PVU GCE Portfolio

In my second elective term for my class M.A.G.I.C., we studied who inspires us and who/what motivates us. M.A.G.I.C. stands for “Mentoring Achievement of Goals and Inspiring Champions.” We studied all kinds of different people who are our mentors or inspiration. I chose Garry Kasparov as my mentor and inspiration, I chose this due to how successful he is not just in chess but in life. Kasparov is a world-class chess player and a political activist. In 2006, he had started the Russian Opposition. The Russian Opposition is a group of various political parties, movements, and groups of citizens, who oppose the policies of Vladimir Putin. Kasparov advocated and spoke out against Putin, and as a result, he was almost killed several times. I also chose a mentor in my personal life that helped me and inspired me. I chose my teammate from fencing Cameron Woods. He inspired me and drove me to success. Although I am not perfect, he taught me to be the best I cou...

In our final unit of our winter term called diversity, we learned about how people are treated unfairly or based on race. We watched a movie called The Color Purple by Alice Walker. We learned about how racism, repression, and domestic abuse took part thought the movie. For this Action Project, we were supposed to make a review of the movie. I talked about a couple different important things. We were also supposed to interrupt why the movie was banned. I also talked about my personal views of the movie. I think this movie is a really good movie. I don't know think it should have ever been banned. The movie talks through the eyes of the main character and through letters. I think the hardest part of the whole AP was to get it done in time. I was able to just push through and finish my review. The movie opened up a different view towards our past. I think we take everything for granted, and not realising who had it hard so we could have it easy. The Color Purple by Alice Walker ...

In my first class for Humanities, called Forbidden Books. The unit we are studying is called Politics. We discussed and read Fahrenheit 451. We studied censorship and why the books were banned. While studying politics we took a FE to a bookstore. The bookstore is called Women and Children first. We went here because of the controversial politics with Feminism. For this AP, we were instructed to make a Socratic dialogue. We then were allowed to choose a partner of our choice. My partner was AA , our dialogue was about “When Does Self Defence Become Assault?” We made a video that showed how we used the Socratic method. The most trouble I had with this Action Project was when we were making the questions. Coming up with Socratic questions was very hard for me. The way I overcame the struggles by reading lots of Socrates and then questioning everything. Overall I thought that the Action Project was pretty cool and inspiring. A Socratic method is a form of collaborative discussion. This is ...

For my final unit, Hero's, in my Humanities class Stories, we learned about heroes and what makes someone a hero. We also learned about the seventeen monomyths. Monomyths are a way to characterize a hero’s journey. Heroes are very opinion based because everyone has their own opinions. Our class took a field experience to the Stony Island Arts Bank. We learned about Theaster Gates , and what makes him a hero to some. For my Action Project, I worked with a partner to choose two people that we thought were heroes. We were supposed to choose one fictional hero and one non-fictional hero. My partner ALA and I chose Jesse Owens, Olympic Champion, and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. At first, I thought it would not work, but as I went on, I researched my heroes and then everything made more sense. We were supposed to find connections in their lives. Luke Skywalker worked perfectly to the seventeen monomyths we learned about. George Lucas wrote Star Wars basing everyone off of the monomyth...

In my second united of Stories, we studied fables and allegories. We looked at various different types of fables and discussed them in length. Later in our unit, we watched a movie called Endgame by Samuel Beckett. We observed which characters from the play were dynamic, static, flat, protagonist, antagonist, and that shared a lesson. My favorite part of this unit was analyzing fables that I never really got the point of. I did not like creating my own because I am particularly bad at creating stories. Once upon a time, there was a forest where a pack of dogs lived. In the forest, everything was great except the truth. There lived a pack of dogs and these dogs were amazing dogs. One day a dog was born, Brian was his name. Brian was the runt of the litter and was often mistreated. He was excluded from many activities and events that his siblings participated in. Brian felt like he needed to prove himself to his siblings, but he was too afraid to ask. Brian spent several days thinki...

For my first class in Humanities of my sophomore year, I am taking a class called Stories. We learned about stories and where they came and originate from. We studied different religions and did a small group project on a certain religion. We learned about its setting and etiology. Etiology is usually referred to as the creations of a myth. I studied Yahweh with RZD , and learned about the Judaism and its etiological story. For my first Action Project for Stories we were instructed to create our own etiological story. I think my drawing for my planet “Alancha” turned out extremely well. I struggled with creating my own myth using the “Big Bang.” I overcame my struggles by sitting down and just daydreaming, and letting my imagination flow. I then came up with a story about a God who controls a planet. Enjoy! PVU. (September 2016) Alancha Chapter One... In a world far beyond one we can see there was a small planet. The planet was named after Alancha, an idolize...

For my last Action Project for my last term of my freshman year, Food For Thought. In this unit we were studying food reviews. For this Action Project we were instructed to choose a food at a restaurant and a make a home meal. We researched our food We had to find the food, review it and say what we smelled, tasted and felt about the food. We also had to take a picture of our foods. I liked everything about this action project, especially the eating part. I think that I could have made it better. Tiramisu. It’s a condensed, four-syllable word that can seem quite boring, yet it can be one of the most flavorful dishes. Tiramisu is made of long biscuits called “lady fingers” that are dipped in coffee, layered with eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, and finely flavored and plated with cocoa powder. The translation according to Todd Wilbur, author of the Top Secret Recipes says the meaning of the name is, "cheer me up","wake me up." I picked up a slice of tiramisu fr...

This is my second Action Project for my last term, Food For Thought. In this course we are studying in this unit is to see what a global food system looks like, to understand human and environmental impacts of our world. For this Action Project we had to choose a global issue that is happening in the world. We had to research our issue. We also had to make a fake presentation for the UN. Finally we had to find a way to address and solve the issue we researched. One of the biggest things that I am proud of was coming up with a plan/solution to our water crisis. Something that I struggled with was researching. I had to record my “speech” and in the process I encountered many mistakes, but it all worked out at the end. Watch my video below, and enjoy my speech. Water Crisis in Iraq By PVU Water is something we take for granted in the U.S., while in some countries, people walk many miles to get just half a day's worth of water. Seventy percent of Earth is water but o...

This is my first Action Project for my last term, Food. In this course we are studying food and where it comes from, history of the food and framing. For this Action Project we had to choose an ingredient and write about it in first person. We had to research a lot about our ingredient and the center origin of it. I liked learning a lot about my family's spice. I had run into a couple problems because my grandparents don't speak the best English. Overall it was a cool project, and I am looking forward to doing it again.

In unit 3 for my Who am I? class, I learned about dreams and the meanings behind dreams. We were exploring different ways to look at dreams and interpret them. For my third, and final action project we were instructed to build our own dream catcher. I liked being able to customize my own dreamcatcher to whatever I wanted. I wanted to incorporate different aspects of my athletic career and dreams. I had never built a dream catcher before. At first I had a really hard time figuring out what I wanted to represent. I was also worried that I would not do it well enough. I was happy with the outcome of my dreamcatcher. (PVU, 2016, Dreamcatcher) In the center of my dream catcher I have a necklace piece that I wear to this day. Whenever I had that bracelet on me I knew I could do anything. My life motto is “don’t give up anything is possible and I can do anything.” Whenever I wore the necklace it gave me dreams and visions of my future. For some reason when I would take it off I could ...

In my second unit of my Who Am I, I learned about philosophers and doubt. For this Action Project, I made a slide show about "What makes us decide what's right and wrong." I thought this was a cool action project. This was pretty easy to make, but it had some troubles. The hardest part of my project was to think about my everyday decisions and the process I take to make those decisions.

This is the third and final action project for MDGs. The MDGs class focused on each and every goal. We discussed them and thought about what we could do to achieve these new goals. This class helped me understand the world better. I now understand where we are in economic and development growth. I think taking this MDG class changed me and changed the way I think about the world. This final topic I chose is about stopping HIV and AIDS. We had to choose one goal between #6, #7, or #8. I chose number six. I chose number six because HIV and AIDS are a very serious disease and needs to be talked about. I used Greece as an example country for my AP3. Learning about the side effects of HIV and AIDS was the hardest for me because it is such a sad topic. The easiest and best part of this AP3 was to finally understand and learn the ways to prevent HIV and AIDS. (PVU, 2015) Stopping HIV and AIDS "Fifty thousand people get infected with HIV each year. In 2010, there ...