Journal 10: Get Focused!

As per usual, I stopped into the library today and saw Mr. Bott who suggested I focus my project into something more specific. This is something I have been back and forth on just trying to clarify what divides passion from a fleeting interest. For a brief period of time, I thought the ocean interested me deeply. Although it does, it's much too vast to study just in one year. Two things I do feel strongly about are the quality of a student's day at GHS and health, in general. How are they learning, and is it the most efficient way they could be learning? How are thy feeling, and how can school help them feel better if they're not getting the emotional and social support they need? How are they health-wise? What can GHS to do prevent further health problems perpetrated by living in a generation bombarded by chemicals? Health impacts students as well as staff more often than we think. I have a passion for public health. I know it is not fleeting because everyone I look at I have to analyze from a health standpoint. What toxins are lurking in their lives and in all of our lives? How do we detox GHS from harmful chemicals if we have them?

I want the focus of my project to be on chemicals and GHS and whether or not they are essential as well as studying how they effect us. The more time I spend at GHS, the more I explore different parts of the building. The more things I see in school, the more I am jaded when I think about chemicals. Just today I walked around wondering things like the following: In the art wing, the smell of paint is strong. What's in that paint? In our cafeterias, the tables get wiped down with cleaner between lunches. Surely we need clean tables, but what chemicals are in the table cleaner? What would happen if a student were to ingest those chemicals unknowingly? What chemicals are in school lunch ingredients?

This year I will investigate the chemicals in GHS and my focus is just that.