Human Geography Blog 8-29-17

Today I walked to room 121 to find a sticky note on the door saying Mr. Schick's mod two class report to a room that I can't remember. So, I found myself in Mrs. Milbury's room where she said that the for the day can be found on Mr. Schick's blog. On Mr. Schick's blog he said that this class period is a golden oppurtunity to study for the exam. He then followed that with a very long list of many of the things that we have covered this year. I decided to use all of these terms to create a sixty-three term Quizlet. The quizlet took me almost the whole period to make, so when I finished we only had about five minutes left in the class. With the remaining time I learned some of the terms on the quizlet. After this the bell rang and ended class.

In today's Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we discussed what exam week will be like and what we should do to prepare ourselves for it. Our Human Geography exam will be on Wednesday at 10:00. I think. There will be one hundred multiple choice questions and 2 essays. Mr. Schick told us that the first essay will be on demographic transition and population pyramids. The second essay will consist of three options to choose from. Mr. Schick also explained to us that every single person in the school is taking the same subject exam at the same time and then going to the cafeteria at the same time. So, he said that it would be best to pack a snack or lunch that day in order to not waste all your time standing in a line of 700 people. After we finished discussing about exam week we went over the pop quiz we had the other day. I got a 14/20 on it. I now know that Hans Rosling teaches Global Health and not World History. After going over the test the bell rang and ended clas

Today in Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we continued watching the video of Hans Rosling and his animated graph showing how countries flourish and thrive as time goes on. Before we started watching the video we introduced my shadow. I was also able to convince the entire class and Mr. Schick that he was my brother. Not sure how anyone didn't notice the fact that we didn't go to the same middle schools. But, after we introduced him we started watching the video. In the middle of the video Mr. Schick asked the question: Should we spend more money or less money on the military? It was interesting to hear the different answers where people were saying that we should spend more money so that we are able to keep our allies. But, Mr. Schick had a really good counter argument saying that he doesn't really think that if the USA started to spend less money on the military other countries would just end their alliance with the USA. After discussing this the bell rang

In today's Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we watched a video on population pyramids and why they are so important to us as a society. The video explains what population pyramids are, what they are used for, and why they are important. After we watched that video, we watched a second video by Hans Rosling. He showed his data in an animation type of graph. The x-axis was life expectancy and the y-axis was average annual income. He then had all the different regions in a specific color while each dot was its own country. In the bottom left of the graph all the countries there could be classified as poor and sick. While in the top right the countries could be classified as rich and healthy. In 1810 you can see that almost every country starts out in the poor and sick category. This is because these countries are pre-industrialized countries meaning that they haven't industrialized yet. You then see during industrialization some of these countries rise in the grap

Today in Mr. Schick's Honor's Human Geography class we got our tests back through the ceremonial bell ringing. He handed back the tests while ringing the bell on, if not, every single one of the tests. The class average on this test was an astonishing 98%. Many people got above a hundred on this test because there were two bonus questions on the back that many people were able to complete. When Mr Schick called, "Fran-swa," I was pleasantly greeted with two rings indicating that I got above a hundred on the test. When I looked at the test I had a 104% followed by three Facebook like stamps. Other than that it was a pretty mellow Human Geography class. We then went over the test questions in case we got one of them wrong. After we went over the questions we had about 5 minutes of free time which I used to charge my laptop. After that, the bell rang and ended class.

Today in the wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we went over an extra credit assignment that works with Kiva.com. Mr. Schick showed us the website and it is actually very simple to use. You can browse the lists of the borrowers by using filters by country, job, gender, or species. When you select a borrower you can read a summary about them, look at their designated total amount of money, and how much time is left in their goal. You can donate to the borrower in $25 increments. The borrower will use your money for whatever they say they are going to use it for in their summary. After they use your money they have a certain amount of time to repay your loan. Once they return your money you can use it again to help out another person. After that the bell rang and ended class.

Today in Honor's Human Geography class we had a test on all of the different rates in the world that calculate population, life expectancy, and much more. There was also one unfamiliar site in the classroom today and that was that Mr. Schick wasn't there. Today we had Mrs. Collins as a substitute teacher. The test went pretty well, I think. I was able to navigate the CIA World Fact book very well and found answers that I would have never thought were possible to find. For example, I would have never thought, in a million years, that one website would have the answer to the question: What percentage of the world is without power? The answer is actually on the world fact book. In my opinion, that's crazy. I also think I was able to successfully answer one of the bonus questions right. The question was: What is the net migration rate of the world? I answered 0 because when you think about it, no one is emmigrating or immigrating into Earth. Maybe in a couple decades that might

Today in the wonderful and always exciting Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we just reviewed the last couple of lessons in order to prepare ourselves for the test tomorrow. We all made sure to be on our best behavior today since we've all heard that Mr. Schick has been on a "detention rampage". So, we all sat down in our seats and were "ready" to prepare for the test. Mr. Schick explained to us that the first page of the test is like a CIA world factbook webquest. We will be given specific questions about countrie's people, economy, and culture and then find the answers by navigating the world factbook. So, in order to get ready for this Mr. Schick gave us some example problems to try out and get more comfortable with the CIA world factbook. After completing these problems the bell rang and ended class.

Today in Honor's Human Geography with Mr. Schick we continued going over our projects that we we've been working on. Today, the last two groups presented their projects. The first group talked about how in the country they chose there was a strange thing about their population. There were may more men in the country then there were women. Due to this, the men lived longer than the women. In most countries the women almost always live longer than the men. This can be caused by a variety of factors from stupidity to warfare. But however, there are more men in Qatar than there are women. This is most likely due to the oil industry there. Qatar is very much known for their oil industry. Because of this men flock in thousands to Qatar looking for jobs. The second group talked about a charity event called UNICEF Trick-or-Treat which meant that as kids walked around trick-or-treating they would let the adult at the door know that they were collecting spare change for UNICEF. This was

In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we continued presenting our projects on population pyramids and world hunger charities. First up was Chase and Ben where they discussed the difference in between the two countries they chose and their population pyramids. They chose two similar countries, so there was a lot to compare and not a whole lot of differences. After that they talked about how some charities don't always use the money you give them for the cause. However, it is understandable that they have to use some of the money to operate and run the charity. But, they are supposed to use as little money as possible to run the charity so that most of the money goes to the cause. After Ben and Chase were done, I was called up to present. So, I presented my project about Tajikistan and Ghana and the charities that I was comparing and describing. After I presented the bell rang and ended class.

In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with the amazing, guitar playing Mr. Schick we had a pop quiz which I was not expecting at all. The pop quiz was on everything we've been learning for the past week. I got a 7/10 on the quiz which sadly turns into a 14/20. On one of the questions I just put the wrong answer when I knew the right answer which I call a careless mistake. Another question I just was confused and didn't know the answer. Then the last question I got wrong was asking in what year did America's population reach 1 billion. On this question I just blanked and had no idea what the answer was. After going over this, Mr. Schick introduced a group work project. On this project you could either shoot for an A or a B. I decided to be a good student and go for the A. So, I had to research 2 country's population pyramids and ask and answer 4 questions about them. After this I had to compare 4 hunger charities and rank them. After this the bell ra

In today's always wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we continued going over population pyramids, but more in depth today. We learned that there are three main shapes of a population pyramid. It can be a Christmas tree, a box, or a regular tree. When a population pyramid is a Christmas tree it means that the country is a developing nation with a most likely high TFR. If the pyramid is the shape of box it means that the population is staying the same and most likely has a TFR of 2.1. If the pyramid is the shape of a regular tree it means that the population is aging and not reproducing often. A country with a pyramid like this most likely has a low TFR. After taking in all of this information this the bell rang and ended class along with the school day.

Today in the wonderful Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we continued talking about the Total Fertility Rate and then moved on to populations. We started off the class by passing around a chocolate cake. Yep, that wasn't a typo. Owen literally brought in chocolate cake. So, we passed it around and everyone cut themselves a piece of chocolate cake and "quietly" ate it. After discussing TFR further we went into population. We learned about these wonderful things called population pyramids. These are like bar graphs but in the shape of a Christmas tree. Population pyramids help us not only compare the populations of different ages but also compare the populations of boys to girls. Its interesting to look at the different shapes of the pyramids when we compare an aging country's population like Japan to a developing country like Chad. After this the bell rang and ended class.

In today's always great Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we discussed something called the Total Fertility Rate and then went over some questions on a powerpoint. The Total Fertility Rate is the average number of children born per woman. In order for a population to grow the TFR has to be 2.1 or higher. If it is anything lower that means the population is decreasing. The US TFR is 2.01 which means our population decreasing. The Nigeria TFR is 6.89 which means it is a developing country. The Japan TFR is 1.40 which means it is a developed country with an aging population. After discussing this we went over three questions on a powerpoint which were: Q-What is the population of the US? A-323.1 million people. Q-What is the infant mortality rate in the US? A-5.87 deaths per 1000 people. Q-Which country has the highest population of Catholics? A- Mexico. After this the bell rang which brought us to lunch.

In today's Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we got our tests back! When I walked into class I was surprisingly greeted by a Halloween Party where there was a bunch of candy and happy faces. After the candy was passed out Mr. Schick put the ceremonial bell on the stool and began to call our names to come get our tests. The class average on this test was actually pretty high, so there were a lot of single dings when Mr. Schick handed these back. I was extremely pleased when Mr. Schick called my name, rang the bell once, and handed me back my test with 97% on it. After we finished going over the tests, we continued on the powerpoint. Today's lesson was on push and pull factors which are factors that either draw people to the country or push them away from the country. Some push factors consist of: civil war, environmental degradation, unemployment or underemployment, and religious or ethnic oppurtunity.   Some pull factors consist of: better econo

In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we talked more in depth about birth and death rates. A very odd, but believable, fact on life expectancy is that the women life expectancy is longer than the men life expectancy. Mr. Schick asked us why we think that and there were many different answers from "men are more stupid" to "men drive more than women in certain countries". However, the answer that I found most interesting was that men fight in wars much more than women do. I found this interesting because even in America much more men serve in the military than women. And in other countries women can't even serve in the military. Is it because of this that the men life expectancy is less than the women life expectancy? We then talked about crude birth and death rates which are births and deaths per 1,000 people. After that we talked about the rate of natural increase which is found by subtracting the death rate

In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with the one and only Mr. Schick we talked about the average population of the world. I first got to class and remembered I have to leave early for a football game, so I grabbed my stuff and went to the locker room. I then remembered that I can not go to the game because I have detention (which ended up being taken away). So, I then came back to class. There we were on the world population calculator. It was very interesting to see how the population increases and decreases. The population actually increases more than it decreases. So the world population is growing. It's also interesting to see how the population is effected by historical events that happen during that time. After this the bell rang and ended class.

               In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we had a test! However, I came to this test with my mind somewhat prepared. But, at the start of class I made a huge mistake. I decided to drink a whole bottle of water right before I started the test. So, I had to go to the bathroom during the test. However, I was taking the test left handed which meant that I didn't have the time to go to the bathroom. Besides this, I think I did pretty well on the test today. There were only two questions that I didn't know. I was confused on the one that asked which choice does not describes a proposal of Sir Sanford Fleming's time zone proposal and the one that asked what a name of a place is. Other than that, I found all of the multiple choice questions easy. I also found the essay pretty easy as well. I wrote all about how we can implement the philosophy "Think global, act local". After I turned in my test the bell rang and ended class

Today in the wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we made some review questions for the test. When I walked into Human Geography today I was greeted with cookie and Snickers which was pretty cool. Just to make sure no one forgets if it's their day to bring in food we made a 2017 Human Geography group chat. However, we don't only talk about food, we also talk about everyone's day went and share quizlets to help us study. But, even with the group chat I already know I'm going to forget my day. After we finished passing out the food we shared the review questions we came up with. A lot of the questions were really good. These are some of the answers to questions that helped me: Sir Stanford Fleming came up with the idea of time zones, Texas voted Republican in the last three elections, and a way to fulfill the saying "think global act local" would be to grow a garden to provide some food for yourself. After going over these questions the be

Today in the marvelous and always entertaining Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we went over some questions that might appear on the upcoming test. When we got into class we introduced the shadows and shared our normal stories. One thing that happened today which usually doesn't happen everyday was that people brought cookies. I was given two but only ate one. Unfortunately, I saved the other one in my pocket and forgot about. So, now I have a crushed and melted chocolate-chip cookie in my pocket. After we finished telling our stories and sharing our food we got to school work. Since we have a test coming up next week we went over some questions that might be on the test. Some of the questions consisted of: What is the art in science of map-making? and, How many time zones are in the world? I learned that the art in science of map-making is cartography and that there are 24 time zones in the world. After going over more questions the bell rang and ended class.

Today was a solemn and sad Human Geography class with Mr. Schick. We found out that his beloved dog had died. We spent the first twenty five minutes of class listening to Mr. Schick talk about his many adventures with his dog. He talked about how when he first foumd them he was so scared but eventually came into their house. Three girls that sit behind me even began to cry. After we were finished then sharing stories of our own pet deaths we got on with the lesson. We talked a lot more about Global Warming and how it's affecting the world. I found it very interesting when Chase shared with the class that his middle school Science teacher did not believe in Global Warming or Climate Change. I find it crazy that someone who has had enough education to become a Science teacher doesn't believe in Climate Change. In my opinion, the evidence is there in the temperatures and the recent hurricanes. After we finished discussing this the bell rang and ended class.

          Today in the wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with... Mr. Torres we read about globalization and did a Think Geographically Activity. Globalization Notes: -geographers see unique features in a local environment and see broad patters in the global pattern -people who were conscerned with the environment made the phrase "think global act local". That means to do tasks in your global setting which will ultimately affect the world globally. -globalization is a force that involves the entire world and results in making something world wide -globalization describes how the population size of people who are able to interact with other people or objects in another place is shrinking Merriam Webster Dictionary defines Globalization as "the process by which buissneses or other organizations develop international or start operating on an international scale. Dictionary.com defines Globalization as "the act of globalizing, or extending to other or

         In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we learned about how important oil is, but also how terrible it is for the environment. During this class we actually got way off topic since the lesson was about the United States of America's imports and exports. America's number one import is oil. According to the Central Intelligence Agency the United States buys about 8.567 million barrels of oil a day. That is an ubsurd amount of oil, but we need it. Literally, almost everything in the world is made of oil from being manufactured by machines that require oil or the item burns oil itself. So, our country requires oil to survive. However, there are two huge problems that occur when obtaining the oil. One is that it is a nonrenewable resource, and two is that it causes Global Warming. After discussing this the bell rang and ended class.

             In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we finished our top 25 growing countries map and found "cool" facts about countries. It is actually pretty interesting seeing how small some of these countries are and how much they are growing. It is also interesting seeing some of these countries that you've never even heard of. To be honest I thought Bangladesh was a movie. I also thought Guam was a fictional place. After we were finished with the map we had to find a country that we are not too familiar with. Once we found a country we had to find a cool or interesting fact about that country. Since I thought Guam wasn't a real place I figured why not find a cool fact about it. So, it turned out Guam isn't the most exciting place in the world. I saw the word volcano and figured there was a volcano on Guam. Turns out I was wrong. However, I did find out other thing about other countries. For example, I found out that Antarct

         Today in Mr. Schick's Honor's Human Geography class I was greeted with a welcoming pop quiz. I was not expecting the pop quiz at all I am 99% sure I got nowhere near a 99% on the quiz. Some of the questions were easy and I was able to answer quickly, but some of them I had no idea. After we turned the quizes in Mr. Schick gave us a blank map. He then showed us the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) website. The CIA's main job is to find out as much information about other countries as possible. I couldn't believe how much information they had on this small country in Asia. They had population, history and even hospital bed density. The amount of information on these countries is mind blowing. We looked at one particular thing which was "top 25 growing countries in the world". We looked at the list and then placed the countries on the blank map Mr. Schick gave to us. After that, the bell rang and ended class.

            Today in the wonderful Honor's Human Geography Class with Mr. Schick we talked about latitude and longitude lines. We learned that these lines serve as an invisible navigation grid to Earth. This navigation system allows any given location in the world to be represented by a group of coordinates. This system is used by navigators anywhere in the world. The Longitude lines go vertical and can range from 0 degrees to 180 degrees east or west. Latitude lines travel horizontally from 0 degrees to 90 degrees north or south. We also talked about lines like The Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, the Equator, and the Prime Meridian. The Equator rests at 0 degrees and runs horizontally around the world. The Tropic of Cancer is North of the Equator and The Tropic of Capricorn is south of the Equator. Finally, the Prime Meridian is the Longitude Line that measures 0 degrees. The Prime Meridian actually passes right through Greenwich, England. Then the bell rang and ended class.

          Yep, that's right, you read the title correctly. After Mr. Schick's Honor's Human Geography Class I literally don't understand clocks anymore. When we started class Mr. Schick asked the class, "Why do we have time zones in the world?" I immediately was like "because other places in the world have different times than us uh duh". But then Mr. Schick asked us what causes the times to be different. At this point I was just confused on where he was going with this. Mr. Shcick then said that time is described by past, present, and future. So, right after he said that, it was already in the past and done with and the next sentence is in the unforeseeable future. Now I was questioning when the present is. How long is the present? What even is the present anymore? Is it actually nonexistent? These were all the questions going through my head then. However, this is why I love Mr. Schick's class because we are questioning our modern beliefs. Afte

              Today in Mr Schick's wonderful Human Geography class we basically debated over what the school uniform should be for about half the class. Mr. Schick explained to us that he thinks everyone in the school, boys and girls, should wear flight suits. They way Mr. Schick explained it to us made it very convincing. He said that so many people complain about being cold. The flight suit is long sleeved and goes down to your ankles so you will never be cold. So, I'm somewhat convinced we actually should switch our uniform to flight suits. After the whole debate we worked on our political regions. I find the political regions very interesting because Mr. Schick explained to us that the laws within a state have a very big play on which party the state will vote for. For example in Montana North Dakota, and other northwest states, they depend on their guns for their cattle and farms. So, they vote for the Republican party to get less strict gun laws. After I finished making m

              Today in the marvelous Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick I made up the pop quiz that I missed. Mr. Schick took a desk out into the hallway for me where I took the pop quiz left handed. I did alright on it, I got an 85%. Once I came back in most of Mr. Schick's lecture was over, but I was still able to get notes on regions. Mr. Schick taught us that regions can be really big or really small, there are several neighboring counties in the world that share similar features, and that there are many localities within one particular country. After this, we did an activity on states and for which parties they voted for in the past elections. After studying how the states voted each election, we made regions for how they vote in elections. After this, the bell rang and ended today's class.

I was not in class today due to recovering from surgery.

            In today's Honor's Human Geography class we have a sub! Her name is Mrs. Ferry and she just happens to be my Spanish teacher. Today I had to read an article about how geographers use site and situation to describe where a place is and what it looks like. Site is physical attributes of an area that help a geographer describe what this place looks like. When different places have a variety of different sites it gives them a character that only they have. As Mr. Schick said before,"no two places in the world are the same". We can see in history that many starting off civilizations really took the different sites of an area into play because they wanted to use those sites to their advantage. One good example of this is Havre De Grace. America built naval bases in Havre De Grace during the Revolutionary War because it was easy to defend the Chesapeake Bay. So, they used the sites of Havre De Grace to their advantage. As we can see, sites are very important when

              In today's wonderful  Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we went over our blogs with Mr. Schick and checked our maps that we filled out about a week ago. We started the class with Mr. Schick calling us up one by one to check on our blogs and see if we are doing the titles right and just including what needs to be included in them. Mr. Schick called about five people up before he said, "Frankie." When I walked up he told me that I needed to fix my title because I was just making the titles the dates that I did the blogs. Which is why I have very "creative" title today. After going over my blog with Mr. Schick we went over the map we filled out a while ago. I happened to lose my map so I shared with my friend Ashley. After going over the map the bell rang and put a wrap on Monday's Honor's Human Geography class.

                In today's wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we went over how every point of the Earth is different and similar. We learned that the differences and similarities between regions start with where they are geographically. Geography has a big play in a region's culture. This is what ultimately makes regions different and similar to each other. After this, Mr. Schick checked our mental world maps to see how we did on them. After looking at a map I realized just how much I don't know geographical regions. I tried drawing the shape of the Scandinavian Islands and Mr. Schick thought that it was a literal piece of garbage and that I was trying to make a statement about littering. After the checking was over we finally got our tests back. Mr. Schick has a tradition that whenever someone gets an A on the test he rings a bell. If you score a 100% or more, you get two rings. If you get a B or less on the test, you are rewarded with silence. Aft

               Today in the wonderful Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we got a new air conditioner! Just kidding, that's not the only thing that happened today. We drew maps without even looking at anything to help us. Mr. Schick called it a mental map. We had to draw a map of the world without looking at the map in the back of the room. Mine was extremely bad. I drew all of the continents way out of proportion and the same went for the oceans. We also had to draw a map of our route to school. I got out my notebook and made all of my lines and all of the places I pass and then realize I did it to the school I went to for the last nine years of my life. So, I threw that one out and made my new one. I drew the lines and the bridge I cross all the way until I got to John Carroll. The whole activity really gave you a fell for where you are in the world.

             Today was a very short, yet sweet, Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick. I walked into class and put my phone in the Apple Bin like every other day. When, Faith walked in and said it was stuffy in the room. So, Mr. Schick walked over to the phone and dialed a number and said," Oh yes, hi, I wanted to tell you that Faith would like an air conditioner to be delivered to the class room." Mr. Schick then said that he was swamped with all the tests that he has to grade and asked us if it would be okay if he spent the period grading the tests and giving us a study period. We all said that was fine and everybody left the room to go get books while Michael and I stayed in the room. I stayed in the room because I was leaving to see an orthopedic in ten minutes. When everyone was gone Mr. Schick told me and Michael that someone actually was delivering an air conditioner which I though was pretty funny. After that, it was time for me to go.

              In today's Honor's Human Geography Class with Mr. Schick we learned had a very interesting lesson on two world maps. We learned about the difference in the Mercator Projection Map and the Peter Projection Map. Through most of our entire lives we have been believing the world looks like what the Mercator Map projects to be. However, the Mercator Map has many flaws. It projects Greenland to be the same size, if not bigger, as the United States. However, The United States is much larger than Greenland. The Mercator Map also projects Alaska to be much bigger than Mexico. But, Mexico is actually 0.1 times bigger than Alaska. The Mercator Map also projects Africa to be much smaller than it actually is. As we can see their are many things that are wrong with the Mercator Map. A lot of people wonder why it is so wrong. It is because of the man named Mercator, that made the map, wanted the latitude and longitude lines to be nice and straight and be able to connect countrie

          Today in Mr. Schick's Honor's Human Geography class we started a new unit called "Thinking Geographically". The key questions of the unit consist of: How do geographers describe where things are? Why is each point on the Earth unique? Why are different places similar? And why are some actions unsustainable? We talked about how geographers use regions to characterize places so that we can better group them. We also learned what formal regions are. Formal regions are regions that show a high consistency in a cultural or physical attribute. For example, if a region coal mines a lot and there's coal mines all over the region it is considered a coal mining, formal region. Formal regions are used to categorize regions that share things in politics, economics, geography. We then were handed a work sheet with two maps on it and two word banks on it. We had to identify the regions on the map and write them down on the lines under the word bank. After I finished t

           In today's Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we had a test on Socrates, Excellence, Ancient Greece, and "A message to Garcia". Before the test was even handed out I couldn't stop laughing because of Mr. Schick making these rhyming sayings and said it was rapping and then dropped "the paperclip". I think the test went pretty well. I studied a lot and was happy with myself because I knew a lot of the multiple choice and short answers, if not all of them. I think the essays went pretty well. I was only confused on one and I'm not sure if I did it right or not, but we'll find out soon. I took the test right down to the last 30 seconds of class. I took so long not because I was still working, but because I like to double, triple, and even quadruple check that I did everything correct and actually answered the question. After I got finished I handed my test to Mr. Schick and enjoyed my 15 seconds of freedom until the bell rang.

           Today in Mr. Schick's Honor's Human Geography class Mr. Schick told us his story of what happened to him on 9-11 and then went over a review for the test tomorrow. Mr. Schick told us that on September 11, 2001, he was at John Carroll just getting ready for the back to school mass. He said that there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was as blue as it could get. Mr. Schick and another teacher were walking down the hallway when she told him about a plane colliding with one of the World Trade Centers. When Mr. Schick heard this he assumed it was one of those tiny one person planes that went way off track. After the mass was over the principal at the time made an announcement saying that another a plane has collided with the other World Trade Center and it appears America is under attack. He then told the teachers that they would be going on with their normal schedule and if they want to continue their lesson they can or if they just want to watch the news that is fin

          Today was a very short, yet sweet, Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick. We talked about how the excellence in being a John Carroll Student, the excellence in which Elbert Hubbard describes in his famous essay "a message to Garcia", and the excellence the Ancient Greeks have all relate to each other. We also got into more depth about who Socrates really was. When Socrates was a young man he worked as a stonemason where he shaped pieces of stone into geometric shapes. He also fought in the Peloponnesian War. Socrates would teach young students, right around my age, right outside of the agora. Socrates believed that if he asked many questions to these students he could figure out their beliefs and how knowledgeable they are. This method that Socrates made ultimately led to the creation of the scientific method which is very similar. After those 10 minutes it was time for me to go to my football game (where we lost).

              Today in the notorious Honor's Human Geography class with Mr. Schick we went over some important things that involve Ancient Greece which consisted of agora, polis, the importance of the year 508 BC to the Ancient Greeks, Socrates, the death of Socrates, the Socratic Method, and what the Ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot. We learned that Agora was a public open space often used for artistic, athletic, or spiritual purposes. A polis is a political entity owned by their bodies of citizens. It is also the origin of the word politics, metropolitan, and poll. The year 508 BC was a very important year for Ancient Greece. 508 BC is the year Cleisthenes revolted against Greeks government and instated Democracy into Greece. We also learned about a man named Socrates. Socrates was a Greek Philosopher who is believed to have discovered western philosophy. We also learned about the interesting death of Socrates. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and not

           In today's Honors Human Geography class with Mr Schick, we went over the excellence in which Elbert Hubbard describes in his notorious essay "a message to Garcia". We learned not only about the excellence, but we also learned about the general history of the essay. The official publication date for the essay was sometime in March, 1899. It was published as an inspirational message. When the essay was printed it became very popular and many people bought it in pamphlet form and book form to put in their homes, schools, or offices. The essay became so popular that over 40 million copies were sold and the phrase 'send a letter to Garcia' became a reference to get something done. People even went to the extreme of making the essay into a movie. The whole background of the essay came from President William McKinley needing to reach someone by the name of Garcia (during the Spanish-American War) who was unreachable by telegraph or mail. McKinley asked a man n

                 As time goes on it seems as if society is getting more lazy. Many people say that the reason for this laziness is millennials. However this idea has been going back to 1899 in Elbert Hubbard's "A message to Garcia". Elbert Hubbard tells a story about how the president of the United States needs a letter sent to a man named  Garcia. Now this man, Garcia, is stated to be unreachable by telegraph or mail. So, the president asked a man named Rowan to deliver this letter, and without questions Rowan traveled to Garcia and delivered the letter. Hubbard praises Rowan for the determined mind set to get the job done. In my opinion, Hubbard is spot on with society. As I said before, I believe many people are addressing the problem and using the younger people of the country as a scapegoat. But, this problem has been going on for centuries without many people seeing it. No matter where you live there will be people just like Rowan who, when asked to do something, w

Frankie Cassidy Human Geography Mr. Schick 8-30-17 It was the most exciting day in Mr. Schick's Honors Human Geography class! We got to see Vlad struggle to get his blog up on the website. We saw all of his struggles, wins, and even losses in this class. Through all of the exciting commotion of  Vlad's mighty battle we went over the syllabus of the class and how everything will work this semester. I know I need to bring my inquisitive and open mind to class everyday because Mr. Schick made a great point on how so many people in America don't have an open mind, they already have an opinion no matter what. So, Mr. Schick made it clear to me, and hopefully others, that we always have to come in to his class with an open mind. We also learned about his class rules, absent rules, and late work rules. For example, if your work is late then it's an automatic 10% off for each day it is late. If it is late for four days then it is an automatic 0 on the assignment. After he

Frankie Cassidy Human Geography Mr. Schick 8-29-17 My first days at John Carroll could not have gone better. They started with my Kickstart Retreat with Mr. Uffnar and Ms. Rankle. I walked into the library thinking,  great, I don't know anyone here.  I decided to take the first empty table I saw. I sat there waiting for the day to begin when, finally, my friend from my old school walked in. We talked to each other all day and through all the name games that day I even made a friend. So, the Kickstart Retreat went really well. Only four days went by before my orientation. It was four nerve-racking days of being scared I was going to get lost in the school. After waking up just after 10 AM everyday in Summer, waking up at 6:45 seemed like not even getting any sleep. Me and my mom got to the school early because we didn't want miss any information. I walked in and found all my school friends sitting together, so I went and sat with them. We listened to all the speaker'