2020 Challenge Project: Reflection Blog

      My 2020 Challenge Project focused on Houston’s preparedness for an outbreak. Since we began this project last semester, I had no idea my chosen topic would soon become a worldwide catastrophe. In times of uncertainty, knowledge is what conquers fear. My desire to educate my community (school/neighborhood) stemmed from this belief, thus I chose to create an infographic. However, in order to make a successful document, I needed to educate myself beyond just researching online. 
      I learned that, ideally, civic engagement comes after gaining information from both material sources in addition to live interviews. Professional experts will be able to share with you more accurate knowledge and give insight to how you may successfully engage with the issue. I did struggle to interview all of my contacts as this chaotic time creates limits on availability, especially for front line workers (who made up the majority of my contacts). I was able to interview Lindy Mcgee, a pediatrician whom I interviewed last year for my challenge project regarding vaccinations. She shared with me her opinions on the media and stressed the importance of wearing masks. I also interviewed Supreme Court Justice of Texas, Brett Busby, who told me about how his job had been impacted and how citizens should work to stay up-to-date on Covid-19 precautions. Finally, I was able to communicate with Anna Eastman, the District 148 Representative, who shared her recommendations on credible media sources and charitable organizations in need of both materialistic and financial support. I challenge anyone who is working towards civic engagement to interview people from a wide array of backgrounds, for example, I gained both medical and political perspective.
      Since some of my contacts were not available, I decided to face this challenge by attending live meetings hosted by their organization. I observed a Methodist live meeting regarding the stages of the virus and how they were coping with a lack of PPE. The Immunization Partnership live video talked about how this pandemic has revealed to the public the importance of vaccines. Finally, I gained information through the social media pages of my pediatrician, Patti Savrick.
      After gathering information from interviews, I created an infographic to send to middle school and high school students as well as began a trend on Instagram to promote wearing masks. I was originally going to print out the infographic to put in public places in my neighborhood but I concluded that this would not be effective during a quarantine situation. That’s another part of civic engagement - adapting to your challenges. Instead, I decided to further target my school community by reaching out to Lucia Cerritos to put my infographic on the school Instagram page. One way I could engage in this problem in a longer term could be encouraging students/neighbors to make masks and hold a mask drive. I could donate these masks to essential workers who are often not provided with PPE. 
      Overall, I feel like this project shows that, while civic engagement requires a lot of background work, it is a critical component to solving problems, whether they be local or international. It empowers the public that they too can make a difference, not just people with political power. This project serves as an important experience for high school students as it proves that adolescents can make a difference through passion and perseverance. 

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