My Essential Question

Essential Question: To what extent does smoking cigarettes negatively impact cardiovascular health?

Why did you select this as your essential question?
I chose this question for my project because I believe that it is something that crosses many people's minds. I also believe that this question is relevant to many people because so many people smoke cigarettes and as young people begin to decide if they want to smoke cigarettes.

What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?
I am most excited about finding empirical evidence that proves this research question either way. I know that smoking cigarettes negatively impacts cardiovascular health but the part I am excited about discovering is the extent of its impact.

Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?
I believe that this topic does reflect a need for myself because though I don't plan on every smoking cigarettes, it certainly doesn't mean that people will try me to join them in smoking cigarettes.

Learning Revolution!

If I had unlimited time and resources, I would learn Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Slovak, and Russian. I think language is so interesting and if I had unlimited time I would love to learn many more languages because it is such a valuable resource.

I believe attitude is more influential than aptitude. Though aptitude is very important, attitude seems more important. You could have all the aptitude in the world and have no attitude and that would be a waste of God’s gifts to you. Attitude makes the difference. Attitude can either dramatically accelerate you forwards or backwards but when it accelerates you forward, the sky is the limit.

I don’t necessarily believe the current grading system should be abolished but rather restructured. I feel like so many students just try to “get by.” Therefore, I believe grades below 80 percent should be considered failing. Also something I see a lot (outside of my classes) are students who don’t work at all and then expect their teacher to pass them with a 70 when they deserve to fail. I think failure is something schools have reduced too much. Sometimes it takes a flat out failure to teach you a lesson. However, when students are handed a passing grade with no effort, they believe this will happen to them the rest of their lives and it actually won’t. That is one area I think should be changed.

The Honors Mentorship Program has definitely brought to my attention the necessity of computer skills. Though I consider my computer skills to be at an intermediate level, there is still a lot I don’t know, especially in the medical field. All of my mentorship activities require computers including looking through past medical files and inputting data into computer databases. Computers will always be around so it has made realize that it is really important to adapt or else technology will keep progressing without you. 

What time is it?

What time is it? College time! How fast time has flown by! I cannot believe it is already time to be looking at colleges! I’ve anticipated this time for so long but now I’m wishing it could be pushed back just a little! Nevertheless, this is a time of stress and anticipation as I apply for college and scholarships.  

Colleges I plan to apply to…

1.      Emory University- Atlanta, GA; www.emory.edu

2.      Wake Forest University- Winston-Salem, NC; www.wfu.edu

3.      Elon University- Elon, NC; www.elon.edu

4.      Vanderbilt University- Nashville, TN; www.vanderbilt.edu

5.      University of Georgia- Athens, GA; www.uga.edu

6.      Oglethorpe University- Atlanta, GA; www.oglethorpe.edu

7.      Georgia Institute of Technology- Atlanta, GA; www.gatech.edu

Degree Program: Biological Sciences (but I’m toying with the idea of double majoring in Biology and Spanish)

Somethings I use to distinguish between colleges I am interested in are size of the program, percent of students in Biology, and medical school acceptance rates. Right now all of the schools I am applying to meet my criteria with the exception of UGA which I am using as my “fall back” school. However, the only criterion not met is size which is something I think I could learn to live with. Thankfully, there are no extra requirements for Biology. Location and size are definitely criteria for my ranking of colleges. I don’t want to live TOO close but don’t want to live very far away.

Rankings:

·         Emory: #20

·         Wake Forest: #27

·         Elon: #2 in the South

·         Vanderbilt: #17

·         UGA: #63

·         Oglethorpe: #164

·         GA Tech: #36

Many factors go into these rankings including average standardized scores, GPAs, retention rate, etc. There are professional associations once I become a doctor including the AMA and many “Boards”.

Potential Scholarships:
Coca-Cola Scholar

Interact Scholarship

Teen Volunteer Scholarship

Video

Reflection

This is the procedure that occurs that I am looking back at after people have ST-elevated Myocardial Infarctions. 

I look through past EKGs like this one to find out where the heart attack is occurring in the heart muscle.

Whoever said that senior year of high school is the easiest year of school and is very relaxing before starting college needs the slap of reality because they are one hundred percent incorrect. I can now say that my senior year is absolutely not the easiest year of school thus far and is the furthest thing from “relaxing.” This year has been the most hectic, busiest, and most stressful year yet. However, I guess I can only blame myself for my situation. No one is making me participate in seven extracurriculars including National Honor Society, Beta Club, Creativity, Service, and Action club, Interact Club, Health Occupation Students of America, Competitive Math Team, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes except myself. And no one is making me take seven of the hardest standardized classes in the world plus Honors Mentorship (the best class in the world :P). And I only have myself to blame for trying to fit in everything else like applying to colleges and scholarships, studying for SATs and ACTs, going to church, and trying to actually enjoy my senior year with friends and family. However, though I have not chosen the easiest route, I believe that it will pay off in the end and I cannot wait to reap the benefits of the seeds sown laboriously! I guess that’s something that I have learned the most recently. I see so many people around me who are having a blast this year but I always have to remind myself that what I am doing, I am doing it for a purpose so that even though it may not be fun now, I can enjoy different things for the rest of my life. 

Good side note: 
A great place to find scholarships is www.fastweb.com

Literature Review

I recently read the article "Heart Health and What Family History Can Tell You" by Heather Westmoreland, MD. The article talks about the significance of family history in cardiovascular health. Medical research recently found that when a person has a close relative like a sibling or parent with a history of heart problems and a relative like an uncle or an aunt are ten times more likely to have heart health problems. Knowing about your family history of heart disease is important in making sure you are proactive in protecting your heart like maintaining a healthy level of cholesterol. Like always, it is important to maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy, and exercise daily.

Mission Statement & Reflection

My mission is to never stop growing spiritually, mentally, intellectually, and in relationships.

I view my mentorship as a wonderful opportunity that I am blessed to have and do not want to take it for granted. To get the most out of my mentorship I want to always remember that I can benefit from this experience no matter what I am doing. This experience will greatly impact my future as I learn to interact with medical professionals. The activities I will be doing in my mentorship will also prepare me for college and graduate school as I will be doing important cardiology research.