Reflections: Weeks 8 - 14

I learned a lot during the second half of this class. We went through a lot of practical things that are good to know, and skills that will come in handy over the years to come.

We spent a lot of time talking about politics. We didn't cover it explicitly in class, but a lot of time was spent out of class working on the Advocacy Project. This project was to get us involved in a current political issue, and have us research this issue, and make a recommendation to our elected representative on the issue. I did my project on a bill that would provide monetary funds to developing countries for clean drinking water. I learned a lot about people when I was doing research for my project. I had no idea there were so many people without clean drinking water, and all the long-term effects that had on the people. If I could reclassify the project I would probably put it with the Eye Openers. Learning how to represent an issue to other people in the form of a fact sheet was a very important skill learned. Additionally, writing letters to our elected officials is a skill that everybody should practice.

One thing that I really enjoyed this year was the field trip to Goodwill. Although I got a little lost on my way there it was a great trip. I have shopped at stores like goodwill before, but I never knew about all the other things that Goodwill does. They keep millions of pounds of stuff out of landfills. They sell what they can in their stores, they sell in bulk some of the things they can't use to manufactures for up-cycling, and the rest gets recycled. And through all those processes people who would have trouble finding jobs gain valuable work experience. Goodwill is such a great place for both the people who work there, and the environment for having all that stuff reused or recycled.

The junking project was probably my favorite part of the semester. Junking is all about taking something that is otherwise relatively worthless, and turning it into something useful.  I had a great idea for my project. I took parts off of a broken ugly lamp, used hockey stick to replace the broken part, and had a nice lamp in the end. The project saved most of a lamp that was going to be thrown away, some broken hockey sticks that had no use, and now I have a Christmas present for my mother that cost me nothing.

Overall I learned a lot this semester. There were a lot of practical things that I discovered doing research for the various Share and Voice's and other projects. This was a great class, and the things I learned will stay with me for a long time.