Fitness 500 Gym- Update

I have continued to go to the gym as often as possible, despite how busy my schedule is because of school, and I am very glad that I have done so. This activity has been very refreshing for me, because, before joining the gym, I usually did not get this type of exercise, and I rarely got any real exercise at all during the school week. I have tried to challenge myself more in recent visits, walking for longer periods of time on the treadmill and increasing the weight on the machines I have been using. Whenever I come out of the gym I often feel much more awake than I did when I went in, making it much easier for me to enjoy the rest of the day and get more work done.

Spaghetti Supper

I recently assisted a number of my classmates in a spaghetti supper that they had organized. This event, which took place at St. John the Evangelist Parish Center in Pocasset, was set up in order to benefit Lithuanian Children's Relief Inc. Spaghetti was sold for between $5 and $10 to those who attended and that money was used to buy supplies that would help children in Lithuania. My duties at the event included setting the tables, washing dishes, and helping clean up after people left. The supper seemed to be fairly successful. I thought that a good amount of people showed up, all of the students were willing to help, and some students who came entertained everyone there with music. It was a very enjoyable activity to be a part of, and I am glad to know that it was beneficial on a larger scale.

Physics Study Group- Mock Exams

This week I spent a large amount of time preparing for my mock exam in Physics, and I tried to help the rest of my class prepare as well. I updated my blog with notes covering much of the material that we were told to study, with the information being largely taken from the IB Physics Study Guide book. I made sure that I told the members of the study group about this, and I tried spread the word to everyone who might have found it helpful. In addition to this, I gathered as many members of the group as I could find to meet in the time before the exam on Thursday for some last minute studying. I personally felt that this was very helpful, as we were all able to help each other understand various topics, and we were able to review a lot in a small amount of time, using IB books, class notes, the school textbook, and the IB data booklet to help us determine what we needed to know.

Physics Study Group- Blog Update

I have updated my Physics blog at http://sturgisphysics.blogspot.com/ with a variety of things recently. I have posted notes that I took in class, a link to a website that I think could be very helpful (www.wolframalpha.com) and an image I found of a Hertzsprung Russell diagram. It sounds like some of my classmates have been using the blog, so hopefully it was helpful to them when preparing for today's test.

Model UN- MUN Reflection

Reflecting on this year's Model United Nations event has made it clear to me how much I have changed over the past year. When I participated in MUN last year, I had no idea what to expect, and I was very much unprepared for everything that awaited me on the trip to New York. This time, having one year's experience of this activity in addition to the skills I have adopted over time as an IB student, I left the event feeling much more successful.

I think that the most noticeable measure of this was, to me, the fact that I was willing to stand up in front of my committee, which consisted of about 200 people, and speak about the issue on three different occasions. I am aware that other students spoke much more than I did, and that they had likely done much more research on the topic, but I was satisfied with my improvement since last year, when I only spoke once, involuntarily. Multiple other delegates told me that they thought I did a good job, which was very nice to hear. I feel that, even if I didn't have a very important role in actually creating the resolutions, people listened to what I had to say and I was able to at least have some impact on the course of discussion and some of the ideas that were brought up afterward. Because of this, I believe that participating in MUN for a second time was an extremely beneficial experience to me, as well as a very enjoyable one.

Model UN- New York Trip

Sturgis' MUN group recently returned from the National High School Model United Nations event in New York City. I feel like I participated significantly more in my committee's meetings this year than I did when I went last year, and because of this I believe that I gained much more from the trip this time. I collaborated with others including people not only from Sturgis, but from all over the nation, in order to discuss issues of global importance. The specific issue that my committee discussed was the impact of foreign debt and foreign direct investment on human rights. I worked with students who represented many other countries, and we were eventually able to create and pass two resolutions that we felt would effectively address this problem. While not in committee sessions, the Sturgis group was still organized, for the most part, staying in groups as often as possible and trying to make sure that everyone knew where everyone else was. Overall, I am very glad that I participated in MUN and joined the group on this trip.

Model UN - Practice Debate

Yesterday after school the Model United Nations group held an hour long meeting/practice debate in preparation for the trip next week. The topic of the debate was whether or not child soldiers should be prosecuted for the crimes they commit during wars. We divided ourselves into two teams, one to argue for prosecution and one to argue against it. I thought that the debate went very well. Everyone seemed to do an impressive job of thinking quickly and coming up with reasonable points to support their arguments. There was a large amount of collaboration among both groups; we planned out the major points that we thought we had to bring up, and we all listened carefully to what everyone had to say. I think that we will be ready to do an excellent job when we go to New York next Wednesday.