Module #1: Knowledge Tree

About Me:

I was born in Miami, Florida, the birthplace of my mother and my father’s adopted hometown after he emigrated from Cuba. I moved to Tampa after Hurricane Andrew, and a few years later my family moved to Massachusetts. This is where I live now. I am a junior in high school and I go to a public school in one of Boston’s suburbs. My favorite subject in school is science, biology in particular, although I am taking chemistry this year and I am finding it very interesting. I also like philosophy, which is my history elective this year. I am a musical person and I am in the school orchestra where I play viola, violin and bass. I play several other instruments outside of school, too. I like sports and I play football (American) in the fall, I throw shot put in the winter and I play rugby in the spring. I’m currently trying to combine my love of rugby with my love of music and comedy, and I working on musical called RUGBY ON ICE, THE MUSICAL: Part II, even though the performance will not be on ice and it will be the first musical I have ever written. I’m a very outgoing person, I love to have fun and I am happy to bring my curiosity and sense of humor to everyone else in this program.

The Media and Me!

I have always been one to appreciate a good book or movie. I just finished reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in English class and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I found it interesting how a book seemingly about a boy and his hilarious journey down the Mississippi River could subliminally highlight issues such as religious morality and racism (although I do not find this the most outspoken book against racism). I have also recently finished reading Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics in philosophy class. I valued his focus on the pursuit of knowledge as a tool to help an individual lead “the Good Life”, however I did not appreciate his opinions concerning the lower classes of ancient Greek society and their inability to pursue happiness. I am a subscriber of TIME Magazine as well as Newsweek Magazine. I also read National Geographic Magazine regularly. As far as music, I love classical music (I attend Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts), the Beatles and I have recently gotten into Dave Mathews Band because of their use of instruments not usually found in modern popular music, such as violin and saxophone. I love movies in general, comedies in particular, because the world becomes too serious quite frequently and it’s important to take a step back and laugh every once in a while

Local Concerns:

What is happening to the global economy is affecting everyone. In my local community this is most evident in school budget cuts. Education is incredibly important to me, and to see it suffer is very painful. In fact, education is so important to me that when a tsunami devastated Southeast Asia in 2005, my sister, my cousin and I started a relief project that raised over $200,000 to build schools in Sri Lanka. We felt that establishing safe places for children to learn was vital to the restoration and future of Southeast Asia. In my local community, arts and athletic programs are being cut as well as many core electives such as AP Biology. Many faculty members are losing their jobs and class sizes are going to increase dramatically. I have played an active role in my student government, fighting to protect certain programs in the school and lobbying parents to vote for an override budget. However, I understand that many members of my community are facing economic hardships, and fear paying higher taxes at such a time.

What I’d Bring to DOTCOM Workshops:

I am a very curious individual, I am eager to share my knowledge and I love to learn. I also love meeting new people. I hope to bring my sense of humor to DOTCOM program workshops, and my technological skills. I can’t wait to meet everyone and start reading your blogs!