2nd-year Advocacy Projects Reflection

The second-year advocacy projects that I visited allowed me to understand what people my age are worried about. The advocacy projects that I choose to look at all had some type of interesting factors that appealed to me. Two of the advocacy projects that I looked like included voter information and voter necessity.

This topic is very interesting to me, because it allowed me to look on how to help solve a problem that effects my age group. Not many people who are my age want to be bothered with politics or learning about their candidates. For example, I would ask my friends who voted and a majority of them would say I voted for them because my parents voted for them or they were from the ‘right’ political party. Not only is there ignorance on candidates, there is not a lot of interest or education in the process of voting. For me the only reason that I voted was because I had parents who shown me how and what to do. I had parents who helped me register to vote and tell me where my polling place is. Many people my age their parents do not put that interest in voting and that unfortunately, rubs off. The advocacy projects allow me to see how to fight against voter ignorance and nonchalance.

The other topic I choose is a part of two interests of mine: art (dance) and history. Many people do not take either of those subjects to heart. Those are the classes in schools that many slack off or do not want to learn. The project was about the use of dance in diplomacy and how it was used in the cold war. I have never heard of this before, and thus it piqued my interest. The project’s topic shown me that things that many do not think are important are what holds the world together like dance, music, and study of history. These types of subjects have shown the humanity in a difference verse, and not just numbers on a paper.

The projects I chose were to allow me to find out ways I could help in advocating for these ideas. Such ideas include how to give voters the information on their candidates in a non-bias way, or places in which they can find this information on their desired candidates. I was also able to see the ways to help get voters to the polling place, and to help them understand how much 1 vote can count for any type of election. Both of these projects also stated that to help with voter knowledge and participation would be to educate the general public about their options. The dance advocacy project allowed me to see what something that is not a normal diplomacy action can allow for a common language between countries that seem to have nothing in common. Just like dance is a common language throughout the world so is the knowledge of the humanities and the necessity of that is something that is sorely lost in the American education system.

The projects have inspired me to look more into the subject of the importance on humanities in k-12 education. I am not sure if I will use that as my own advocacy project for next year, but I do know is that, that topic is of great importance. With the practice of reading over the projects, it has shown me that many people may age have something that they are passionate about and what others to know. Whether that issue be about voting or about the education of those in American schools, they want people to be passionate about the issue. They want others educated on the issue, so that others can understand the issue itself, and not just someone standing on their soap-box.

Congressional Apportionment

The government that was installed by the founding fathers was not meant to be a perfect democracy and therefore cannot be showcased as completely fair. There is not a way to make congressional apportionment fair because to change the system would be appeasing one viewpoint over the other, thus unfair. One can change how the representatives are apportioned, but there is no way to do that without irritating either sides of the political spectrum. The examples of unfairness are the extreme in American society, such as the example of District of Columbia. These examples are where many people have a hard time grasping that the Constitution was put into place to protect the idea of government. The constitutional apportionment of the state representatives was put into place to appease the larger states at the time. When creating the constitution that main argument was whether who had better representation, and thus a compromise was formed to try and make things fair. This compromise is now the root for whether this argument exists. To make the apportionment fair would reverting back to the beginning of the United States. The changing to make everyone equal would be inherently unequal because of the polarized two-party system in the United States.

The changing of the apportionment in the House, no matter which way it is done will not end up supposedly fair. Certain states that are known to be one way and have a lot of representative power, and if that power is supposedly threatened one way or another there is a big animosity between the groups. The way to change this though would be to not support hyper-partisanship and allow for an indiviual identity, but that it is impossible in the type of government that the United States is under. To keep the same amount in the house right now, it would be impossible to take numbers away and give to other states that are smaller, because this is not the system of representation in the United States. Such states like Texas and California have more power because of their ever-growing population, but states that are not growing like Wyoming do not have that power. The main caveat to that is that each and every state has power in congress with their two senators.

In conclusion, there is no way to change the House apportionment to make the representation fair in judgement. The country was founded on was to have others make governmental decisions by an intelligent peer. A compromise was made in which each type of states has some type of say. In the house there may be a disproportional amount of power, but each state has two senators. When trying to change a fundamental way that the United States is ran would be impossible in the political climate of today. Each polarized political party will view the change as a way for the other party to gain more power, and not seeing it as different people receiving representative power. The extreme examples of this include Washington DC, these people of DC know that they will not get a representative or senator because it is laid out in the constitution. To make government fair is an impossible task with split political parties, and thus trying to make apportionment fair now would do the exact opposite.

Artifacts

Politics, Society and Law Peer Mentor Interview:

Becoming a peer mentor takes a certain ability that not many people possess. In PSL, I have noticed that each of these mentors possess this sought-after trait. My mentor, Emma King is someone who  was a passion for helping others, which is showcased in her interview with me. She is on a pre-law track because she knew at an early age that she wanted to improve the overall human condition or in other words; help others. As many pre-law tracks she loves to argue, and is passionate about what she believes in. She is apart of the mock trial team at OSU, which allowed her to meet people with similar interests. Last summer she want to Paris, and this enhanced her travel bug. She hopes to one day go to Thailand, and eat some of her favorite foods (Pad Thai). She has a big interest in psychology (which is one of her majors) and loves music especially sad songs. She also loves listening to One Direction, which was something that was similar to me. My interview with Emma allowed me to connect with other people that have different interests and views, except when it came to One Direction.

 

 

About Me

I have always found it extremely difficult to actually sit down and talk about myself, but I guess I can try. I grew up in a very small town in Northeast Ohio, where my family owned a big dairy farm. Growing up on a farm has taught me the ideal of hard-work, in which I used throughout my time in high school. My high school was small and everyone knew everybody, but that also meant that I was held to a very high standard throughout the town. I enjoyed school even though it was stressful and a lot of work, I grew academically to where I am today at OSU. In high school, I was involved in an abundance of clubs and played soccer. Some days all the stuff I was doing seemed too much, but in retrospect I enjoyed how busy I was. The ability to learn and be a part of all of these different things allowed me to understand different parts of my academia. My favorite thing that I explored in high school outside of my coursework was Music. I was a part of different music groups in my high school, and some way allowed me to escape from other difficult subjects. My favorite subject in all my academic career is history. My family set me up as a history buff when we got to go to different historical sites: our favorite is Gettysburg. Through these experiences I figured out that I am a curious learner, in which I am drawn to subjects that are hard to explain. This type of learning is what has drawn me to Neuroscience at OSU, since the brain is the last unexplainable idea. I have always wanted to know why certain things happened the way they did, which correlates with my love of history. At OSU, I hope to find the answers to the questions that I have asked.

I am standing by a John Reynolds memorial at Gettysburg Battlefield

My grandma and I pictured with Abraham Lincoln in front of the Gettysburg Visitor Center

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

As an Honor and Scholar student, one has to take into account the GOALS set as a pillar for each student. My GOALS represent what I want from my experience at OSU and my scholars program.

Global Awareness: As a first year student in the great diverse space that is OSU, I hope to be able to learn about other’s opinions and cultures that are completely different than mine. As a PSL scholar, I want to be able to learn about others political views and understand and relate them with mine. Before graduation, I want to be able to go on a study abroad trip, in which it enhances my knowledge of the world around me.

Original Inquiry: As a science major it is almost necessary for me to have that curiosity to start or be invested in an original inquiry. In Neuroscience, there is a lot of research being done on the effects of the brain and the behavior of someone. I hope to be apart of one of these research projects, and become confidants with my professors and other researchers.

Academic Enrichment: With my coursework at OSU, I will be able to become the academic in Neuroscience and eventually work in  research with others. I want to take the difficult classes to increase my academic ability at OSU, and to reflect my hardworking spirit.  In the PSL scholars, there is plenty of different opportunities to expand my learning at OSU. I hope with the diversity of my education and the intensity this will allow me to become an academic in my field, and research questions in Neuroscience.

Leadership Development: As a leader, one should be a perfect mixture of compassionate and firm. A leader is someone that is looked up to, and as a student at OSU it is paramount to want to achieve this. Leadership does not have to be on a big scale, but it can be a small group in which one is apart of. I hope to learn the abilities of becoming a leader in my student body.

Service Engagement: Service as a college student is needed to be well-rounded, and as a scholar student it is of great importance. Not only is service important to one’s college experience; service is important to one’s morality. I hope to become a mentor to girls looking to go into science.

 

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]