Model UN with 8th Period

Last week, for 8th period, my classmate Ayanna and I were researching HIV/AIDS in Cuba. We did this so that we could go to a pseudo-UN meeting, called Model UN, and represent Cuba on the topic of HIV/AIDS and youth, in the UN division of UNICEF, the Unite Nations Children's Fund. This is a great experience because it gives us perspective on what goes on in the real meetings. I learned that Cuba only has POINT ONE (.1) percent of their population affected by AIDS. I liked when we had moderated Caucasus. I didn't like that it took so long. Overall, it was a great experience.

America I Am

Our visit to the America I Am started with a montage of many figures that we see in our textbooks, and on television, in inspirational speeches etc. After going through the whole exhibit the meaning of America I Am was very clear. One of the first things that we had to reflect upon a quote from Ruby Dee, "You can only appreciate when you finally find yourself in a position where you're rooting for somebody else's freedom, and not worried about your own." We knew that America had gone through a period of slavery and it was very clear that this exhibit was on the history of African Americans in the USA. Freedom was an important topic throughout the exhibit. There was also an exhibit that focused on the advancement of Americans and was right by the KKK exhibit which really tied in with the title and its meaning. MLK was featured in an exhibit, featuring his jail cell. A famous quote of his came out of his time there: "I have a dream... America as good as it's promise... All men created equal." There were many exhibits but this one was very important we believe to the USA: A voting ballot. Ballots are important icons of America, us being a democracy and all, but this one was especially important: it represented the 15th amendment, which gave all black males the right to vote.

In all honesty we believe that the exhibit could've been more interactive. Then again, it was a lot of information. There was also a slave ship that we went on . Things like this made the essence and history of blacks palpable. It was overall a great learning experience.

Tuskeegee Airmen, Take Two!

Our amazing history teacher has always gone the extra mile. One example of this is her bringing Tuskegee Airmen to our school!To prepare for Lt. Broadwater, we watched the HBO movie concerning the Tuskegee Airmen. The other day, Lt. Broadwater came to our classroom. He talked about his career and how it helped him in his life later on. He told us a lot of important things about life. One of the things that he told us was to always fight for what you believe in. I also learned from him to do what you love doing. Another thing that he told us was to not give up!
Rick Jones, to whom Lt. Broadwater is mentor to,  thenspoke to us. First he discussed what Stuart had been like when he attended. Then he told us about Air Traffic Controllers. An Air Traffic Controller is not the man who waves the flags, as I had previously thought,but rather the person who controls flight patterns of airplanes already in the sky. The main thing that I learned from Mr. Jones is to LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS. I alsolearned not to assume about schools or careers. In addition, he told us to pay attention, because you never know where you'll end up!

Innovation in Aviation: Lt. Broadwater and Co.'s Visit To Stuart Hobson

Replica of a Tuskegee Airmen fighter plane.

Previously Stuart Hobson had been graced with the presence of a very honorable and important figure in history; Lt. Broadwater of the Tuskegee Airmen! It was an amazing experience and to have been in the same room was an honor. We'd been studying the Tuskegee Airmen in History and watched the HBO movie to get us ready for his visit. It was so very crowded, however, none of it really mattered and we'd adjusted well when Lt.Broadwater stood to speak. He reflected on his days as a young boy, specifically when he'd witnessed an airplane being landed in a near by field-thus his dream of being a pilot began. There was even a back story to his revelation. He told us of someone who had no experience of planes whatsoever, the same man who he'd watch land in the near by field. This same man who didn't know how to fly and everyone would refuse to teach him to fly. There were two things we had learned form this particular part of Lt. Broadwaters spiel. We learned that things can influence you, and that you should never take these things for granted as they might be an important part of you near or distant future. Another lesson we learned is you may be discouraged by many and through it all it is imperative that you keep the hope and the same burning and inquisitive desire you had originally, as if you'd never been deterred. Lt. Broadwater's visit was an absolute treat- however, we had a bonus! Richard (Rick Jones), an alumni of Staurt Jr. High had also accompanied Lt. Broadwater. He'd told us about his days not so much at Stuart but at McKinley Tech. One lesson that we learned from Mr. Jones was even though we may not see it the adults around; not just parents but teachers, staff, family and some friends, do have our best interest at heart and the decisions they made for whatever reason will benefit us. All in all we enjoyed Lt. Broadwater's and Rick Jones' visit!

Win Some Lose Some...We The People Mock Congrssional Hearings

   There's nothing wrong with a healthy competition- the We The People Mock Congressional Hearings is what we've been working on in Ms. T's class. The process itself was enough to drive anyone crazy, especially in our group. Our group consisted of Anna, Terrina, Ayanna, Ashley and Javon. We were all working together to answer one question- Does the Constitution Protect Our Basic Rights? Our answer was yes, however its wasn't that easy. First we had to come up with our introduction paragraph which was hard enough. In fact we changed it so that Ms. T-C approved. Also the day it was due we did not have it, but before the period was over we scrounged what we had and came up with an alright essay.

The day of the Mock Hearings was an alright day, we were cursed from the start though. Someone (Ayanna) hadn't dressed to impress while everyone else was so we looked uncoordinated. However, against all odds, we prevailed. We were amazing. We read it superbly and answered all questions with absolute conviction. Our essay was excellent, enough said. The questions were always answered correctly, all information as relevant and supported our thesis statement and we always included historical context to back up what was said.

Most surprisingly, we LOST. To Terrina's twin, no less. She, and all of her group, was cocky and show- off-y with their medals. However, she did have an advantage. She read my essay first which was filled with great ideas cases and evidence so she had a head start. She also stole our introduction, which we then had to change, since we decided that someone had to step up and be the bigger person.

The old saying still applies, you win some you lose some. even though we lost, I think was a great experience and with this I've learned so much about our constitution and the rights that come with it. So we did not lose all; and for the record our paragraph was WAYYYYY better! :^0

Where in the World Is Matt?

Matt Harding dancing in India, Arizona, Australia, and with Tiki's!

"Where in the world is the Matt" is the question... indeed! Portugal, India, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Iceland, The Netherlands, and Madagascar are just a few of the places you could find him. Matt went to all of these places and more, sponsored by Stride just to do this goofy dance. Why would our teacher show us a clip of a dance? Well, in honor of Geography Week she showed us a few clips of Matt and his dance and these clips allowed us a glimpse of the Five Themes of Geography. Each clip showed the city's Culture, Geography, Movement, Location, Human Interactions, and Regions.

Matt danced in many places- possibly 99% of the world! Anna and I wrote down Portugal, India, New Zealand, New Guinea, Mexico, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, South Africa, Jordan, Solomon Islands, Yemen, Sweden, England, Fiji, Turkey, Japan, Argentina, Madagascar, Spain, Kuwait, Belgium, Israel, British Colombia, Tonga, Zanzibar, Mali, Morocco, USA, The Philippines, Singapore, and Korea, plus more!

Terrina thought that the most interesting place that Matt danced in was The Netherlands because of the poppy seeds. Anna thought that Christmas Island was the most interesting because of it's name and the hundreds of crabs that Matt was dancing with.

Besides the entertainment aspect of the videos it was educational as well. These clips showed each of the Five Themes of Geography which, evidently, will be used in the future (hence an upcoming project) and we were able to see the different cultures and geography/lands that the places had. Both of us enjoyed the video- some moments packed with irony others with embarrassing moments to the courage of dancing on a wedged rock!

90 Celebratory Years!! 1920-2010

The Sewell Belmont House

  The other day, a visitor came to our history class to talk to us about Alice Paul. Her name was Ms. Krum, and she wanted to help us learn more in depth about our class namesake. We also ran over to the Sewell- Belmont house.

This is the pin that Ms. Crum showed us

  We learned a lot more about Alice. For instance, she spent some years abroad in England helping suffragettes there. Also,on November 14, 1917, while Alice was in jail at Occaquan, many police officers beat and did much worse things to the women of all ages in the jail. That night was henceforth considered the Night of Terror.Another thing that interested us was that Alice Paul and many of her fellow suffragettes stayed in the Sewell Belmont House even after women got the vote and worked towards a higher level of equality.


You would wonder why did women or anyone in that matter go through  being thrown in inhumane facilities, beaten or worse, force fed, critiqued etc. just to vote. It makes you wonder what life was like for women before the right of suffrage came to be. Well actually it wasn't that hard. Women in that time were seen fragile, therefore not fit to participate in manual labor, that would be up to the men of the house. If you put yourself in place of a women before the suffragette movement your day would be bland. You would probably clean the house and help the children with whatever they need, and maybe run a few errands. Men always ran the house, so anything they'd say goes. You could conclude that women were sort of figure heads or even trophies in that day in time. Well of course women got the right to vote (thanks Alice Paul and others). Although Alice Paul had a few cheat sheets up her sleeve. Her hunger strike in America was actually a strategy picked up while in London. Also while in London she learned how to publicly deliver a speech, and while she didn't do much speaking in London that was sure to help when she returned to the states.


  Alice Paul was chosen for our class name because of her hard work, dedication, perseverance, her being stubborn etc. With our further knowledge I believe Alice Paul is a good name because of her uppity ways (word they would use in her time) and leadership. I think she was uppity because anyone who would lead a picket on the white house, or anyone to speak up on something that many people disapproved is uppity. With so many men that didn't approve of what she was doing, I think we could all take a lesson form that. Just becuase veryone thinks what you're doing is just wrongs or stupid or crazy doesn't mean you shoudl stop. Also her ability to lead is another thing. With our class going off to high school I believe this is an important trait. Leadership is what makes us stand out in a crowd which will become important in high school. Besides her good qualities I'd like to recognize her shyness. As mentioned above Paul didn't like public speaking very much, but with her improvement and bravery she made a voice so loud that swept the nation, and got women the right to vote. This is the kind of work that we should want to put in, and while the final product may not be perfect (which in Paul's case it was!), it shows great improvement. =)


   The Sewell-Belmont house has always been there, just not as noticeable. It doesn't have a grand staircase or anything to make it stand out much. Although if someone told you the history behind it, well then you'd be intrigued. I've walked past the building before and I've never given it a thought. If I had to guess what it was I'd say some kind of historical building but I'd only know that because of the old fashioned red brick. To conclude the Bellmont house isn't very eye popping, or noticeable, but when you are privy to what took place there and who was there, it would be very interesting and exciting to go inside.