On the Road Project

The On The Road project is a short, two to three minute news clip highlighting someone in our community that is is notable for something that they do or some character trait that they possess.  I worked with Bobby and Joe to spotlight BK Radhakrishnan, a man in my neighborhood that gives free rides to the Metro each morning.

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Project

          The Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Project was an interesting one for me.  I loved reading the book, and even read it twice.  However, when it came time to do this project, I was stumped.  I had a lot of quotes that I liked and a lot of themes and events that I found intriguing, but no ideas popped into my head immediately.  When I really racked my brain for ideas, though, I managed to create a great project.

C-SPAN Documentary

For the C-SPAN Documentary project, I worked with Miles and Matt, and focused on taking a closer look at the importance of reversing the physical inactivity epidemic, especially in schools.  One thing that we had to do was narrow down our topic.  First, we had a lot of ideas, and we were not really sure which was the best.  I suggested doing something involving obesity, because that is what my dad works on so we would be able to get high-profile interviews.  We were not very interested in the idea of obesity on a topic until I suggested taking the angle of physical activity in schools.  That seemed to be an interesting and relatable topic, so we decided to use it as our main idea.

Debates

            I argued against gun control in the CAP Debates.  This was extremely challenging for me, mainly because I support additional gun regulations, background checks, and bans on assault weapons, all of which fall under my opponent’s stance.  However, this experience helped me to learn how to argue against your beliefs.  The main way that I did this was by passionately researching the stance that I was assigned to and attempting to convince myself that I actually believed what I was saying.  Interestingly, I now feel that I wasn’t very informed on the issue before I started my research.  After learning so much about both sides of gun control, I now feel a lot more moderately.  I used to favor all gun regulations, whereas now I favor more minimal regulations and channeling money into mental health treatment as a method of attacking the problem from the roots.  I think that debating the side I oppose improved my debating skills and my thinking skills immensely.  

Gilded Age Interdisciplinary

Critical Thinking Paper