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.

Fitness 500 Gym

I recently joined the Fitness 500 club in Hyannis, hoping that exercising there will help me stay healthy. Before doing this, I had mostly gotten exercise by occasionally going for hikes and short walks, so I thought that being active on a more regular schedule would be a good idea. My plan is to go to the gym after school three days a week. So far I am very glad that I have done this. Usually, after working hard at school and sitting through an hour long car ride, I am very tired by the time I get home. However, being a little more active in the afternoon has helped me a lot with this, keeping me awake and more productive for the rest of the day.

Physics Study Group - Blog

The Physics Study Group has not been able to meet very often, but I would still like to do what I can to help my class understand the material and prepare for the IB exam. I thought that one way to do this would be to create a blog which I could keep updated with the notes I take in class. So far, I have only posted some notes that I took about nuclear physics, but I will try to add more to it regularly. The blog is open for anyone to read, and I will see if any other physics students would be willing to contribute their own notes and knowledge to it. I think that this type of collaboration between students could be very beneficial to all of us.

The blog can be found here.

Model UN - Second Position Paper

Some issues came up recently and as a result I am going to be the only person representing Macedonia's SOCHUM committee. Because of this, I had to write a second position paper in order to be prepared to discuss either one of the two topics that might be discussed. As I wrote earlier, one topic was the rights of disabled persons. The topic I wrote about this time was the social and humanitarian implications of foreign direct investment and foreign debt. I had to write this essay on a very short notice, so it is not as long as the first paper I wrote, but I did the best that I could. As always, the other members of the school's Model UN group were very helpful, offering whatever advice they could to help me complete the paper on time.


Position Paper Topic A:

The Republic of Macedonia has been greatly impacted as a victim of the current worldwide financial crisis, and it recognizes the effect of the crisis on humanitarian matters. Macedonia, being one of the least wealthy former Yugoslav states, has been classified as a landlocked developing state by the United Nations.

At the moment, The Republic of Macedonia is concerned more with Foreign Direct Investment than with foreign debt. Between the years of 2003 and 2007, Macedonia seemed to have actually benefited from Foreign Direct Investments. The number of countries investing in Macedonia appeared to have increased dramatically since the early 2000s, with Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands holding particularly large amounts of FDI stock. This was very helpful towards achieving the goal of developing the Republic of Macedonia. More recently, however, the global financial crisis has caused the investments in the country to begin decreasing again. This change was particularly noticeable in 2008 and 2009.

The Republic of Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers the "promotion of economic potentials and opportunities to invest in the Republic of Macedonia" and "conducting active economic foreign policy" to be among the nation's top priorities. We believe that cooperation with large organizations, including multinational corporations, is a very important part of improving conditions within landlocked developing countries such as Macedonia. As such, it may be wise to keep the regulation of multinational corporations to a minimum.

Of course, we also believe that some amount of regulation by the United Nations is necessary, recognizing that maintaining the respect of human rights as an equally important goal. In addition to this, no matter how the Republic of Macedonia may benefit from foreign aid through direct investments, it is not willing to make any sacrifices in terms of its national identity; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to preserve Macedonia's sovereignty and independence.

Model UN - Position Paper Finished

I was able to finish writing a position paper for Model UN. I chose to write about Topic B, which discusses the rights and treatment of disabled people in Macedonia. Unfortunately, I was not able to write a second paper for my committee over the weekend. I will talk to the group about what to do about this, but at the very least I will be sure to do research on Topic A, which focuses on foreign debts and investments. I have posted my essay on Topic B below. I think that writing this essay helped me to develop yet another new skill; I needed to write it quickly, and I knew very little about the topic, so I had to do a large amount of research in a small amount of time. While this may not be a great habit to get into, I think that being able to more quickly process information that I research could be very helpful for my future education.

Position Paper Topic B:

Implementing the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons

My country, Macedonia, is very much aware of the difficulties facing disabled persons throughout the world and the extent to which it is necessary for the United Nations to ensure that the human rights of such persons are not overlooked. As such, Macedonia hosts non-governmental organizations such as Polio Plus, which is dedicated to preserving human rights and supporting people who suffer from disabilities. The nation is also currently involved with international organizations including UNICEF and USAID. Because of its concern for this matter, Macedonia has provided its signature for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons. In addition to signing the convention in March 2007, Macedonia also signed the optional protocol, further proving the nation's commitment to resolving this issue.

Within the past few years, Macedonia has made progress towards implementing the ideas set forth by the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has been working with various NGOs in order to eliminate discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities since 2008. Polio Plus has been a particularly active participant in this movement, assisting Macedonia greatly with the process of Universal Periodic Review and remaining in contact with the UN Human Rights Council.

Macedonia is also providing disabled children with educational opportunities, working with organizations like USAID to give these children access to specially designed computers, in hopes of establishing equality in the education of all children in the country. We have recently begun the development of community homes for people with intellectual disabilities. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has stated that he sees this development as the first step in creating "a just and inclusive society in Macedonia," as it will help to encourage the people of Macedonia to recognize the rights and equality of the disabled persons around them.

However, we are still struggling to implement the convention as effectively as possible. In the recent past UNICEF has pointed out the inefficiency of institutions for disabled children in comparison to the relative success of providing the children with a family environment. Macedonia is willing to keep an open mind in regards to the best methods with which to improve this situation. Nations like Macedonia might not have the large amounts of resources that may seem necessary to combat discrimination against disabled persons, but it is clear to us that open-mindedness and sheer determination to succeed in this endeavor could easily be our most useful tools. The world must recognize the troubles that face disabled persons daily at treat those persons accordingly. However, it is important that this is done in a way that supports people with disabilities, rather than in a way that causes them to be denied of their human rights.

Hiking - Falmouth

Today the hiking club walked a 10 mile loop around Falmouth. This hike took us through the Buzzards Bay Moraine region, past a windmill and eventually down the Shining Sea bike path. It was interesting to see the bike path during the winter, after having spent a lot of time on it during the summer. It was cold outside throughout the walk, but I think that I was very well prepare this time, because I brought multiple layers of clothing and made sure that I was able to remove some if it began to get warmer. I feel that I have developed a new skill with this type of preparation; prior to joining the hiking club, I would have assumed that there was no more to it than just wearing as much warm clothing as possible, but now that I have been on a few hikes in the winter I know that this is not true. Overall, I enjoyed the hike very much. There was not much that was particularly new about this trip, and it was very close to home, but I thought that it was an excellent way to get back into the habit of hiking for the new year.

I have included pictures from the hike below:

Model UN - Position Papers

There was a meeting this week in which we discussed the position papers that are due this coming Monday. I have been very busy with other schoolwork recently, so I have been unable to start my work on this assignment until now. I was told at the meeting that something had come up unexpectedly with my partner in Macedonia's Social/Humanitarian committee, so I will try to write both of our position papers. Normally this type of event may seem to make it difficult for me to achieve my goal of collaborating with others, but I felt that the whole situation was communicated very effectively through the group and I will do my best to complete my committee's position papers.