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Project 1

Vaccines

           Parents have always felt the need to keep their children away from things that seem unnatural to the human body, but sometimes the decisions they make for their children can hurt them or others more than help. Some parents think they know more than doctors with degrees in medicine, and even decades after the discovery of vaccines and the many deadly diseases that have been vanquished because of their discovery, parents still believe that vaccines are bad. Almost every parent who doesn’t like vaccines believes they lead to autism. Although there are correlations between autism and vaccines, correlation does not equal causation. Many people get vaccinated and show no sign of being autistic.

           There are also the arguments of some parents that the illnesses people are vaccinated for aren’t around anymore. What those parents don’t understand is the reason the measles, for example, aren’t present anymore is because people got vaccinated for the measles a long time ago. Some children can’t get vaccinated because they may be allergic to the medication. Those children should not be afraid to leave their house or go to school because of one negligent parent who thinks they know more than science. Those children have a higher chance of getting an illness, that could have been prevented with vaccines, from other kids whose parents choose not to vaccinate.

           Although, the war to vaccinate or not vaccinate continues in society. But, the real question is, Should parents be required by law to have their children vaccinated? Some people saw it is a violation of parent’s freedom over their own children. Others say it will protect those who cannot be vaccinated. This question might never be answered, but I want to find more research that proves that vaccines help and don’t hurt. I want parents to understand the seriousness their actions could have on other children. They could potentially get away with murder if they choose not to vaccinate their child and that child goes to school and gives another child who is allergic to vaccines the measles. I would like to understand the logic behind the parents who choose not to vaccinate their children thinking. And most of all, I want to know the science behind vaccines and how some of the might have a correlation to other illnesses. 

Rachel Dolezal

           I chose to write about Rachel Dolezal because I feel like some people have forgotten about her story but there was never a final decision or opinion on her. Rachel Dolezal was a white woman who turned herself into a black woman, wedged herself into the black community, and called herself “inter-racial.” People were, and still are, infuriated with her decision. The black community is a very close-knit community, Rachel Dolezal did not understand what she was doing when she barged in with her new profile and made herself the center of attention in the community.

           I want to write about Rachel Dolezal because I feel like people don’t know that much about her past or her reasoning behind why she changed her race and that’s what I want to show people. My research is going to consist of interviews of Rachel Dolezal and articles about her past and how she integrated herself into the black community. I want to write about how people argue whether she is culturally appropriating or if she is doing what she feels is right in her heart. If she has a biological reason behind why she thinks she is allowed to change her race, I want to know what it is. I also want to know why people hate her for trying to bring up the black community and maybe make it stronger. I would like to research both sides of the arguments and find reasoning behind them.

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Project 2

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate

    If parents do not want to put their children and other children in danger, they should get their children vaccinated. Many deadly diseases have been cured and many lives have been saved due to the discovery of vaccines. Law should require parents to vaccinate their children for the safety of themselves and others.

What are we putting in our children’s bodies?

    One of the biggest questions parents ask when getting their children vaccinated is, what am I putting in my child’s body? Even though vaccines have been around for decades, people still don’t know their chemical makeup. Vaccines are made with a very small amount of a natural bacteria or virus. Doctors add antigens to the bacteria to help the arouse the immune system to create antibodies to prevent the disease from infecting the rest of the body. Flu shots are also vaccines that are made this same way, but flu shots are almost like taking Nyquil for a cold. Vaccines are almost as common as an annual doctor’s visit. Parents are concerned that doctors do not know what is in the vaccines, but they have had hundreds of years to be perfected so they can be trusted. The government knows what are in vaccines and knows that they are safe, which I why the law should require parents to vaccinate their kids, because they know more than most parents that vaccines are harmless to most children.

Where vaccines came from.

    The first vaccination to be recorded that was affective was in 1796. A doctor named Edward Jenner created the first vaccine while he was trying to find a cure for cowpox. He used a sample of pus from a cowpox blister and rubbed it on the skin of an eight-year-old boy. After the boy was infected and well again, Jenner rubbed the pus from a smallpox blister on the boy. The boy never got smallpox. Doctors across the world started using this technique to cure smallpox. Vaccines have been used for over 200 years, but parents still seem to think they can’t be trusted. Parents should know the science and history behind vaccines, so they can understand that they can be trusted, and that they have cured so many. Some parents believe vaccines cannot be trusted because they are diseases preventing other diseases. Doctors have spent hundreds of years perfecting and creating new vaccines, they can be one of the most trusted forms of medicine in the world. The government has also supported vaccines since the beginning so they know that vaccines are safe and effective,  which is why they should require parents to vaccinate their children.

How vaccines changed the world.

    Vaccines completely eradicated the world’s most common sicknesses for children in the 1900’s, smallpox. According to the Governmental Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the smallpox disease was declared eradicated on May 8th, 1980. However, there is still a small chance of children receiving the disease if parents refuse vaccinate their children to prevent the disease. Cody H. Meissner reports the number of cases for diseases like Haemophilus influenzae type B, Streptococcus pneumonia, rubella, measles, and mumps, have plummeted in the past six, or more, years. The number of people that are obtaining and dying from these diseases is decreases by the hundreds, but parents don’t realize that. They are risking their children’s lives instead of looking at the actual data that proves vaccines are effective. If the law does not require parents to vaccinate their children, it could undo all of these amazing miracles and cures that have taken place.

Laws preventing parents from not vaccinating their children.

    There have been many movements made by parents to try to eliminate the laws in some states that will not allow you exempt your child from getting vaccinated. According to David Costill, “"At least 1% to 2% [of parents] are choosing no vaccines, and somewhere between 10% and 20% are choosing to delay, withhold, or space out the vaccine. And the reason that they are doing it is because they can”” (Costill, 1). Parents have even gone as far as faking their interpretation of religious texts, so they don’t have to get their children vaccinated, however, there is no evidence in the bible, or any other version of the bible, stating that parents should not vaccinate their children. These parent’s lies could be very dangerous and could take entire countries back in time when it was common to hear about a child being diagnosed with polio. Parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated could bring diseases like smallpox, measles, polio, and many many more that could kill or injure thousands. Also, some children are allergic to vaccines. Parents who vaccinate their children are protecting their kids and the kids who cannot get vaccinated. One vaccination can go a long way. Vaccinating your child can prevent your child from getting a disease and prevent the child who cannot get vaccines from getting the disease. The law should require parents to vaccinate their children to protect the health of others.

What could happen if we stopped vaccinating.

    One of the biggest things doctors and the government is worried about is bringing back all the diseases that vaccines have been close to cured. This could happen if more and more parents decide not to vaccinate their children. According to Katherine Bortz, “When MMR coverage decreased by 5%, the researcher observed an annual three-fold increase in measles cases in children between 2 and 11 nationally” (Bortz, 1).  Researches conducted a study to prove that   This study was only done on 2 to 11-year old’s. If babies, teens, and adults were added to the number of people not being vaccinated, the percentage would increase. It has been proved that not vaccinating can lead to disaster, but parents still do not seem to realize that. If the law requires children to be vaccinated, they could save the lives of so many children and generations to come.

Other concerns parents have with vaccines.

    Another thing parents worry about with vaccines is that they’re outdated. Doctors could still be using methods that were used in the 1700’s when vaccines were first introduced and when their technology was not as advanced as ours. But vaccines are only getting better as technology betters. Courtney Columbus states, “The patch, about the size of a small square bandage, has tiny, dissolvable needles filled with a dose of flu vaccine. It's placed on the arm and activated through pressure. The microneedles dissolve into the skin, releasing the vaccine” (Columbus, 1). Doctors are working on a new way to make it more comfortable for children receiving a flu shot. They are making a patch to place on a child’s skin instead of inserting a needle. Some of these patches have already been sold and have been reported effective.  This could help parents feel more comfortable and confident when taking their child to the doctors to get their flu vaccine. No more children screaming in doctor’s offices and no more unhappy parents leaving with their screaming child. If the law requires children to be vaccinated, parents would realize that vaccine help rather than hurt.

The most popular false belief about vaccines.

    The #1 reason that parents do not vaccinate their children is because they think vaccines cause autism. What parents do not know is that everything we have heard about vaccines causing autism is fake. Andrew Wakefield is a British scientist. It is said that Wakefield was paid by lawyers who were trying to have the vaccine manufacturers sued. The results of his study say that vaccines cause autism and bowel disease. His results were proven fake by the British Medical Journal. The patients’ records were proven to be skewed and tampered with after the study was finished to make his results back up his claim more. Thousands of parents have fallen victim to his lies and stopped vaccinating their children. If parents want to make an argument against vaccines, they should know what is true and what has been faked. Parents should also be required to know about Andrew Wakefield if one of their concerns with vaccines is that it causes autism.

Parents should be required to vaccinate their children because if they do not, they could kill other people. If everyone vaccinated their children, there could be hundreds, or even thousands of diseases cured by 2118. Our country is so advanced with technology and medicine, it would be ignorant of us to refuse the care that is given to us. Parents need to realize that they sometimes do not know more than the doctors and the doctors are only trying to do what is good for the child. Parents need to open their eyes and notice how the world is growing and we  need to grow with it. We need to protect the next generations and one way to protect them is to vaccinate and keep them healthy.

Works Cited

Meissner, H. C. "The Gift of Vaccines." Infectious Diseases in Children, vol. 26, no. 12, 2013,

pp. 20, ProQuest, http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1500402017?accountid=10650.

Costill, David. "Elimination of Vaccine Exemptions Serves Children's Best Interests." Infectious

Diseases in Children, vol. 29, no. 1, 2016, pp. 16, ProQuest, http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1765625890?accountid=10650.

Bortz, Katherine. "Minor Vaccine Hesitancy Creates Three-Fold Increase in Measles Outbreaks."     Infectious Diseases in Children, vol. 30, no. 9, 2017, pp. 16, ProQuest, http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1958472333?accountid=10650.

Columbus, Courtney. Beyond the Nasty Needle: Trying to make Vaccines More Comfy and Convenient.

NPR, Washington, 2017, ProQuest, http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1933222591?accountid=10650.

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Project 3

CSW Reflection

           This year was the first time I’ve heard about and been to the CSW. My first experience was goof. I saw a lot of my friends and I was proud of my project, so I had fun. My project was based on a game called 2 truths and a lie. I change my version of the game a little bit, so it would be easier to keep track of my facts and so people could be more interactive. I laid two true facts and two false facts on the table and then I let the person who came up to my table have two truth cards and two lie cards and they had to identify the true facts and put the true cards next to it and so with the lie cards. If someone got one of the facts wrong, I would tell them why it was wrong and what the truth is. I wish I had more fact cards, so I could have a more variety of facts and it would be more challenging for people who played.

           One thing I regret at the CSW was not telling more people to come play my game. I was really nervous when I showed up and it was really hot and I wasn’t very confident in my game so I think my mind was everywhere so I wasn’t thinking about making sure people where always playing my game. I wish I would’ve performed my game and practiced it a lot more than I did before the CSW so I would’ve been more confident and comfortable with my facts and setup.

           The one thing that made me calm down the most is when I realized that almost everyone there was as nervous as me so they weren’t there to criticize my game, they were there to calm their nerves and display their  own work. It calmed my nerves to walk around and look at other people’s displays and see how nervous they were. I kept telling myself that its okay to be nervous, I just needed to set of my game, have people play it, and have fun with everyone that was there with me.

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About Me

My name is Kayden Adams. I was homeschooled until I was 14 and in 9th grade, then I started the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University. It was a very difficult transition for me. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t know how to write a paper or use a scantron or how to even study for a test. I tried my best, with the support from my family, to make new friends and try to make the transition go as smoothly as possible. I failed most of my classes my first semester of the program, but I picked myself back up and finish the next semester with A’s and B’s. I’m proud of myself for making it this far a such a young age. I hope to do great things when I’m older. 

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Semester Reflection

This was a good semester for me. I knew I would like writing 121 because I normally enjoy writing. I started writing fanfic when I was 13 years old and I have always LOVED writing stories. This class was kind of challenging because I have never liked and never been good at writing research papers. In high school, the highest grade I got on a research paper was a B+. I try my best to write a good research paper I just never been taught how to find the right sources needed for your specific topic, so I end up finding what I can and using that in my paper. I think this class has helped me a lot with teaching me how to find a reliable source the steps you need to take to be sure that it is a good, reliable source.

           One thing I really enjoyed in this class was how friendly everyone was. I like how we joked and talked about situations going on in the university and in the world and we had very nice, intelligent conversations as a class. I immediately walked in a could feel the excitement on the first day and I was glad to be in a class that was really chill all semester with people who actually wanted to be there. The only thing I didn’t do very well on in the class was the research paper. If I could go back and do it differently I would definitely spend a lot more time on my research paper. I would start my research paper earlier (right after project one was over) and I would type as much as I could in one night and then set a deadline for myself that would give me enough time to check with my professor and make sure I proof read it a bunch of times and make sure I had enough sources and they all made sense and flowed nicely together. I would get a bunch of extra resources just so I could make sure I had enough and they were reliable and I would have a stronger argument that would back up my claim.

           I would like to further my knowledge in writing. I plan to take a creative writing class soon and its always been a dream of mine to write children’s books and design my own characters for my book. I also hope to one day expand past children’s books and maybe write young adult books or even adult books that everyone will read. I now know I need a lot more practice with writing to get where I want to be.