War

WAR

War.
Listen to that paralyzing word,
War.
Who knew that a 3 letter combo could mean so much more?

War.
The source of millions of deaths,
War.
Only leaves a few thousand left.

War.
People think is a solution to all,
War.
They ignore every single tragic fall.

War.
Makes things worse,
War.
Everyone is immersed.

War.
Every side loses,
War.
Leaves wounds and bruises.

War.
Billions of fires are shot,
War.
Even more lives are lost.

War.
Needs to end,
It can't go on and on.

We need to call everyone our friend,
The lives that are gone are gone.

Our World Would Be Perfect

Our World Would Be Perfect

Our World would be Perfect if we could all just listen,
If all our unique personalities would just glisten.

Our World would be Perfect if we embraced the differences,
If all the bullying and hate finishes.

Our World would be Perfect if not a single fire was shot,
If not even a single life was lost.

Our World would be Perfect if we could all selflessly help out,
If there wasn't a single terrorized scream or shout.

Our World would be Perfect if we learned to work together,
If we knew that it could make things better.

Our World would be Perfect if everyone had food on their plate and a roof above their head,
If everyone was lovingly tucked into bed.

Our World would be Perfect if everyone had a sunrise to look forward to,
If we could paint the world with vivid colors - instead of a dull blue.

Our World would be Perfect,
Just Perfect.

Imagine

Imagine-
That everyone lived under a roof,
Imagine-
If everyone danced to the groove.

Imagine-
That everyone followed their heart,
Imagine-
That families didn't have to be torn apart.

Imagine-
If everyone had food on their plate,
Imagine-
If justice was never delayed.

Imagine-
If everyone would respect one another,
Imagine-
If everyone was loved by a mother.

Imagine-
If there was a cure to every disease,
Imagine-
That everyone could just be pleased.

Imagine-
If everyone could be kind and giving,
Imagine-
If those lost in war could be living.

Imagine-
If everyone in the world could learn,
Imagine-
If homes were built, not burnt.

Imagine-
If Mother Earth wasn't dying,
Imagine-
If our world would be free of lying.

Imagine-
If no one would get into crime and drugs
Imagine-
If there was no such thing as thieves and thugs.

Now Imagine-
That someone would take charge,
Imagine-
That they could change the world at large.

Imagine-
That this could all be true.
Imagine-
That now it's all left up to you.

Speak Out! A Time When One Person’s Voice Had a Lasting Impact

What are the 3 apples that changed the world? They are Adam's apple, Newton's apple, and Steve Jobs' apple, and all 3 of these people made a lasting impact on the world.

The world is full of great personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and many others. However, living in modern times and in Silicon Valley, I couldn't resist but choose a man who has completely revolutionized the way we listen to music, make calls, check emails, and browse the internet. I'm going to talk about a man who used his voice and vision to change the course of history and has altered the path of the future. You guessed it folks, it’s Steve Jobs!

At age 17, Steve joined Reed College, only to drop out within half a year. During his 2005 Stanford Commencement address, Jobs recalled “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on the calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.” His inner voice of following one’s passion and creative learning not only changed his life, but also made a lasting impact on the way we interact with computers.

As a teenager, Steve had visited India for spiritual enlightenment. Even though the visit didn’t go as expected, it was a major turning point in his life. He was able to very clearly articulate the strengths of eastern and western cultures. Steve summed up his experience in these words, "Western rational thought is not an innate human characteristic; it is learned. The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do, they use their intuition instead. Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect." He blended technological advancements of the western world with this intuitive spirit and Zen Buddhism philosophy of "Less is More" to create aesthetically minimal products. This had set the precedence and now the pinch-in, pinch-out, and finger-scrolling are standard features on all mobile devices across the globe. It is hard to imagine that there ever were or ever will be devices that are not as intuitive and easy to use as iProducts. His message has changed the technology landscape for good.

In his 1985 interview with a fashion magazine, Jobs stated that computers need not be dull. His words, "If we can inject that liberal-arts spirit into the very serious realm of business, I think it will be a worthwhile contribution. We can't even conceive of how far it will go," greatly influenced Apple designs. His long-held philosophy about the marriage of technology and liberal arts took Apple to great heights. These creative iDevices not only made Apple the most valuable and admired company in the world, but changed the way every other technology company designs and markets their products. Now, whoever has the latest iProduct is considered cool, and if it wasn’t for Mr. Jobs, you would be stuck at the bottom of the popularity chart. Apple is so creative that a fashion icon, Burberry CEO Mrs. Ahrendts, is a senior executive at Apple and could very well be the next CEO of this technology company.

For many years now, I've been performing Bollywood dance, which is a creative fusion of traditional Indian dance form and western styles of Hip-Hop and Jazz. I'm also an active member of a Model United Nations league, where I'm learning about policies, diplomacy, and world politics. Just like Steve Jobs, I am using my voice to create awareness and minimize the gap between various cultures. Recently, I've written a letter to Campbell Mayor Evan Low, suggesting that we celebrate all religions and cultures through a "Unity in Diversity" festival.

I'm doing my bit, in my own way, to follow Steve's vision and spread his words of creative learning and blending the eastern and western values.

If you are using an iPod, iPhone, iPad, or for that matter, any smart phone or a tablet, then, my friend, you are the agent of change, the testimony of the lasting impact that Jobs envisioned and spoke up for.

Quoting Steve Jobs, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?"

If I were Campbell's Mayor, I would...

As first generation immigrants, my parents came to the USA from India in 2000. After evaluating many cities like Cupertino, San Jose, and Saratoga they found a perfect balance of small city coziness and a big city feel in Campbell and decided to call it their home. From the humble beginning as the Orchard City to the current home to sprawling Pruneyard Shopping Center, and original home to eBay, it is the perfect place to live. I was born in our South Bascom Avenue apartment, spent most of my early childhood playing at John D. Morgan Park, across from our then home, and have since been in the same neighborhood. I am Amisha Wadhwa, a 7th grader, attending Moreland Middle School. I am involved in many extracurricular activities including Model United Nations, where I’m learning about social policies, politics, history and ethics to solve real-world problems diplomatically. It would be a dream come true if I could become the mayor of the glorious city of Campbell one day.

If I were the mayor, here are some of my proposals to make this best city even better.

One thing I love about Campbell is its diversity. It is a melting pot of many different cultures, with over 45% residents being Hispanics, Asians or Indians. I propose to have a “Unity-in-Diversity” festival, where we celebrate everyone's heritage and tradition. The festival could have multicultural exhibits such as lectures, performances, dancing, music, theatre, and food! This will be a great outlet for people to explore different cultures while being right in their own Campbell! This inclusion will make everybody feel more appreciated and bring awareness and acceptance to diverse cultures.

I am very big on keeping our environment clean and eco-friendly. I regularly volunteer through my school’s Greenkeepers club. I’ve participated in the “Save the Bay” event and most recently cleaned up the San Tomas Aquino Creek as part of California Coastal Cleanup Day. I’m proud that Campbell already has adopted the Bring Your Own Bag Policy, and I would like to take this a notch higher. I'd like to propose Stamp Out Styrofoam (SOS) program. We all know that Styrofoam is very bad for the environment as it never decomposes. We should ask all Campbell shops and restaurants to stop using Styrofoam and replace it with eco-friendly biodegradable or corn-based compostable packaging. This ban will reduce litter and the amount of garbage going into city landfills. It will help to meet state requirements and avoid increased costs in the future. We can and should make Campbell an even cleaner city!

My last proposal is to have a big-box retailer such as Wal-Mart or a Target store in the city. Since many Campbell residents head out to such stores in San Jose or Cupertino anyhow, it would be much better to have one in Campbell itself. This would create additional jobs and generate new revenue streams for the city, both of which will boost local economy. We could use some of this additional revenue for the city schools. An improved economy and better schools will attract more people, increase the value of the home prices and city will benefit from higher property taxes. Truly a win-win situation. An ideal place for this store could be near South Bascom Ave., where there are a lot of empty lots and sparingly visited shops.

Campbell is a fantastic city, with many social and eco-friendly events and activities. Implementing my proposals will set the bar even higher. I truly hope that my city of Campbell continues to evolve with the times and set the example - environmentally, culturally, and technologically.

 

http://www.campbellexpress.net/online/20131127.pdf

California Common Core Standards

The classic testing situation : you are staring at the same 4 letters - A,B,C, and D. You're about to go up to your teacher and ask her for help, but then you remember to give your best guess - something that you are so used to. Through process of elimination, you cross out B and D off your list. Now, you have a 50-50 chance of getting an answer right to a question you had no idea of. Your eyes slightly wander off to Amy's sheet.....question #12... first bubble... A! Phew - that was easy!

Not anymore with Common Core. We've all heard it, sure, and our teachers our making us learn things completely different from the original process of elimination, but what does Common Core really have in store for us?

Common Core better prepares students for college, and helps them to become critical thinkers. The transition to Common Core will neither be easy, nor quick, as you will experience in your near future. This year, Moreland will continue to implement the standards in order to prep for the first pilot CCSS test in the spring of 2014. These new standards will en-courage problem solving, collaboration, student-led work, and deeper and more critical thinking.

Getting towards Common Core is a big leap for the education system as a whole. Daniella Mazerlav, a teacher at Fremont Unified and a mother sums up her viewpoint on Common Core as:

"As a parent, I think it's great. As a teacher, it's going to be very hard to imagine this going smoothly." 

Nationwide, districts are in various stages of implementing a full-fledged Common Core plan. This 2012-13 school year is the time of transition. Though we may feel that the students have it the hardest in this process, the teachers must be having the same overwhelmed feeling that we are dealing with in the same classroom. For example, Mrs. Bliss has not been teaching math for over 3 years, and is now being asked to teach it again using a new curriculum, "Common Core Integrated," That‘s hard. Other teachers around MMS campus - Mrs. Saldivar, Mrs. Rough, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Fleck, Mrs. Kilbourn, Mrs. Ferro, and Mr. Schoenberg - feel the same way about the new standards. The curriculum isn't changing a whole lot, but the approach is. Deeper thinking is required, instead of glossing over the surface as we are right now. All of the teachers feel that this is definitely a step in the right direction, though it will take time to adjust, especially this year. Teachers are having to make up their own lessons from bits of other materials instead of having a textbook or file to go to, and always have to double-check that the lessons are meeting the new standards. Surprisingly, this is somewhat a stress factor for teachers, but they feel that they are prepping us for the future.

The new Common Core Assessments won't be like the average Benchmarks tests. The new math assessments will be more like the MARS or a little bit like Math Olympiad, for those of you who participated last year. English classes will involve a lot more higher level thinking and writing with greater emphasis on argumentation.

The Common Core Standards may really nag you to take that extra step, but it will hopefully ease your transition from high school to college. This year‘s batch of students all over the U.S. are the pioneers; we are the experiments to see if all this Common Core stuff works. It will take a full cycle of students to find out.

We may think it's difficult to cut the healthy STAR tree of decades past, only to be replaced with a sapling- Common Core, but think again! Change is a huge part of growth. That may be because we are so used to the multiple choice curriculum, that “show your work” is a dreadful expression to many of us. However, Common Core will become so routine, that soon, we will not feel the stress we are going through right now. True, we want to stick with what we've always done, but Common Core was simply bound to happen, if not today; then tomorrow.

Be The Change: What I Can Do To Make A Difference

"Be the change you wish to see" is the phrase first spoken by Mahatma Gandhi. But who is Mahatma Gandhi? "Mahatma" is a compound word consisting of "Mahan" and "Atma" meaning "A great soul". Today, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is aptly referred to as "Mahatma Gandhi" because of the changes he brought to the world. He led a civil disobedience movement against British rule in India and ended apartheid by treating the untouchables as equals. Gandhi's work inspired generations of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Barack Obama. His beliefs of non-violence and being the change have inspired me as well.

I was born on August 17, 2001. Less than a month later, we saw the biggest terrorist attack in history on American soil. Not a single day passes when we do not hear or experience bullying, terrorism or wars. These actions broadly fall into the category of intimidation. This can range from peer pressure at school to cruel dictators around the world. What I want to see is world peace and a safer community.

I see peer pressure every day at middle school. Teasing, name-calling, and swearing are the first things we hear as soon as we walk into the school. As noted by famous author, Dr. Michele Borba, in her recent book, Building Moral Intelligence, that a repeat or chronic bully by age 8 has a 25% chance of having a criminal record by age 26, it is important to bring a change at every level.

Roughly a month ago, the Taliban, a terrorist group in northwestern Pakistan, shot a young teenage girl in the head. This girl, Malala Yousfazi, was only standing up for women's education. She was being the change she wanted to see. The Taliban attack on Malala was a form of religious and social intolerance.

Dictatorship is an extreme case of bullying. Dictators ruthlessly rule countries without caring for citizen's opinions. We are in the midst of Arab Spring Revolution where people of Syria, Libya, and Egypt are uprising against dictatorship and being the change they want to see.

I am a three year veteran of Project Cornerstone, a leadership program creating a positive atmosphere for all students. Leveraging my Cornerstone lessons, I have confronted bullies at school and made them own up to their mistakes, and resolved conflicts between students as a Yard Duty Helper. My idea of the "Bully Box," an anonymous complaint box, was appreciated by Cornerstone Mentors and is planned to get implemented soon. I am being the catalyst of change, so that every child feels safe and is focused on learning when he or she arrives at school.

I am an active Girl Scout for many years now, where we learn to be confident and stand up for ourselves. Recently, my Girl Scout Troop celebrated the Indian festival of Holi. This cross-pollination of different and unique cultures ignites gratitude, compassion and acceptance towards them. Just like Malala, I am being the agent of change for girl empowerment and social acceptance.

I am deeply involved in a Model United Nations League and regularly attend seminars and conferences. We learn about foreign policies, politics, history and ethics. We seek solutions for international conflicts through the use of logic, peace, dialogue, debate and negotiation. I plan to use these methods to bring a change for a better tomorrow.

In his last pre-election Iowa rally, President Obama said,

"One voice can change a room.
And if it can change a room, it can change a city.
And if it can change a city, it can change a state.
And if it can change a state, it can change a nation.
And if it can change a nation, it can change a world."

Here I am; voicing my concerns and sharing concrete actions I am taking to promote peace at every level; from classroom to the entire world.

Think of a solution, you are a thinker.
Be a solution, and you are the Leader of Change.
- Amisha Wadhwa

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

Have you ever felt in your life that nothing was going your way and the world seemed totally hopeless? I am Amisha, and I felt this way during Fall 2010. Let me rewind. Way back in 2nd grade, my Dad used to talk about your campaign ideas of “Hope”, “Change”, and “Yes, We Can”. These words meant nothing to me at that time and felt like a jumble of letters. In 3rd grade, I took the Neglieri test for GATE and did not get selected. The exam was generally about spatial ability, my Achilles heel. I felt really down. Then, from the back of my mind, your words jumped out and inspired me.

Your message, “You can’t let your failures define you-you have to let them teach you,” rekindled flame to succeed and prove myself. Changing my tactics to work on weak areas of geometry, I continued to draw strength from my strong concepts of algebra and word analyzation. With full determination, knowledge, and confidence, I appeared for John Hopkins and Stanford Talent Search programs and aced them both. I felt very proud of myself for putting Baker Elementary at the same level of Harker and Challenger. One thing I learned from your speech and my personal experience is to never lose hope. I wish that other Moreland kids and children world-wide will keep on following your inspiration. They should not get disheartened when one door closes, but try to open new ones.

Mr. Obama, I can relate to how you must be feeling right now. Despite of all your accomplishments such as ending 2 wars, killing major terrorists, and mending relations with our Trans – Atlantic partners, your approval rating continues to decline. This is the time for you to Walk the Talk. You should not lose hope. You can take concrete actions to change the way Washington works. You should find common ground between Democratic ideas with Republican features to create programs that will boost US economy. You can work with W.H.O. to make “Let’s Move” a global program. You can continue to encourage Arab Spring revolutions. You can follow the footsteps of your ideals, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr. to end apartheid. Yes, You can.

An Inspired Soul,

Amisha Wadhwa

Education for Everyone

Think of your favorite hobby - it could be singing, painting, playing sports, playing an instrument; anything. Now imagine that is being taken away from you. And you aren't going to be getting it back anytime soon. You can't sit there and do nothing about it. Malala felt that pain when she was being robbed of education, the thing she valued the most.

My first blog is about arguably the most famous teenager of recent times, Malala Yousafzai. Being a blog writer herself, she had a near-death experience and is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In just a mere span of four years, Malala has entitled herself with a great name.

With the new school year starting, I think of other girls like Malala. Those who are like me but struggle to receive education, something I take for granted. We are just separated by some circumstances and less than a day's flight, but there are so many differences!

Malala Yousafzai is a 16 year old Pakistani student, Education Rights activist, and Women's Rights activist from Swat Valley. She loves to learn about anything and everything. That is the main reason why she took action against Taliban. They took control of Swat Valley and were banning many girls’ schools, including hers.

In early 2009, Malala wrote a blog for BBC News Channel. She was specifically sharing about how life was under Taliban rule and her views on promoting education for girls. Malala began to gain popularity, so the New York Times newspaper filmed a documentary on her. She appeared on TV, went for interviews, so people were beginning to think that she could really make a difference. She took a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat. Wow, I think "what courage! She was extremely brave to pull off something like that and even right under Taliban's nose.”

Things were going great for Malala and her word was being spread. However, Taliban couldn't stand that a teenage girl was in their way of establishing their extreme views. They decided to give her a harsh punishment and set out to kill her. In October of 2012, Malala was shot in the head in an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman.

As destiny had it, Malala has not only survived, but is on her path to full recovery to take her movement forward. Now, she is the winner of 2013 International Children's Peace Prize and the youngest nominee in history for the Nobel Peace Prize. As the winner of Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize, she really has power to change something in her homeland and worldwide.

In the April 2013 issue of Time Magazine, Malala was featured on the front cover as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World" She was invited to the July session of United Nations and was greeted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"By targeting Malala, extremists showed what they feared the most: a girl with a book," Mr. Ki-moon said.“Malala is calling on us to keep our promises - invest in young people and put education first.”

At the U.N. Youth Assembly, Malala urged world leaders to provide free, compulsory education for every child.

“Let us pick up our books and our pens,” Malala told young leaders. "They are our most powerful weapons.“

Rattled by the outpouring support Malala has been getting over the world, a Taliban commander has written a letter that stops short of an outright apology and justifies their actions and asking her to return to Pakistan.

"You have said in your speech yesterday that pen is mightier than sword," Rasheed wrote in reference to Malala's speech at the U.N., "so they attacked you for your sword not for your books or school.“

Still, Malala’s clear message is that she wants every child to have access to education, and wants young girls to be empowered. She is the beacon of hope for many girls worldwide. Her story has inspired me to do something for the same cause. I, as an active Girl Scout, strive to make a difference, like Malala has. Through Girl Scouts, the fellow members of my troop and I plan to donate 100+ books to the Sharks Foundation's book drive, "Reading Is Cool"

I'm sure there that there are many inspired souls that have now taken initiative to support Malala's vision.

One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. -Malala Yousafzai