I took the VIA character strengths survey and assessed my personal strengths and weaknesses. According to the test results, my key strengths are humor and kindness. This test gave me insight into my true personality, as well as areas I could focus on further in the future for personal development.
I also created a 2025 vision board:
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Isabella, Sol, and I had a heated debate on the age-old rivalry between cats and dogs. Isabella and I debated for cats, while Sol debated for dogs. Sol was a passionate dog lover – she argued that dogs were better companions, as they possessed the traits of loyalty, affection, and protectiveness. Isabella and I countered with the idea that cats can be affectionate in their own way, and they require significantly less attention. Hence, having a cat is also less time-consuming.
Stanford Prison Experiment Dilemma:
Experiment: 24 male college students who were randomly assigned to roles as either “guards” or “prisoners.” The experiment took place in a basement of the Stanford psychology building, which was transformed into a mock prison.
Strengths: The SPE provided insights into social psychology, about how situational factors can influence behavior, particularly regarding authority and power. It demonstrates how ordinary individuals can be tempted to engage in abusive and cruel behavior when given power or status. This also explores the dehumanizing side of human nature.
Weaknesses: The experiment subjected participants to psychological distress, including humiliation and emotional trauma. This is unfair for the human subjects and proves the lack of integrity in this research.
Opinion: The psychological harm inflicted on participants cannot be justified, regardless of the knowledge gained. In research, scientists should prioritize the well-being of participants above all else. Many participants were not fully aware of the potential risks involved. The experiments design and execution failed to uphold ethical standards, primarily because of the psychological harms that were inflicted upon the participants, and the uninformed consent. The pursuit of knowledge should never come at the cost of human rights and dignity.
Back in Semester 1, my friends and I participated in an activity hosted by NHS called A Plate for All. In this activity, my friends and I went to a Chinese supermarket, bought cooking ingredients, and made a meal for ourselves. This activity helped us gain more awareness regarding some of the current social issues in China, namely poverty and mass hunger in underdeveloped, rural areas. Us, being incredibly privileged, often have meals cooked for us, whether its by our parents, our ayis, or our school cafeteria chefs. However, some people do not have the privileges we hold, and they must cook their meal by themselves everyday. Even more extreme, some simply cannot even fill their stomachs and eat meals at all each day. This activity made me recognize how lucky students like me are to be here today.
New fitness routine:
I wanted to develop a new fitness routine that I could perform to help with my swimming.
Core (3 sets):
- 25 leg lifts
- 25 crunches
- 30 russion twists
- 2 minute plank
Legs:
- 100 side leg lifts (each side)
- 50 switch lunges
- 30 squats (with 5kg weights)
- 25 hip thrusts
Cardio:
- Stairmaster Interval Training (x 3 times)
- Level 4 – 5 minutes
- Level 6 – 5 minutes
- Level 8 – 3 minutes
- Level 10 – 2 minutes
Viral Dance:
I filmed a TikTok dance with my friends Sol and Isabella. Although it was a simple dance, we demonstrated creativity, energy, and passion through filming a dance video.
Short video:
I created a short video on how levels of concentration affect rates of reaction in chemistry. I used ProCreate to animate my models.
Goal: I want to be able to know when to use AI tools and when to work without them.
Clarification: What might stop you from reaching your AI-related goal? When completing in-school assignments, we are, in fact, encouraged to use AI to help enhance our understanding on certain topics. However, we may be prone to excessive reliance on AI by using the content it has generated to finish our entire assignment, without utilizing our own skills or knowledge. Thus, this infringes upon our academic integrity by claiming their work as ours + we aren’t learning anything, stripping away the entire purpose of completing assignments.
Commitment: I will monitor my AI-use by tracking all the times in which I use AI, the purpose of which I use it for, and fully disclose my usage of AI on any piece of work.
Through our skit, ‘Lost in Translation,’ we acted out the scenario that my team members and I were collaborating with an international team. However, the communication was unclear due to a language barrier. I was able to takeaway from this activity that it is important to respect linguistic and cultural differences. Recognize that these differences exist, and embrace them.
In this library lore activity, I learned:
- How to accurately cite sources through the MLA format
- The different forms of plagiarism, including recycled, clone, etc.
- How to navigate the destiny website in general
This year marks a fresh chapter of my academic journey, and the beginning to high school. As a freshie, I am looking forward to many things! However, I am certainly most excited about all the activities that high school has to offer. For instance, in high school, there is a chance to join an APAC team, regardless of whether it’s related to athletics or arts. I’m super excited about APAC, or just joining a varsity team in general. Not only do I get to compete for and represent SAS, but also, I am able to explore, develop, and pursue my passions. Furthermore, I want to become more involved in the SAS community by participating in many activities. There are also many interest groups and clubs that really intrigue me, so I’m really looking forward to joining some of those.
