Tag Archives: Reflection

Fun at the Westchester County Board of Legislators

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Our Legislator at the Westchester county Board of Legislators that represents Scarsdale is Benjamin Boykin. He represents district five which is Scarsdale and parts of Westchester and Harrison. I actually met him when my class went on a field trip to the Westchester county Board of Legislators. My three favorite parts when I was there were meeting Benjamin Boykin, going into the chamber room, and hitting the gavel at the end of the trip. I also learned so much on the trip.

I have three favorite parts of the things and I had a lot of fun doing them. One of the things I really enjoyed was meeting Scarsdales, Westchesters and Harrisons Legislator when we were about to go into the chamber room. His name is Benjamin Boykin. He was not supposed to be there that day so we got lucky. He led us into the chamber room and showed us around. He said that it was probably the biggest and nicest chamber room in the state. We took a picture with him and I got to stand right next to him behind the actual chairman chair. He said he represented district five. He is the  Representative for us! We got to ask him questions and the answers were really interesting. It was very fun meeting him. The second thing I really enjoyed was the chamber room and what we did there. When we entered the chamber room it was so big and fancy. Benjamin Boykin said it is the fanciest and nicest chamber room in the county. We were all assigned jobs by Benjamin Boykin. The jobs were Chairman, Clerks, and Legislators. Josh got to be Chairman and got to sit in the actual place where the Chairman sits. He is so lucky, I wish I got to be Chairman. But at least I got to be a Clerk with Lainey. Everybody else got to be a Legislator. The most surprising thing was that we all got to sit in the actual seats in the chamber room. There were microphones on each of them. I got to sit right under the chairman as a clerk facing all the other Legislators. “LEGISLATOR OSCAR!” I said through the mic. It came out louder than I thought. It sounded like the world’s biggest horn ‘farting.’ We used a mock bill to see actually how they do it with a real bill. I had a lot of lines to do! I had to take attendance. Chairman Josh got the most lines though, he had to call on people to make comments on the bill and much. Then me and Lainy recorded the votes and we voted no on the law. When I called on people it sounded like this: “Legislator Maria, no. Legislator Spencer, no. Legislator Oscar, no.” and so on. It was fun speaking through the mic. Plus the chair I was sitting on was extra comfy! The third thing I liked was hitting the gavel. At the end of the meeting we all got to hit the gavel and say “the meeting is now augured.” It was really because it felt like I had a lot of power. It was not the funnest thing to do but I still liked it. So those are the top three things I liked to do when I went to the Westchester county Board of Legislators. They were all really fun to do and I want to do it again. I also learned a lot and you’re going to find out what!

I learned a lot on the trip and I was surprised about some of them. One thing I learned is that the gavel is a hammer that you hit on a piece of wood. The Chairman hits it to bring order to the chamber. That means if everybody is arguing the Chairman hits the gavel and everybody stops. They also do at the end of a meeting and say “the meeting is now adjourned.” Another thing I learned is that there are about 1.3 million people in Westchester and about 20,000 people in Scarsdale. The county executive is the president of the Westchester Board of Legislators. His name is George Latimer and he is running for the senate. Another fun fact is that the very first chairman in the board of legislators is about to turn 100 years old in 2025. That means he was born in 1925. Benjamin Boykin represents district five (Our district). There are 17 districts and because there is an odd number of districts when they vote on a bill there can never be a tie. They also taught us about the process a bill takes before it becomes a law. First somebody introduces an idea to the board. They take it to the committee room where the committee members say what they think on the bill. They can add minor changes and then they vote. If a majority of the committee members vote yes then they take the bill to the board of legislators chamber room. In the chamber room the legislators read the law and make comments. The public is invited. After they make comments the clerk tallies the law. If the majority votes yes the bill is sent to the county executive which is George Latimer at the minute. If he signs it the bill is a law. If he vetoes it is sent back to the chamber room to revise or change. Benjamin Boykin said that most bills they vote on become a law. But if the judicial branch of Westchester County says it is unconstitutional it is not a law anymore. Overall, I really liked this trip I learned so much and had so much fun.

Overall, I thought the trip to the Westchester County Board of Legislators was really fun. The things I most liked on the trip were meeting Benjamin Boykin, going into the chamber room, and hitting the gavel at the end of the trip. I also learned a lot and want to go back soon.

Extreme Weather Reflections

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When choosing groups I was very happy with the people on it. I got my first choice and had most of my friends in the group. I chose hurricanes because I had already studied them but was very curious about how they were measured. That is why I changed with Max. Firstly, because Max was unhappy about what he was studying and I liked data gathering. I debated on tsunamis but decided on hurricanes. I kind of wished I chose tsunamis but I am still really happy with hurricanes.

When finding information on hurricanes about how they were measured I think I was pretty successful because I had no trouble on finding websites. They had many pages on dropsondes and satellites which they said were the most important in tracking hurricanes. I think I had more success on websites than books because all the books were a bit out-dated. The websites also explained every single detail better than the books.

I was able to make notes that I then used later because there were two great websites, the NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH and the HURRICANES articles which had rich information on dropsondes and satellites. 

My group helped me find the NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH article and Ben found me a great book on satellites. I also supported my group members by finding one website on hurricane Sandy for Ella. I also found the path of hurricane info and the cost of rebuilding from a hurricane for Max which they both used in their script. 

I struggled a bit to turn the writing into a script because I didn’t know what to get rid of. If it hadn’t been for Ben and Jacob I probably would not have been able to say the entire script in 30 seconds. Still I was happy with the script. My mom helped me because she said I had to introduce the things I was going to talk about. I ignored it but later realized she was right.  I changed it 2 days after the presentation and she said it was a lot better. 

When finding images I had a little trouble but I kept switching them. Finally, I settled after 13 changed photos on the second slide, a picture of satellites over a hurricane and a computer viewing a hurricane. Then after one change of photos on the first I settled with a dropsonde about to be dropped.

When memorizing my script I thought it would be hard but turned out to be easy. After a few tries I could say it perfectly. The little changes I made were easy to add and remember. But the thing was when everybody was there I was a little nervous. I’m okay with them looking at me but if they were staring I got so nervous I would forget my lines. 

The best part of working with a group is that they help you. They notice mistakes and without my group my script would have been too long. Working with a group also means you have company. You can talk to them and ask them questions.

The hardest part of working with a group is that you get into arguments, especially when you’re choosing things. Also sometimes when somebody helps you and you disagree the other person has to understand that it is the other person’s choice. 

The thing that I am most proud of is doing the presentation. I had to plow through and get over my nervousness to speak in front of the parents. I was very scared but I still did it. 

My Expert Book: China

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I came up with the idea of writing about China because I am Chinese American, I also wrote about China because there’s a lot of information so my book would long even if I only wrote about a few things. It took 3 and a half mouths to complete the whole book, first we brainstormed ideas and chose one of them, then I had to do a brain – dump, a brain – dump is where you write down everything you know about the topic you picked. Then we organized the brain – dump because if I had not the book would be sloppy. After that I wrote 3 idea books with 3 chapters each and chose one of the books. I chose the book that talked about Qin Shihuag, the Great Wall of China, Beijing, Hong Kong, The Forbidden City, Chinese New year, silk, and food. Then I wrote everything down on paper. Next I typed all the things we wrote on paper and made many edits, then in computer lad I learned how to add photos and make them look good and add links. Finally we read through everything, made a dedication page, made the tiniest edits, and did everything to get ready to publish it. After I finished everything I started writing this reflection.  My favorite part was when I typed everything because I like to move my fingers. I felt good and sad at the end, good because I was finally done and really proud of myself, sad because I really liked writing and typing the book. 

This is my expert book.

 

 

Thank you for reading.