Honors Humanities
The expectation for first semesters honors will be to design our own independent study on any event in U.S history that pertains to our interest. The topic of our choosing will need to connect to themes that we will be studying first semester, as well as integrate a combination of primary and secondary sources into a final documentation binder and visual element.
I chose to research the history of insane asylums and mental illness and how treatments have evolved throughout history. I am interested in psychology, so this will be a way to learn about elements of both the individual who struggles from a mental illness, as well as societies perspective regarding it.
I chose to research the history of insane asylums and mental illness and how treatments have evolved throughout history. I am interested in psychology, so this will be a way to learn about elements of both the individual who struggles from a mental illness, as well as societies perspective regarding it.
First Semester Honors Independent Study
Final Documentation Binder
Project Reflection
The Independent Study project called for the students picking anything that has happened in U.S. history and research the chosen subject in depth. We created a documentation binder with our research questions, critical analyses and other questions we may have come up with throughout the research. This project was designed similarly to the way that a college class would be formatted. There were due dates that we had to apply to our work, but all of the grades throughout the semester were cumulated into one large overall grade. For the Independent Study, I chose to research mental asylums and how they have evolved throughout history. I chose this subject because I am interested in psychology and getting a better understanding of how humans treat people who are not mentally stable was intriguing to me. I was also curious if the stories about mental institutions being inhumane were true and to what extent. I was in the fortunate position of choosing a subject that kept my interest throughout the whole of the project, making it so that I did not need to change my subject. Even though I used a couple of primary sources, the majority of the sources that I got my information from were documents written by people who have studied asylums. Looking back on it, I realize now that not only was this project an opportunity for me to learn about a subject that I was interested in, it was a chance to learn time management, and perseverance.
The Habits of Heart and Mind are something that I apply to everything that I do at Animas. For the Independent Study in particular, the HoHM that I used most was perseverance. At times, juggling the extra Independent Study on top of normal school worked proved to be challenging. I learned how to effectively manage my time as well as prioritize what needed to be done. Though it got overwhelming the perseverance aspect is what enable me to learn those skills and progress throughout the project efficiently. Also, this project taught me how to be critical of resources. I learned what are trustworthy resources, as well as how to recognize the perspective of any given source. It was valuable because I may draw one conclusion after reading a source but the author may have meant something completely different. Understanding ways to recognize that can be applied to anything involving research. I feel that having the experience of the Independent Study will greatly help me during next years senior project. I have learned skills regarding independent research, time management, and how to pick a topic that interests me. All of the skills are completely applicable to next years project and I cannot wait to be given the chance to apply them!
If I were to redo this project, I would change the idea of my art piece completely. In my visual piece, I am representing modern-day treatment of mental illness rather than my initial research question which was based around the asylums themselves. Instead of a self portrait integrated with the element of medication, I would incorporate my idea of a patient of an asylum, and use more ethos to connect the audience to my research. Another aspect that I would change is the variability of my sources. Looking back on it, I find that most of my sources say the same general thing, so I would choose something that contradicted the general theme of what was said. Ideally, I would find a source that was pro-asylums because it would add an interesting perspective into an otherwise similar minded research paper.
Future juniors who choose to participate in honors should keep in mind that time management is paramount. It is very easy to push aside the Independent Study project because there is more pressing work from the everyday classes, but it is necessary to keep in mind that it builds up quickly and overwhelmingly. Another thing is to make sure to choose something that will keep them interested throughout the five months of the project. They will be doing endless research about any given topic, so it will make it much more enjoyable if it is something pertaining to their interest's.
The Habits of Heart and Mind are something that I apply to everything that I do at Animas. For the Independent Study in particular, the HoHM that I used most was perseverance. At times, juggling the extra Independent Study on top of normal school worked proved to be challenging. I learned how to effectively manage my time as well as prioritize what needed to be done. Though it got overwhelming the perseverance aspect is what enable me to learn those skills and progress throughout the project efficiently. Also, this project taught me how to be critical of resources. I learned what are trustworthy resources, as well as how to recognize the perspective of any given source. It was valuable because I may draw one conclusion after reading a source but the author may have meant something completely different. Understanding ways to recognize that can be applied to anything involving research. I feel that having the experience of the Independent Study will greatly help me during next years senior project. I have learned skills regarding independent research, time management, and how to pick a topic that interests me. All of the skills are completely applicable to next years project and I cannot wait to be given the chance to apply them!
If I were to redo this project, I would change the idea of my art piece completely. In my visual piece, I am representing modern-day treatment of mental illness rather than my initial research question which was based around the asylums themselves. Instead of a self portrait integrated with the element of medication, I would incorporate my idea of a patient of an asylum, and use more ethos to connect the audience to my research. Another aspect that I would change is the variability of my sources. Looking back on it, I find that most of my sources say the same general thing, so I would choose something that contradicted the general theme of what was said. Ideally, I would find a source that was pro-asylums because it would add an interesting perspective into an otherwise similar minded research paper.
Future juniors who choose to participate in honors should keep in mind that time management is paramount. It is very easy to push aside the Independent Study project because there is more pressing work from the everyday classes, but it is necessary to keep in mind that it builds up quickly and overwhelmingly. Another thing is to make sure to choose something that will keep them interested throughout the five months of the project. They will be doing endless research about any given topic, so it will make it much more enjoyable if it is something pertaining to their interest's.
Second Semester Honors Book Club
Seminar Prep
Project Reflection
Second Semester Honors was designed in the form of a book club. We had the option of reading either Fahrenheit 451, or The Great Gatsby and then had a required reading of Half the Sky. When we finished a book, we would have a group seminar to discuss the themes and other significant aspects of the story. Another requirement was to create a visual piece associated with one of the books of our choosing. I did my visual on The Great Gatsby. I chose to do this because I am inspired by the time period known as "the roaring 20's" and I knew that there were many interesting elements that I could incorporate into a piece of artwork. The reason that I chose to read The Great Gatsby rather than Fahrenheit 451 was because I have always heard stellar reviews about the former option. I based my decision for my choice of book from my joint interest in the time period, as well as the story itself. The second book that I read was the required story called Half the Sky. I did not have to do a visual for this book, so the only requirement was participating in the group seminar.
Half the Sky is a story that spreads awareness about the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. I had a little bit of previous knowledge of human trafficking and gender discrimination, but hearing first-hand stories from women who were abused by unimaginable tortures had a profound impact on me. The psychology behind abuse and discrimination is something that I find interesting. In situations where a young girl is taken from her family to be sold for sex, it makes me wonder what the psychology is behind that. Was the person committing the act influenced by cultural expectations or is there something in the individual's mind that drives them to commit such atrocious acts? A common theme throughout the book was education and women empowerment. I agree with the authors when they say that education is what will start the reform of the way women are treated throughout the world. When women are educated, they use their knowledge to produce good. They often provide for their families as well as others. They will work and can support themselves and I believe that is what men are often afraid of. If a woman loses the need to be dependent on a man because she can support herself, he no longer has leverage to get her to oblige to his requests. Reading this story helped me develop a passion for providing an education to everybody, not just those who can afford or deserve it. I would love to pursue making education a possibility thanks to the awareness and passion that this book provided.
The Habit of Heart and Mind that I applied most to my second semester honor's experience was perspective. Because the format of honors this semester was a book club, I needed to be able to articulate my perspective about either Half the Sky or The Great Gatsby during the seminars. I find that by looking into the undertones of the author's word's, there is so much more to a story than what the words say. By analyzing the way that words are crafted and looking at the different sets of scenes, you can often decipher more than what is first initially read. Perspective helped me in this situation because everybody was reading the story in their own way, and I was able to provide mine during the discussions. That being said, I enjoyed the book club project because it was an interesting way to see how people analyzed somewhat challenging works. The seminar allowed for a small, yet profound discussions about either a classic or a real-world story, bringing in different elements for each different book.
Half the Sky is a story that spreads awareness about the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. I had a little bit of previous knowledge of human trafficking and gender discrimination, but hearing first-hand stories from women who were abused by unimaginable tortures had a profound impact on me. The psychology behind abuse and discrimination is something that I find interesting. In situations where a young girl is taken from her family to be sold for sex, it makes me wonder what the psychology is behind that. Was the person committing the act influenced by cultural expectations or is there something in the individual's mind that drives them to commit such atrocious acts? A common theme throughout the book was education and women empowerment. I agree with the authors when they say that education is what will start the reform of the way women are treated throughout the world. When women are educated, they use their knowledge to produce good. They often provide for their families as well as others. They will work and can support themselves and I believe that is what men are often afraid of. If a woman loses the need to be dependent on a man because she can support herself, he no longer has leverage to get her to oblige to his requests. Reading this story helped me develop a passion for providing an education to everybody, not just those who can afford or deserve it. I would love to pursue making education a possibility thanks to the awareness and passion that this book provided.
The Habit of Heart and Mind that I applied most to my second semester honor's experience was perspective. Because the format of honors this semester was a book club, I needed to be able to articulate my perspective about either Half the Sky or The Great Gatsby during the seminars. I find that by looking into the undertones of the author's word's, there is so much more to a story than what the words say. By analyzing the way that words are crafted and looking at the different sets of scenes, you can often decipher more than what is first initially read. Perspective helped me in this situation because everybody was reading the story in their own way, and I was able to provide mine during the discussions. That being said, I enjoyed the book club project because it was an interesting way to see how people analyzed somewhat challenging works. The seminar allowed for a small, yet profound discussions about either a classic or a real-world story, bringing in different elements for each different book.