My Summer Trip

This summer I traveled to Matagalpa, Nicaragua. It’s a small town located about 3 hours away from Managua, the country’s capital. I was able to travel there because of an organization called Global Glimpse. This organization gave me chance to explore another country, culture, and helped me learn more about myself for 3 and a half weeks.

Flags. 2016

There were 20 of us who were participating in this amazing program. I only knew 2 of them because they go to GCE, so it was pretty nice seeing familiar faces, but at the same time I challenged myself to reach out to make new friendships. I’m not going to lie and say it was easy, because being in a unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people can be kind of scary, but that’s where I had to step up and get out of my comfort zone. I’m so glad I did too because I made so many connections.

Managua Airport. 2016

While we were in this beautiful country, we were able to explore the bustling streets of Matagalpa, visit a monkey hut resort, and visit a chocolate factory. All those things sound fun, but one important point about this trip is that it’s not a vacation.

Apart from those things, we worked and lived like a local for a day, which involved a day of waking up at 5 am and showering with cold water everyday. We had a day dedicated to the history of Nicaragua, so we had a guest speaker who really touched the hearts of many of us. There was a day dedicated to education, and each person shadowed a student in high school. It was really fun and interesting making new friends, as well as seeing how different school is in a different country. We also had the chance to become tutors by teaching some English to people from the town. I had the duty of teaching kids, so it was really fun, but also stressful.

History Day. 2016

One day that I won’t ever forget is poverty day. That day we traveled to the city dump, where we learned and saw that people actually go there to find resources. It was very heartbreaking to see the conditions of this place where so many children and people spend their time at. My group was also assigned a community action project. We were assigned to help build a wall, a door, a ceiling, and a mural for a organization called Infancia Sin Fronteras. I helped with the building of the wall. The wall was put into place because there was nothing separating the classroom from the doctor office in the facility, which meant that it was really easy for a disease to pass. The ceiling was built to prevent the heat from bothering the young children who were sitting in the classroom. The door was put into place to prevent break ins. Finally the mural was installed to give the building a splash of color, and to also bring something positive to the community.

I won’t ever forget this amazing trip. Even the little things, like late night card games, late night convos and reading nights with the ladies of room 9. Every little thing made this trip unforgettable. I encourage others to take opportunities like this. I promise you won’t regret it!

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

In the first humanities class of my senior year, Journalism, we are learning how to analyze,observe, and report through media. Those forms of media include, image, sound, and text. In the first unit of this course, which is called Image, the class studied photojournalism and saw how it can help us see the world. For the first action project, the class was assigned to interview a person, and ask them what the meaning of life is. Along with the interview, we were also asked to take a picture of our interviewee. Throughout the course, we learned that pictures have the power to capture so many important things. I have always been interested with photojournalism, so it was really nice having a unit focusing on just that. I was really excited to conduct my interview because the person who I interviewed is full of wisdom. I hope you enjoy reading below!

When you ask someone what the meaning of life is they,without a doubt, have to ponder about it. I know I do, and to be honest, I still don’t have an answer for it. I decided to interview someone who did have an answer though. I conducted my interview on Wednesday night. A cold night filled with rain, so when I saw her smile, it warmed me up. Suzy, who’s been a close family friend for 3 years now, was sitting in my dining room joyfully waiting for the questions I was going to ask. She’s older, and she’s always giving me so much good advice, so I really wanted to hear her story on this question. She constantly feeds me words of wisdom, so I was excited to hear what she had next.

Once I entered my dining room, she was sitting there with her usual smile, a smile that always makes me go in for a hug. Once I explained what kind of questions I was going to be asking, her facial expression automatically let me assume that she too, needed some time to think about it. I sat there, wondering what she was wondering about. Finally, I asked the question. What is the meaning of life?

She was very fast in answering because I already had given her time to think about it. “Life is a gift.” I thought her response was really interesting. She went on to talk about how she sees God as the owner of life, and because of that, she consults him with everything she wants to do with her life. “That’s what I feel about life”.

Has life always meant the same for you? That was my follow up question. She brought up her childhood this time. “Well since a child, life has been of importance to me.” I wanted to hear more about that, so I asked her to elaborate. She talked about how her mother was the one who inculcated her to go the right way. “ I could see the wisdom going in the right path that could lead me to not get in trouble with the law or with family and friends, so I always kept up with the way she taught me to do things, and to be good to other people.”

Next was my favorite question. Is there a story that explains your meaning of life? She was silent for a moment, and again, I was curious. This question also took her back to her childhood. She explained how many years ago, her mother met a woman who showed her how she could get a true meaning of life. The woman also gave some advice to her mother about family, because there were some problems going on within theirs. Suzy told me that this woman shared her meaning of life with them, and it appealed to them so much that they decided to follow it. “It stayed with us until now, which is has been 60 years.”

I thought it was crazy that she stuck with some advice that was given to her 60 years ago. I think about all the times I’ve been given advice, and how I sometimes shrug it off. I give her credit for sticking with it. That’s one thing that I learned that day. You never know if one piece of advice can change your life.

I also wanted to know if there was a certain object, book, person, picture, or anything of value to her, that represents her meaning of life. “Well, I would say I have a favorite book, and that book is the Bible”. Suzy talked to me about how it has divine principles, and how the Bible has guided her throughout her life. “It’s not an object, or a person, but the principles in this book by God.”

I already knew Suzy was a religious person before this interview, but after this, I saw that it was basically her whole life. She values it so much, that she doesn’t even see her life as her own, but Gods. She’s aware that many people have different opinions, and she respects that. That’s one of her many qualities that I admire.

I finally ended the interview, and asked if I could get a picture of her. Of course she quickly went to fix her short hair and adjusted her glasses, something I found to be so cute.

RD. Suzy. 2016

I think it’s a very simple picture, but I love it. I wanted to make sure she was smiling because that’s what she’s always doing. I decided to snap this picture right after the interview in the exact same place where I conducted it. I wanted it to seem as natural as possible because what’s the point of taking a picture of someone if it’s not capturing their true selves.

Nurse or Social Worker?

The first STEAM course in my senior year is called Economics. In this class we discussed opportunity cost, learned how to calculate interest, and learned how to work with matrices. We also looked at supply and demand, and saw how that works on a graph. The FE for this unit was really interesting. We went to the Federal Reserve Bank to talk about what they do there, and what they do for the economy. For the first action project, the class was assigned to choose a career we could see ourselves getting into, and figure out the cost of our college tuition, salary, and how long it would take us to pay off students loans. For my project, I did research on two careers that I have though about going into. As you read my essay and look at my graphs, you'll figure out which occupation I end up choosing. I hope you enjoy reading!

To continue my education next year, I can go either go to Illinois State University for nursing, or I can attend University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for social work. Nurses have the duty of taking and planning medical care for mentally or physically ill patients. Social workers have the role of helping people get through and cope with problems they go through everyday. Nurses can work in hospitals, clinics, and even homes. Social workers can also be found in hospitals, as well as in schools, mental health clinics, and child welfare and human services agencies.

Something that these two career paths have in common is that they involve helping other people, and making sure others are feeling their best,which is why I chose them. My aunt is a nurse, and I love hearing her heart warming stories, as well as her scary ones. Social work interests me because I think something needs to be done about how mentally ill patients are treated, and it would be cool to be apart of that change. To be a nurse, I must go to college for 4 years to get my bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree. In order to become a social worker, I have to go to college for 4 years and get a bachelors degree in social work (BSW).

Pursuing my education also means spending some more money. In 2015-2016 the cost of tuition at Illinois State was $13,664. The cost for 2016-2017 comes out to be $14,062. That means the tuition percent increase comes out to 3%. At the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, tuition for 2015-2016 was $12,036. For 2016-2017, it comes out to be $15,698. The tuition percent increase comes to 30%. If I were to go to ISU for 4 years, my cost would be $60,464.98. For the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, the total for 4 years would come out to be $127,430.67.

(Nursing)

(Social Work)

If I choose to go to nursing school, it would take me 9 years to pay my student loans, and the true cost of college would be $75,574,11. The amount of interest I would pay would be $15,109.13. The true cost of college for social work comes out to be $188,561.58. The interest I would pay is $61,130.91. If I choose to go to school for social work, it would take me 17 years to pay off student loans.

The minimum salary for nursing is $44,70, the median is $83,291, and the maximum is $104,276. For a social worker, the minimum is $46,836, the median is $52,945, and the max comes out to $59,340. For nursing I would make $3,888,269 by the time I retire. If I were to become a social worker, I would make $2,458,152. Going to school to become a social worker cost more, yet I would be making less. In the United States there are 3,129,452 registered nurses (RN). The total amount of social workers in the U.S comes out to be 650,000. Nursing and social work both are expected to grow 19%, and are considered to be one of the most fastest growing careers.

(Salary for Nursing)

(Salary for Social Work)

People will always be getting sick, and there will always be problems that are taking over people’s lives, so the demand for both occupations would be set high. Below I have a supply and demand chart for both occupations.

Supply and demand chart (Nursing)

Supply and Demand chart (Social Work)

At the end, I realized that it would be best for me to go to school for nursing. Like I stated before, tuition would cost me less, and I would be making more money at the end, whereas going to school for social work, would cost me more, and I’d be making less. It would also take me more time to pay off my student loans if I were to choose social work. So my incentive would be the amount of money I would be making for nursing. I talked to my mom about all this because I wanted to hear about her college experience, as well as some advice. She talked about how it was hard, and how she did pull many all nighters, but at the end it’s totally worth it, because now she actually enjoys going to work because she loves what she’s doing. I really liked what she said, because although I know it’s going to be hard, I know it’ll be worth it when I’m at work and I’m actually enjoying what I’m doing.

I made 3 assumptions about my decision to go to nursing school:

• I’ll be a productive member of my community
• It’ll be easy to find a job, because I’ll have a BSN.
• I’ll find a job in the hospital that I want to work in.

Citations:
"Total Number of Professionally Active Nurses." The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. N.p., Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

"Social Work Profession." Social Work Profession. National Association of Social Workers, n.d. Web. Sept. 2016.

"Tuition." , Illinois Admissions. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016

"Tuition Rates." Home. Illinois State University, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.