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The witch must be polar!

Eight weeks in to the school year, and I can safely say that AP Biology is my favorite class of the day. All of my other classes are great, but none of them can even compete with AP Bio. Not only is the information semi-interesting (unlike Spanish 1 where the most entertaining thing is freshmen boys picking their noses...yikes.), but the teacher makes it all worth the while. We just finsihed the evolution unit. I was excited for this unit before it came, but now that it is gone, I am saddened. It interests me how we could have come from the same organisim as a shark. Sweet, right?
While the class is supposed to be primarily learning, which it usually is, the jokes and side notes are the most entertaining. Our teacher makes sure that we are awake by constantly cracking a joke. The students in the class are also experts on making everyone laugh. Just today, we were talking about polar and nonpolar bonds. We discovered what "Dry Cleaning" actually is, and also determined that the Wicked Witch of the West is polar! Which is why she dissolves in water.
I will forever remember this class -I might even say that is the best class of my high school career.
Thanks to the great teacher for making the information stick, and to my fellow peers for making it oh-so entertaining.

Current Event- Medication vs. Surgery

In a recent study, it was determined that appendicitis could be treated with an antibiotic and have the same effect as those who undergo surgery. It was also shown that those who used the antibiotic had less complications than those who had surgery. However, it was shown in the study that 10-15% of the patients had a recurrences in the following twelve months. They are trying to find the cause of this and ways to prevent this in the future.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/09/26/antibiotics_could_replace_surgery_for_appendicitis.html

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

While some people believe that the Chirstmas holiday is the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year", the mighty Spartan Nation thinks otherwise. We do things a little bit different in October for the homecoming season. Sure, most schools have a pep rally and have hundreds of people attend the game, but us Spartans have a memorable day. Personally, one  of my favorite days of the year.

The fun activites start about a month before the actual game. The grade levels all get together to put a dance on for the school to show our spirit. Our dance must fit our theme (this year being "Musicals") and have appropiate music to match. The week of the game comes and we have a dress up day each day that also fits our theme. The studenst are encouraged to participate, because all of the days count as points for the competition of the red apple. The grade levels all compete to earn as many points as possible to get their grade engraved on the mighty red apple trophy. After all, Sparta is known for their apples. Other activies that go on throughout the week are a food drive and 'Penny-a-Point', both of which are donated to local charities. On the day of the game, our whole school is relieved of their classes and we all join together in the gym for a day of fun activites. The grades continue to compete in relay games for more points. Not only are the games fun to watch, but they are fun to compete in. After the games, there is costume prep for the dances, and then the performances. Following all that excitement is a parade, featuring the whole school, down to the football field. Once we arrive, the marching band has a performance and we all clap the Fight Song together. Then school is released and preparation for the game begins.
Before the game, there is a parade for the whole town to be able to see. The parade includes the band, the cheerleaders, drum corps, and the homecoming court. After the parade, the game begins and it is sure a sight to see. One thing that makes me more proud than anything is our amazing student section. They are always at the games cheering on the mighty spartans! During halftime, the homecoming court is presented, and the king/queen is crowned.
The next day is the homecoming dance, and boy do we know how to have a good time! We hold the dance at our school, and our student government always does a great job with putting it all together - including cute decorations! Overall, homecoming is an amazing time that is much too difficult to forget.

This year I am a senior at this school. This was my last homecoming, and this is a sad event for me. However, I definately went out with a bang and had the best homecoming possible. Our theme this year was "Musicals" and our grade went with the musical 'Rock of Ages'. Our dance included alot of popular 80's music and followed the plot of wanting to be famous. I got to dress up as an 80's rocker and I felt super cool - especially with my hair poofed out about four or five inches. This year, I was also elected onto homecoming court. While I did not win the crown, I still got to ride in a convertible with a pretty cute boy, and dress up in a beautiful dress. Even without the crown, I felt like a queen. It was an awesome experience. Coming into high school I would have never imagined myself giving a speech to 1,000+ people, but this year I did! I was just super honored to be able to represent my grade on court. The dance was fun as well, but all dances usually are! My date and I (another pretty cute boy) had an excellent time and took a lot of cute pictures.  Afterwards, I got to spend time with my friends at a bonfire. Overall, I had an amazing time.

Homecoming to me is a sense of unity throughout our school. Even though we all compete against each other, we come together in the end to have an amazing football game. I will miss all of the fun games as I move on past high school, but I will always hold the memories close in my heart.

Too Selfish to Notice

There are thousands of everyday things that humans do that cause problems for other organisms. People may not realize it, but everytime the trash is taken out the enviroment suffers. That trash will be taken to a landfill where it will accumulate. When the trash is accumulated the trash cannot biodegrade, causing the trash to continue piling up. Cutting down trees causes huge problems to organisms because trees are homes for these living creatures. Humans still insist on cutting them down for paper, or other goods. These two examples are part of many that humans do to effect the planet.
One major problem is the introduction of non-native species. Non-native species have few to none natural predators. This causes no control on how fast the population will grow. Eventually, the rise in the number of the species will out-compete native species and cause them to die out. Humans should wake up and realize that there is more to this planet then just our species. The more harmful things the human race does, the less resources we will have.
For example, bringing in new species into a habitat could cause an important species to die off. This could cause an enormous growth in plants, and throw a food web off balance. Think of it as dominoes, when one does not fall nothing else works properly. Human activity is much like this.
Several things can be done, but the most important : be aware.

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers, too.

Controversies in Science

Evolution.

Every single bingle thing in this unit, I am excited for. I've always been so interested in evolution!!! Life in itself is so fascinating, and the fact that all of us have cells that belonged to other organisms excites me! I'm pumped to learn the theories.

Enzymes and Metabolism.

Not too excited for this unit. This particular thing doesn't strike me fancy. I'm sure it will be interesting... but I could take or leave this unit.

All in all.. this whole class should be great and there is not a whole to complain about.

Fun in the Garden

Over the summer,

I volunteered at Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. I worked a majority of my time in the Children's Garden. I spent hours doing many activites with the children to enhance their knowledge of the animals and the enviroment around them. Some activites included: dressing up as animals and teaching them the noises they made and what they ate, polishing petoskey stones, identifying what every day things are made of (example: pennies out of copper), and looking/digging for fossils. This experience was one of the main reasons of why I was so excited for AP Biology.
After the first week of the class, we learned about animal behavior. This past weekend I worked again in the children's garden and I payed close attention to how the many animals interacted with each other. There were chipmunks and squirrels that interacted together. It was interesting to watch how these two animals collected their food and navigated through trees. I feel like this class is going to help me to appreciate nature more, and most importantly---pay attention.
In my opinion, the human race as a whole is blind to the beautiful world around us. We are either too busy checking facebook, playing angry birds, or watching a marathon of a reality TV show. Sitting in the children's garden, I was always disappointed to watch families. The little kids would always be so excited. They would run in and start shouting, "Mommy, Daddy!! Look at that! Look at me! Look at the flowers! Look at the bumblebees! Bzzzzzz!!! Mommy!? Daddy!?" The parents would barely glance their way before saying, "Mmm.. cool honey." What? To my shock, they would be on their phones texting, tweeting, facebooking, etc. I now understand the small minds of so many individuals of this generation. Many times, I would find myself interrupting families and getting the parents involved. I think it would surprise many people at how rude the parents were to me. The kids, of course, loved it. The world cannot be a better place if technology is going to be abused like this. When families plan a day in the nature, they should plan a day without technology to the social world. Open your eyes and smell the flowers! Enjoy nature. Seriously, it's prettier than technology anyways.

Entry One - All About Me.

Hey there. If you don't already know everything about me, here is a brief overview!

My name is Elizabeth, but people call me Barber or Liz. I respond to both of those. I will not respond to Lizzy or Beth. So, please refrain from using those to get my attention. I live at home with my two parents, younger sister, a cat, and a dog. In my free time I am usually reading or writing. I love mystery and suspense books. I keep a ongoing pen-pal with a friend from California, and I also write short stories. If I am not doing either of those, I am playing music. I play three intruments (clarinet, flute, and saxaphone) and this year I have the honor of being the Marching Band Drum Major. I take music very seriously! More with band, I am enrolled in Wind Ensemble (Advanced Band) and I will play clarient in that class. In the upcoming season I will be traveling to Disney with the band! I am also a part of the Music Ambassadors of Michigan and this summer I will be traveling to Europe for the month of July. I am super excited to be able to travel the world while expanding my muscial knowledge! Other quick things you should know: I'm sarcastic. Some people think I'm rude, but I'm just honest. When I'm quiet I may be thinking up an devious plan. Finally, I love to learn.
My future goals may seem extreme to some (most) people, but I think that they are fun and exciting. My goal is to become a Chemical Engineer. If you do not know, this field is one of the harder engineering careers and requires alot of education in both chemistry and physics. ChemE's take the work of a chemist and make it at a larger scale so that the whole world can benefit their findings.
I am enrolled in AP Bio because after college I hope to work in pharmaceuticals and deal with medicine. I feel that AP Bio may help me to better understand the things I may need to know. If I'm wrong, oh well! I'll still learn a ton and make myself a very well-rounded individual.

That's All Folks!