These are some of the few issues I will need to further research in order to come up with a resolution good enough to better the conference. |
Weekly Reflection 4
Our class has been in full fledge MUN mode. We've been researching and discussing all about our country which has been a very difficult, but helpful experience. This week we decided to do another class MUN where the topic was Poverty. My partner and I had the USA which was one of the wealthiest countries out of them all. We decided to team up with another wealthy country, the UK to make ourselves more selling to other countries. Many 3rd world countries came to us asking for help in trades for resources and land that they had. Using both the Uk and ours funding organizations that help countries in poverty, we where able to contribute more than 3.5 billion dollars to our allied 3rd world countries. That money would then be split up among them all. The money was mainly going to be used to help the countries agriculture and education which would both help out our countries in the long run. Education would help young men and women enter the job market in higher paying more important jobs that would then help the worlds economy and the agricultural side would both be good for our earth and help feed over 50 million undernourished people in the next ten years.
I really feel like I learned from this experience because it was a bit more serious than the last one. I really had to focus on what I was reading and treat it like it was a real scenario. This was a challenge for me especially when it came to different organizations and their acronyms that I had never seen before such as, The US Agency for International Development (USAID). I feel like if our class did more of these realistic types of MUNs we'd definitely be ready for the conference coming up soon. |
Weekly Reflection 5
It was the beginning of the big week. All of our work was being gathered up into folders for easy access during the conference. Position papers, research guides, our country research all together ready for conference day. The second I made it to Mother Rosalie Hill Hall I knew this was going to be very professional. The conference room was very clean and quit and displayed a very realistic look. The gavel was hit and it was time for each of us to present our opening speeches which went really well and gave us a good amount of knowledge to base who we'd be forming our Blocs with. In the beginning of the conference I struggled with the vocabulary that we had to use before and after speaking. "Motion to, Yield, Honorable Chair, etc." these were all words and phrases I had never heard before. I really had to pay attention to what the Honorable Chair was saying when using these words before I finally started to grasp it. Many Moderated and Unmoderated caucuses were held to discuss the different topics we had on Food Security. It was during these Unmoderated caucuses that we started to form our blocs which then combined to form a resolution. The Bloc I (Mexico) formed/joined was with many East Asian countries and Central American countries. Our resolution applied to everyone's needs according to their region along with making a committee which we called Food Waste Organization (FWO) to manage the 1/3 of food that is wasted all around the world. The 1/3 world either be evenly distributed to countries in need or turned into Biofuels with the help of China. The resolution was passed which was a big success for me and fellow delegates during the conference.
Position Paper- docs.google.com/document/d/1WdogSt44PfnEeGO_pg7iNxH3g3nTAV81oW32H4ZSitA/edit#heading=h.71szl7tesq2d
Position Paper- docs.google.com/document/d/1WdogSt44PfnEeGO_pg7iNxH3g3nTAV81oW32H4ZSitA/edit#heading=h.71szl7tesq2d
Weekly Reflection 6
As our MUN journey had come to an end, it was time to start our Comida Con Causa project with a bit more research on the way food is made, packaged, and sold all around us. The food that is going to be sold during our Farmers Market will be a majority of healthy foods. We wanted to see how other successful markets sell there healthy foods so we took a trip to the OB Farmers market and tried to gather as much information as we could. Unfortunately I had a tennis tournament that day so I was unable to attend the field trip but will do when separately over the weekend. After my group partners that were able to go to the field trip gathered information we talked about the pros and cons and how we my use them when we open our station. The next day we talked a bit about the transformation or evolution of food from where it is grown to when it ends up on your plate. We did this by getting in groups and studying only one specific part of the process and then giving a presentation to the class explaining it. My group's topic was Mechanization which was what I was most interested in since I really love machines/robots. We learned about how much cheaper and effective machine labor is over animal/human labor along with some cons that Mechanization still has such as over production and pollution. After everyone's presentations I feel that I have proper understanding of the food industry and am ready to begin this project.
OB Farmers Market-
OB Farmers Market-
Weekly Reflection 7
This week in Humanities we had a Seminar which I was really looking forward too. Last year I had a teacher that was very enthusiastic about Seminars and was really good at teaching us how to keep them engaging and informative. Because of this, I was excited to do one this year to see if I still remembered valuable skills during them and just to see opinions and questions that students in my class have. Seminars always show a lot about how a person thinks about certain topics and I find that very interesting. Our seminar topic was on an article all about corn. After reading the article we then had to write a Reading Log to help us accumulate questions and thoughts for the seminar. Even though it was new and unusual for me to do this due to its very specific steps, I did feel that I was a bit more prepared than I usually would be going into a Seminar. The down side to the Reading Log was that it wasn't used very much during the actual Seminar. This was one of a few things I feel could be done differently next time, but then again it was only our first one so I didn't expect it to be the best one I'd ever participated in. I do feel that our Seminars could be eventually though. Everyone spoke in our Seminar which I thought was amazing because last year that was a rare occurrence. There were some silent pauses though which I feel could be stopped if we had some sort of Seminar Question that kept everyone on track or as just a backup if a topic during the seminar fades. Overall I am looking for the next Seminar and all the new knowledge that will come with it.
Reading Log- docs.google.com/document/d/1UFI6Vm1jBxdb_AGC0T8m9AB6PQmINorivcwAkVH7ngo/edit
Reading Log- docs.google.com/document/d/1UFI6Vm1jBxdb_AGC0T8m9AB6PQmINorivcwAkVH7ngo/edit
Weekly Reflection 8
Our Comida con Causa project is really staring to move. Sketches are being made and markets are being reached out to. My groups company, "Cool Beans Coffee" has decided on selling cold brew coffee and donuts since they are easy to make and very profitable. We were originally started with only cold brew, but saw that there was a shop already selling it a Liberty Public Market (where we will be selling our products). To pull in more customers we needed a side dish, donuts. The perfect partner to coffee. Even though this will add to our initial investment, I feel the money will be made back quick. I am very glad that everyone in my group is hard working and that they all bring valuable skills to to project. There is only one problem that we are running into. The big problem is that not only us, but every group is running into right now is the money. Where are we going to get produce from? Where can we get it in bulk or cheaper? Because of this money problem our group decided to start a GoFundMe that you can donate to from the link below. We have also started reaching out to local markets such as Stehly Farms to see if they'd be possible donors to our company. Through time thought, I feel these set backs will be worked out. It's all part of starting a business. I see our group being a big seller at the market and possibly staying even after the project is over.
GoFundMe-www.gofundme.com/comida-con-causa-student-business
GoFundMe-www.gofundme.com/comida-con-causa-student-business
Weekly Reflection 9
During this final week before the start of Spring Break we finally finished Food Ink. which was a movie we watched to inform us about the way food is really grown and made today. There were many graphic things shown in the movie that I found very disturbing especially because I knew it was the food that I have been consuming all my life. I also found the way that large companies such as Tyson treat there farmers and workers very disturbing . They underpay their farmers while forcing them to buy newer and newer equipment that they have to pay out of pocket. The way they treat their other workers is also very cruel. They get the illegal immigrants from Mexico that are desperate for a job and will do any work for small pay. The companies force them to do all the dirty work and when they are done, they call the police and send them back to Mexico. They then find a new immigrant and the cycle repeats.
When I heard about the way cows and chickens are force fed with corn, I thought it was all exaggerated. After watching this movie, I now know it was no exaggeration. Some of these cows get so big they start walking on there knees! Something a cow should never have to do. The only way we can end how we grow our food is to spread more awareness and buy from local, organic or grass fed products. The way food is meant to be.
When I heard about the way cows and chickens are force fed with corn, I thought it was all exaggerated. After watching this movie, I now know it was no exaggeration. Some of these cows get so big they start walking on there knees! Something a cow should never have to do. The only way we can end how we grow our food is to spread more awareness and buy from local, organic or grass fed products. The way food is meant to be.