For year 9 camp we went to Kalbarri and explored the national park. The purpose of camp at All Saints College is to build relationships and to work together in a team with some that we generally wouldn’t and overcome challenges and obstacles.
Skywalk
Majority of the days we were hiking in different locations including z bend, the coast and the gauges where we had to use different skills as a team such as communication to warn each other of any dangers, teamwork when we had to cook our meals and set up tents as well as encouragement and enthusiasm when supporting others while they were doing challenges such as the bouldering down in placid pool.
Cooking dinner
Working with others is important for our working future we may have to work with people that we don’t like very much but must utilise their strengths in order to to get maximum enjoyment and an amazing experience. An example of where we had to utilise people’s strength was when we were hiking, a few of the experienced and confident hikers would stay at the front and lead the group while all the slower people would then be behind them and set the pace while the rest of the confident and people who are better at hiking would stay at the back.
SkywalkGauges
There were also many other skills that we’d use to support ourselves to keep us going throughout the hiking journey. We’d continuously have to preserve as we were carrying big hiking packs everywhere proving a challenge which had all our food, tents and personal belongings. By persevering through all activities it became a fun and enjoyable time where we tried many new activities, found new interests while doing other stuff that we may not have liked as much.
The problem that we were required to solve was that many buildings weren’t strong enough to withstand earthquakes as seen with the 2015 Nepal earthquake that destroyed many homes and were struggled to be rebuilt in the aftermath as in 2 years only 5% of the homes had been rebuilt. Our task was to build a scale model structure that could withstand a major earthquake that would be simulated through a shake table. When building we were required to use the design thinking process which started off with a 50min design sprint where we had to build and plan the structure in the set time that would fit all requirements. We had a $60 budget and our structure would be made out of spaghetti ($1/stick) and blutack ($1/g). Our next step was to research and brainstorm potential designs and different structural supports that we improve our design. We then constructed our structure which wasn’t very structurally supportive and didn’t have any room in the budget which is why we then started a new structure that actually turned out quite well. It was then put on the shake table where it survived and was destroyed after a 100g weight was added.
Our original design that didn’t have very good structural support
Some changes that I would’ve done in terms of the process in the future is to maybe spend the time planning our design a lot better and looking at many potential different designs that are much stronger in terms of the structural supports. Reasons why I would improve the ideating stage is because our original design that we were planning to do was not very strong in terms of structural supports which affected our whole structure as it couldn’t generally hold itself up. Looking back now we should’ve looked at multiple potential designs that are slightly different but still had the same concepts with cross braces, equal distribution and triangles as they’re the things that supported the structure the best. In terms of collaboration it definitely had its flaws as our communication wasn’t the best in terms of what our individual jobs were as we couldn’t all build at the same time as we’d get in each others way. Although we also all had our strengths as Paula was good at the ideating stage, while Kate was the one who did most of the problem solving while I did most of the prepping for the build.
It was a highly enjoyable project that helped us connect to real world problems while collaborating with others
Do you know what ‘me time’ is? When was the last time you had some?
For our health wellbeing expo our task was to identify a problem that teenagers face that can affect their mental health/wellbeing and to find a solution/strategies to enhance wellbeing/raising awareness and to provide strategies to overcome the issue. My group decided for our focus to be on taking time for yourself and to do what you enjoy.
To me taking time for yourself means to be able to have time to reflect on your feelings and to be self-aware. Some things that you could do that involve taking time for yourself include hanging out with friends, doing a hobby/sport such as soccer or art or even something as chill as reading a book or sleeping. But for others it may mean something different according to Jessica Kasparian it doesn’t always include the things that you enjoy doing such as going to doctors appointments or cleaning the house. Although there’s always one general consensus between all of the definitions that it’s about taking care of yourself.
While doing this project some things that we’d learned include the benefits of taking time for yourself. A study completed by Kelton global surveyed over 1,000 people in the U.S.A about how they view self care, how different generations engage in self-care and what stops them from having time for self-care. According to these studies 40% feel that they rarely have time for themselves and 45% of parents and 32% of people without kids don’t have time for self-care and if they do have time then they feel guilty for not doing something. WHO have also now diagnosed burnout as a real medical diagnosis showing the significance of how important it is to take time for yourself.
A piece of advice that I would give to young people about taking time for themselves is to not overfill your schedule or be/feel overwhelmed as it’s not going to help you in the long term. Every week leave gaps to hang out with friends, read a book, get some extra sleep play your favourite game or just doing something that you love. Wellbeing is a real thing and is affecting many negatively so take care of it as it takes care of you.
I pledge to take time for myself and to have at least 30mins of self care during the week and an hour on the weekends/holidays. Some things that I will do include walking my dog, reading a book, playing tennis and cooking. I choose to do these things as I enjoy them all and is a mix depending on how much energy I have and the weather as I can always read a book even when I feel tired, walk my dog which is easy to get motivation for as someone never forgets when it’s time, while playing tennis I can hang out with friends while doing something that I enjoy and get physical activity and cooking I personally find peaceful and eating it after is always enjoyable. It should be easy to stick to these things as they’re already incorporated into my everyday life as I enjoy doing all of them.
To me, the key to success in a business is gaining constructive feedback from your customers. Getting feedback allows you to improve your product and make it more appealing towards your target audience. To be able to do this we were given the opportunity to participate in a markets on the common where we then decided we would conduct our product validation.
My plan for the product validation was to make 20-30 cookies of the 3 different flavours and icing design (As stated in my previous post the custom icing didn’t work out) then give them out for free in return for them to complete a Microsoft forms that would give me the feedback based off what my customers opinion of the cookie that they’d tasted. This would then allow me to see which cookie flavour would be the most popular in future upcoming markets.
Altogether I would say that the market was quite successful as many customers enjoyed my cookies and gave good feedback. I also gained some feedback from friends who ordered some giving me some more money in future markets meaning that I wouldn’t have lost any from this one.
The results from my forms are shown below:
My first aim was to find out who my customer was so by finding out the age group and gender would help me identify who my target audience was.
My next step was to then find out what cookie flavour the customer had tested so that when I then observed the results after it would give an easier view on the different types of cookies and how they tasted.By asking what cookie flavour the customer had in question 3 it allowed me to see the results clearly from the different flavours. In this product validation it also gave me the opportunity to see how much my customers would pay for the cookies so in the survey I put in how much they’d pay for 1 and how much they’d pay for 4 so I’d see the difference between how much they’d pay for a big and small batch.
The median price for the vanilla was $1.50, chocolate was $1.25 and lemon was $1.50. Getting these opinions then showed me how much to sell my cookies for, so I decided that I’d sell 1 for $1.50. In terms of the bigger batches of cookies the median prices for vanilla $4, for chocolate $4 and for lemon $5. In my opinion I wasn’t going to sell a big batch of cookies for that much as it would cost me 50cents to produce 1 cookie meaning that my unit price was $1. I’m still unsure about how much to sell the pack of 4 cookies for but am thinking about either $3 which would give me a $1 unit price or $3.50 which would give me a $1.50 unit price.
Some things that I would like to improve from my product validation market in terms of presentation and advertising would be to think about the presentation of my stall before the day of the market as when it came to the day the only things that I had was 1 poster and my cookies in a box meaning that it wasn’t as clear what flavour the different cookies were. I’d say that I also wasn’t the clearest in terms of what my customers were required to do and should’ve made a poster on what to do as many customers kept on continuously asking “How much do they cost” and their understanding of what was required wasn’t the clearest.
How I presented my cookies for the market
To me the most important thing is to see ways how you can improve your cookies. In the last question which was optional I asked them to give any ways that I could improve. The first was to include a new flavour which was choc chip and the second was to make it softer and chewier.
Despite receiving good feedback and having no cookies left by the end there would be many things that I would want to improve on in terms of presentation for future markets. I was happy that we’d done this product validation and am excited to present my improved cookies at later markets after I continue with more ideating.
At first when starting this cookie business, I was thinking cookies will be easy enough to make, icing might consist of a bit of trial and error but would still be reasonably easy. Well lets just say looking back at that now, I was extremely wrong and that we ‘flearning’ is just part of life and that sometimes you need to celebrate your failures.
My plan for the production of the cookies was to make the icing the day before so that it would be a bit thicker when I iced it and when it came to the actual making the day after I would make 3 different types of the base cookies which consisted of cocoa, lemon and vanilla. I would then allow them to cool and ice different designs on to them which included reindeers, snowmen, marble and flowers.
Original ingredients for recipe
To be able to make these cookies with minimal cost and not having to mess around looking at lots of recipes I decided to find one that had simple and cheap ingredients that would be bland but once I customise and add the lemons/vanilla/cocoa would be full of flavour.
My altered ingredient list for each recipe
I was unsure about what cookie designs to put on the cookies so I decided that I would find some inspiration on pintrest then get feedback from different people. The feedback that I received was definitely constructive as people said that some of the Christmas ones looked a bit creepy and that the doughnuts had warts. Then based of this feedback I decided that I was going to make 4 different designs; marbling, snowman, flowers & reindeer.
Christmas themedDoughnuts
When I’d started making the cookies everything was running smoothly as I’d prepared the icing the day before and left it to chill overnight, made the cookie dough in the morning and left it in the fridge for a few hours. Then all of a sudden lots started to go wrong. While the cookies were sitting in the oven some were kind of deflating and becoming larger and thinner while others were staying the same shape. I didn’t understand the reason behind it, as the dough came from the same batches and before putting them in the oven insured that they were all a similar thickness. After this I continued to persevere and thought that it will be fine I can just slightly alter some of the designs when I ice them.
The different types of cookie doughIcing bag prep
So I allowed the cookies to then cool overnight then would ice them the next day, except that also didn’t go very well. The first design that I was going to ice on was the marbled ones, so I used a tutorial that I’d previously found in YouTube the day before that seemed easy enough. Next time when someone says Before doing something make sure that it’s within your limits and if it isn’t at least learn how to from an ‘expert’ as I seriously should’ve thought about that before starting.
The icing didn’t turn out very well as it was just making biggest mess ever therefore wasting most of the icing, didn’t look appealing and tasted way too sweet on top of the cookie. I then asked for an opinion from my Dad who recommended doing swirls on top as it wouldn’t make the icing too sweet on top and despite not looking the best would be better than previously.
Final product of the cookies
But sometimes you just have to view this in a different way as across life nothing’s ever going to be perfect and that we learn from our failures and that sometimes you have to celebrate them.
For Innovation and Leadership one of the projects that we did was the Side-hustle. Our aim was to create a product/service for the community. One of our first steps in creating our product was the ideation of the product. The way how we did this was through creating an Ikigai.
The Ikigai consisted of 4 main categories
What you are good at
What you can be paid for
What you love
What the world needs
That then intersected into 4 components of the ikigai.
Passion
Mission
Profession
Vocation
Using the ikigai we then listed 3 things relating to the categories. After completing them we had this focus group throughout the class where we would look and discuss with a partner at our classmates ikigai about potential goods or services to sell at markets, this process would’ve continued for everyone in the class.
The recommendations that I received were all products which were: A cookbook Healthy snacks for athletes on the go Sports therapy stress less sessions Sport coaching Dog walker Bakery stand
Using the recommendations, I then brainstormed some ideas of what I personally have enjoyed. My decision for the product that I would make would be cookies with different flavoured bases that have custom designs iced onto the cookie that vary from different themes including Christmas and nature.
Using the ikigai had helped me come up with many unique products and services that I could’ve potentially done.
In the early hours of February 26th, 2010, Josh Warneke, age 21 years was found dead, lying on the side of Old Broome Road. He was last seen walking home after a night out with friends in Broome and to this day no one knows what happened to him. In the decade after his murder, lots occurred including the wrongful imprisonment of Kiwirrkurra man Gene Gibson, the mother of Josh is still seeking for answers to this day. Within the time that Gene was being investigated there were many principles of justice that were abused, and it was only towards when he applied for an appeal where they were starting to properly be followed.
There are several of principles of justice that are designed to create equality and freedom for all in the court of law within Australia. This means that everyone is to be treated fairly no matter who they are when undergoing trial or being investigated.
An example of some principles of justice includes the Indigenous to be read out the Anunga guidelines when being investigated or arrested. These guidelines consist of many rights including the right to an interpreter if they can’t understand or speak English fluently, to be cautioned properly by a police officer, right to legal aid if they’re financially disadvantaged or otherwise also have the right to hire their own lawyer, a friend of the prisoner is permitted to be present but only if they will support them. Police intimidation of witnesses is also forbidden which is where police pressure a witness/suspect into pleading or making a false confession, right to appeal meaning that if the accused believes that their sentence unjust and wants to have their sentence either decreased or quashed altogether. These principles of justice are used to protect us all but are sometimes abused by the police as they’re extremely high in power and can disadvantage an individual throughout the course of an investigation which is what occurred in the Gene Gibson case.
One of the many principles that was violated in the Gene Gibson case is that everyone is equal by the law. This was abused as Gene was an Indigenous man meaning that the Anunga guidelines were supposed to be read out to him when being interviewed by police but no attempt was made for them to be read out. Some of the rights within the Anunga guidelines include a caution to the right of silence which he wasn’t informed about, wasn’t told about his right to legal aid until quite late in the case and the right to a trained interpreter which he wasn’t provided with in the interviews as he only had a fellow indigenous elder with him who was pressuring him into saying what the police wanted to hear. These examples have demonstrated that Gene wasn’t treated fairly or with equability before the law.
Gene Gibson(before to right & after to left from his wrongful conviction)
Another element of the Gene Gibson case that represented a miscarriage of justice was the police intimidation of witnesses. This means that police pressure a witness/suspect into pleading to a guilty verdict or providing false evidence that can help lead to the conviction of a suspect. To me this was one of the main factors that lead to his wrongful prosecution, if Gene understood better and decided to plead not guilty then the police would have presented the confession in which they pressured Gene to explain what happened so that it would place him, where Josh was found and similarly fit what the forensic pathologists found to be what occurred during the feud based on Josh’ injuries and what his cause of death was. Except the confession that Gene made, he was pressured to say by police and an Indigenous elder who were pressuring him into telling him what the police wanted to hear. As Gene’s first language wasn’t English and he was a ‘people pleaser’ this made it even easier for the police to get that false confession. This example has demonstrated that police intimidation of witnesses was a key element that led to Gene’s wrongful imprisonment.
Photo of the victim Josh Wareneke
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A cross in the location where Josh was found dead, on the side of Old Broome road
Ingrid Bishop the victim’s mother who vowed for Gene’s release after wrongful imprisonment
Gene gibson exiting Casuarina prison after he was released
An element of the Gene Gibson case that was supported was the right to an appeal. After serving nearly 5 years in prison, his legal team and the victim’s mother Ingrid Bishop applied and supported for Gene to get an appeal against his sentence meaning that his case could have the possibility to be overturned which the judge eventually granted for his case to be heard again. The right to an appeal means that the accused has the potential to have a reduced sentence or for it to just be quashed altogether. When Gene’s case was heard in the Western Australian Court of Appeal the judge quashed his conviction because of the many miscarriages of justice that occurred including police intimidation of witnesses and the right to equability as well as there being no concrete proof, only his forced confession.
In the end after his wrongful imprisonment, he was given $1.5million compensation. This shows what the miscarriages of justice can lead to as this forever affects the victim and will change their life forever as there will always be this scar within them from this tragic event. Josh’s killer hasn’t been caught to this day and his mother is still seeking closure in this case.
As a psychologists and psychotherapists you investigate, assess and provide treatment and counselling to foster optimal personal, social, educational and occupational adjustment and development.
There is a massive gender split for psychologists with women dominating 80% of the workforce.
The number of psychologists between all the states is quite intriguing to see that 33.8% in NSW compared to just 0.6% in Northern Territory
In terms of the age-group middle age people seem to be the most common for psychologists as you are required to have a post-graduate degree in psychology and a period of supervised practice is also required. The number of psychologists is expected to grow massively from 36,100 in 2020 to 44,400 in 2025 were future growth potential is strong.
Below I have attached a video on what the day in the life of a psychologist looks like but because of covid working form home in this one
After semester 1 where we created our business Pen & paper we felt as if we had more to us so we went to something completely different and went to candles. Yes, that’s right we created a new business called SoyNatural Candles, but they weren’t any ordinary ones otherwise how would we be able to sell them ours were infused with natural plants and herbs that came out of our back garden and were made with soy wax meaning that it’s better for the environment. We chose to make candles because there was currently a big demand for them at the time and we also wanted to try new things.
Some challenges that our group faced during the process of this include finding decent priced soy wax as we didn’t want to harm the environment by using paraffin wax as well as finding a way to make them unique. We also had to do all of our production at someone’s house as we were required to melt the wax in a saucepan and keep the herbs and plants fresh when we put them in there. After our first market we found out something that had been happening to our candles. They were going mouldy because the plants had lots of air but this was easily solved by just covering the plants in the wax meaning that the plants wouldn’t have any air so that they’d mould.
During the production of our candles we would meet up every fortnight after school to produce our candles as we had 2 markets in that term and had to complete lots of pre-orders. Luckily we were able to produce them in bulks as we’d fill up the saucepan about halfway and 1 person would keep an eye on it while stirring while the other 2 would put the plants/herbs and wick inside of the jar meaning that we’d be able to produce them quite fast as we could allow the wax to dry overnight.
Some improvements and additions that we’d made to our candles include adding more plants and herbs as well as new sizes. We’d originally only had 1 size candle which was 150ml which would be infused with either flower petals or rosemary. After the first market we then added a new size which was 300ml and add new plants and herbs which were holy basil, lavender and some cute pink flowers. We’d constantly post on our social media page taking aesthetic pictures trying to get the word out of our business.
Altogether our business was quite successful and we were able to make $50 profit each.
Over life you can improve yourself in many ways and learn lots of news things. In life skills we have been looking at neuroplasticity, training your brain, resilience/grit and happiness. Over the lessons that we have been learning about all of this I have learnt many things on different ways that we can think about the world and change our lives.
I never knew that neuroplasticity was a thing, but I have learnt that it’s the ability of the nervous system to change in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganising its structure, function and connection. Neuroplasticity represents how the ability of the brain can adapt and change over time to be able to master new skills, store memories and information.
Do you believe that it’s possible to train your brain, well guess what it is. Training your brain is a program of regular activities claimed to maintain or improve one’s cognitive abilities. Some different that you can train your brain include doing puzzles, playing cards and building your vocabulary. You can also improve your reaction times. The main way to training your brain is to practice which will help improve it.
In life you must require resilience to move past obstacles and challenges. You might encounter this really hard question in a maths test that you can’t remember how to solve, and you might want to give up but part of having resilience is to not give up so you keep on trying until you get it. Trust me afterwards you’ll be pleased that you didn’t give up which helps build your resilience. Grit is also somehow similar but also represents someone having courage such as Nick Vujicic, he was born without any arms and les but doesn’t let any obstacle in life stop him from being who he is. Since Nick had Grit he has now become a motivational speaker, painter, swimmer and skydiver. He can even steer a boat with the one foot he has which he’s very grateful for. If Nick didn’t have Grit none of this would have been possible for him.
The key to life, happiness. It is a sense of joy which you can feel when you’re successful, lucky, safe and much more. Happiness is something that will most likely naturally come and it’s not something we learn but we just feel. Even if you have a time when you’re unhappy you can always find happiness as Eddie Jaku. During World War II he was imprisoned in 2 concentration camps as a child. He’s still alive at 101 and he calls himself the happiest man alive. This shows that no matter your circumstances or what has happened in the past you can always find happiness.
Doing all of these things will help you to have a happy, healthy life, be resilient and have a strong brain both mentally and physically.
