Blog Post #2 - Michael Navarrete

 Michael Navarrete                                            SPC1017-2462                                                  Prof. Sinkoff

 

This second and last blog post will be going over my thoughts on each groups theme presentations on Changemakers from the 1700s to present time today. I found this idea interesting because there may be some opportunities for some group members to talk about people who we have probably never heard about like James Baldwin or Aaron Burr.

 

 

Starting with group one’s presentation, they chose to work on the 1700s to 1800s of Changemakers in the United States. There were four total subjects to pick but since the class had three groups in total, one group would have to tackle both 1700s and 1800s. At the same time, it also gives them more people to choose from, which is an advantage somewhat. One choice I did find interesting was that group one specifically chose to cover 1776 to the 1890s. Each group member’s presentations were also great. They did only one slide for each Changemaker, which made it a quick and smooth presentation. The members were able to give all important information in just one slide which is effective in not making the presentation boring to listen to. Not that I am saying long presentations that go over everything are boring, just the way this group executed that idea was good. Unless they did just not want to add too many slides, which is understandable. When it comes to the 1700s to 1800s, it is always interesting to listen about people who made changes that still have its effects in our current society because not a lot of people were brave enough to take a stand and demand change during those tough and strict times. For example, there is Harriet Tubman who’s work directly led to the thirteenth amendment that abolished slavery. Another example would be Susan B. Anthony, who helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment which helped women have the right to vote. These two are perfect examples of changemaking that still have its helpful effects today. If it weren’t for these pioneers then we would probably be living in much darker, struggling times. Nonetheless, group one did excellent on their presentation on their Changemakers from the 1700s to the 1800s.

 

 

The next group, being group two, did their presentation on the 1900s which I would say kickstarted modern times. A lot of things happened in the 1900s that still have its effects today, so I would say this century is an important subject to talk about. There were also many Changemakers that came from this period of time, many who we know of and others who we probably have not heard of before. For example, Marie Curie, John Mitchell, and James Baldwin were three people who I was not familiar with until this presentation by group two. Group two’s presentation performance was also great, and compared to group one’s presentation, some members used more than one slide to talk about their Changemaker. A strange thing to nitpick, but something to talk about nonetheless. Another thing is that we were required to add a video of an interview featuring one of these Changemakers to give us an in-depth view of their life. Of course, in group one’s situation, none of the people that were talked about had an interview in their time. But starting with group two, we watched an interview that had Neil Armstrong talk about his space travel and what that experience is like. Mr. Armstrong also talks about some behind-the-scenes information of what goes on before launching a spacecraft which was interesting. Not a lot of people can go to space so this is a special moment to hold. The presentation from group two was great to listen to, with each group member giving an awesome performance.

 

 

The final group presentation was group three, in which we talked about the Changemakers from the 2000s to the present time. We talked about many people who we are familiar with, but there were three Changemakers who I was not familiar with. Those people were Dr. Francis Collins, Tom Szaky, and Jennifer Doudna. Going back to what I said at the beginning of this post, it is cool to learn about people who have changed the world in different ways. We had a lot of time to work on this presentation, so naturally most of us were already done with the actual presentation in just a week. This project was also more fun to work on than the chapter presentations, because this involved more creativity than just making a review on a chapter from the class book. We also had other assignments to complete along with this presentation, so it was a lot to juggle in just two weeks. For my Changemaker, I decided to choose Barack Obama. I came to this idea as I simply search for Changemakers from the 2000s to present time, and Barack Obama showed up so it was not a hard decision to make. Our presentation went smoothly, with two videos being featured. One of the videos was about how Barack Obama became the person he is today, and the other video was on a successful SpaceX rocket landing. At the end of the presentation, we also had to present a slide of a brochure on the Changemakers each group member picked. Compared to the other group brochures, ours was not that visually appealing. But I do not really care because everything else about our project was well done. My favorite brochure had to have been group two’s as theirs looked very nice. A photo of the brochure will be shown below for reference.

 

 

These presentations in the end were really engaging and fun to participate in, and I’m glad everyone’s work didn’t go unnoticed. Especially the subjects themselves, the Changemakers who made history and current Changemakers who are continuing these people’s legacy not just in the United States, but around the world as well. I hope the next presentation goes just as well and that we have some fun coming up with ideas on what to present! Thank you for reading this post!