Why does Trump want to build a wall? Is it worth?

Recently, President Trump signed a bill averting government shutdown. Moreover, he also declared a national emergency to obtain funds for his long-promised border wall. In opting to declare a national emergency, Trump would seek to access funds for the wall that Congress had not explicitly authorized for the purpose. Previously, Trump demanded 5.7 billion dollars in funding for the border wall. However, in signing the bill, he agreed on 1.375 billion dollars.

But what are the perks in building a wall? According to Trump, by building a wall on the border, it will keep out low-wage workers and, thereby, raise the wages of U.S. workers, and reduce illegal immigration. A wall will probably open the door to reaching a broad agreement on immigration policy. However, the inflow of undocumented Mexican immigrants is slowing and perhaps even reversing. A 2015
Pew study found that the number of undocumented Mexicans in the United States had dropped by 140,000 between 2009 and 2014. Moreover, the southern border isn't the only way people become illegal immigrants. Many arrive illegally and overstay their visas. According to a study in the Journal on Migration and Human Security, these immigrants now outnumber those breaching the southern border. Thus, the question is, is building a wall really worth it? Based on factual evidence, no it's not.

Education Current Event

Title: “New York Joins Movement to Abandon Use of Student Tests in Teacher Evaluations”

Published: February 1st, 2019

    Four years ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vowed that half of a teacher’s rating would be determined by student results on standardized exams. However, teacher unions and parents, especially those in New York’s wealthy suburbs and progressive urban pockets, resisted his plan. They protested on the basis that it would place undue stress on teachers and children, whose test scores are used for high-stakes admissions decisions and academic tracking. As a result, with Mr. Cuomo’s assent, the evaluation system was suspended only months after it had been adopted. Local school districts and teachers’ unions in New York will now officially be allowed to decide together how educators should be evaluated, with some oversight from the state Education Department, and no requirement that standardized tests must play a role. “Do student test scores actually indicate teacher performance? I’m not convinced,” said John Liu, a newly elected Democratic state senator. “An overreliance on testing can result in perverse incentives. The best evidence is teaching to the test.” The same situation was occuring in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, the city’s school district agreed to create a plan that would significantly reduce the use of standardized tests in schools. Furthermore, Michael Mulgrew, president of the city-based United Federation of Teachers, said Mr. Cuomo, “now understands what standardized tests are, and their limitations, and I give him credit for that.”

HSF Scholarship

Prompt: Describe yourself in 280 words or less.

As a person of character, I can confidently call myself responsible. Responsibility has come naturally to me because I have always been dependent and willing to overcome any obstacle. With lack of parental guidance from my parents, I have found myself responsible for guiding my younger siblings and I through daily life struggles. Unexpectedly, Child Protective Services removed my siblings and I from our home. Being the oldest, I watched over my siblings and comforted them in this crucial time. In turn, I became a mother figure to them.  My primary goal during this time was to encourage myself and my siblings to focus on our education. My leadership role inspired and motivated my siblings to endure even the most difficult hardships. Although I was young, I built up strength to demonstrate that no task is impossible if you support one another.

Being responsible is a characteristic I strive to teach my younger siblings and eventually implement in my future career as a Clinical Psychologist. The ability to easily problem-solve in stressful situations has bolstered my career path to becoming a Clinical Psychologist. Becoming a clinical psychologist will allow me to specialize in physical health concerns and help patients to manage stress or chronic illnesses. Furthermore, my kindness and empathy inclines me to work with others and help them overcome hardships. I have always been highly motivated to improve and better the lives of others. In addition, I challenge myself frequently by taking AP and honors courses. Thus, I will be prepared for college and will have developed strong academic skills.

"To be or not to be"

Hamlet's soul is weighed down by the moral dilemma of choosing to live or to die. He reminisces between the "flesh to heir", calamities, and fear of the afterlife; all of which, rationalize his thoughts in his mind to continue living. Hamlet is a very conflicted being, he keeps seeing apparitions of his dead father who asks him to avenge his death. Furthermore, his mother married his father's murderer, Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. He is also torn between the responsibilities of his position in Denmark and showing affection to his loved ones. In this soliloquy, Hamlet enumerates some of the negative aspects of human existence. The "proud man' or "the impudence of office", for instance, are prominent negative figures in life.

On the contrary, Hamlet begins to question whether or not he should die. At first, dreams are acceptable until he reflects on what will happen to him when he enters
into a deep sleep. He ponders about life after death. Hamlet establishes that human beings are comfortable with the known and fear the unknown. Moreover, his dead father's commentary about the afterlife has been overwhelmingly disastrous. To conclude his soliloquy, Hamlet discusses how our conscience makes us cowards. It is our thoughts which cast us from great things.

Hamlet Act I Overview

In class, we have started Shakespeare's play Hamlet, a story of a prince who's duty is to seek revenge his father's death. Scene I commences with officer Bernardo switching positions with the watchman Francisco. Both men are frightened at the sound of footsteps. For the past couple nights, the men have been seeing the apparition of Hamlet. Scene II introduces King Claudius, Hamlet's brother who is engaged to Gertrude, Hamlet's wife. Hamlet (the son) is still mourning his father's death. Claudius advises Hamlet to stop moping and that everyone loses their father at one point. Alone, Hamlet exclaims that he wishes he could die, that he could evaporate and cease to exist.

In scene III, Laertes prepares to leave for France. Before he departs, he cautions Ophelia, his sister, to not fall for Hamlet. According to Laertes, Hamlet is too far above her by birth to be able to love her honorably. Ophelia agrees to keep his advice but also calls him a hypocrite. Polonius enters bidding his son farewell. Polonius advises Laertes on how to behave with integrity and practicality.

In scene IV, Hamlet is keeping watch outside the castle with Horatio and Marcellus, waiting for the ghost to appear. The ghost appears and Hamlet follows it. His companions urge him not follow it but after a moment, Horatio and Marcellus follow after the ghost and Hamlet. In scene V, the ghost speaks to Hamlet. The spirit reveals that King Claudius murdered him with poison and has corrupted Denmark and Gertrude. The ghost urges Hamlet to seek revenge but not on his mother. The ghost disappears and Hamlet swears to remember and obey it. Horatio and Marcellus arrive and ask what has happened. Hamlet insists that they swear upon his sword to not share the events that occurred. The men take to oath. Hamlet is now set on revenge.

Doyle Schoalrship

As a young woman, I seek primary role models in my life such as Jane Austen. She once stated that “If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.” Her writing has inspired me to seek my own adventures by standing out and challenging myself academically. The ability to easily problem-solve in stressful situations has bolstered my career path to becoming a Clinical Psychologist. I challenge myself frequently by taking AP and honors courses. Thus, I will be prepared for college and will have developed strong academic skills.

My educational aspirations consist of attending the University of Nevada, Reno and acquiring a bachelor's degree or higher in psychology. Becoming a clinical psychologist will allow me to specialize in physical health concerns and help patients to manage stress or chronic illnesses. My kindness and empathy inclines me to work with people and help them overcome hardships. I developed a service-learning project at the Lemelson STEM Academy. My project encouraged elementary students to engage in learning and to release stress. This project is just one example of my community involvement.  I have always been highly motivated to improve and better the lives of others.

This past fall, I secured an internship at Renown. There, I interacted with patients of varying ages, backgrounds, and health concerns. Interning at Renown has been a great experience and has ameliorated my desire to help those in need. A hospital is a fast-paced and collaborative environment that I am drawn to.  

       

  This scholarship will financially assist me in my future endeavors by opening new doors for me. Attending UNR will help me attain academic excellence and benefit my personal study as a Clinical Psychologist. I will seek abroad and find my own adventure as Jane Austen once did.

AP Literature Poems

Mirror by Sylvia Path

To best represent the life of the mirror, the entire poem is written from the view point of the mirror itself. The figurative language used by the mirror enhances the narration and provides a more complex view of the mirror' surrounding and life. For example, "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/ Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish." This comparison of youth and aging,  provide insight on what the mirror is thinking and what the mirror sees as the time passes by. The personification of the mirror creates a relatable yet ominous connection to the mirror.
The mirror observes and sees the objects and people all around it. "Whatever I see I swallow immediately/ Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike./ I am not cruel, only truthful./ The eye of a little god, four-cornered." Humans are like the mirror, however, has a menacing feature, it has no emotions. 

Terrance this is stupid stuff 

In the first stanza, the narrator expresses a negative connotation to life. He expresses his frustrations and lack of hope with life. He represents his melancholy and depressed theme. He then goes on to argue that even though alcohol provides a happy escape from the world, this newly constructed reality is false and short-lived. In the third stanza, he justifies this claim by proclaiming that, "Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good." By preparing for the "ill", people can confront the terrible that will eventually find them. The final gives an example of how preparing for the worst brings the best. A King would introduce his body to dangerous toxins and eventually his body adapted and resisted the toxin. 


Metaphors

Sylvia Plath wrote as a wife and a mother at a time when what it meant to be those things was rapidly changing. Plath wrote this poem about a year before she gave birth, but while she writes about her own personal experience, she also draws from universal experiences of being a woman in any age. The speaker of the poem has her own take on pregnancy, but came off as bitter. She calls herself a riddle, an elephant, a melon, a fat purse, among other things that portray her indifference towards pregnancy and she comes across as unhappy about being an expectant mother.