Final Farewell

This year has been quite the experience. This class has been especially interesting. I fell in love with writing and blogging. It is such a great way to express yourself and get your thoughts out without worrying about the reaztions of others. I had never had a blog prior to this class and now I have three. I am so excited to continue my blogging past graduation.

This class also taught me how to use my friends to my advantage. It taught me how to work with others and how to work together to achieve a dream. The service learning project taught me that it is so easy to come up with a way to help others. I think more people should try to help with something they are passionate about. It is so easy to help with a cause that you are passionate about. I feel like people think it is so complicated, but in reality you can do something as simple as cleaning up a river like Louis. If people apply themselves, anything is possible.

As well as loving the project and the other we did this year, I fell in love with the teacher coming up with all of these projects. Ms. James has had a huge impact on my life this year. Even just with the blog, she provided me a way to get my feelings out and without this release, I probably would have exploded. She also provided me with someone that has a lot of wisdom to talk to. She has been such an inspiration to me and this has been a great year, with a lot of thanks to her, Ms. James.

I love you, Ms. James and thank you so much for the positive effect you have had on my life.

60 Minutes Post

          I watched the segment on the kid that plays chess and that segment interested me greatly. To begin, I find it crazy that he can play chess so well. I have tied to play chess in the past and I am absolutely terrible at it. There are so many rules and tricks to the trade that I find it very difficult to keep up. Not only  can I barely keep up, but he keeps up while having his back turned and playing ten games at a time! This is just crazy to me.
          By speaking out loud and not looking at the board, he tells his opponent what move to make for him. I just can't comprehend how he manages this. His opponent would say what move they made and then he would give his next move. He didn't even have to watch the board to know the position of the pieces. He automatically processes the moves and the board in his head.
          Not only  can he play the game while not watching, but he won each game he was playing. He knew exactly what moves to make to win the games and accomplished it flawlessly. He was considered a child prodigy, and almost beat the world champion at the age of thirteen. He is amazing and I think he is going to go very far in life even if it's only for plying chess. With all of the publicity for his mad skills and the cash prizes for tournaments, he is set for life.

China Research Post

          In a couple of my letters I read about a day celebrated in China called the Qingming Festival,

or Tomb Sweeping Day. To me this sounds like another name for Halloween. When I hear tombs, I automatically think of mummies and scary things, usually associated with Halloween here in the US. To my surprise, it has nothing to do with Halloween. It has everything to do with the Chinese Memorial Day.
          The Qingming Festival is a time set aside to tend to the graves of ancestors. It is also used as a time to get outside, enjoy the greenery of springtime, and to spend time with family and friends.

Flying kites is also a fun past time for the Chinese. They do not only fly kites during the day, they attach little lanterns the their kites at night and fill the night sky with glowing light.







 "China Qingming Festival, 2014 Tomb-Sweeping Day, Pure Brightness." China Qingming Festival,
 2014 Tomb-Sweeping Day, Pure Brightness. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

"Int'l Kite Festival Held in E China (2)." - People's Daily Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

"Tomb Sweeping Day in China." PocketCultures RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

Service Learning Project

Jessica Hamer and I worked together on a common interest of ours. We came up with an idea on how to help out wounded warriors in America. A lot of soldiers that return for the war with injuries cannot provide health insurance for themselves and/or their family. Jessica and I wanted to try to help out as many of these veterans as possible. So we came up with a plan to have an event where we collected baskets from local businesses and raffled them off. We would also have food donated to our event and collect tips for it. All proceeds would go towards the wounded warriors. We made a presentation with statistics on soldiers and more information about our event we wanted to have. It is posted to Jessica Hamer's blog here.

China letter reaction

Receiving letters back from the students in Chine has been an amazing, unforgettable experience. I have been emailing a few of them back and forth and getting to know more about them and their culture. When reading their letters, I was expecting to read about how strict their country is and how they don't have any free time and how they make no choices themselves. This, however, was not what I read. China is very strict, but people there do have free time and they can go out and do whatever it is that they need or want to do. They have a huge test, which I did not know about until this project, that determines what they will do with the rest of their lives. This astounds me. School is much more structured, as I assumed it would be, and students care more about their grades than a lot of kids here in the United States. I was surprised that a lot of them had siblings. I had heard about the law stating you could only have one child and I found this was not the case for any of the people I received letters from. They had a lot of questions to ask and many pertained to my many jobs. They didn't know how I have time to do everything I am involved in plus work as well. They had many questions on if I liked my jobs and how I picked them. I also had a lot of questions about hobbies and books. They were curious as to what else I did in my free time. In one of my pictures in my autobiography, my family and I were at Hershey's Chocolate World. They were amazed that my family could travel so easily. Whenever we wanted to take a trip, we could. they never said this, but I'm assuming they can't just travel to far away places at the drop of a hat.

Out of all of my letters, not one person compared me to an actress or a television show. They were all able to basically tell me about myself just from my autobiography. It was amazing how much they could tell about me just from reading it. They don't seem to be very judgmental, which surprised me
slightly because people here tend to judge harshly and quickly. It made me feel so great to see how excited they were to read our papers. It was very humbling to read their responses and to understand some of their thoughts. This has been an amazing experience and I hope to continue talking to them and expanding my knowledge on their culture. Maybe one day I'll go visit them in China.

TOMS

To answer the questions that Blake Mycoskie asked on the page...

1. If you didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your time?

I money had no affect on how I spent my time, I would probably spend my time doing multiple things. I love animals, so maybe I would help animals. I also love little kids and old people. Maybe I would spend some time with those people too. I love helping those in need, so I would probably try to help as many different people as I could and try to make the world a better place.

2. What kind of work would you want to do?

I kind of already answered this question in number one. If I could do anything I wanted to, I would help people by raising money, teaching them something, or just spending time with lonely people. I have a side job where I dress up like a princess with some other girls and we go to birthday parties and we also want to volunteer at the new Mercy St. Jude's and visit with the little kids that are there. I think that would be a great way to spend my time.

3. What cause would you serve?

I would serve for two causes. I have a passion for our military so I would want to help out with the military and veterans as much as I could. I also have a passion for really young and really old people. I know many people that have been affected with terminal illnesses. I would love to help support them and maybe even help find a cure for their diseases. I think that would be a worth while task.

Service Learning Project

Katie Billingsley

Grammar and Composition II

Block 3

February 28, 2014

 Helping Those That Helped Us

            As little kids grow up, they begin thinking at a young age about what they want to do with their life. Most children will usually say something along the lines of becoming a princess, the president, or maybe even an astronaut. My dreams as a little girl were much different than those of most children my age. I have wanted to join the military since I was seven years old. I decided on which branch when I got into high school and began taking Physics. I fell in love with the concept of Physics and decided to join the Air Force as an Aerospace Engineer.

            The fact that I have kept the same dream for so long is a definite difference between me and other kids my age. I originally wanted to join as soon as I turned 18, but now I want to wait until I get my degree in college so I can join the military as an officer. All of the men in my family have been in the military and I want to carry on that tradition. Right now while I am preparing to go to college, I want to do something that has to do with my major. What better way to do something military related than to help out those that have served in our nation’s armed forces?

            There is an organization called The Wounded Warriors Project that helps soldiers that have been to war and have been injured while serving our great country. They support fundraisers, promote events, and get the word out about the help our wounded veterans need. I want to be a part of something that great. I want to help get the word out about our veterans and help get as many supporters and funds as we can. What better way to help out the veterans than to inform those around me about how often soldiers are injured in war and about how hard life can be when they are injured?

            I plan to inform those around me by using multiple methods. I will make a movie made up of short clips of those veterans that have been injured while serving. I will show their stories and let people see how hard life is for them through their stories. I will make a Facebook page to share those stories as well and to get more people involved. The biggest part of getting the word out is by actually doing something to help those veterans. Not only will I spread the word and stories, but I will raise money as well by hosting an event. By gathering baskets donated from surrounding businesses and made by various clubs in my school, I want to host a raffle event where all of the proceeds go to wounded warriors in need.

            This is no simple task, though. To do this a lot of things must be done. First I need a solid plan on what I want to go on at this event. Finding a sponsor and finding a place to host the event follows that. Calling local businesses around Springfield, MO to donate baskets for us to raffle off is the next step. By raffling these baskets off, we will be able to make a lot of money in small increments. Every penny counts when it comes to things like this. Of course you can’t forget about having food for people to munch on while spending money raffling. I must call local restaurants and ask if they could sponsor the event by providing food or drinks. Did you know there are at least 13 local businesses that are owned by veterans? A few examples are 417 Tours, Pizza Plus, Green Team Lawn Care, and DeLong Plumbing Heating and Air. Not only does Springfield have many veteran owned stores, but we also have multiple stores with military discounts. There are tons of stores located in Springfield that offer military discounts such as Pac Sun, Aeropostale, Best Buy, Burger King, McDonald’s, Kohl’s, and many more.

            Getting the words out about wounded warriors is no easy feat, but it will definitely be well worth the struggle. People need to be aware of this problem. Everyone knows people get wounded in war, but they don’t think about how hard the lives of those wounded warriors become after they come home. These are things that people need to know, and I want to be the one that informs them. This service learning project is helping me to realize that I am going in the right direction with my career path, and it is proving to me how passionate I am about the military.

 

Works Cited

"Military Discounts Offered by Stores, Services and Online Sites." Military Benefits. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

This source provided me with information on stores that offer military discounts. This information was detrimental in showing how many businesses already support our nation's veterans.

 

"Springfield, Greene County, Missouri | Veteran Owned Business Directory | Military Veteran Businesses Owners | SDVOSB | VOB | VOSB | DVBE." Springfield, Greene County, Missouri | Veteran Owned Business Directory | Military Veteran Businesses Owners | SDVOSB | VOB | VOSB | DVBE. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

This source provided a lot of information on local veteran-owned businesses. It provided me with locations, contact numbers, and specific discount information. This website was very helpful in my research.