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  1. Practicing Wellness Offline

    June 7, 2021 by Ella M.

    Driving Question: How can I improve my mental and physical wellbeing by going offline during an online term?

    Module Overview: For this project, I researched the effects of one’s environment on their mental health, particularly in relation to COVID 19, as well as practices and techniques for improving mental and physical wellbeing. I then put these techniques into action through physical activity, yoga, meditation, reflection, and mindfulness in order to improve my own wellbeing. In addition, this project was done entirely offline, with both my research and process portfolio being done on paper. My final product was a bullet journal documenting my experience throughout the term.

    Project Reflection: “This project was incredible for me. It might not be one of the projects that seems the most impressive or sounds the coolest, but I think it is the one that has been the most beneficial for me. This has been a hard year, and this project gave me the space to ask myself how it has affected me and what I can do to deal with that. Through this project, I learned how to take care of myself emotionally and physically, and I also learned how important those things are and how much they affect all aspects of my life.”

  2. Fracture and Reconciliation Through a Mosaic

    February 26, 2021 by Lexie and Gigi

    Driving Question:How can we convey the complexities of ethnic and religious reconciliation through our experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

    Students Lexie and Gigi decided to tackle an art form that was new to them for their project: crafting a mosaic. The project was filled with symbolism: breaking the tiles represented the destruction that took place during the 90s conflict. Putting the tiles back together in the shape of Bosnia showed that with hard work and time (and given that this was a new art form for the two of them, it required a lot of hard work and time), Bosnia can one again become, regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, or religion.

    Lexie and Gigi visited Bosniak mosques, Serbian Orthodox churches, and Croatian Catholic churches to understand what color tiles to use in the mosaic. They learned that green is an essential color in Islam and is Muhammad’s favorite color, that Orthodox churches are often very colorful, and that Croatian Catholic churches heavily feature whites and golds.

    Once they had identified color schemes and prominent designs, they created patterns based on what they had seen during their scouting process and featuring the colors mentioned above. Once the tiles were created, they smashed them into pieces (90s destruction). Next, they combined the colored elements with white tiles to form the outline of Bosnia and Herzegovina. To finish the piece, Lexie and Gigi grouted the gaps and glossed the top to make everything shine.

  3. Exploring Water Scarcity and Safety in Honduras

    by Estelle Woodcock

    Driving Question: How can I address some of the present threats to global health while promoting human rights and social progress?

    Project Overview: In this module, students were introduced to the foundations of global health. They learned about basic concepts, measurements, and determinants of health, and a number of key perspectives for considering global health issues.

    For her project, Estelle explored water scarcity in Honduras, which leads to a lack of basic sanitation and clean water for up to 1.8 million people. Non-communicable diseases in Honduras attributed to water cause a DALY rate of 4,540 per 100,000 people. Disease spreads through contaminated food and water tanks, and poor management, climate change, and political unrest worsen the issue.

    Project Reflection: “Exploring the niche of environmental global health opened my mind to so many new areas of interest in this field.  I thoroughly enjoyed this module and felt like the skills will be very applicable to other modules.”

  4. Our Impact

    January 13, 2021 by Sofia V.

    Driving Question: How can I use photography to raise awareness about our human behavior’s impact on the environment?

    Project Description

    My personal project this term is a photography project about human behavior’s impact on the environment. While wondering why we are not acting as urgently as we should for the climate crisis, I found people often see the crisis as a distant challenge, both in time and in space. Through this project, I wanted to raise awareness about the impact of our daily and individual actions on the environment, and ultimately, bring people closer to the challenge.

    Reflection:

    “My main takeaway from this project is that, no matter how global any challenge is, the individual action will end up making the difference.”

  5. Tackling Malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo

    October 13, 2020 by Sofia V.

    Driving Question: How can I address some of the present threats to global health while promoting human rights and social progress?

    Project Description: My project is a policy brief about the Malaria situation in Congo. It includes its nature and magnitude, the most affected populations, the socio-economic consequences, and the potential solution to reduce the burden. The policy aims to convince the finance Minister of Congo to invest in solutions for Malaria.

    Project Reflection: “I enjoyed hearing from my peers how the health care systems function in different countries. A challenge was writing in the concise and precise way required for the policy brief.” -Sofia W.

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