Journal

I'm writing my journal in a composition notebook.

Reflection Product My project focuses on the effects of alcohol on teenagers and their decision-making process. The bad decisions from consuming large amounts of alcohol have some serious consequences. My project consists of a glogster and a brochure I made which will be incorporated into my final presentation. I have a lot of facts and statistics on teenage drinking that I learned from my mentor Diane. Diane working for Aldersgate in Willow Grove and for the past 8 weeks I had meetings with her. She works with young kids and informs them all on addiction and alcohol. I had a lot of great experiences with Diane which gave me a lot of knowledge when my project. My main goal was to come up with a well-developed understanding about my topic. Also, I had a goal to get as much time as possible with my mentor in order to get enough information to put into my projects which will lead into a good final presentation. I feel as though I definitely achieved most of my goals I set in the beginning of the semester. I had a goal to get a hold of the “drunk goggles” because they will really get my point across. In my final presentation I plan on letting the class try them out to really get the full understanding of what it would be like to drive after consuming a lot of alcohol. As of right now I am still waiting on a response about the drunk goggles but other than that dilemma I accomplished everything I needed to be done. Overall, I now have a lot of knowledge about my topic. The knowledge I covered ranging from drinking and driving, binge drinking, alcoholism, effects on the brain, teenagers and drinking, etc., will be enough for me to present my entire presentation and really inform my classmates about my overall project. Teenage drinking is something people do not take as seriously as it should be taken. Fortunately, taking note on the drinking age going from 18 to 21, teenage alcohol use is on the decline. Still, it is a problem of note, with three out of four high school students reporting that they have consumed an alcoholic beverage prior to graduating high school. After researching alcoholism for so long, I gained a lot of insight about myself. It was really hard for me to read and hear stories on you tube about real incidents that involved teenage drunk driving accidents. Some of the stories were very upsetting and it was a real weakness of mine to research more about each story in detail. For example, the story about a young girl names Jacqueline Sorbida was the most upsetting for me. She was driving with two other friends when struck by a young 17 year old boy who was drunk driving. He killed her two friends and Jacqueline burned in the car for 45 seconds and survived. About 70 percent of her body was burned and she lost an eye, ears, and her nose. However, she still lives her life to the fullest. This was a personal growth for me because I sometimes complain about the little things in life. Hearing about all the problems Jacqueline had when she was my age growing up makes me appreciate what I have. From this learning experience, I will take a lot with me in the future. When I’m older I want to work with children who are struggling with problems like these. This will really help me have an understanding about all the consequences and real life stories that can happen to anyone. I’m happy I picked this topic for my research and will take the knowledge I learned from Diane and my research into the future.