One project that distinguished me in class was the Cell Organelle Video. My partner and I were one of the few groups that made a music video. We effectively demonstrated the function of our assigned organelle, the ribosome. At first, my partner was very hesitant to complete the project in the form of a music video, but I encouraged him to try something that was out-of-the-box. I was committed to making a music video, and we thoroughly explained the role of a ribosome in transcription and making proteins. In the midst of the heavy course load, I still managed to make the music video as visually appealing as possible. My partner and I spent a plentiful amount of time outside of class to record the lyrics and draw visuals. Everytime we encountered …show more content…
Describe one weakness or area of growth that you overcame in our class and how you overcame it. Before I entered AP Biology this year, I was really self-critical of my own work. My self-esteem was not at the level I wanted it to be, and I deemed any success that I had as a fluke. Throughout the year, I gradually grew more confident about my own work. I would have to attribute biology to being one of my favorite subjects and my willingness to help others. I was so eager to learn more biology this year, and inevitably I had the opportunity to help others. I became progressively more confident about my abilities to say the correct answer and produce high quality assignments and projects not just due to chance, but because of my dedication to learning the …show more content…
Over the three weeks, my attention towards climate change as one of the major problems of this century increased. In the morning, I would attend lectures that covered various topics: greenhouse gases, energy budget models, trends that indicated the existence of climate change, analyses of various cities’ mitigations plans, and many others. In the afternoon, I would engage in TA-lead discussions and labs that simulated the repercussions of rising sea levels, melting sea ice, and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We were also given the opportunity to be Chasing Coral ambassadors, based off of the namesake documentary. We promoted the importance of conserving ocean coral to the local community, ultimately spreading awareness about climate change. Our final project was to create a mini-documentary about a topic surrounding climate change. A partner and I made our documentary about sustainable cities, mainly focusing our research on Dubai and Masdar City as our “case study cities”. We also analyzed the viability and probability of creating a truly sustainable city that emitted no carbon dioxide, which we found to be nearly impossible. Overall, I had an engaging, intellectually-stimulating experience at this program. It made me realize the passion I had for environmental science and climate