In both my wellness and biology class I have grown in my ability to make healthier choices. In Wellness I now understand and recognize the effects of Prescription drugs use in our lives. One project that supported my growth is the PSA assignment. The purpose of this project was to discourage teenagers from the use of a chosen drug by displaying how the use of the drug negatively impacts them.  We achieved this goal through either displaying our message through a poster of video. In order to complete this project we were prepped on the basic drugs used and the negative effects that they inflicted on not only the user, but the people around him/her.

 

The steps we took to lead to this project involved intense research about them abused drug we have chosen to focus our PSA on, mine of which covering Prescription and over the counter drugs. I have chosen the prescription drug use as a target focus for this PSA based off of the high amount of mistreatment by teens. These are drugs that are prescribed by doctors and sold over the counter to contribute to your wellbeing, if used correctly. I also focused on the drugs effect on friendships in order to allow the audience to realize what they will be sacrificing when abusing these drugs. In fact, prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are, after marijuana and alcohol, the most commonly abused substances by Americans 14 and older. (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014) Supporting that these drugs are indeed a current problem that needs to be address. We know that damage caused by the Prescription and OTC drugs are not only physical, but could also have a major impact to your social life. We know that the physical effects on drugs can have an altering effects on our mood. This not only effects you but also your friends who struggle to balance concerns for the person's well-being against anger over his inability to change his behavior (Heibutzki, 2014). With all of the overwhelming impacts of prescription drugs that are not mentioned as much as other drugs like marijuana and alcohol. The reason of which, I have chosen prescription drug as the target for our PSA. 

 

After that we were able to create a planning sheet that gave main points to be demonstrated throughout the video. This really allowed us to brainstorm all the possible ways we could approach visual presenting our situation. In the end result we had a time lapse planned out. We had assumed that we can record a usual STEM situation, like in the hall ways after class and then traveling with friends to the lunch room. Then we were able to take that situation and speed it up so we could place multiple days viewed. At the end of the project/assignment, we created a great representation of what our story board has listed out with additional adjustments like music and transitions to help appeal to the viewer’s attention.

 

One artifact from this project/assignment is my final PSA. This video will reflect what we have learned and our way to demonstrate that to the general public. Which means that it will be able to support everything written above as a hard copy and proving what I have claimed in my growth and my drafting sheet. The video was a review on what I knew about the drug that our PSA focused on. This allowed me to show what I knew about the behavior that our actor(s) would have to perform. How to display the overall message on how we are highlighting the negatives of Prescription drug use. This artifact is a good example of the growth because everything I have learned could be summed up in the minute and a half. Meaning it is something that I can resort to for when I am older and need some basic information. I do need to further growth in this area through maybe more of the science that these drugs have on your body, but I am curious on how the different prescriptions physically have on the inside of the body.

 

Another project that helped support making healthy choices was an integrated project in both my biology class and Wellness class. This endeavor was based off of reducing the risk of obesity in the DRSS community. This goal was achieved though the creation and implementation of a “Healthy Living Day” in order to encourage healthier nutrition and exercise habits among a specific sub-population of the DRSS community.

 

Before the introduction to this project the 10th grade was highlighted on the biological and health impacts of a human’s diet to their body. Which lead us into the project at which we were required to address those factors as justification to any discussions we made as to do with what our Healthy Living Day would imply. We started this project in our group, choosing a set audience of the DRSS to implement healthy habits. Then we were able to come up with an event to fit the audience we have chosen. Once the basic information was set, we created a draft of our proposal presentation. We then practiced our presentation to another groups for constructive feedback. After revising our project we kept practicing till we presented the final proposal presentation. Afterward we were informed that we were approved to create the product that served as our event. We were required to create this product and then post instructions and template to recreate personal copies.

 

Below there is a button linked to a copy of the final cards and instructions that my group created throughout this project, Deal-a-Meal. We encourage for people to print them out and use them in their daily lives to increase healthy living. The idea was originally based off of Richard Simmons and we have found a way to appeal to the younger audience and hand them out in our school.