Test's

Today I had to take a math "test", it was more like a homework assignment rather than a test. It was a gateway assessment testing us on derivatives, and it was the basic finding the first and second derivative. The test had 10 questions each worth 10 points, and we each get 5 tries but our last score is the score kept. So the first time I took it I got a 90%, meaning I missed one question, second try I got 90% again, third time I got 80%, and the last time I got 100%. This gateway test really helped my grade because I did not do well on the first test we had this term so me getting 100% on this test brought my grade up a lot and now I am really confident I can get an A again in the class. 

SAT prep

For the past couple of weeks I started for studying for the SAT again considering the fact that I did really badly on my first SAT. Recently I got a math tutor to help me with the SAT math section and also to help me with AP Calculus AB. I have actually had this tutor before starting in the summer of eighth grade all the way through spring term of sophomore year, however, COVID hit and we stopped the tutoring due to family members being high risk. We started again to do it over zoom this Monday and we went over SAT math problems for U World. After going over the problems with her for some reason I started feeling more calm and when I am doing my 1 hour 30 minutes of prep everyday I am doing a lot better on the math section. I feel like I am making really good progress on my SAT prep and hopefully I will do a lot better in the March SAT. 

Homework

Once again today I have a lot of homework. I have 30 pages of reading and notes for AP United States History, I then again have a 28 word problem worksheet on Optimization that I have to finish by Friday, I then have to take a vocab quiz for Advanced Studies Chinese, then I also have a AP Environmental Science Lab due tomorrow, and I did not even do the labs since I am a fully remote student so I have no idea how to do the lab. But basically I just have a lot homework again. 

SAT Prep

This year I am a junior, this means that I have to take a standardized test this means it is either the ACT or the SAT. I chose to take the SAT which doesn't make sense because I just found out the SAT has harder questions with more time, while the ACT actually has more questions but they are more straightforward plus it has a science section. But it is to late for me to switch out so I will be taking the SAT. I already took the one in December but I did not do well at all, so I signed up for the March SAT again and hopefully I do a lot better. Over the break I started prepping again, I started using U World which is like Khan Academy but in my opinion they have better explanations and make more sense to me. However, for U World you do have to pay so that's one aspect that khan academy is better. But I have done problems for 1 hour and 30 minutes every day so hopefully all of this practice helps me to score well!

First Day Back at School!

My winter break ended on Sunday and I started school today (over zoom of course). To be honest it was a lot. I got a lot of homework from all of my classes, and because it was a blue day I had the majority of my hardest classes which include AP United States History, AP Calculus AB, and Advanced Studies Chinese. I ended up with 30 pages of reading and notes for APUSH, a 28 problem packet on Optimization, and for Chinese I had to take a test as homework. Overall I did not like that winter break had ended and I was back at school, but the process of life includes education. 

Last Day of Winter Break

Today was the last day of Winter Break! Because of the pandemic my family and I weren't able to do anything outside of the house, but overall winter break was still very nice and relaxing. Over winter break all I really did was study for the SAT, watch a lot of movies, and spend time with family. Each night after dinner my family and I would play the board game King of Tokyo. Sadly my little brother and I have school tomorrow which kind of sucks since I don't exactly have a lot of motivation to do schoolwork anymore. But I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Break and does well in school when they go back! 

2021

Happy New Years to everyone! We all know that 2020 has been a very eventful year. 

Ranging from:

1. Australia Fire
2. Kobe and Gianna Bryant's death
3. COVID-19 pandemic
4. The impeachment of President Donald Trump
5. The stock market crash
6. BLM protests
7. Murder Hornets
8. The Beirut explosion
9. Chadwick Boseman's death
10. West Coast wildfires
11. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death
12. Trump testing positive for COVID-19
13. Eddie Van Halen's death
14. Joe Biden becoming president-elect
15. Alex Trebek's death
16. And even more.

But we have survived it all, we are now in the year 2021!! 

Happy New Year!! 

Progress in Donations

Yesterday I started writing a template for a letter that will be sent to Rudy Gobert asking for donations. I haven't completely written it yet, I just found a template online and then I have to actually write the email and my dad will help proof read it. But before I do that I need to email the head of the Utah COVID-19 Long-Haulers and ask for some data to include in my letter. 

Today I will write to the leader of the Utah COVID-19 Long-Haulers asking for data, and I will start the letter to Rudy Gobert and others asking for donations! 

Journal entry for 12/28/2020

For the past couple of months I have not been as focused as I should be on my research project. But an update is the water testing I did was not very efficient because it would take a lot of gallons to show the 1 gram difference to show how dirty the Utah lake is. I brainstormed with my teacher and he gave me the idea to join an organization and collect water with them and we could put a cool project together. However, because of COVID-19 I am not allowed to come in contact with other people so this idea was put on hold. My teacher did tell me about how there was already a solution to cleaning the lake it was just to expensive. 

Moving forward I now need to research about the solution that is to expensive. I will research about the solution, the process of buying this solution, and also understanding other solutions that may also help clean Utah Lake. 

I will keep this blog updated on my progress with my research project!

Utah COVID-19 Long-Haulers

The Utah COVID-19 Long-Haulers are a group of people who have been affected by COVID-19 and will have effects for the rest of their life. I have joined this group, and our main goal right now is to raise $50,000 to fund research about COVID-19 at the University of Utah. I have been thinking about ways to raise money for the Utah COVID-19 Long-Haulers. While brainstorming with my dad we came up with the idea to reach out to Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and ask for their help. Rudy Gobert will probably be more willing to help because he had the infamous mic incident. 

I have tried finding their contact information like emails or phone numbers, but I have been unsuccessful. However I have found their social media handles, so my idea is to reach out to them via Twitter, and Instagram asking them for help.

Another person I thought we could reach out to is MacKenzie Scott, who has already donated billions of dollars to organizations related to COVID-19. 

My plan moving forward is to actually reach out to these three people and get a response before January 16th (the deadline for donations).

It isn't only celebrities who can donate to the Utah COVID-19 Long Haulers so you can also donate. I will put the link below, and would really appreciate it if any amount of money was donated!

Link: https://ustarter.utah.edu/o/university-of-utah-39/i/ustarter/s/covid-19-long-haulers#Communityyg9xCG1vgt

Journal Entry for 10/30/2020

 Hey! Sorry for not blogging yesterday, to be honest, I forgot! Anyways I talked with my AP Environmental Science teacher, and we decided I might join or get in contact with an organization in Utah who deals with testing for water, and I might join them and borrow their equipment and help them site a location. Then my AP Environmental Science teacher and I will put together a very cool project on it. However, I still need to get in contact with them and I will do it sometime this weekend. The purpose of this is to put it on my college application to look good and to benefit something to the community because I currently have no volunteer opportunities. 

Journal Entry for 10/28/2020

Yesterday I redid the process for finding the designated amount needed to show a 0.5 g change in the mass of the filter before and after I pour water in. I did that yesterday with 1 gallon and it went a lot faster than the first time I did it. The first time I did it with my dad and it went really slow and we ended up using two filters because the first one got clogged. However, yesterday I tried again and it went a lot faster and I only used one filter. I let it dry overnight and today I weighed it and the mass was the exact same again. I met with my AP Environmental Science teacher and we brainstormed on ways to fix this problem. We came up with an option of getting a $368 water testing kit, or joining an organization and collecting data with them and using other data from that organization, and we could come up with an interesting project with it. I still have not decided what I have been doing, the main purpose of this project was to make my college application look really good while helping the environment. That is all for my journal entry today, thanks for reading!

Finding the designated amount of water for the experiment.

Yesterday I actually started my research project, I started by just using water that I collected from a park in Saratoga Springs. I ended up using 12 gallons and filled it up with water from the lake on Saturday, I then brought it home to experiment with. Yesterday (Monday) I poured the water through filters and I had a couple of problems. 

Some of the problems I encountered
1. the filter gets clogged really easily
a. the water is filtering down very slowly
b. some ideas to fix this problem is to maximize the area of the filter or use multiple filters for one test
2. someone has to hold the filter otherwise it will fall and get soaked. 
3. pouring is a challenge (it is heavy and slow)
a. some ideas to fix this problem is to come up with a contraption that is able to hold the gallon 
4. by the looks of it A LOT of water is needed to show the 0.5 g difference
5. there were bugs in the water, when I was filtering the water we saw a bunch of moving bugs. One that is disgusting, two it might change the accuracy of the data because bugs aren't algae

Here is the process of what I did on Saturday and Monday.
1. Go to the North end of Utah Lake (Saratoga Springs Park and Pavillion): 40.348860, -111.901880
2. Collect 12 gallons of water
3. Come home and pour different amounts of water into a beaker (or use the entire gallon) then use that and put it through the filter and let it dry
4. Out of these do multiple amounts of water to find out which one shows the 0.5 g change in mass and designate that as the amount of water needed for all samples that are collected 

I actually have not found the designated amount yet, however, I know that it is A LOT of water because when I filtered an entire gallon of water there wasn't even a change in the mass of the filter's weight. So now I am planning on meeting with my AP Environmental Science teacher who is helping me with this project to see how we can solve this problem. 

Steps for collecting Algae at Utah Lake

Steps for collecting samples. 

1. Collect 1 gallon (might be more, have to test out) of sample water from each spot and correctly mark them.

2. At home, prepare a 12oz (might be more, have to test out) clear beaker for measuring. 

3. For each sample, shake the jar first, and then pour some (designated amount) of sample water into the clear beaker, observe the water and take notes (e.g. color) and take photos.

4. Weigh a clean coffee filter and record the weight.

5. Dump the sample water from the beaker through a filter into a normal glass of water (shake first) pour until all of the water (designated amount) from the beaker is gone. 

6. Let the coffee filter dry (put a cardboard box over to keep from blowing away)

7. Weigh the dried coffee filter with dried algae to find out how much the algae weights. Then record the numbers. 

8. Enter all data into a google sheet.

These are the steps for how to collect the algae from the four different locations. I have not done this yet as of right now I have only gotten water from 1 location and I am trying to find the designated amount needed to show the 0.5g change in weight between the normal filter and the filter with the algae.

Info on Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB)

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB's) have started spreading all over Utah Lake. 

What is  a HAB

- HAB or cyano bloom is the term for the explosive growth of certain species of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, these then releasee toxins into the water.  

- Cyanobacteria are already a part of the natural algae community seen in lakes and ponds, however, when conditions are favorable towards them, large rapid growth will start occurring. 

What causes these Blooms

- Blooms actually happen naturally in initial mountain lakes and impaired urban waterways. 

- In certain conditions (usually warmer waters with higher portions or phosphorus and nitrogen) blooms will happen more often.

- Scientists have noticed as global temperatures are getting higher blooms are increasing at a very high rate.

- Nitrogen and Phosphorus are the common pollutants that come from sewage treatment plants, erosion, and urban and agricultural runoff. 

How to try and prevent Blooms 

- Proper land management and investing in new technologies to treat wastewater can reduce the likelihood of blooms. 

- Reduce the amount of fertilizer used on your lawn. 

- Use phosphorus-free fertilizer when possible. 

- Fix leaking septic systems. 

- Use phosphorus-free detergents in dishwashers. 

- Keep yard debris such as leaves or grass clippings from washing into storm drains. 

- Pick up your pet's waste. 

Are they dangerous

- Certain species of cyanobacteria (including Dolichospermum, Aphanizomenon, Cylindrospermopsis, Microsystis, and Ocillatoria) can release toxins into the water which can be dangerous to both humans and their pets. 

- Some of these neurotoxins can cause immediate sickness or death while others can lead to long-term kidney or liver damage. 

How to identify a cyanobacteria 

- Cyanobacteria blooms often look like spilled paint or powdery green colors in lakes. 

- They are actually easy to identify I will put pictures. 

- In the picture beside, you can see it is like a powder green color. So pretty easy to see. 

Note - all of these are just notes for me to keep my thoughts straight and serve as notes for my research. 

All of this information can be found on this website: https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/Learnaboutlakes/hab/index

Late Night soccer training

 Hi, so last night me and my family went to my high school field and we played some soccer. Sort of, my little brother had to run 3 miles so he ran 15 laps around the field while I trained with my dad and my mom watched. It was nice being able to go out and play soccer just for fun because recently I have only been doing high school practice in the morning and they aren't fun at all because it's all fitness and it's really competitive so it isn't fun at all. But last night I got to go out and just pass the ball around and just have fun. However I won't be able to do this anymore for a while because I have school starting Monday, and practices are moved to after school now. 

School starts in 2 days

 Hi, sorry I haven't been blogging a lot recently I have been busy with soccer and getting ready for school. Anyways my first day of school is on Monday, however, I am doing all online so hopefully, it will be easier. Yesterday I got my school supplies (textbooks, and art supplies), and I got all my binders notebooks and folders ready. I also wrote my summaries for my summer reading "Much Ado About Nothing", all I have left to do to get ready is to finish reading Of Mice and Men and finish writing and print my summaries. I feel pretty excited but also nervous for the school year because it is Junior year, and I'm taking 3 AP's and an honors class, and I also have high school soccer after school. It's also harder because I am taking online school, and we are in the middle of a Pandemic. 

Last days of Summer

Hi, sorry I didn't blog yesterday I was at my soccer game all day. Anyway's my school starts in 4 days which sucks because I am not ready for summer to be over. I am going into my junior year so it's going to be tough. Anyways I am not excited because I haven't done much over the summer because of corona, and now I have to return back to school not remembering anything, and taking 3 AP's and 1 honors class. All I got to say is it's going to be a rough year. Anyway's for these last days of Summer I will probably just play soccer and start getting ready for school. 

Second game tomorrow!

 Hi, sorry I didn't blog yesterday I was out of the house all day because I had a soccer game. The game didn't go too well, we lost 3-1 which is ok considering we had only played as a team for 4 days. Anyways, during the game, I had to wear a mask and it was absolute torture. In fact, after the game I had a mask tan, anyways the game was ok but it was also really hot and exhausting. It was also my first real game in 6 months so I was really rusty. Anyways tomorrow I have another game, and I'm feeling a lot more motivated to play so hopefully it will be better.

First game tomorrow!

 Hi, sorry I didn't blog yesterday it was my day off from soccer so it kinda left my mind. But anyway I'm back with another blog. Anyway's tomorrow I have my first soccer game of Junior year. I am actually very nervous about it because we are going against a 5A school and my school is a 2A team. However, I'm also really excited because there is a varsity game than a junior varsity game. I'm excited about this because varsity is the first game, then since there are a bunch of people on the teams now varsity doesn't have to play JV games. So I just have to play varsity then I can relax and just watch the JV game. If this were a regular year and there wasn't corona I would be riding the bus to the game, the bus is a le bus (really nice bus company). However, instead my mom will be driving me to every game which kind of sucks but it's whatever.