Social Studies Letter to the United Nations

Dear the United Nations,

We are two concerned and curious eighth grade students from the Singapore American School. This year in Social Studies we focused on everyday people and the role they play in this world, as part of the human race. Through our many studies and multiple guest speakers, we were introduced to the different points of view in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Patrick Daly, director of the movie David, was also able to share with us his opinion on the issue based off of his experiences in Israel. Through all this, what stuck with us most was the Palestinian Refugees problem. We wonder, why, even with it’s own organization working to fix it, is this problem not yet solved? Why, 40 years later, are the refugee camps growing instead of shrinking in size?

As one out of the 762,228 refugees in Syria, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) promised Sameetha a proper education for her children and food, water, and medical facilities for her family, but instead what did she get? She now lives in a crumbling makeshift city in Syria and has accepted the fact that she and her children will be stuck in this refugee poverty cycle for life. There are thousands of cries for help from Palestinian refugees who need a home, but is anyone really listening?

The UNRWA’s counterpart, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has instead, during the 21st century, been able to find tens of millions of durable solutions for refugees around the world. We firmly believe that the UNRWA should adopt UNHCR’s principles. The UNRWA should be proactive in getting its refugee’s- if wanted- a citizenship for other countries. The UNRWA should make sure that the label of a “refugee” is not transferable throughout generations, as it is now. If the UNRWA does not adopt these principles, the amount of Palestinian refugees in the world will continue to grow, rapidly. Following these guidelines, there will also be a better chance for refugees, like Sameetha, to get out of the poverty cycle and live a stable life.

Beyond the fact that the UNRWA needs to become more proactive in this issue, the UNRWA also needs to be using its resources more wisely. The UN spends three times the amount money in funding the UNRWA compared to the UNHCR, and it also has 30 times the employee's. Although the UNRWA’s intentions were originally good, they have not been able to produce enough durable settlement solutions for these millions of Palestinian Refugees. With all the money given to the UNRWA from the UN, the UNRWA should be ahead of the UNHCR in solving this issue of refugees. However, on the contrary, it seems that the UNRWA is not using its resources to its’ greatest potential and has not been able to produce sagacious enough solutions.

We understand this refugee predicament is not as simple as it may look, but at the end of the day, all Palestinians just want to go back to their homes in Israel. They might refuse the thought of settling with a citizenship to any other country, however, during this conflict in the Middle East, a whole new generation of refugees have been born. A whole new generation who only know the life of a barely education, dehydrated, and unfed refugee that has never even been to Israel. the UNRWA should begin to find new places for these people to live, since it is clear they won’t be able to return to Israel within the foreseeable future. UNRWA should put its money and funding towards helping families who want a citizenship and are willing to rebuild their lives in a safer and more stable country somewhere else. They could help a family start a new life in, say, Australia. With opportunities like this, many Palestinian Refugees will likely jump on the bandwagon and slowly start to rebuild their lives in a secure, risk free, and more developed community.

If, even after that, refugees are still adamant against becoming a citizen to other countries, the UNRWA should put their fundings towards improving its refugee camps. Right now, refugees are living in worn out, unsafe, and dilapidated communities with little access to basic education and healthcare facilities. According to the UNRWA’s website, 479,519 refugees are currently given a basic education, 344,493 refugees have been granted a loan, and 3.1 million refugees have access to basic healthcare. However, this is nothing compared to the noted 6.5 million Palestinian Refugees in the world right now, keeping in mind that one in three worldwide refugees is Palestinian. At the moment, it seems to be as if the UNRWA is trying to keep these refugees as refugees in the poverty cycle for generations and generations to come. Yet, with so many Palestinian Refugees in this world right now, the UNRWA needs to use its money more sensibly and cautiously.

The UNRWA should not just believe in protecting Palestinians Refugees’ rights as refugees, but also their rights as human beings. By changing the UNRWA’s principles and by spending its funds more wisely, the refugee problem which has remained unsolved for forty years can finally have a solution. Everyone deserves a home, whether its in Israel, Palestine, or anywhere else. The United Nations, the UNRWA has the potential to give millions of people a home, they just need to realize that promise. We sincerely hope you consider our suggestions.

From concerned students,

Anya Devgan and Riley Britson

Annotated Bibliography:

1.

During the 30 minutes, after his speech in the auditorium, Patrick Daly, helped Riley and I to find our voices on this issue and what kind of a change we wanted to see for the Palestinian Refugees in the near future.

2.

"What We Do UNRWA." UNRWA. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do

This website was found on the SAS Library database and we knew we could trust it as it is the official website for the UNRWA. After reading about what an amazing organization the UNHCR is, this website helped to put things into perspective. We also used most of the statistics from the website in our piece as evidence and proof of the UNRWA’s work and achievements. This site also helped us to notice that the UNRWA is not necessarily a “bad” organization, it has helped a lot of people and to help the rest it just needs some guiding into the right direction. It also gave us a view on what kind of an organization the UNRWA sees itself as and its accomplishments that they are truly proud of.

3.

"UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2013: Chapter 6 - Demographic and Location Data." UNHCR News. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.unhcr.org/54cf9a8f9.html

This website was accessed from the SAS Library Website’s database. This website was very helpful in the way that it gave us a very detailed insight into what the UNHCR is like as an organization compared to the UNRWA. We also really appreciate finding this website as it- through tons of graphs, tables, and stories- was able to give us a varied amount of information on refugees from around the world. This assisted us in realising that there are so many solutions possible to help the millions of Palestinian Refugees that are suffering. It also aided in realising that with the right principles and outlook on the problem, it’s possible for an organization like the UNRWA to reach and touch so many struggling refugees’ lives, which connected to part of our final solution.

4.

"Life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp." Life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/ref-halsell.html

This article, found from the SAS Library Website’s database, was where we discovered the story of Sameetha and her family. After learning about all the facts and statistics involved in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, it was interesting and very helpful to read about someone’s real life experiences as a Palestinian Refugee. This article included daily testimonials in what life as a regular, impoverished, Palestinian Refugee was like and how hard they had it. It also helped us to understand that through all the politics, numbers, and money, there is a real, growing, and hurting problem affecting millions of people. It doesn’t matter how old or how young, these millions of Palestinian Refugees are hurting and just barely scraping by, stuck in a never ending poverty cycle for generations to come.

5.

"Syria On Track To Become World's Largest Source Of Refugees." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/02/28/283991476/syria-on-track-to-become-worlds-largest-source-of-refugees

Being one of the very first we looked at, we accessed this article from the SAS Library Website’s database. Though there was a four minute long voice recording on the life of a Palestinian refugee in Syria, just looking at the picture at the beginning of the article, really put things into perspective. Since the article had a lot of facts and statistics, we decided to integrate it into our piece, helping to make our argument more powerful. This article also helped us to understand that though some people might not acknowledge this issue of Palestinian refugees as not big a problem as ISIS, there are still so many of these refugees living in crumbling and horrifically scaring settlements, that we should be ashamed.

6.

"Palestine-Israel Journal: The Palestinian Refugee Problem: A Possible Solution." Palestine-Israel Journal: The Palestinian Refugee Problem: A Possible Solution. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=601

This article is similar to the one written above as a solution-based argument to the United Nations. So, we decided to use this piece as a kind of mentor text which gave us lots of important background information and examples of solutions. Originally, we had a lot of trouble figuring out what our solution to the very complex and tricky Palestinian Refugees conflict should be, we really appreciated finding this article. From reading about the proposed solutions and ways people have been trying to help, we began to change our solutions a bit, growing them to become, at the end of the day, plausible and reasonable resolutions.

7.

"The Most Practical Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." The Most Practical Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_135.html

This site really went in depth about the conflict and we were able to learn a lot from it. Similar to our’s, it talked all about the problem of UNRWA as an organization set aside only for Palestinian Refugees, and how it isn’t really solving any problems, circling back to that idea of unrealized promise. Being another exemplar that we looked up to, it had points similar to the ones we wanted to make in our letter to the United Nations, so we built off some of the ideas presented in this article.   

8.

"UN Photo Archive Tells Story of Palestinian Refugees." The Times of Israel. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-photo-archive-tells-story-of-palestinian-refugees/

We mostly used this website for its statistics and eye-opening photos. It is really amazing to see, through the lense of a camera and presented as a photo, the kind of life and horror millions of Palestinian refugees face in their day to day lives. This website really put everything into perspective, because when we scrolled down and read further into the article, we realized that it was so much more effective and powerful to instead of reading about it, actually see it. Compared to the still very important statistics, being able to actually see these photos, helped us to see the full picture.

History Alive! Project

My task is to bring a topic from an era that I have studied this past semester to life in a deep, relevant, informative, and engaging way.

I need to consider the use of images, words, recordings, text, and music, to tell the story of my topic. My organized final product will reflect my strong research, connect to modern day life in a relevant way, and include a comparison of perspectives. In short, I will craft a superb story.

Project Details What is the topic and thesis for your project? How did you learn or become interested in your topic? How did you research your topic? Why did you select this category? Exhibit? Performance? Documentary? How does your topic fit our unit theme (Civil War to Civil Rights: Protest & Perseverance)	1. Topic: Susan B. Anthony Thesis: Not only did Susan B. Anthony fight against all gender related stereotypes to have her voice heard in the United States, but also implemented her ideas into actions. 2. I had to click on a couple of topics to learn my final topic of Susan B. Anthony. I first went to women’s rights, then the women’s rights movement, and then the woman suffrage movement. Once I started learning about the woman suffrage movement I found out that Susan B. Anthony was a very influential person that helped fight for all women’s right to vote. And though Susan B. Anthony didn’t get what she was fighting for during the period of her lifetime, she was successful in ensuring women’s rights to vote in a couple of years due to the 19th amendment. 3. Using the databases given on the bookmark Riley got from Mr. Starker. The three main websites I used from the HS online databases, was GALE’S Menu Page, SIRS, and Discovery Education. The website that I found most helpful was GALE’S Menu Page. This site gave me so much information on Susan B. Anthony and to make things even better, I knew that I could trust these sources because they were from a reliable database found my Mr. Starker. I also really liked SIRS as it told me which sites were primary sources, which were secondary sources and gave me a better idea of the different sources available to me. Discovery Education gave me really amazing photos of Susan B. Anthony as primary sources. 4. I'm going to do an exhibit that covers the topic of Susan B. Anthony and only put in information that supports my thesis, which is: Not only did Susan B. Anthony fight against all gender related stereotypes to have her voice heard in the United States, but also implemented her ideas into actions. Along with my exhibit I want to give a my audience something to be interested in while I'm presenting my exhibit. I wanted to while presenting my information and educating my audience to interact with them. I will try to imitate the life of Susan B. Anthony and what she went through to be this amazing spokes person for mainly the women's suffrage movement. 5. Susan B. Anthony, throughout her lifetime, fought for civil rights and what she believed in. Whether it was fighting against slavery, fighting to reduce the consumption and sell of alcohol in the U.S., or even fighting to give all women the right to be politically active and able to vote. No one gave her what she wanted on a silver platter, she had to protest against the set rules and regulations, protest against the stereotypes, and persevere through the tough times.
Logistics of the Project: Where will notes/work be stored? How will resources used be tracked and separated into primary and secondary sources? How will time in class and outside of class be best utilized? If you’re working with a partner, which parts of the project are assigned to which person- How is the work being split?	1. The notes will be stored on the document titled “History Alive Research". 2. On a separate document titled “Bibliography” I will store all my sources. The sources will be divided into primary sources or secondary sources and within that, photos or websites. This information will also be posted on the same History Alive Research document mentioned above. 3. I will write all of my script work and find all my pictures during class time and put together my exhibit at home. I will also write my 500 word story or information pieces during my class time. 4. I’m not working with a partner. *** All of my documents, important work, and information will be stored on a document title “History Alive! Master Doc”. This document is placed in my shared folder under a folder called “History Alive! Project”.

Modern Day Slavery

Our unit was called Civil War to Civil Rights in which we learnt a lot about the 17th to 18th century slavery in America. One activity we did was mimicking the process of cotton picking and the punishments that followed if you didn't clean enough cotton. This task helped me understand the realities of slavery and the inhumane treatment that came with it. For example, slaves would have to work through the hot summer days from dusk to dawn trying to pick at least 200 pounds of cotton, they barely had anything to wear, they were only addressed by the Christian name their master gave them, and if they even picked a couple pounds less of cotton the overseer would be sure to have them whipped.

Also we moved on from the 1700s and 1800s slavery we started to learn about modern day slavery, and in my opinion modern day slavery was just as bad or maybe even worse that the old slavery. In the high school there was a photo gallery depicting examples of modern day slavery that made me feel horrible. One painting in the photo gallery that really struck me was of a little girl who was beaten and then put into a bath tub filled with hot water and cut chiles. I don't think that anyone of us could relate with the pain she must've felt. After seeing this picture I was furious- how could anyone beat an innocent, naive, little girl and then to make things even worse stick her into a bath tub filled with excruciating pain? What did the little girl do that was so terrible that she deserved to be treated like this? Didn't her master have a heart, how could he/she just stand there and watch?

As we were learning more about modern day slavery, I came across the story of a man named Miguel whose son got cancer, but he couldn't pay for the medical attention off the salary he was earning in Mexico so he decided to go to the U.S. Unfortunately, he didn't have the cash to pay for his journey to America so he accepted an offer to get a ride "now" and pay "later". Miguel was then enslaved in the orange groves of Florida. As an enslaved human being, Miguel and his other fellow workers were threatened with violence every day. Miguel's form of slavery bonded slavery. From the moment he agreed to get on the ride to Florida, Miguel was charged with fees for everything- food, water, shelter, etc. Adding everything up you would find that Miguel would really never be able to pay his debt, and so would probably forever be enslaved in the orange groves of Florida. 

One solution to modern day slavery around the world is being a conscious buyer. Before you buy something, ask the people selling the product questions and find out if it was made by slaves. You can also boycott companies and products that rely in slavery. Or maybe even organize a fundraiser that helps raise and donate money to anti trafficking foundations or any other foundations that are trying to put an end to slavery. You could also start or sign a petition that asks governments to crack down on companies and cases of slavery with more authority. Even calling a hotline might do the trick. Anyone can call 1-888-373-7888 or 1-866-347-2423 (The National Human Resource Center and the U.S. department of Homeland Security) to report a human trafficking case or suspicious behavior on the topic. Lastly, governments should cancel some debts for people eligible for people eligible for welfare, gross and net income, size of the family, any crisis situations such as medical emergencies, pregnancy, homelessness or unemployment. For example, in Croatia the government made with major local banks leading telecom operators, the four biggest Croatian cities and several public utility companies, will cancel the debt of about 60,000 of Croatia's poorest citizens. I feel that governments cancelling the debts of people who are struggling financially will help eliminate people getting enslaved into bonded slavery.

Multicultural America Project

https://sites.google.com/a/sas.edu.sg/anya-devgan-multicultural-project-2014/

I compared and contrasted my family’s culture to the historic journey of immigrants to America that share my ethnic background.

SS Globalization Project Reflection- Earth Hour

How has it transformed our world?
Earth Hour has greatly transformed our world. Nowadays on March 28th from 8:30-9:30pm earth hour is celebrated around the world. From 8:30-9:30 people and families all around the world turn off all their electricity and participate in earth hour. In our poster that we made to teach our peers about earth hour, we showed that in every continent, even Antarctica, people celebrate earth hour. This year 5251 cities and towns, 135 countries, and 1.8 billion people celebrate earth hour. Also, since earth hour is celebrated around the world, many people know about the organization. With the publicity that this organization has, people know about it and know that they can donate money. Earth hour supports many organizations that helps many impoverished countries in need of help and electricity. Some organizations that earth hour supports are: red cross, flame called hope, lights 4 stripes, bancas for the Philippines, stoves to protect pandas, and light up a village.

What is some cool/interesting you found out?
Something cool about earth hour is that the icon/super hero/role model is spider man. So on the hour of earth hour spider man came to marina bay sands to celebrate with the people. Mostly all the lights were shut off and there were many candles. Also earth hour first started in Sydney and then slowly countries around the world started to copy Sydney. The first country that copied Sydney was San Francisco, this was the first part of globalization for earth hour.

UN Day- Blog Reflection

1. Give a brief description of UN Day and the activities you undertook.

RLA: In RLA we had these two amazing poets come in and share with us some of their knowledge. They taught us quite a lot about themselves as writers and taught us some tips and advice when writing poetry. Then they taught us about P.I.P.E.S. which stands for projection, inflection, practice, eye contact, and stance. The next day we had a large poetry reading in the library. In this poetry reading we got to put our names into a ballot box where the poets would call out our names and then we would be able to recite one piece of poetry that we wrote to all our peers, teachers, and our guest poets.

Math: In math we did a lot of logical and debatable reasoning and discussing. So one thing that we did was playing the role of hospital in a country where liver transplants were needed and were very rare to get, so we had to pick out of 10 people which 4 we would save. To decide which people to save we had to think of the important factors such as age, importance, role, money, etc. The next thing we did was model people in the UN who represent different countries. Based on our countries per family monthly income we would debate over food, shelter, and medical care. The country that debated for the most money would win the basic needs debated on, but we soon came to the decision that this was unfair. It was unfair because some countries weren’t as fortunate so they weren’t getting anything, so then we came up with an agreement that suited most of the countries.

PE: With a partner or alone we carried different sizes of buckets around the track for two laps. This was to stimulate how people in poor countries who didn’t have access to clean water nearby had to walk long and tiring journeys just so that they would be able to survive. They needed to take 10 mile walks at the most just to get something that we all take for granted- water. This was a very tiring experience and it made my arm, back, and legs hurt. It was also very hard to walk without spilling any water under the hot sun.

Science: In science we the most interesting game which actually had a lot of meaning hidden behind it. In this game we were split up by sides and needed to get a source of food, water, and medical aid. We had a box that needed to be filled with rice grains to symbolize food, another box that needed to be filled with water to symbolize water, and a box that needed to be filled with 20 ribbon to symbolize medical aid. We had to in pairs had to run into science rooms to get these supplies and the quickest team to get them won. But what we realized was that the game was also unfair. A side was closer than any side to all the facilities, the teachers were helping them, and they had bigger spoons and cups to get water and food with. This conveyed what different countries were going through and how sometimes things can be unjust. In developing countries things are harder to get and sometimes resources are limited, but in more developed countries they have more advantages and they can get their basic needs.

Food Festival: All of the students brought in food that was connected with a country that they felt was important to them. Then they brought it to the cafeteria where we had 3 tables of a variety of food. Then for lunch we got to experience different kinds of food from around the world.

2. Choose two questions from the list below to answer thoroughly, using descriptions and detail.

• Did you learn a new skill or discover an interest during UN Day?

A new interest that I have discovered was debating with reasoning and learning about how the UN works. We participated in this activity in Math class and I really enjoyed it. I loved how we got to debate with other students in the class over who to give a liver transplant to so that they could survive. I like understanding about the individuals could and have affected the country and their contributions to the development of the country. I also liked the idea of being a country in the UN and having a certain amount of money and coming up with solutions to fix the unjust. This stimulation was very real because we even learnt that the countries who have seemed to won world war II had more power over voting and the decisions that were made.

• During UN Day, did you hear, smell, or feel anything that surprised you?

I felt a lot of unjust, unfairness, and sorrow during UN Day. When we were stimulating the game in science of getting our basic needs I felt as if we were being cheated. As if something wasn’t right and some countries (sides) were being treated differently because of different circumstances. I also felt really fortunate and sad for the people who carry these huge buckets of water for long distances underneath the hot sun. This taught me not to take water and my life for granted. Also in math I felt kind of bad for the groups who were poor countries and didn’t have a lot of money. They really didn’t have any choice and they couldn’t do anything about their situation. This got me to thinking about how the UN has a very important purpose to make things as fair as possible.

• How was your UN Day experience different from what you expected?

I thought that the UN day was like what we did in elementary school. I thought that we would learn about all the different cultures in the world and do activities based on those cultures. But actually this experience was actually much funner and more engaging. It taught us something different about the world and gave us a new perspective on life. This was a very engaging day as it was something new. Most of us who have been at SAS for a long time are used to the normal UN day but this was different and funner. I also really liked how the activities that we did were not only entertaining but also taught us a lot through them.  

• What do you view differently now because of your experiences during UN Day?

I view the difference between developing, almost developed, and developed countries differently and how important the UN is. I already knew that there was a difference between the amount of money the countries made and the difference between the qualities of life. I already know that the UN helps countries with their issues and solves problems. But now I realize that the countries maybe just needed some help, maybe they felt as if they weren’t being treated fairly. Maybe they just needed that little boost that advantage. If that wasn’t possible then maybe they just needed an agreement something that sets them the same as other countries something that makes them equal. And that’s why they have the UN, to solve problems, come up with solutions, make things fair and right.

3. Choose 1 question from the list below to answer thoroughly, using descriptions and detail.

• If you could do UN Day again, what would you do the same or differently?

If I were to change anything about UN day I would change the RLA and PE activities. I’m not sure if the RLA activity was because of the authors or if it had to do with UN day for a reason. Maybe we could have a more related activity which helps teach us about the UN and the countries around the world. Maybe the activity was connected through public speaking in the UN, I’m not sure, so maybe they could have explained that. Also in PE some people were spilling 3/4 of the water out of their buckets so that the bucket would be lighter and easier for them to run around the track with twice. I thought that this was very bad and it just defeated the whole purpose of doing the activity. If the people weren’t giving it their all then why even bother, they wouldn’t have really understood what the less fortunate people were going through.

Here is my Poster

Digital Citizenship Agreement

During Science class we learned about the Digital Citizenship Agreement. In this class there were five main topics that we learnt about...

1. Respect and Protect Yourself:

• Be careful of your actions. Don't go around writing dumb or hurtful stuff. 
• Only write appropriate information. No inappropriate usernames or images.
• Consider what you share with people on the internet because it may affect you late on in life.
• Don't share ANY personal information online:
• Number, email, address, age, school, passwords, accounts, etc.
• Tell an adult if something bad is going on or you think that something isn't right. 
• Have a good balance between online and offline. 

2. Respect and Protect Others:

• Don't go online bullying people. And don't comment anything mean. Only say something that you would be able to say in public in front of someone's face, because it's way easier to say something rude online than offline.  
• Don't enter other people accounts or private spaces. 
• Don't share/ forward inappropriate materials. Don't post videos or pictures of people online.
• Don't share any personal information of anyone online. 

3. Respect and Protect Property:

• Don't download computer viruses or other odd softwares.
• Don't torrent or peer to peer. 
• Take care of the laptop and make sure that it stays in good shape. 
• Come to school with a fully charged battery, carrying it in the case that was given to us. 
• Don't leave my laptop unattended. Either leave it in my locker or with me in my hands. 
• Back up my data. 

4. Respect and Protect Intellectual Property:

• DON'T steal other people's hard work. 
• If you want pictures for a presentation or something don't just go on google and take any random photo, you have to make sure that the owner of this photo is allowing you to use their photo. 
• Don't just take songs or movies of random websites which give it to you for free, because then your torrenting and soon your computer will have viruses on it. It is also not fair to the owner of these things. 

5. Why the Digital Citizenship Agreement (DCA) is important:

• So that we know how to use our laptops properly and safely. 
• And know the guidelines.

Power Point

Here's a presentation I made in P.E. about using my laptop and the topics under this subject. I hope you enjoy!

How to Bookmark

Here is my video on how to bookmark pages on a MacBook Air. 

Explaining My Avatar

My avatar is a picture of ballet shoes with many designs on them. The reason that I drew ballet shoes is because I love to dance. The top laces that go around my ankles have the names 'Anya' and 'Riya' written. I wrote these names because Riya is my twin sister so I wanted to show that big and clear. On the other laces which criss-cross I have drawn pictures that symbolizes my personality, hobbies, tastes, etc. For my hobbies and tastes I have drawn a cupcake, a nail polish bottle, and math equations. The cupcake shows that I like lots of deserts. The nail polish bottle shows that I love painting my nails. The math equation show that I like math. For my personality I have drawn a smiley face, a heart, and two hands. The smiley face symbolizes how I am very cheerful. The heart symbolizes how I have a big heart. The two hands about to hold hands symbolizes how I am friendly.  On top of the criss-cross laces I have flags. One flag is the American flag and the second one is the Indian flag. I have these two flags drawn because I was born in America but I am from an Indian origin (my parents and ancestors are Indian). Below the criss-cross laces I have drawn an earth and a sun. The earth symbolizes how I have traveled and lived in many places. The little orange stars on the earth show that I have lived in five countries/cities/ states: New York, New Jersey, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and now Singapore. The sun shows that I love summer because it's holiday time and my birthday is in the summer. At the bottom of the ballet shoes I have drawn more hobbies of mine. For example, I drew: A book, water, art supplies, music notes, and a squash racquet. The book symbolizes how I love to read. The water symbolizes how I love to swim and go into the ocean. The art supplies symbolize that I like artistic things like drawing. The music notes symbolize that I like to listen to music. The squash racquet symbolizes that I like to play squash and other sports.