SCE: My Opinion

How are you doing?

This class has succeeded in helping us understand modern world problems. Educating us has only been the first part though; the second part was telling us what we could do about the problem. I really appreciated how you guys did that for us. The fact that I learned about problems that I didn't even know were problems, like the world's water crisis, is one of the best things about this class. I also got a feel for what a college class is like in SCE better than my AP classes have. I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite classes in my four years since I learned things, but not in boring ways. We were engaged in lectures with multimedia and, thanks to our intimate class setting, we had great discussions about real world issues. I am thankful that SCE requires us to have sixty hours of volunteering. Although, I don’t feel like its a requirement, but a chance to get out there and help my community.

How am I doing?

I believe I have made some progress with my social skills by being in this class. I have always been a little shy but this class has helped me refine my social skills. I have had a chance to improve how I work with others around me to get the job done and done well. I have also had a chance to get out there and volunteer. I probably wouldn’t have known how good it feels to help out if I didn’t take SCE. A lot of people are ignorant of all the world’s problems, but I feel like my eyes have been opened to all the problems out there. I have also grown less nervous of going into my first college class next year since I feel like I already know how it would be from taking SCE.

What can be done better?

I wouldn’t change any of the subjects that are learned. I like having the tablet and it has definitely benefited me in SCE and in other classes. The multimedia in lectures has helped me grasp information better. You guys are the best teachers at this school, seriously though you guys rock. I feel like the discussions in class help me understand anything that confused me about the subjects we discussed and the readings. If I could change something, I would ask to get rid of tweeting for an assignment, twitter is useless. Also, I would try to compile all of our blogger urls since a lot of us were confused in the beginning of the year on how to send/share our blogs to you guys. (We didn’t know whether to email it or Facebook it or use that Google+ thing…) I would suggest asking students to paste our urls on a note or the wall on Facebook or something like that. As long as you guys have all the urls together, it will be easier for you guys and us. I would have liked to have a chance to help out with the Haiti trip fundraising. A lot of others in the class and I wanted to help out, but we didn’t really know what the Haiti-goers were planning and how we could help. Students in class can be useful when you Haiti-goers are swamped with fundraising work. Utilize your resources! Plus, you could always add more fun… and food. You can never overload on food.

Food blog

Breakfast:

Rice crispies cereal: rice, sugar, salt, malt flavoring, high fructose corn syrup, vitamins and iron: iron, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamin hydrochloride (vitamine B1), vitamin a palmitate, folic acid, vitamin D and vitamin B12

Lunch:

Rice: canola oil, rice, salt

Bean Stew: black-eyed peas, tomato paste, water, salt,

Lamb meat: meat, canola oil, salt

Barbecue sauce: High fructose corn syrup, vinegar, tomato paste, modified food starch, honey, salt, less than 2%molasses, natural hickory smoke flavor, spice, mustard flour, dried garlic, dried onions, and paprika

Lentil soup: smashed lentils, mint, red chili’s, water, lemon

Lemon

grape juice: Filtered Water, Grape Juice Concentrate, Grape Juice, calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, ascorbic acid (vitamin c)

Later Snacks:

Steamed beets: beets, water, salt

Cinnamon pecans: pecans, butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon

I look at all the names of chemicals that I can’t even pronounce and I think that I eat so many bad things. But, then I think of all the people out there that eat worse stuff, like fast food, everyday. I mean, to me, having cereals, lamb and Barbecue sauce (!) in the same day if so unlike me. I eat pretty healthy for a lot of reasons. First, my mom has hypertension and high cholesterol so she kind of makes us eat healthy with her. It’s kind of like saying: well, if I can’t have it, you can’t either! I can’t remember the last time I had Wendy’s or McDonald's  same goes for junk food, when we have ice cream or pop in the house there must be a really big and special occasion because otherwise it wouldn't be allowed. It’s not really that I'm trying to be healthy but that I was raised that way by my mom and any other way would feel right. Second, we eat a lot of Middle Eastern food in the house, mostly Kurdish food, and our foods are pretty healthy. They mostly consist of beans, rice and a lot of veggies. I wasn't surprised to learn that I'm not that much of a bad eater.