My group includes Lorraine Manasan, Netsay Ramos and Israel Vega. The link to our L.I.N.K presentation is here.

Two things I might write about for my personal statements would be:

1) My experience of migrating to America, learning the language and how it affected me

2) Getting into SMASH

Content

I. Cancer Prevention
II. Background Video

Text: In today’s society, many of us eat overly processed food without being fully aware of what we’re eating. Doritos Chips asked us, SMASH scholars, to create a new type of molecule they can use to replace some of the ingredients in their Sweet and Spicy Chips to become a healthier company.  (Self Explanatory)

III. List of Combination

• MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) is a flavor enhancer used in foods. Some side effects of MSG are headache, flushing, sweating, facial pressure or tightness, numbness, tingling or burning in the face or neck, rapid, fluttering heartbeats, chest pain, nausea, weakness, blurred vision, difficulty focusing. Unhealthy in general
• Maltodextrin: type of glucose sugar used to process sugars from rice or corn, faster in weight gain, has a higher calorie content, highly allergic reactions.
• Sodium Diacetate: a type of sodium acetate that must be diluted before administered and is also a type of drug. Such a high concentration of of salt, it is unsuitable for children.
• Disodium inosinate: used to add a savory taste, originally from meat or fish. Also, because of its high concentration, it is required that we consume no more than 4 mg a day.

IV. Compare and Contrast

• Sugarcane (sucrose) if derived from sugar cane plants, it has some healthier benefits such as prevention from cancer

• Capsaicin is the active component of chili peppers, which will make the food really spicy. It is also anti-cancer, helps with arthritis and can cause a decrease in weight regain
• Vitamin D3(Cholecalciferol) helps prevent prostate cancer, Boosts Immunity Against Tuberculosis, helps stave off winter flu, asthma, reducing risks of depression
• Catechins prevent cancer, increases the absorption of triglycerides and cholesterol, decrease plasma cholesterol, increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and decrease LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), prevent neurodegeneration,

V. Our Molecule

• Good flavor enhancers, healthy, prevents bad disease and cancer, no fats, and low in sodium lead to healthier life!

VI. Representation in Matlab

• Rotation and Transformation
  • Rotation: Shows how the molecules rotate and what it looks like through a different outlet. Turns the molecule on a certain plane
  • Transformation: Moves molecule from one plane to another.
• Distance formula and Matrices

VII. Corina
VIII. Lewis
IX. Analysis (self explanatory)
The molecules we found in Dorito Chips are mostly unhealthy and has negative effects on you. As a result, we are replacing those molecules with a substitute that is healthy, has positive effects, and makes the food taste the same as if the unhealthy molecules are present in the food. In conclusion, we are trying to combine all the molecules and the flavor enhancer into one healthy molecule that will make the food taste good and help the person eating it as well. We feel if we put a healthy molecule that can really help people and make society healthier, then it will benefit all of us.
X. Conclusion (Written)
XI. Video Conclusion
Buy Our Product, It’s Healthy, It’s Beneficial, It’s Safe, and It Tastes GOOD!

Two scholarships I am interested in are:

Cal Grant A and B Awards (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search#scholarship7)

Courage to Grow Scholarship (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search#scholarship13)

5. Do All Your Work

Staying on task in class/doing all your work is very important because if you do not do all your work then you will not be able to understand the material and fall behind in class. Falling behind in class will stress you out even more because you will need to make up all that work you have missed and fell behind. DO ALL YOUR WORK AND STAY ON TASK.

4. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Stepping out your comfort zone is another thing I would recommend because I believe SMASH is all about improving yourself and trying something new. If you step out of your comfort zone, you will improve yourself and if you try something you’ve never done or would not do, you’ll maybe get rid of your fear which is always a very great thing to do. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

3. Don’t Procrastinate

Procrastination is the killer of time. Never procrastinate because it will waste your time and you will have to stay up late to do the work that you procrastinated on. Procrastination will take away your sleep time and free time. DON’T PROCRASTINATE!

2. Sleep

I recommend sleeping really much because you do not want to sleep in class and get a write up. Using your hours of sleep wisely and sleeping early are the best things you can do with your sleep time. Sleep is really important because it will help you focus more in class and help you function throughout your day. SLEEP!

1. Have Fun

The last tip I would recommend is to have fun with these 5 weeks and make it the most enjoyable weeks of your life! Do not stress yourself out too much, have fun and take it day by day. Be thankful for the people you meet! Make friends and form a community with them. Spend these 5 weeks as if it were your last 5 weeks. HAVE FUN! #YOLO

I selected this topic, diabetes, because I believe that this disease should be taken seriously by everyone and that everyone should be aware of it. It is important to me because I have few family members that have diabetes and I can see how hard it is for them to live everyday with this disease so I decided to choose this topic to present to others and spread the message that diabetes is not a joke and should be taken seriously. The field of science this topic is related to would be biology. An organization that supports this topic is the American Diabetes Association and someone can learn more about diabetes at http://www.diabetes.org/. A challenge that I faced  when trying to convey my message is that some people do not listen since they think it is not a serious disease, and as a result, they continue their poor eating and exercising habits.

The topic I have selected is on diabetes. It is relevant to me because I feel that diabetes needs to be stopped somehow and that some people in my family have diabetes.

The fields of science my topic is connected to would be biology and medicine.

People should know that diabetes should be taken seriously because it can lead to cardiovascular disease and can cause death. The audience can get a brief educational lesson on my topic and field.

I want to influence teenagers, adults, and seniors. I want to influence these particular type of people because they can be at risk of diabetes and they should act on it as soon as possible because diabetes is bad.

I would want to see my audience to exercise more, eat healthy and live their everyday life happily.

Some organizations that support my view on this topic are American Diabetes Association and International Diabetes Federation.

The evidence I found to reinforce for my poster’s argument is that it can lead to cardiovascular disease which can lead to death.

The imagery I can use to illustrate my topic are images of people taking a diabetes test, a picture of a skull to represent death, and a picture of nutritions of what to eat to prevent diabetes.

Does the media make impacts or influences in your life? If so, how? Are the impacts or influences good or bad? These are some questions people should be asking themselves whenever they watch TV, listen to the news, or read an article.  A media sample I chose that has impacted me, is an article about LeBron James. LeBron James is considered as “the best basketball player in the world,” and ranks number one as he plays for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA).  He recently won his first NBA championship with the Heat and was named NBA Finals MVP as he and the Heat beat Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunders in Game 5 with a 4-1 series.

The sample media I chose is about LeBron James being the best player in the NBA and still having room to improve.  David Thorpe’s article talks about him being the best and still having room to improve. These types of article really motivate me to try my best, never give up, and keep chasing my dreams or goals whether if it is with sports, school or anything else. The message I get from these articles is that there is no such thing as “number one” because you can always improve and there are also others out there who have the potential to be better than you if you slack off while they are working hard everyday. Media samples like these influence my way of thinking and acting by allowing me to understand that slacking off at anytime is unnecessary and that I should be trying my best everyday and keep on working hard to achieve my goals. Also, once reaching the top, I believe there are still improvements and that is the message these articles give me.

Another topic from one article is his journey to the championship and having to deal with a lot of pressure. The article by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talks about that. This article impacts me by allowing me to see that everyone struggles to reach success and has to deal with all kind of pressure and obstacles.  It teaches me to be myself and try my best to overcome the obstacles in my way so then I can reach to the top and succeed.  The messages the article gives me are positive and motivational. They motivate me to try my best and overcome pressure and obstacles that might be there and just continue to work hard.

These two articles show how some media samples have influenced and impacted me. Here are two videos about LeBron James and his journey to the NBA Finals and Championship, feel free to check it out!

This video is about LeBron’s journey to the championship and his struggles. I think this video would be a great fit to this blog because not only does it describes his journey really clear, it allows people to witness what he has done and been through. I would say this video influences me as well because it shows that it takes a lot of hard work in order to achieve something great, like winning a championship. Not only does it take hard work, I believe that this video taught me that it also takes a lot of sacrifice and maturity.

This video is a summary of Game 5 in the Finals against Oklahoma City Thunder, where LeBron James had a triple double for his playoff clincher. I feel that this video is a great video because it helps people experience the emotion of winning the championship and summarize how LeBron played the whole season. It is also a great fit to my blog because  it shows people that anything can be accomplished as long as one puts his or her mind to it, like LeBron playing really well in Game 5.