My Seventeenth Week as a Senior

The first week back from the winter break has been busy. A lot of submissions made, a lot of tests completed. I’m kind of relieved the week is over.

Monday began pretty well. First, we got our Unit 3 (Genetics) Test back. We took some questions up and overall, I did as well as I thought I did. Then, we started Ch 9.4 and 9.5 which basically talked about the excretory system. 9.4 is a basic overview of the excretory system and then a detailed explanation of the nephron and its structure. 9.5 is more about the actual process of excretion in humans and other animals. We got through a little bit of the package before the bell rang.

In Sociology, the class started with a great experiment. Our teacher handed each of us objects of varying sizes and weights. She gave at least one object to everyone and two to some. Then, she asked each of us to toss the object we had into a bin at the front of the class for “a full ride to uni”. We all gave it a shot. I had two objects and I missed both times. Some people from the front got theirs in. And most people from the back missed. She repeated it once more. Most of the results were the same. Then she explained how this was a great representation of the real education system; how there is equality but no equity.

Everyone got a chance but the people in the front definitely had the privilege of being closer whereas the people at the back, no matter how good their aim was, couldn’t get any of theirs in. Some people had lighter objects that didn’t travel far, and some had heavier objects that travelled far enough. Some people got a total of 4 chances, double the chances given to others. It was a great way to show us how privileged we really are. Next, we started a fun game where each group was given a scenario that was heavily based on a real-life example, with the names and details changed a little, and each group had to share their opinion before the class got to debate on it. Some of the scenarios were about women walking on the street at night and crossing the street to avoid a strange man or situations similar to Disney’s Pocahontas displaying the Natives as savages or as barbarians. We talked about how experience affects our perception, how conditioned racism in media can influence a whole generation and how reverse racism is not real. The bell rang before our group got a chance.

In Math, we did a review of Chapter 9. I honestly did not like that chapter, so much so that I have blocked most of the lessons out of my head. That is probably not a great idea, considering that my finals are in a week. In Chemistry, we picked up with more Acid-Base Equilibrium. I have been paying more attention to the lessons and I feel like I’m understanding the chapter much better now.

Tuesday, when will you be a late start again? In Sociology, we got to our group’s scenario. It was about whether or not a group of otherwise peaceful people should apologize for the deviance of a small group of their people that had resulted in a violent attack. It was a small-scale representation of the 9/11 attacks and to get brownie points we had to relate it to the rise of Islamophobia after the incident. We talked about Essentialism, which is when a group is generalized to fit certain traits. It’s like mass stereotyping of a whole group of people with individual identities. I won’t give any examples because I’d like to keep this page as apolitical as possible but it’s a good topic to Google. In Biology, we continued with the explanation of the nephron and then continued to the process of urine formation in humans. I left a little early to change into the required outfit for our graduation pictures. It was so surreal, getting my grad photos taken. It was like that’s when it hit me that this is my last year of high school. I say this while writing about my 17th week as a senior but I really didn’t think much of it until I was on that stool, holding that fake diploma. I would’ve cried if I hadn’t spent so much time getting ready for that shoot. In Chemistry, we did some examples of finding the Acid-Ionization constant, Ka, for a given reaction. In Math, we had a test on Chapter 9. It was our last test in Math. I’m so glad that’s over.

Wednesday was okay. In Biology, we moved on to discussing the role our nervous system has in Homeostasis. We talked about neural signalling and the reflex arc. We discussed the division of roles in the peripheral nervous system ( Somatic and Autonomic and further divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic). I think this was the most enthusiastic and present my Biology classmates have been all semester. In Sociology, we discussed a little bit more about racism. We talked a bit about our final exam, got a review package and discussed more racism. This week, we did not have a SAC meeting at lunch. In Math, we began our last unit, Rate of Change. It’s a compilation of the last bits of a lot of chapters discussing different ways of determining the average and instantaneous rate of change in a scenario. We got through about 3 parts of the 2nd chapter before the bell rang. In Chemistry, we did more problem solving for Ka, polyprotic acids, which are acids that can lose more than one H+ (a proton) and Kb. Ka and Kb are related by Kw=Ka x Kb.

On Thursday, we had a supply for Sociology. She’s this really sweet lady who has supplied for us many times before. She’s tiny and kind of old and just really sweet to talk to. I took the time to finish some Biology homework. In Biology, we had a practice session for what we would do for our Culminating. It was just like the lab reports we have done in the past, but here the data was given to us. It wasn’t much work with all the numbers in front of me. She only asked for a brief conclusion and I cannot be more grateful for that because I royally messed up the sources of error part of the first lab we had. That lab seriously brought my mark down. In Chemistry, we did Acid-Base Salt analysis. It was about whether the salt of a reaction between a strong acid and a strong base or a weak acid/base and a strong base/acid was acidic, basic or neutral. How this is determined, is by looking at the conjugate acid/ conjugate base on the products side of the equation. Does it affect the pH? If not, are there other products that can? In Math, we flew through another 2 sections. I really wish she would slow down a bit.

TGIF!! The day was full of anxiety. The first period was Biology, and we had our culminating to do. Even though I had thoroughly practiced, I was nervous about it. I submitted it 30 minutes before the class ended, so I decided to catch up on my Math homework. In Sociology, we had a supply again, so I began to do my Chemistry ISU. This is probably an example of my poorest time management in years. I was so busy all week, I hadn’t made time for an assignment that definitely took more than an hour to finish. I worked on it throughout lunch and through most of Math. In Math, I tried to concentrate on class, but I really had to finish the ISU before the next period started. Fortunately, I did. And then in Chemistry, we discussed our last lab of the Semester. It’s a titration and has something to do with pH.

I am really tired and just want to nap every chance I get. It’s probably not a good sign, but I’m not going to be bothered unless it persists after my finals are over. Right now, it’s probably just exhaustion. I hope your week was wonderful. You can reach out to me at rueshi25@gmail.com. - Aarushi