HOLY DIDDLEY BOW!

For this unit, Sound, in our STEAM course Light, Sound, and Time we explored the way that sound is not only produced, but how we interpret sound. Sound can deceive us depending on the way that we interpret it. We looked into the anatomy of the ear including how the pinna gets funneled into the eardrum to the three small bones called, the ossicles, to the cochlea which transfers sound to our brain.  We also had the opportunity to visit the Chicago Hearing Society where we were able to speak to some people who were deaf, we were able to ask them questions, etc. This was a nice opportunity for us to be able to look at the world in a different lens once we realized the challenges that came along with living in a society that is not accepting to marginalized communities. We also had a guest come in who was a sound therapist. She was able to give us a performance using different instruments that allowed us to not only calm us down, but also applied science. The doppler effect was phenomenon that we looked into throughout the course. This is when a sound source may appear to be heading towards us giving us a higher pitch than when the sound is heading away from us making sounds appear further away. For this AP, we made our own Diddley bows! The materials needed was an aluminum can, a battery, wood, a guitar string, and screws. The screws were used as tuning pegs to increase tension when wrapping the guitar string around the screw. The piece of wood was able to be used as fretboard, and the aluminum can was used as a soundboard in order to amplify sound. You can learn more about this AP down below!

Audio recording of my Diddley bow!

To conclude, I really enjoyed this AP. I thought it was a nice opportunity to learn more about not only sound, but think about it in the way that it may deceive us at times. I also thought it was interesting to get the different opinions from the people at the Chicago Hearing Society, and understanding that there is more that can be done in this world to include everyone. Next time, I would like to see what other instruments could be made with basic materials that I could find around my home. There are instruments waiting to be created around me, and I think this AP allowed me to understand that.

The Declaration of True Immersion Experience

Throughout this unit of my humanities class, Argument, we have dove into the deeper meaning of what exactly is argument, how it can be detected, and what makes an argument strong? We have looked into argument in a political setting, so we had the opportunity to head down to city hall and observe a couple committee meeting that were taking place that involved alderman from throughout the Chicagoland. This gave us more of an idea of the kinds of premises, or statements,  that were being used to prove the claim that was being brought up. We have also been looking through the declaration of independence and seeing who exactly is being addressed throughout the document. Who exactly is receiving the right to  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We have been looking over syllogism which is a group of premises that make a conclusion true or false. We were also able to sit down with Walter Burnett Jr., Alderman of the 27th ward and ask some questions about Chicago politics, relationships within your community, etc. This was a meaningful conversation to have in order to help us think not only more about the city we live in, but also think about our action project. For this AP, we were asked to create our very own declaration of independent study where we would be able to study whatever we chose and create a set of unalienable rights that come with the independent and a declaration to help back it up. Read through my declaration of independent study to learn more about my hopes for this independent study.

Argenberg, Vyacheslav. “File:Syria, Damascus, Life on the Streets.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons, 15 Aug. 2018, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria,_Damascus,_Life_on_the_streets.jpg.

Why I'm writing this declaration?

The reason why I find the need to write this Declaration today is due to the fact that as a student and as a global citizen, I see my world deteriorating right before my eyes. I see countries deteriorating. Families being separated. Children not receiving an education. It is necessary for me to visit a country like Syria where Syrians have been facing a war for the past nine years.

Purpose of school/learning?

The purpose of school and learning is for students to reflect and learn about their identity and connect their true forms to the real world. Learning can take place in any way, not just in a setting where education is intended. Although school is a place to learn, it’s truly a place where students are granted to learn in their own way that makes them comfortable rather than in a strict structure.  

Guiding Question 

How have the lives of Syrian communities changed since 2011?

I hope that this independent study will give me the opportunity to not only grow my knowledge of communities around the world, but also allow me to grow connections with people from around Syria to get to know this country a bit better in order to grow and help a country thats situation is yet to be resolved.

Analogy of historical revolution: 

Back in 2011, Syria was faced with war between its citizens and the Assad government and have continued to destroy Syrian civilians for the past nine years. Syria has been a headline on mainstream news outlets for the past nine years, and within those nine years, Syrians have been misunderstood, especially by Americans. The Syrian Civil War needs to be reexplained to the public in order to educate citizens around the globe on the true Syria. 

Unalienable Rights

• Right to travel to Syria 
• Right to build relationships with Syrians
• Right to grow and teach others about community building through what my learning in a war torn country. 
• I reserve the right to learn and explore in any place and form.

Resources included into study

People:
Abdalaziz Alhamza- Syrian Activist

Isra Chaker- Civil Rights Activist, advocacy expert, and public

Movies:
1. “For Sama”
2. “Last Men in Aleppo”

Books:
1. Dam, Nikolaos Van. Destroying a Nation: the Civil War in Syria. I.B. Tauris, 2017.

2. Malek, Alia. The Home That Was Our Country: a Memoir of Syria. Nation Books, an Imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a Subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2018.

Syllogism

Premise #1: The Syrian war has been going on for 9 consecutive years now.
Premise #2: The Syrian war has been misunderstood by mainstream media for almost nine years.
Premise #3: Aleppo, Idlib, and Damascus. The cities that have been most affected are
Premise #4: Syria is being represented as a "dangerous" country full of dangerous communities.

Therefore, I have the right to create relationships with communities in Syria in order to have a better idea of how Syrians are doing in their war torn country. I have the ability to pursue this independent study due to the fact that I am a person who is constantly learning and wanting to see changes in my life. I can educate myself on the situation in Syria including where its people stand today, and bring this information with me to the U.S. to educate Americans on the true Syria.

Conclusion

This action project truly allowed me to gain a better understanding on what it would be like to work on an independent study like this one. If I had enough money to work on an independent study like this one, I would take that opportunity! I think that students should be given the opportunity to travel abroad to these countries facing conflict like Syria in order for students to learn more about the world around them, and its citizens. 

My camera is better than yours!

For our first unit of Light, Sound, and Time we took a deeper dive into light and how light affects our everyday lives. The first two weeks we looked into the electromagnetic spectrum and how these waves surround us day in and out. We also looked into prisms and with that came the topic of refraction because a prism is essentially bending light whenever light passes through it. We spent some time learning some trigonometry and what exactly happens when light passes from one substance into another (Snell's Law). For this AP we were asked to create our own pinhole cameras to study how cameras take in light, what happens when light goes into a camera, and finding out the ending result. As an FE, we visited a darkroom at Harry Truman College where we were able to take some photos using our pinhole cameras and go through the step by step process of developing our images. To learn more about my pinhole camera and the process that came along with it, look through my presentation!

Reflection of week: Internship at Syrian Community Network

Something new that I learned throughout this PIE is the fact that the U.S. is a hard country to acclimate to, especially throughout the education system. I've also learned that while working in case management that these families would find it really hard to get through taxes, medical care, and job searching. I am grateful to have the opportunity in being in this environment like the one at Syrian Community Network because I am learning more and more about the criteria that goes into running an organization like this one. An organization that is constantly changing due to the different laws that are put into action in this country. I made sure throughout this week to start my communication building skills by asking more questions, meeting new faces, and working with them. I have made sure to put my input into the meetings that I attend because of the fact that I have volunteered so I know the students one to one. I am excited for the week that comes ahead.

Syrian Community Network is an organization that focuses on supporting the needs of refugees living across the Chicagoland. For the past two weeks, I have been working with directors from the Education Department that have allowed me to observe the adult and youth programs that SCN has to offer. I have also been able to get a deeper look into case management which helps clients anywhere from direct service to immigration services. Being able to be a part of staff meeting and even tuning into meetings that have been held with future donors has given me the opportunity to realize and take in why I want to go into the field of diplomacy and possibly manage my own organization one day. Being able to partake in these meetings and observing visits with clients has given me a different look into organization and community building.

What's the difference?

For our last unit of Rhetoric, we dove into the topic of uniting and what that looks like. We looked into the 13 U.S. colonies and made an emphasis on the reasoning behind the American revolution that soon led to U.S. independence. In order to make the United States of America the United States of America, there needed to be this sense of unity. We were able to go down to Marquette Park to look into an art piece by an organization, Inner City Muslim Action Network, which is known for being one of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S. We visited their public art work that used rhetoric in order to display an image of the freedom march back in 1963. After seeing the impact art had to convey a certain message to the public, we decided to do the same. For this AP we used art to unite. My piece of art is focused on the Uighur muslims in China and the horrible circumstances they have been facing for years now in concentration camps. Learn more about my piece down below!

NB. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? (2019)

Artist Statement

I am a Mexican/Moroccan, Muslim, 17 year old living in Chicago. This piece is for the Uighur Muslims, who, according to Business Insider, have been held in concentration camps for the past two years. News has not been properly published, and it’s time for news stations to make a change. It’s not right that the current education system includes the Holocaust into their history curriculum, yet when it comes to Muslim concentration camps, no one speaks on that topic. CNBC Stated, “around 2,500 prisoners at the camp, ranging in age from 13 to 84, and from a variety of backgrounds, all subject to the brutality of the Chinese state.” Uighur Muslims are being held against their will. Business Insider stated that Uighurs in these camps face “horrific conditions during [their] detention, including inadequate health care, crowding, and almost nonexistent hygiene. Prisoners who were observant Muslims were forced to eat pork, a food that's considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam.” Another news source, Independent, stated “Muslim women whose husbands have been detained in Chinese internment camps are reportedly being forced to share beds with male government officials assigned to monitor them in their homes.” This just goes to prove that unless you look up the situation currently happening in China, you will not receive information like this on daily news. When people pass by this piece, I want them to feel a level of concern for the Muslims in China. I want them to feel that they need to post this, educate themselves, and educate others along the way. In order to unite, we need to make sure that we are educated on the topics that we are ignorant on. This is not the fault of the public, but of news stations that focus their time on political issues that have nothing to do with the public than human crisis around the world. I decided to present this piece through digital media. Digital media is a way to share quickly and easily, and it is a platform that almost everyone uses, especially news stations. People will be able to follow a link that leads to an article speaking more on the topic of Uighar Muslims and what they are experiencing, and afterwards they will be able to share the post on their story. Once they share, they can potentially tag a news station for the news station to receive the post. The only material that I needed for this art piece was my ipad. This also gave me an opportunity for me to understand how powerful social media truly is and how I can make not only a social, but global impact. By using images that focus on eye contact, you begin feeling some sympathy for the person you see through the piece. The whole piece is a simile. Comparing two different historical events, but finding union in one topic, what should be published? Ideally, I would love this digital piece to bring attention to different news channels that have decided to not pay attention to this issue like CNN, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, etc. This piece should be a sign for news stations to wake up and truly decide what they should have been publishing for the past two years.

In conclusion, this piece really gave me an opportunity to reflect on what kind of impact social media can have. Digital art can be shared throughout different platforms and reach attention to news stations directly. Uighur muslims are being put through the harshest situations, and I personally find no difference to this situation to the holocaust. The next time you hear about Uighur muslims on social media, share the information. We share in order to educate one another on topics that we are ignorant on. In order to unite, we need to make sure we are educated and see who are the people who are making history repeat itself.

Citations:
1. Baynes, Chris. “Muslim Women 'Forced to Share Beds' with Male Officials after Husbands Detained in Chinese Internment Camps.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 6 Nov. 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/muslim-china-uighur-forced-share-beds-male-officials-detention-camps-a9185861.html.

2. Ioanes, Ellen. “Rape, Medical Experiments, and Forced Abortions: One Woman Describes Horrors of Xinjiang Concentration Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 22 Oct. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/muslim-woman-describes-horrors-of-chinese-concentration-camp-2019-10.

3. Ma, Alexandra. “China Is Reportedly Sending Men to Sleep in the Same Beds as Uighur Muslim Women While Their Husbands Are in Prison Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 4 Nov. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/china-uighur-monitor-home-shared-bed-report-2019-11.

No way! Did someone say heated bike wheels?

For the last unit of Design and Engineering, we decided to focus on the power of wheels and pulleys. We took a deeper look into how wheels can change the way transportation works around the world, and how wheels can lead to future designs and models. We looked into bikes and the parts that make up a bike. To get a closer look we visited Working Bikes on the southwest side of Chicago. We were able to disassemble some bikes that would later be sent to Jordan! This goes to show how important bikes are not only in cities in the states, but around the world. We also visited Earth Riders which was a small bike shop on the north side of Chicago where we got to try out some e-bikes and see how those worked. For our AP, we were asked to look into a persona of someone who had to ride their bikes to school and get a better idea of their commute. My partner and I got Karen who lives in Banff, Canada. From there we were able to assemble a bike for them and include parts of the bike that could be used to their benefit. Read more of my blogpost to learn about the ending result of our bike design and model!

Persona:

Karen
Age: 14
Distance from school: 3 miles
Situation: Banff is a beautiful place but Karen has to bike along large winding roads to get to school, meaning they have to watch out for cars and trucks speeding by. Additionally, it gets very cold and snowy or icy during the winter months, leading to a dangerous ride, especially when carrying their school books. Luckily they can keep their bike inside, but space is very limited in their garage.

Need

As you can see from our persona description, Karen's route isn't the fastest or the most efficient. We as designer's want to make sure that our designs are not only efficient, but work to make Karen's ride safer. For that reason, when we started the sketching process, we made sure to embolden those struggles they face on a daily basis. Banff's climate is pretty snowy and icy, so we can only imagine Karen going through those windy roads. Also, storing the bike is a huge thing for a biker, especially a child. We wanted our design to include a compact way for Karen to store their bike almost anywhere, and not just in their garage!

Benefit

We thought about ways that can prevent Karen's bike from slipping on the icy roads, and so we thought, how about heated wheels? Essentially, these wheels would be heated as Karen bikes around transferring kinetic energy to chemical energy to heat up the path ahead of them. As Karen cycles through, the ice or snow would melt, preventing Karen's bike from slipping and possibly harming them. My partner and I grew up in Chicago, a city where it could get pretty cold, icy, and snowy. We also know that not only are the streets bad, but they are also crowded with buses, trucks, cars, etc. We don't want a fourteen year old child to ever get harmed on their way to school, especially when they are riding a bike. We decided to protect Karen, if they ever do experience a bike crash, by including a "trailer" design for their upper body. The trailer would be covering them from the snow and protect them with airbags included on the sides are rear of the bike incase of an accident. Now many people do say that airbags are dangerous and could possibly harm the person rather than protecting them, but we'd rather have airbags and possibly end up saving someone's life than harming it. Lastly, we have made the bike collapsable by including clips on the bike where Karen can easily snap them and put the parts of the bike inside of the trailer frame not only for compactness, but for convenience as well!

Reason to believe

Throughout this unit we truly were able to get a better understanding of not only the anatomy of bikes, but why benefits are so beneficial. We are aware that around the world, not everyone has access to a car. We are also aware that the burning of these fossil fuels are having a bad effect on our environment, and the risk that we are putting our climate through when riding in a car, bus, or truck. We need to make bikes more convenient and in order for that to happen, we need to change the way these bikes are built. We as designers and engineers need make sure that the bikes that people are using are accommodating people's needs. By taking a look at Karen's struggles, we were able to identify the main problems and curate something that can change their future of biking. We need to make that change for each person in this world in order to lead our planet to a better, safer future!

Conclusion

In conclusion, this action project reflected what the possibilities of bikes can lead to. Biking can make a global impact that can put people in need in the position of a better future. By not only designing this bike, but actually constructing it, it got me thinking more about what engineers should do to make bikes more efficient. In order to change the way that people think about public transportation, engineers need to make their bike designs more convenient for everyone. There is a way to change people's mindsets about changing from cars to bikes, but it's all about accommodation!

iChile Desperto!, but have respected news channels done the same?

For our second unit of Rhetoric, we focused on the question,"How can we use rhetoric to change the status quo?" For some of us, this idea of "what is the status quo?" was confusing, but for the rest it's an idea that is constantly on our minds. To think more about the question, and how it fits its true form, we decided to speak with Ugo Okere, a twenty-two year old candidate running for Chicago Alderman of the 40th Ward. We learned more about him and how he used rhetoric throughout his campaign. We also brought in Troy Laraviere who plays an important figure not only in rhetoric, but in Chicago's education system. He also ran for mayor of Chicago last year. Laraviere is the current president of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. He is known across the Chicagoland for curating an Op ed speaking on behalf of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, and why it's just as important to get the principals who are running the schools opinion as the Chicago Teachers Association. Reading Laraviere's Op ed led us to focus our action project on creating our very own an a timely topic. I chose to write about the current situation in Chile and how respected news channels that the majority of society follow can be false, while social media can sometimes be telling us the true story. Read my op ed down below!

Conclusion

Overall, I thought this Op ed was good way to wrap up unit two of Rhetoric. Being able to use rhetorical devices on a timely topic allowed me to see just how rhetoric is used on a day to day basis. I was also able to find myself and think about my overall view on this situation in Chile, but also see the way that social media can make an impact when it comes to political situations going on around the globe. This op ed really allowed me to reflect on the fact that news channels will play it safe when it comes to writing about political issues, and how it's a choice to maintain the status quo rather than changing it.

Transform Your Ordinary Transfer Shovel to a "Transformer" Shovel Today!

In my first STEAM course of the junior year, Design & Engineering, we discussed what tools are. We learned about the meaning of tools, different simple machines, and how they may be beneficial in our everyday lives. We started the term by going out to our school garden and picking up trash using only our hands, and also planted some plants. We calculated the amounts of plants that we planted in however many minutes we were out there just to get a rough estimate. The following week we did the exact same tasks, but this time we used gardening tools like hand cultivators, shovels, etc. We also calculated the amount of time we were out there planting and how many plants we planted. This activity showed us just how easy it is to use tools and how quick they can get the job done. We discussed different simple machines that we see in our everyday lives including levers, wedges, screws, and inclined planes. We also learned about the Pythagorean Theorem, Soh-Cah-Toa (trigonometry), ratios, and vectors. We also thought about how empathy can be a part of the design process when trying to sell your item. We thought about how not all tools and objects that we buy can be made for everyone. There are people in this world who are disabled and aren't able to use these items like everyone else would. This information would help us with our action projects that were coming up. We had the chance to visit Home Depot near our school and participated in a workshop led by an employee who taught us about different tools used for gardening, and we were given partners to work with for our AP's. While at Home Depot, my partner and I had to choose a gardening tool that we would be able to redesign for an elderly person. Prior to the choice of our tool, we were also asked to interview with a gardener. I interviewed my grandmother and throughout the process I noticed that she was finding it quite difficult to use the gardening tools due to her knee problems. My partner and I decided to take this problem into our own hands and redesign a transfer shovel that we had seen during our FE to Home Depot. Learn more about our redesign down below!
Defense: We have created an ergonomic “d-handle” transfer shovel that makes transferring soil and gravel easier without having to use so much force on your back or knees. The shovel takes out soil and gravel and makes transferring easier and speeds up the gardening process. Our shovel is contoured to your body and has an extension that can extend up to 70 inches. You can pull the handle bar in order to extend. Get a better grip by putting your handle on the “d-handle” that has been contoured to fit your hand comfortably and hold onto the lower grip just under the extension to take out that soil. We know that two of the most common problems that elderly people face day to day is dealing with back pain and knee pain. We want to make gardening still an enjoyable activity rather than a task. We have made sure to think about key elements that go into gardening without taking the fun away, but including safer elements to our design. We would say that our tool works like a lever. We usually see in shovels that in the input force is at the top which is where your hands are pushing the shovel into the soil. In our case, the fulcrum is in the middle (extra grip stabilizer) allowing there to be a balance once you take the soil out which is exerting force out of the ground. There’s an up and down motion and the fulcrum in the middle which makes it a 1st class lever.

What are the parts?

Extendable Length Optimizer: Works like a telescope just pull out each handlebar that extends 14 inches for each handlebar. In general, the ergonomic “d-handle” transfer shovel can extend up to 70 inches (5’10)

Bendable Handshape Grip: Fits your hand perfectly and comfortably.

Body: Contoured (wavy) body in order to make your job easier and work with your body shape rather than having a stiff & hard handle bar which puts more pressure on your back.

Extra Grip: Helps you stabilize yourself while transferring gravel or soil.

Latch/ Button: Allows you to detach the blade from the body making it easier to clean.

Blade: Aluminium based making the tool lighter overall, and we added some sharper edges at the end but not too sharp to be dangerous for anyone who uses this transfer shovel!

Here are FOUR reasons why our tool is better than the competition:
Ergonomic body: Fitting your body shape and making it easier to work with because the extra grip is at the right spot of the shovel providing maximum comfort on your back, less force is made on your back, and you won’t have to bend down as low which protects your knees from any pain.

Handle grips: Providing more comfort throughout the tool and using two hands in different areas gives not only better grip but more balance causing you not to fall.

Extendable Length Optimizer: Are you tired of having to put force on your back while gardening? Well, we have made our tool extendable up to 70 inches (5’10) which is the average height making it easier and not cause you to slouch down as much. Do not worry, the extension shafts in our shovel does not affect the overall weight of the shaft because although we use wood, the wood that is used for the shaft is thinner making the weight distribution feel lighter.

Blade: The blade can move in a 360 motion making it easier to scoop out and dump soil or gravel to your pile. Along with the 360 motion blade, it's detachable! This makes the cleaning process 10 times faster!

Purpose:

Throughout this unit, the idea of empathy kept coming up on our minds. What makes a design a design? I personally feel that a design should be well thought of before engineered. When designing a product, you should be thinking about different people in this world who all go through different situations rather than what you have experienced yourself. What makes a true design is when you think about the people that can use the design, and that's how your design can become successful. While I was watching my grandmother struggle with some of the tools that she used, I realized that many designers don't really think about their audience to whom they are designing the product for. Sure they get the idea, but do they actually test out the item before it reaches the market?

The process:
When I was talking to my partner about redesigning a tool, I made sure to discuss the issues that I had seen my grandmother go through to base our future redesign on those issues. Our issues were back and knee problems that correlate with one another when using a shovel. It's sort of like a cause and effect situation. If you bend down when taking soil out, you hurt your back. When you're bending down, you apply more force on your knees causing knee pain and damage. It's a problem that needs to get solved. While at Home Depot, we were looking at the shovels that we think can cause the worst back and knee pain. We chose not only the shortest transfer shovel, but the most uncomfortable to hold. The "Anvil D-Handle Transfer Shovel" was our competition. We worked with the shovel throughout the workshop led at Home Depot and realized that this may be one of the toughest shovels an elderly person can use. When we go back, we thought about different ways to improve the design without losing the idea of the D-handle. The D-handle was efficient when thinking about the grip in which you place your hand through. We created a rough sketch of our design the first day of designing and presented our ideas to the class. We received feedback from our classmates the second round of the design process for what we can change or what they liked about our redesign. We created a storyboard on how potential customers can use our design efficiently and effectively. Lastly, we recorded our volume and surface area of one part of our design, we included vectors of where our input and output forces can be found throughout the design, and found a relevant quote that inspired our design process. If you want to see this information, click on the slideshow down below!


Our Slideshow Presentation:

In conclusion, this AP was quite interesting to complete. This AP made me realize how important it is to think about everyone when designing a product. There are people in this world who are disabled and who aren't able to do day to day tasks. We should make products that are designed for everyone rather than products that only work for certain people. Also, you get more of an audience when you an include everyone making your design better than the competition. The next time I design a product, I will always think about empathy and pleasing my potential audience!

Iran Nuclear Deal Plan with Elizabeth Warren

For this humanities course, Rhetoric, we focused on studying the art of rhetoric. Some of us had no idea what rhetoric was and how it was used, only to find out that we use rhetoric everyday. We started off by learning about Aristotle’s ethos, pathos, and logos. Using credibility, emotion, and statistics to prove an argument. This term, we were able to visit Leo Burnette, which works with different brands in advertising and marketing.We learned about the art of rhetoric that is used within different brands to convince a customer to choose their brand. This was an interesting experience and also got me thinking about our AP. For this AP, we were given a democratic candidate who is currently running for presidency in 2020. We were asked to curate a question that could come up throughout the candidate's presidential campaign trail, and create a two minute speech in which the candidate will respond to. I got Senator Elizabeth Warren and her topic will be foreign affairs, specifically Iran Nuclear Deal. Read and watch my response to learn more!

Video:

Q. Senator Elizabeth Warren, as a Persian myself, I am tired of seeing my country and America not being able to make amends for the past four decades (especially now). In previous interviews you have stated that Iran is a “significant threat”. I am hoping that in the future, Iran and the U.S. could make amends. If elected president in 2020, what would you do in order to gain back a relationship with Iran?

2 Minute Summary:

I have stated in previous interviews that Iran is a “significant threat” to the United States. But what is more of a “significant threat” is the fact that our president has put us at risk of a nuclear war with Iran by withdrawing the U.S. from the JCPOA back in 2018. A president that is supposed to protect us has just put us at risk of nuclear destruction. As I've stated before on warren.senate.gov, “America should be a country that keeps it promises. The Obama Administration negotiated a landmark agreement to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” This was a monumental moment in U.S. history. Finally being able to be a part of a peaceful agreement with Iran meant we might finally hold a stronger relationship with Iran, and a safer one. I’d rather deal with Iran’s bad behavior with a nuclear deal than without it. Our president has isolated us from many deals that could be pointing America to a better future, but instead has just isolated us. Now that we withdrew from the JCPOA, President Trump’s “administration has pummeled Iran with crippling economic sanctions.” according to Business Insider. Since September, Iran has already begun taking a “big step away from the deal when it announced it would begin developing more advanced centrifuges that allow for more rapid uranium enrichment.” from business insider. The JCPOA deal only limited Iran to “3.67% of Uranium enrichment to maintain the country’s energy needs.” according to NPR. That percent would not give Iran the ability to build a nuclear bomb. Now that we have Iran fighting back, we have increased our potential of nuclear war. As a senator serving for almost eight years, I have seen our presidents make decisions that can destroy America’s future. I will treat America like my baby if elected president. If I am elected president, I will make sure that every family in our country is in safe hands and never at risk of nuclear destruction. If elected president in 2020, I will make sure to get us back on that deal. Foreign affairs seems like an Eye of the Needle for some presidents, but it’s an issue we must address. We, as Americans, need to make sure that we make amends with countries like Iran before we go ahead and make other plans to better this country. We, as Americans, need to make amends with countries like Iran for the safety of this country. We, as Americans, need to make amends with countries like Iran in order to keep these influential generations alive and love this country. We have been divided for too long and it is time for us to make America what it should have been these past four years.

Overall, this AP got me thinking about America’s future. Next year, I will be able to vote for the very first time. I want to make sure that as a voter I make the right decision about the candidate I choose, and I want to make sure that our next president is able to make a difference for our country. Foreign affairs is a topic that I really look into when thinking about what makes a good candidate. I personally feel that in order to set orders on what can make our country better, we need to think about the countries we need to make amends with first. We need to make foreign affairs priority for the safety of our country.

Citations:

1. Gathright, Jenny, and James Doubek. “Iran Will Surpass Uranium Enrichment Limits, Officials Say.” NPR, NPR, 6 July 2019, www.npr.org/2019/07/06/739171142/iran-could-surpass-uranium-enrichment-limits-on-sunday-according-to-top-aide.

2. Haltiwanger, John. “Here's What's in the 2015 Nuclear Deal with Iran That Trump Withdrew from, Sparking a Crisis That's Led to the Brink of War.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 Sept. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/iran-nuclear-deal-explained.

Volunteering at Syrian Community Network

For my community service hours this year I felt that it was important that I do something that I wouldn't only use as community service hours, but also be able to put on my college applications to show that I am a global citizen. This year I decided to volunteer at the Syrian Community Network near Edgewater to help Syrian refugees with the work they receive from the educational systems that are pushing them back from education they deserve. Something that i've learned throughout helping these kids with their homework, social emotional learning skills, and more, has been that our education systems in the U.S. are not suited for everyone. These kids are still adapting to the U.S. after fleeing from their homes which is now a war zone back in 2011, which is when the Syrian civil war began. At SCN, we help these kids adapt and understand the education system in Illinois and help them with basic social and emotional learning skills to use in their everyday lives. This has been quite the experience, and i'm glad to have been able to experience it. These kids have taught me patience, exploration, and have shown me to give gratitude to the little things! I am glad that my school motivates my peers and I to go out and help our community because I would never have known about organizations like SCN if I hadn't gone out my way to look for an organization that catered to what I was interested in. I have not only gone out of my way to help these refugees, but i've also built friendships along the way with teens my age! I have taken some photos throughout the year as well. Take a look below! I was also included in a video made to promote the After School Programs SCN offers!

SCN End Of School Year event. NBE. 2019

SCN After School Program. NBE. 2019

SCN After School Program. NBE. 2019

SCN After School Program. NBE. 2019

SCN After School Program. NBE. 2019

SCN After School Program. NBE. 2019

Rue Maghreb

For this independent study, I spent some time working on an idea that I had been thinking about for quite some time, starting a brand. I follow a lot of brands on instagram that all create streetwear to represent Middle Eastern culture such as Palestinian, Yemeni, Jordanian, Lebanese, Iraqi, and Syrian culture. As much as I love those culture, and hold them close to my heart especially growing up with friends who cam from that background, I always wished that there would have been a brand like that for my roots. I come from a Mexican and Moroccan background, it was always really hard growing up and trying to find something that resembled me. I was never ashamed of who I was and where my parents came from, in fact, each time someone started a conversation with me I would inform them on my background. Because I saw that these brands have a trend with the people who they wanted to bring forward, Middle Easterners, I also saw a lot of people who came from a North African background whether they were Tunisian, Moroccan, or Algerian, who also followed these brands. I wondered if they felt the same way that I did. I wondered if they wanted something to relate to, but still wanted to educate others on their background. From there I played around with the idea of starting my own brand that catered to North African countries. I had been thinking about it for a while to the point that I was certain that I wanted to start something. I talked to my parents about the idea, and they agreed. My independent started with me trying to come up with a name. I knew that I wanted to think about incorporating French and Arabic to the name because those are the two commonly spoken languages in the Maghreb region. I wanted a name that joined these countries together, but I also wanted an urban flow to it. I played with the idea of street names, and in France every street name starts with Rue, meaning street or route. Maghreb is the region in North Africa which include three countries such as: Algeria, Morocco,Tunisia. From there, I found the name, Rue Maghreb. I created an instagram handle, and started contacting people I knew to follow and inform others about the brand starting. From there, we started the process of creating a brand!

Now the process included, how do we print shirts? I went to different screen printers across the Chicagoland who would be able to print my designs on shirts. Another question came up, where do I purchase wholesale shirts? How soft does the shirt need to be? Do I cuff the sleeve? Many questions were coming up which may have been the most stressful time of the business planning. It came down to my teachers recommending me to screen print my own shirts because not only was it cheaper, but I would be able to see the process myself. I do not regret printing my shirts one bit, especially because of how picky I am with things. I was able to see the process from building a screen printing frame, to picking the colors I wanted for ink, to printing my very own shirt. I bought the shirts from a wholesale website, and chose the Bella + Canvas brand shirts to work with. Now that that process was over, I needed to take some photos of the merch to put up on the website. My friends and I held a shoot at my house, and then we headed out to Wicker Park to get some shots. Chicago is the best place to take photos, especially when your trying to get the urban vibe for your shots. When I was thinking about the brand, I wanted to make sure that people were aware that the brand is based in Chicago. I grew up in Wicker Park and I think the area has a lot to do with the way I am today. This area has allowed me to express myself, and my culture. I got most of my fashion style from seeing the people around me. Walking around Milwaukee Ave. and seeing everyone's outfits inspired me and made me feel more confident in who I was. I want people to feel the same way with their merch when walking around an area they feel connected to. As we were shooting, my friends and I also felt that confidence with what we were wearing. The shirts fit in and people began asking us where we got our shirts fun which was my very first interaction with people asking me about the brand. It was a great feeling. Here are some clip of the shoot that day!




Lastly, it all came down to creating and designing the website. I needed a domain in order to make the name official! Now that I had settled with the name, Rue Maghreb, I was very confident in the decision I had made. I created the website using Wix.com which was a great way to start off creating a website, especially when you don't have experience. I started thinking about the ways that I wanted to design the website to make sure that it caught everyone's eye. I made sure to release a countdown on instagram to inform my audience to tune into the website when I launched. While I was designing, I also made sure to direct message a bunch of people who were also interested in North African culture. Whether they were North African themselves or already had a shop dedicated to Moroccan rugs or even teapots, I made sure to message anyone and everyone to get the word out that the site was launching. The day I launched, I had people from Antwerp, Belgium which has a huge Moroccan population putting the Rue Maghreb site on their instagram pages. I also had people in Dubai informing their followers. People in the U.S. Three days before the launch, I emailed this beauty influencer who is Moroccan. She is famous for being the very first hijabi model for the popular makeup shop, Sephora. She helped Sephora in making a big step in terms of diversity for the brand. She wore the merch and posted about Rue Maghreb on instagram. Prior to the launch, Rue Maghreb had 138 followers. After the first day of the launch, we made 210 followers! It was great seeing the messages from people who were excited not only for the launch, but also to know that they had always wanted a brand that was dedicated to their culture! Today, you can check out the merch on the Rue Maghreb site!

I am so glad that I started the brand up! I think it was a great experience through everything. Although this is an independent study, I couldn't have done it without the help of my teachers who guided me through questions that kept popping up. I have been able to connect with Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians throughout the U.S. and internationally which is awesome. I see some really exciting things happening for the brand very soon. I have two contacts, one in Morocco and the other in Chicago to collaborate with which is really exciting! This independent study was a great way to wrap up the end of the school year!