Andrew's CAS

I have been invited, once again, to serve in the position of chair on the bureau at the February New York Montessori Model United Nations Conference. After my experience last year as my first time serving in this position, I am excited that I will another opportunity to be apart of this program. This will be my eighth MMUN conference, but I am still looking forward to leading a committee session, helping the process of creating some resolutions, and will aiding the MMUN students at my school in preparation.

I had the opportunity last week to visit the Virgin Islands Montessori School in St Thomas which I had been campaigning for over the past few months. During this visit I was able to visit my grandparents who live on the island, deliver the funds I raised through my fundraiser, and meet my fellow montessorians. I was able to talk with the principal of the school, Mr Bornn, and he told me how much the faculty and students appreciated the solar lanterns I was able to send. This impacted me greatly as I was able to fully realize the impact that my actions had. I also found his vision for the the school to be interesting as he seeks to be a leading example of renewable energy. He has currently implemented solar panels on a few of the buildings and plans on expansion of their storage capacity to provide greater energy independency and possibly provide extra energy for the grid and residents. While it appears I am wrapping up my major efforts to provide some aid and do my part to relieve so...

With the incoming Summer I have had a little bit more time on my hands than before and have been taking more personal time walking outside with Reyka. I have found that I have a preference with using a harness and leash rather than simply the leash attached to her collar, due to both look and less feelings that I am going to choke her when she tries to test the leashes length. I have been using these walks a period to simply think and clear my mind which has been useful for sparking different and new ideas. Sometimes I have also been introducing some music which has been a good use of my airpods, and which has made me incredibly fond of the lack of wires.

We have walked many miles and have hatched many Pokemon GO eggs, but now Reyka is definitely improving in her walking behavior. Previously my family overfed her and she was a little more overweight, which is no longer a large issue due now feeding her the right amount and having daily exercise. I think this joint experience has allowed for a better bonding between myself and the dog as she harasses me more than others.

This series of photographs contains selected pieces taken by myself in Ireland. My goal with this project is to capture the minute detail and viewpoints that are often missed by the common eye. This objective required me to look at everything from multiple angles in order to ensure that I found the one I wanted to highlight. I sought to deviate the attention away from the main attraction and to the outer details. I captured scenes that typically went overlooked such as in a few photos of the pavement, where the people simply walk over. I also centered around objects that commonly only supplemented to the overall landscape like the small weed or grass. With these aspects in mind, through this series, I want to project this different perspective and shine the spotlight on the smaller details that otherwise would be passed over.

I have been walking Reyka regularly for a little while now and have been able to see improvements in both her behavior when walking as well as ability to walk further. These differences have also translated over to myself as I find myself being able to go further after each week feeling less exhausted comparatively. I am feeling personally better as now I want to walk more and am matching the excitement of Reyka when going for the daily stroll. This time has been useful for myself as a way to replenish myself and simply think, though I am still distracted by Reyka trying to tug away.

I have just returned from the MMUN conference in New York, where, if you have not been keeping up, I just served on the Bureau as the chair for the first time. My committee had around hundred delegates (students) who were all there to collaborate on creating a resolutions they had been studying from a country's perspective in preparation and my job was to ensure that everything went smoothly and to procedure. I had a great time this year and the ability to pass on the conference experience that I would have enjoyed to the next generation of participants was quite satisfying. I would not say I am the most confident public speaker, so I was often nervous throughout the conference when calling rules of the procedure and speaking to the staring crowd of eyes, but as I went through I became more and more comfortable and am grateful that I have had a chance to practice and utilize these skills. This made me step out of my normal comfort zone as I generally wait for people to approach or ...