When young, my parents often told me that it was time to teach a man everything. I didn't understand and wondered why time had such a big influence 31 a person. I thought I could grow up quickly to find it out as a (n) 32 . But now, 33 I come to knock at the door of adulthood, I feel 34 to express my own 35 on this saying. I know that I'm just a high school student with very 36 experiences. There are still many things 37 me in the future, yet I would like to express myself in a childish voice.
I once read this sentence, "To make this world a happy place to live in, you'd better change yourself and your heart, instead of the whole world." I was 38 . It made me think about life 39 . There are so many things around us that 40 our will We can't force life to 41 our wishes. The earth won't stop turning no matter whether we accept it or not. What we can do is just to make ourselves 42 the world. I think we learn to accept 43 life gives us, no matter whether it's the spring sunlight or the winter snowfall, and try to be 44 .
Deeply moved by the pop song Grandmother (by Jay Chou), I always try to catch every pleasant thing in my life, but now I see I can't catch most of the pleasant moments. It is more 45 that they slip by and leave you feeling 46 that I'm not just living 47 myself and that there are the others around me I 48 think of. They all pay attention to my growing up, even if it's just a little progress.
Everyone has his or her own attitude towards life positive or 49 . It doesn't matter, I think. There is one 50 that should be obeyed—and that's to make this world a better place to live in.
Four Volunteer Abroad Programs
Walking Tree Travel
This program offers volunteer projects in English teaching, the environment, community development, etc, in a dozen countries. It has a mission to inspire individuals to become global citizens and take an interest in the world around them. Therefore, it provides trips focusing on volunteer opportunities for high school students that actively engage travelers in global communities.
Tanzania: Dance Program
On this project, you are invited to Arusha, Tanzania to develop dance workshops for local schools and orphanages (孤儿院). Dance is just one of the many amazing aspects of the primary education system and culture that you'll learn about in Tanzania, and you'll have a wonderful opportunity to volunteer with local children, learn about their culture and dances, and teach them about your culture and background as well.
St. Lucia Volunteer Program
Through this program, you'll support children who are facing challenges in nutrition, healthcare, and education. In partnership with local schools and community organizations, you'll provide maternal and infant (母婴) support, present childcare workshops to parents, help with early childhood education, teach health and hygiene (卫生) lessons, and many more.
Volunteering Journeys
This program prides itself on personal attention and tailored experiences for all participants, as well as high-quality service and positions that actively engage scientists, doctors, teachers, and community leaders. Right now, Volunteering Journeys is offering many different opportunities to teen and high school travelers, including family volunteer holidays, summer volunteer programs, and teen-friendly positions on many different projects in Africa and Asia.
As we grow up, it becomes natural for people around us to lose contact with the hobbies that once were dominant in their lives. While it's painful to accept this, the new reality becomes normal for most of us as we face new academic, adult and job responsibilities.
I've been dancing since I was four and I plan to continue dancing in college. However, I've always feared that dancing will affect my study and eventually become a brilliant memory of my childhood. After learning about Sommer Gentry's story, I had an answer.
Sommer Gentry, previously a professor of mathematics at the United States Naval Academy and a coach at the Naval Academy's Swing Dance Club, is currently a teacher at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Gentry and her husband also started a swing dance community to introduce non-dancers to swing dance.
Through teaching, Gentry was inspired to view dancing from an engineering point of view. She said, "I realized it is an engineering question: how do you dance well with someone? It'd be great to give people mathematical and engineering proofs that they have to dance the way I say. " Gentry investigated the complex haptic (触觉的) communication behind the moves in swing dance and showed that two persons could move in coordination (协调) with pure haptic communication, She entered an exciting area of research which is about engineering, psychology and human motor control.
It's incredibly inspiring that Gentry was able to intertwine her academic work with her passion for dancing. Gentry said, "It means that even when I'm dancing outside, I'm thinking about my research project. "
Gentry found that digging into her academic interest does not mean letting go of her other non-academic ones. Instead, she found a way to include both in her professional life. Just like me, Gentry is a mathematician and dancer, thus, her story resonates (引起共鸣) strongly with me, and I want to be like her in the future.
When Malaika Vaz was a kid, living in Goa, India, she was constantly surrounded by nature. Among her childhood experiences, she recalls journeys to the Arctic and Antarctic, climbing mountains, diving, and windsurfing.
At some point in her late teens. Vaz realized adventure didn't really mean anything if there wasn't an intention to protect the natural spaces we were exploring in. Motivated by her passion for filmmaking, she began to seek a way that would both satisfy her appetite for adventure and allow her to advocate the protection of the species and ecosystems she interacted with.
Today Vaz wears many hats in the filmmaking world, as a documentary director, producer, and presenter. After falling in love with manta rays(蝠鲼), she discovered they were being hunted illegally and started to dress herself as a seafood trader to get as close as possible to the issue. She traced sellers to figure out why the threatened species were being killed. She shared the shocking details in Peng Yu Sai, her Green Oscar-nominated film on the matter.
The subjects that grab her attention, Vaz admits, run the gamut. When she was asked to define her focus, she replied that she preferred variety. She always argues that the issues she looks into are more interrelated than they may initially appear. "I think that it's exciting to dive into the different aspects of environmental stories," she says.
Her work doesn't stop at recording important stories; she also ensures the message is heard. From Vaz's viewpoint, real improvement in planetary protection lies in the hands of each of us rather than just those of several environmentalists. "If you're an engineer and you care about the natural world, you can change the kind of construction materials you use. If you're a teacher loving nature, you can bring that into the learning for your class." she says.
As a filmmaker, Vaz believes it's important to figure out ways that attract the audience who can push for the protection of the natural world.
