A Recap of the Year

Well, since this year is coming to a close, I guess it's time to recap. I'm thinking I'll go class period by class period, ending with AP Lang.
First off, History class! Although I began the year dreading history class, having no friends in it, and being pretty oblivious about History, this class was better than I had hoped. My teacher is a joy to wake up to, and she always has something nice to say. A few times this year, I came to that class with no motivation, and on those days I didn't want to do anything. It seemed like those days were the ones that my teacher have my genuine compliments and had great lesson plans; I always left feeling better. The lessons were very interesting for the most part, and we always laughed in that period. I will definitely miss that class.
Second period: French. Since it's a blog, I'll be honest. I have been dreading French class since day one, and that hasn't changed. Although the class isn't difficult, it is just not an enjoyable thing for me to learn. However, I will say that class has taught me things that I wouldn't have learned in any other class. The friends I made in that class were unforgettable, and remembering the struggle to conjugate verbs will always make me smile.
Of course, Advanced Drama. Those who know me will probably assume I loved this class. However, those who know me WELL will know I actually didn't enjoy it that much. The class shows we did were not fun, and although they had powerful messages, I didn't necessarily enjoy the rehearsals, and sometimes I was genuinely disappointed with what we did in that class. Now, I am comparing this experience to last year, which may be biased because last year I was new to the class so everything seemed awesome. In the end, I love the class for the majority of the time, the shows are always incredible, and the department is my home.
B-Days:
AP Stats. All I have to say is wow. This class has such a great system to it. You always know what to expect when you arrive; it is like clockwork. The teacher is lovely, if you're on his good side, and if you're on his bad side he cracks jokes about you during class. Not bad ones... Although the material is not covered well all the time, I felt really prepared for the AP test...
Psychology: If you can take this class, take it. The material is fascinating, the class goes by too fast, and you don't even realize when you are taking notes. This class was probably the best class I took this year because of how incredibly interesting it was. I look forward to AP Gov next year so I can spend more time with this wonderful teacher. It's so hard to express how much I loved this class, so I'll stop there....
AP Lang: this class was not what I was expecting.... But I doubt it is what anyone was expecting. Day one was so scary, I had no idea what to expect. I was afraid the whole year would be like day one, but as the year progressed I enjoyed it more and more. Having been one of the few people to do the homework, I understood most of the material and by the time the AP test came around and actually thought the test was pretty easy (whether or not that's a good thing is anybody's guess).
Overall, I wouldn't have wanted to do this year any differently. Junior year was perfect, and now I can't wait for senior year and college!

Drama, Since it's What I'm Doing Now...

Well, for those of you who haven't heard, the Drama Department is currently doing our Spring Production of 9-5!! So, since that is what my life has been about for the last few weeks, I figured that would be a good topic!
9-5 is centered around three secretaries in 1979 who have a terrible boss. He treats his secretaries as though they are trash, and because of that the three women set out to get revenge. This hilarious comedy has been a joy to work on, and I have met so many new people through it, which is one of the reasons I love theater so much.
Every year I meet the incoming freshmen, and am sad to see the seniors I have bonded with go. However, I hope that my new freshmen friends will feel the same way when I am a senior, and that these bonds will last a lifetime, regardless of how unlikely that actually is...
Another theatrical thing I did recently was attend the 2013 California State Thespian Festival! The festival was held in Ontario, California (No, not Canada) a couple of weekends ago, and I got the opportunity to help fantastic directors from talented performing arts schools direct the first act of an All-State performance, involving about 40 kids. From the first moment, the directors had me involved, whether it was running around the campus the event was held at looking for lost kids, or taking notes or giving input, the directors kept me thoroughly involved and that was something I really appreciated from them because other student directors did not have the same inclusion.
Another interesting thing about directing at festival was the fact that there were three positions to Assistant Direct, All-State act one or two, and another event called California Playwright where a playwright is honored for their incredible work. Not only were all of those positions covered by Westmont students, but the Directors added a second Student Director to Act Two, making it four Westmont students instead of just three! That was incredible!
As random as this blog post was, I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I hope you all bought tickets to see 9 to 5 because it is an amazing show!

Patent Lawyer (?)

The other day my mom and I were discussing possible career paths and she mentioned the idea that I could do what my dad  had initially wanted to do: Be a patent lawyer. Now I have no real idea what that is, so you'll be learning with me! So we start with a definition: a legal expert who specializes in helping clients protect their inventions from unauthorized use by others. The average annual salary is about $133,000, which is always nice. So far I don't think any red flags are popping up; I like helping people and I like money- but who doesn't?

It's looking like "Patent Attorney" is a much more common title, so I'll be researching it by that title from now on.You need to take the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), and you have to pass your state bar exam to be recognized as an attorney, and you will also need a Bachelor's degree in a technological field to be recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It says online that a Patent Agent does not, in fact, need a law degree, but they are not as superior as Patent Attorneys. This sounds like a lot of work, but also exciting.

My mom said that my father had wanted to do a double major (law and science) but the work load was too much- and he's not a lazy guy- so he opted out of law and is now a Biochemist. He was recently working towards development in cancer, but found a hair growth medicine instead, which is still pretty neat!

Overall, I'll definitely keep it in mind, but I don't know that this is the right path for me. I really enjoy a lot of concepts of this type of occupation, but to do something this time consuming sounds a little too difficult for me.

Psychology... Again...

Okay, since this is a school-related blog for Lang, AND we're working on our career presentations for that class right now, I figured I'd write about the same thing. Which just so happens to be a form of psychology.
Business Psychology, to be exact. So imagine the following situation, if you will:
You are a CEO of a company that is halfway decent, but you can't quite seem to make it in the big business. You think it's the way your company is being handled, or maybe its the way your employees treat their clients. So what do you want? You want help that will fix your company! Who ya gonna call? GHOST BUSTERS! No but seriously, that's what business psychologists do.

According to Wikipedia (I know, really reliable, give me as much grief as you want) it is described as the scientific study of employees, workplaces, and organizations. Now to me that means studying working people and places, and how to make them work more efficiently. Maybe I just like making people think the way I do (Teaching, being a Psychologist...) but that sounds kind of appealing. What if Apple was going down the drain before they were a successful company and, because of you, they're where they are today? I know I'd feel like some pretty hot stuff.

Being a Business Psychologist, also called an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist because those are the two psychological fields that you study to make it to Business status, is beneficial for a lot of reasons. First, if you develop your own company you can create your own work schedule. Also, you can hire people that aren't total losers and a pain to work with (you know they're out there). They make around 59,000 a year, which is a little disappointing- my mom wants me making 200,000... eek!-so I am not quite sure if this is the area for me. Nonetheless, I was really interested in this field and it is keeping my eyes open to opportunities. It's always a possibility.

*Interesting Title About Teaching*

Well, I couldn't come up with a clever title... But teaching has always been in the back of my mind as  a possible profession. People tell me I'm pretty smart, my grades show it, and I enjoy teaching other people unless they're complete idiots. So I have always thought about it as a backup if I don't come up with any other hobbies I'm genuinely good at within the next year.
"But what kind of teaching?" you may ask. Well, I would like to teach middle school probably, since elementary school is all about one teacher teaching the many subjects (plus I was never all that great at division, so fourth grade is out) and high school is just way too impossible. From the kids that think they're gangster and have a right to swear in class, to the kids that choose an AP class when they are nowhere near AP understanding of that subject, it just all seems way too difficult. I appreciate all of the work teacher's do in high school, but I would never want to do it myself. And so that leaves middle school. The bridge of learning between basic math and the quadratic formula. Between sentence structure and five page papers. Between the Native Americans and the assassination of Lincoln. Basically, middle school teachers, though sometimes seen as the easy classes, still have a lot on their plates. If I was to teach middle school, I would  probably teach the "core curriculum". As far as I know, that covers History and English, which people seem to think coincide. For me, at least, they definitely don't. I'm much stronger with English than I am with History, with the exception of this year since I'm in an AP English class and Mrs. Jonhsgard's History class. I mean, I understand English and it makes more sense to me than History, which is a lot of memorization of dates and names. However, when I was in middle school and had a good core teacher, I was thrilled. So I would like to do that for some children in the future without having to worry about foul language or kids that can't spell "Europe". All in all, I like to keeps my options open (in case you couldn't tell already) and I do enjoy kids and teaching, so that is definitely a possibility.

Drama As A Career

Now just from the title I think it is pretty self explanatory what this post will be about. Theatre is quite possibly one of the least trustworthy careers a person could have. The people that I have met who have chosen this as their path often work two other jobs and are constantly jumping from audition to audition, trying to get a job. However, I can't get enough of it.
I have been in countless productions starting in sixth grade with Disney's Mulan Jr. Growing up, I was always enrolled in a sport and musical instrument. I have known how to read music since I was four and since my current sport was karate, I thought it would be cool to try it out. I ended up getting a very small part, but it sparked the flame inside me. Since then I have done about thirty performances, whether they were class shows, main-stage performances, or Haunted Houses. I have never gotten any big part, maybe that's what I'm waiting for. I currently have the largest role I've ever had in a main-stage show; a grand total of 13 lines in a 3-act play (getting the role strictly because of my hair color and the directors belief that I CAN speak in an Irish accent... I can't).
A lot of things that interest me, like music, theatre and teaching are all difficult jobs to make a living off of, but (as every teacher tells their students) they don't do their job for the money, they do it for the students. Ultimately, the people who follow those professions follow their dreams, and, as nice as it sounds, I really don't following my dreams is the right choice. I would certainly enjoy becoming a part of a community theater organization when I'm older and more grounded,  but I definitely do not see myself on -or anywhere near- Broadway.

Psychology- An Art and Science

I figured I would start at the beginning of the list of interests in my first post, which happened to start with Psychology. Psychology is, in short, a scientific study of behavior and mental processes, and how surroundings, genetics, or other possible things could affect the behavior and mental processes of a human. I am currently enrolled in Ms. Atton's Psychology class and I find it incredibly interesting, if I do say so myself. Although the class is primarily studying, note taking, and memorization, the topic is so fascinating for me that it isn't all that bad. So far in that class we have covered the methods of research used in psychology and the basic subfields. I'll give a brief description of each subfield and an example if I think it will help you understand it. However, first let's begin with the 5 goals of psychology: observe, define (or describe, in some cases), explain, predict, and control. The goals usually occur in that order. Alright! On to the studies.

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Biological Psychology is the study of how the brain and other organs are affected by behavior. If you have heard of Phantom Limbs (when a limb gets amputated, but people claim to still be able to feel or move it) that is an example of Biological Psychology. This often also includes situations like Déjà vu, and also includes movement and speech cases, like Parkinson's disease or Broca's Aphasia.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
This Psychology studies the changes in behavior and mental processes from birth to old age. It includes the development of memory and mental abilities. For example, if you slap a child every time they ask to go to McDonald's, they will eventually be too afraid to ask to go, and will cease asking all together. That would be a type of Developmental Psychological study. This also includes cases of divorced parents and how that would affect a child.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Your cognitive abilities allow you to receive outside information, understand it, and then act on it. This form of Psychology studies your mental abilities such as perception, learning and memory, thinking, and intelligence. Optical illusions are a study of someone's cognitive abilities. They are used for the perception area of this subfield.

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
Personality Psychology studies similarities and differences among people and based on that, then compares their reliability, sociability, prejudices, and can even look at what makes someone a pessimist, or believe in aliens. If all children who had divorced parents between the ages of five and ten had learning disorders or pessimistic personalities, that would be a study in Personality Psychology.

CLINICAL, COUNSELING, COMMUNITY, and HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
Clinical and Counseling Psychologies are very similar but also different at the same time. Counseling Psychologists normally have a private practice and often take less severe cases than Clinical Psychologists, who often work in hospitals or with people who have extreme cases like suicidal tendencies or need rehabilitation. Community Psychologists reach out to people who need help, but don't seek it. They often reach out to the homeless and attempt to prevent disorders within that community. Health Psychologists study how someone's health affects their behavior, for example, how one person copes with cancer compared to another person.

EDUCATIONAL and SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
Educational Psychology develops theories about teaching and learning. The psychologists look for ways to improve respect, learning, and reduce prejudices. School Psychologists work with IQ testing, children with learning disabilities, and work to improve achievement.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
This Psychology studies how people think of themselves and others and how it affects their behavior and mental processes. This often includes peer pressure or prejudices, and this form of Psychology has been used to prevent AIDS and promote seat belts.

OTHER FIELDS
Other fields of Psychology that I didn't have much research on include the following: Sports, Forensic, Environmental, Military, Consumer, and Neuro psychology.

So that's  a basic outline of the first six weeks of Psychology class! The one I find most interesting is School Psychology, probably because that's where I am in my life right now- the school years. Alright, thanks for reading! Until next time!