finished Passion Project

Prayers for pink. That's what we started out as. Natalie, Celeste, and I came up with the name but were unsure of where to go next. Eventually, we came up with the pins, pillows, and the twitter account. Breast cancer awareness ways heavy on me and I know it's something that needs to happen. We decided to help raise awareness to make pins and create the account. After we made the pins, we wore them at a football game, passed them out at pink out, and gave them to our friends.  After the pins we decided we wanted to make a twitter account. Our main goal behind the account was to give people statistics, quizzes, and to raise awareness.  These were the main projects we were able to complete.

To me I think at least I was half in half out of this project. I think we were able to get a lot done but I think the follow through is what we lacked. I am very confident in our progress with the pins and pillows but know we completely missed out on the other half of our project. I think we didn't raise awareness as much as we wanted too. We wanted to make our school more aware of this sickness and I don't think that happened.

Throughout this process we made mistakes, our biggest mistakes being time and procrastination. Natalie, Celeste, and I would plan to meet to accomplish a goal and wouldn't. I think if we had set an hour aside every weekend we could have achieved more of our goals. Procrastination. That word is used to describe pretty much every teenager. That word definitely describes the three of us. We talked a lot about what our plans were in moving foward but would always push it back. We kept coming up with excuses to not execute a task that needed to get done.

Passion Project Progress

Natalie, Celeste and I so far have made pins, bought bandanas, and created a twitter account. We have tweeted a few times and we passed pins out at the pink out game. I think we are behind schedule because we have not put in our full effort. I know once we put our minds to it we could create an awesome awareness week. The reason for our delay in our project is that I have been out for a few weeks and Natalie has had a lot of cheer competition. Once we set out minds to it, I know we can easily get back on schedule.

From here we have decided to meet every weekend to get more progress done. Also, we are going to wear pink to my friends football game on Saturday to promote awareness. From here, I also hope to get the big sister little sister program going where we can talk to children who have a loved one going through the cancer process. I think we could really help them out by mentoring them through this hard time. 

What I have learned about my self over this process is how much I wish to help people. I do not like to see people suffer and in pain. I think this process has shown me that I want to go into sociology. I think helping people would defiantly be a field I want to go into. I love the idea of making someone feel better whether they just need to talk for 2 minutes or if they need to talk for 2 hours. 

   For my Passion Project I'm going to work with Natalie and Celest to raise breast cancer awerness. A few ideas we will be locking into are making pillows, helping with pink out, and going around to raise awerness at other schools, churches, or other public places. Natalie and I will research breast cancer to learn more about it. Also, another part of the project will be to talk with younger children who have parents with breast cancer who need hide de. I am interested in therapy and counseling. The children could come talk to someone who went through the same experiance. I would like to consider a big sister-little sister or brother program to mentor the children in need of guidance.

    Today, about 232,570 women get diognosed with invasive cancer and 62,570 cases of carcinoma in situ which is non invasive and the earliest start of cancer. To me, those seem like really shocking numbers. I think people should know about the sickness and do everything they can to help. Towards the middle of sophomore year my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was the scariest moment of my life. I felt like I was completely alone but realized that I wasn't after a few weeks. That is why I want to help children who don't know what to do after hearing the news. I don't want any children to feel like they are alone and that no one will help them. I learned that a lot of other families know someone who has breast cancer and they were able to deal with it. I also want people to know, just because a loved one gets diagnosed that does not mean they can't live anymore. My mom today still does pretty much all the same fun activities she used to do before. No matter what I want people to know how to deal with it and keep raising awareness.





http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/overviewguide/breast-cancer-overview-key-statistics

A Rodent on the Run

A Rodent on the run

When I was 15 years old I decided that I wanted another pet. My parents didn't want to get another dog, cat, or bird because we already had 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 birds. Both of my parents announced I had to get something small and easy to take care of so it wouldn't create more problems. The next day I made up my mind that I wanted a hamster. I researched all the possible options and told my parents that I wanted a Russian Dwarf Hamster.  That weekend we went to the pet store and got the cutest and smallest Russian Dwarf Hamster. I was so happy and so excited because I got a pink cage for her and was thinking of how well I would take care of her.
If only that had transpired. If you've ever experienced hearing the phrase small but mighty- it's true.  A few days after I had attained my hamster I decided I wanted to start petting her and work on holding her. The first time I put my hand in her cage she charged it and bit it. I screamed my head off and pulled my hand out of the cage, the only issue that had arisen- I  didn't just pull my hand out of the cage, but pulled the hamster out as well. She was still attached to my hand trying it seemed to eat the whole hand whole. This battle between human and Russian Dwarf Hamster lasted until my sister ran in and saw what happened and helped( after she laughed on the floor for what seemed like for ever). Here was this little, tiny, adorable ball of fluff in a bright, hot pink cage that was the meanest animal I had ever had. She was indeed small, but mighty. I decided to take her back to the store and get a new hamster, a hamster called a teddy bear hamster . Just by the name these hamsters sound more pleasant.

So the day came when I obtained a new teddy bear hamster. We cleaned and disinfected the bright, hot pink cage and bought the hamster and went home. This hamster was more friendly and just as cute.  I started to think of names for her but nothing seemed to stay popping into my mind at that time. It all was going well until the third night. I woke up to a weird scratching sound. Now at this point in time it was about 2 in the morning. So I got up and walked around and didn't find anything out of place so I went back to bed. In the morning though I walked over to the bright, hot pink cage and my  hamster was not in there! I freaked out and my mom and I looked everywhere until we found her. She had gotten out of her cage and was in the corner or my sisters closet. My sister of corse persisted on staying furious with me because of the hamster had left a few little presents for her in her closet. My mom put her back in her cage and we went about our business. The next night I woke up around midnight to check on my hamster and didn't find anything in the bright,hot pink cage. This happened all over again. I freaked out, mom helped me look for her, and we found her in my sisters closet. This time my hamster had brought some of her bedding and was creating a nest. This happened a few more nights. I finally decided to call her Houdina. Every night I would wake up to the same sound and find her nesting in my sisters close. If you know anything about older siblings, or just people in general you know they actually don't like having hamsters nest in their closets. My whole family remained tired because we would all be up every night searching for this Hamster. Finally my dad looked at the cage and discovered that I had put it together wrong. Once I set it up right there continued to be no more escape hamster and my family actually got to sleep a full nights sleep. It wasn't as crazy as BalloonFest '86