Salvete Omnes!

Hello! My name is Ciara and I’m currently a freshman at Kenwood Academy High School. So far, freshman year is the absolute worst. The homework is also unnecessary. Since I was at Kenwood’s academic center, I’m taking all sophomore classes.  My birthday is on December 19, 1999, which makes me a Sagittarius. I’m 14-years-old, 5’2, have brown hair and brown eyes. I love my hair and enjoy styling it. I also enjoy polishing my nails. I love love love fashion. I love love love listening to music and have become obsessed with PARTYNEXTDOOR, SZA, Drake, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, and more. My favorite social media as of now is Snapchat because, unlike Instagram, it’s not about competition or how many likes you have. Plus, people act really goofy. I love love LOVE my iPhone, but I want the 5s. I don’t want the 6 or 6 plus because it looks way too much like the galaxy, which I don’t like very much. I’m an only child, so I’m bored most of the time. I love my friends to death, but they can be a headache. I’m the only one out of all my friends who isn’t in a dance program at After School Matters. I’m extremely talkative and outspoken when I’m at school, but need to take a break every once in a while. So, you can say I’m shy I guess. When I grow up, I want to be either a Cardiologist, Neurologist, Psychologist, Astronomer, Lawyer, Politician, Nurse, Medical Examiner, Journalist, or a Teacher. I love watching movies and I love popcorn. My favorite T.V. shows are Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Castle, and Red Band Society. I love watching sports, but I have this love-hate relationship with basketball. I like it, but it's very aggravating. My favorite sport to watch, however, is football. And that's all you need to know about me for now. Bye! ;-).

Gonorrhea

by Devonte W.

I've been living in Cook County all of my life and never been educated about gonorrhea. I took some time to educate myself a little more and want to share the information I've learned with YOU. Parents, teachers, and mentors should always make it their business to teach sexual awareness. Although I didn't learn about Sex Ed in school I was taught sexual risks & warnings from a mentor. The reason I wasn't taught about subjects like STIs, Gonorrhea , and AIDs ,etc.; because it wasn't offered at my school. Cook County has the most gonorrhea cases in the country, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that can infect both men and women. It can cause infections in the genitals, rectum, and throat. It is a very common infection, especially among young people ages 15-24 years.

You can get gonorrhea by having unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has gonorrhea. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted bacterium. Reading a recent study from the CDC, I've learned that in the nation, Chicago ranks 1st and 2nd, respectively, for the highest rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections among young people aged 15–19 years . To help reduce these high rates of STIs and prevent HIV infection among youth, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) partnered with the Chicago Department of Public Health(DPH) to pilot an education and testing  project for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Overall In the 2010–2011 school year, 15 high schools participated  in the STI pilot testing project. For the 12 high schools that completed the pilot testing program during the 2010−2011 school year,

• 3,189 students received HIV/STI prevention education and 2,188 students were tested.

• 289 students tested positive for an STI; 280 have received treatment thus far.

To help educate more students that weren't informed, like me,  CPS has built a policy for sexual outlets in school. Below is the new policy

http://policy.cps.k12.il.us/download.aspx?ID=57

Dreams and Goals of Kyra

Ni Hao Peng You! My name is Kyra. Maybe you care about this blog post maybe you don't, but just keep reading. I graduated from Lindblom Academic Center and I am freshman at Whitney Young Magnet High School . I am not really worried about freshman year though. I really wanted to go there, and now that I am I feel like I am on the way to conquering all of my dreams. And boy do I have dreams, some a little more in reach than others but still they are dreams

I have always loved school, although I went to a school that is not all that great. While in school I developed a passion for science, math and writing. Although I am good at reading and geography they are not really my thing. As I got older, I started to realize what I wanted to do with my life, realistically.  I want to go to Stanford University (if that's realistic) and major in Chemistry. Then I would like to go to University of Chicago or Oxford for medical school. My realistic career choice is to be a neonatologist.  That is what inspired me to join the Health Science Explorers Program, through After School Matters. I hope to learn more about that of the health field and further my interest in the medical career.
Unrealistically, I would love to go into performing arts. I really enjoy music and theater; enough to purse a career in them. If I was to get a career in performing arts I would still go to college.
Outside of academics I like to write, specifically poems, sing,dance and basically talk to people. I have never been someone who keeps to themselves. I consider myself outgoing and out of the box. I am very metaphoric and love challenges. Sometimes I can be a little stubborn but I try to be as kind as possible.