Credits to Tumblr (': Side note: Look at those Muji pens. Don't get me started on Muji pens. They're really nice pens. When you're writing with the pens, the ink flow is amazing and it's amazing and amazing. The colors that they come in are really nice too. ):

Before I get started, I'd like to give thanks to everyone who did our surveys, cooperated with us, and aided us through this project. Thank you Ms. Jacobs for putting together this project! Of course, thank you Ms. Castaneda for guiding us through this assignment. Your ideas, advice, and time is the reason why this is a success ( or so I think it's a success).  It means a lot and we both appreciate everything that was done for us!

Salutations, reader. (: If you have seen my blog post cover, you're probably thinking, "Oh. 'The end'. Is this the end of your Capstone Project?" Sadly, it is, indeed, the end of my Capstone Project. It has been a long month and two weeks (?) of working on this assignment. However, just because it's the end doesn't mean I will not continue to try to learn more about anxiety and pressure. Throughout the weeks my partner, Michelle, I have been working on this, we have learned a lot and understood a bit more about stress.
In the beginning when I first heard of this thing call the "20% Project", I was pretty fascinated and interested in doing it. It seemed pretty cool to be able to focus on a topic that you have a passion for and to be able to work on it for a really long time. However, I did not really understand what it was. After multiple videos, replays of the videos, and clarification I finally, somewhat, understood what it was. To be truthful, I still do not know what it is. Currently, I think the 20% Project is a project that you're interested in and want to spend time on. Is that what it is? I am not too sure. I did enjoy doing this assignment.

When we were told to come up with ideas to start building up on, my brain went blank. I did not know what I was intrigued by or anything, at all. Due to my brain being clogged up with useless, unusable information for a project of sorts, I decided to hop onto Michelle's, my beloved partner, idea. She had an amazing idea on student stress, which was this. Michelle's idea was to learn more about stress, how to cope, and the causes to help ourselves and to aware others in our community. Eternally grateful that she allowed me to join her group because I do not know where I would be without her as a partner. I am so unproductive so having a partner to not let down helped a boatload when it came to researching, doing informational graphics and more.

Our 20% Project was simple and it, thankfully, was a breeze to do. The road we traveled to finish this assignment did not really have many bumps. Yes, yes we know. You are suppose to learn from mistakes and difficulties but my partner and I did not encounter any. You can't really blame us for not running into anything because we were guided by our counselor, Ms. Castaneda. Most of our produced pamphlets and such were given to us as ideas by her. Our survey, which was a big contribute to our project, was completed by 80 different people. That's 8 times more than what I expected. The survey was something I was wary about. I was afraid that many people would not take it seriously, but thankfully they did. Thank you to everyone who took their time to fill out our form! Special thanks to Harrison for trying harder than he should have to get people to fill out some 8th graders' form.

Credits to Piktochat for making this possible Thank you to all the people who provided us with this information! Click on the photo for a better view

I have learned so many lessons and information from doing this project. The very first lesson that I would like to point out is never, and I repeat never, wait til the last day to do something (even if it is a silly 6 paragraph blog post). Even if your mind and body tells you to go to the movies at 9 pm at night because you think that you can come back and finish your blog post in time at the very, literal, last minute, do not do it. Your favorite streamer is on Twitch right now? Do. Not. Watch. It. Finish your homework on time. Don't procrastinate. Manage your time WISELY. This is a big reason why some people are stressed, they don't know how to manage the time they are given and have. Some things I learned from doing this was stress is something everybody goes through, from one time to another. It's one of the basic natures of life. Not having stress is simply impossible. Not only so, you have to find your own way to handle things like this. There is not one single solution to end your stress. Everyone has a different method to handle it. Another thing I learned is that you should take care of your emotional, mental, and physical health. I'm one to throw away my precious sleep to try to finish up unfinished work. Don't do that. Yes, your grades are important but in the long run your health is what you need to focus on. Grades do not define you so take care of yourself! You can't just stay up till 4 in the morning trying to simply perfect something when you need sleep. You need to let your brain rest. So what if you might lose a few points due to some issues? Health. Think about your health before whatever it is. This is more like a paragraph your mother or something would send you to get your act together and to take care of yourself. I'll just stop here with this. I could go on and on about what I learned and realized but I'd rather not. This project allowed me to understand so many things.

Credits to Chibird (^:

Credits to LucidPress for allowing us to make a pamphlet like this (': Click on the photo for a better view

Our original goal is currently being worked on. Overall, our "mission" was to aware parents, teachers, and our community about the stress many people have to deal with. A fragment of this is almost accomplished. The pamphlet we had made with all the information we gathered is going to be placed in our mentor's/counselor's office. Hopefully, in the future, students who come into her office will have a use for it! I was really happy when she told us that it was going to be put in her office for students. Typically many student's don't come to her about stress. It's not a normal topic that she gets and deals with because, most of the time, they keep it to themselves to handle with.

Simply because it is the end of the assignment for our class does not mean it is the end of adding to what I learned from this project. Michelle and I are also planning to step up our game and aware more people about this subject. Maybe we'll advertise our blogs or something. Doing this is really important to us because adults in our lives often times think that we, as students and teenagers, have nothing to worry or care about. When we talk about stress they just see us as whiny kids who just can't handle the little things in life.

This Capstone project is one that I will never forget. It was the most simple and the most encouraging project I've ever done this school year. I was given a chance to do something I cared about. I know many people who struggle with constant, continuous stress that causes them to feel ill on a daily basis so being able to spend every Wednesday to do such a thing is something I'm grateful for. This was fun and enjoyable. I am so extremely emotional right now because this is one of our final projects before we move on with our lives and go to highschool. I've spent 3-2 years of my life with the same teachers. Excuse me while I go cry an ocean.  I was capable of learning a lot on my own (with Michi of course) and do a lot on my own without much instructions from my teacher. My personal goal was reached and so was the project's goal and I think that's what this project is really about. then again I'm just really tired what is this project about? Everything I had learned will be put to use in the future, including the life lessons I received. This is about it for this project. I hope you enjoyed the long journey we had! Once again, have an amazing day! Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Credits to Tumblr (:

Greetings, friends. (: Welcome back to my blog! I apologize for not posting last week! Our teacher decided to provide us with an extra seven whole days to finish and wrap this post up (which I am very much grateful for, thank you). I am working with a Michelle Chau to find out more about student stress and aware parents, including teachers, about this matter! So far, we have learned multiple new things about this subject, and we would like to share and include some of our newly received knowledge with you guys! Today's post will be an informational post about what stress is, the effects of it, the cause of stress, and ways to cope with it.

Credits to Kewo-Science

Millions of Americans suffer from stress each year but what exactly is this thing we call "stress"? Stress has no definition that could entirely define it. Back in the old days, this ability to feel pressure helped our ancestors live. Without something to aware them about danger, we probably wouldn't be here today. When your body has to face any demand, stress is a way it responds to it. Most have a "fight or flight" mode (paragraph 3, "What is Stress?"). When something happens to a person that makes them face this kind of anxiety and pressure, chemicals are released into the blood stream. The chemicals energize and strengthen the person. This effect is usually only a good thing when someone is facing actual physical risk. On the other hand, if someone is facing something that involves "emotional danger", the extra energy and strength that they receive could become a bad thing. When something that is considered a risk happens, you will need to find a personal outlet to let go of all the energy.



Many people struggle with pressure and anxiety on a day to day basis. There are various types of stress:

Survival: Humans have the ability to sense danger from others and animals around them. This particular type has kept our species alive throughout the centuries.

Internal: Worrying too much about things you should not be worrying about is internal stress. Things that should not be considered stressful could cause you stress.

Environmental: This type of stress can be caused by pressure, noises, and crowding. If you learn what causes your stress, you will be able to handle and fix it.

Fatigue and overwork: This works up and builds over time. Working too much at home, school, or work can cause this to happen. Your body can be negatively affected by this particular stress. Controlling your stress levels could become tough.

Physical and emotional stress are the two basic kinds of pressure. The most common reason why students become stressed is because of schoolwork and family problems.  People, in general, might have to deal with this because of uncertainty (making a decision), time-management (not knowing how to do so), and overworking. External problems that change your life can cause you stress, from relationships to financial problems. Some internal causes are pessimism, negative self-talk, chronic worry, etc. A variety of things can cause tension, just know that you're not alone.

Credits to Tumblr

Stress can cause a various of things in the human body, like wearing it down. You can become ill when you are under a lot of pressure. Some illnesses consist of mental disorders and much more. Concentrating and thinking clearly can also become a hard task to do when you're under a lot of stress. Mental breakdowns can also be an effect. Heart diseases, high blood pressure, and strokes all have stress as the partial blame (paragraph 5, "Good Stress vs. Bad Stress"). Harmful behaviors such as obesity, drug addiction, cigarette use, depression, and alcoholism also have anxiety contributing to them. Your decision-making skills and judgment could become weak when you're overwhelmed. You can also be put in a bad mood (paragraph 6, "Physical and Mental Signs of Stress"). Always remember to take care of yourself and think of your mental and physical health first! Don't become ill due to stress.



There are multiple ways for people dealing with anxiety and pressure to handle it. Finding your personal outlet is the best way to do so, whether if it is reading or simply taking a nice long bath. Doing inactive activities such as video games and watching television can make you even more stressed. Common ways that students cope with stress is sleeping it off, finishing up their work, talking to someone, eating, relaxing, and doing something that makes them happy. (: Relaxing and resting is the best way to deal with this "fight or flight" response. Since our bodies release chemicals and make our heart/breathing faster, convincing our bodies to dial down is the best way to somewhat handle it at the moment (paragraph 4, "Yes, I'm Stressed! - Help!")

Credits to Chibird

This is currently all for now. (: Stress is a very tough thing to deal with when you're handling a large amount of it at a time. It could cause illnesses, affect your mood, and your daily life. You can receive pressure and anxiety from many things, such as family issues and work. Personal outlets and interests are the most basic ways to try to relieve yourself. Please take care of yourself and focus on your health before you deal with something that is hard on you! Get a good night sleep! Have an absolutely, positutely fantastic day wherever you may be! Thank you for taking your precious time to read a silly post of mines. I appreciate you and your existence. (I apologize for the repetitive "stress", I will change that at a later time when I get the chance!)

Credits to Chibird

Sources:
Currently stressing out about my math test but that's not a problem right because my 5th-grade math skills will take me through my math test right. my math teacher probably reviewed elementary math for the past 9 months? but that's okay I'll be fine of course ill be fine I can math right don't slack off on your summer work thinking that your teacher will be able to teach you stuff kids. my math teacher is great no hard feelings to him but I learned nothing this school year

credits to chibird

Credits to Tumblr

Salutations, fellow Earthlings. Welcome back to my blog! (: Like I said in my previous posts, my mentor is Ms. Castaneda. Ms. Castaneda is one of our school's trusted counselor and our mentor.  She has been doing community service and helping others out at a very young age. As a counselor, she deals and aids students with their problems. Seeing that this is so, we decided to ask her to be our mentor to guide us through this project. We're hoping to come up with ideas and do those ideas with her help. On Wednesday, Michelle and I decided to interview her. Keep reading to see her responses. (:

Credits to Tumblr ONWARDS TO THE QUESTIONS!

Question: Why do you think community service is important?
"I think community service is important because it teaches individuals to step out of their comfort zone and life in order to help others. You're not only able to help your community but you can also help yourself. By doing community service, you're able to make yourself feel better. Research shows that when you do community service, you're more positive and it makes you happier. When one person helps out, others are more willing to do so."

Question: What have you learned from your involvement in community service?
"I started doing community service at a very young age. In elementary school I tutored younger kids at my school. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction when I helped others. I've always done community service throughout my academic years. Community service does not have to have an affect on everyone, as long as it affects at least one person, it makes me feel better to know what I did made a difference in that person's life."

Question: Why is this cause or issue important to you and how did you become involved with it?
"This issue is important to me because this topic is not brought up very much. This project will be able to help bring awareness to teachers, students, and parents. Not many students come to me to talk about stress. There are a few students who do once in a while but it usually happens near the end of the year."

Question: What expertise or assistance are you able to offer to help make my capstone project successful?
"I'll be able to provide you with ideas, information,  research, and provide you with real life experiences from students, without naming them of course. (:"


Question: How will my involvement with this cause or issue help in my journey of becoming a lifelong learner?
"Learning about stress can help you deal with your own stress. The skills and knowledge you learn from this project can be used for the rest of your lives. Not only will you be able to help yourselves, you'll be able to help others around you."

Cat-s all for now. Have a pawesome day! Thank you for reading this post!

Creds: Blogspot