XDay – X Day Just Keeps Getting Better!

2/15/23 X-Day Blog Reflection

I spent today’s X-Day at Cary Academy, practicing the principle skills of public speech and improvisation with my peers. The exercise that Ivy came up with was as such: each participant would be randomly and covertly assigned to present a PowerPoint presentation that another participant had created on a specific topic, and would have to present on the spot without any prior preparation. Presentation skills are important in various career fields, from pitching an idea for a product for a business to giving a speech to millions of people to lucidly giving an explanation for a medical procedure. Thus it is necessary for us to start practicing these skills as early as possible; our group was heavily varied in our experience with public speaking, yet all of us came out of this activity having learned something new.

We spent our time not only presenting but also learning about numerous intellectual topics; we started the day with Anne presenting Ivy’s PowerPoint presentation about the dangers of casual racism in popular media. Afterwards, I presented Maddie’s presentation about the contemporary history of the South Korean pop music industry. Laney presented Ariana’s presentation, which analyzed the character writing of classic Disney characters and how the traits of these characters are designed to be relatable to the audience (Maddie personally resonates with Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)). Ariana presented Sydney’s presentation about the intersection between age and physical beauty within the portrayals of men in animated media. Sydney presented my presentation about the importance of cybersecurity, recognizing one’s digital footprint, and the facade of purported Internet anonymity. Maddie presented Laney’s presentation about the Irish Dance Cheating Scandal. Ivy presented Abby’s presentation where she applied the knowledge she had learned in AP Environment Science to analyze the ecosystem of MineCraft. Finally, we wrapped up with Abby presenting Anne’s presentation about gender roles in ancient dynastic China.

The Emperor's New Groove ( 2000 ) == Kronk the Chef == - YouTube

Above: Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Throughout this X-Day, we applied our skills of time management, listening and paying attention, and asking thought-provoking follow-up questions- all of which we had learned from our time at Cary Academy by exercising RIC and DICE. This experiential learning opportunity was greatly enriching; we were able to hone our public speaking, improvisation, and leadership skills, although maybe the real public speaking skills were the friends we made along the way.

A/N: Stop flaming my blog posts preps!!11!

Estuarium Post

Today, we learned lots about marine life at the NC Estuarium in Washington, NC. Our activity made us consider our impact on ecosystems and wildlife, specifically the life found near the estuary and their protection efforts. From this experience, we now know more about human interactions with the natural world. Our next steps will be continuing our research in the triangle area and western NC, applying what we learned about salinity and water pollutants to other environments.

NC Estuary – Walking the Marina

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After going through the estuary’s exhibits and learning about which animals live in certain salinities of water, we decided to walk along the boardwalk at the marina to observe the estuary surrounding us. Here, we observed many small jumping fish, turtles, and a few fish that were 8 inches to a foot long! The brush making up the wetlands were filled with nutrients for the wildlife and was a great buffer zone for the estuary. Along with some unfortunate bottles and pieces of trash, however, there was also a film on the water alluding to signs of an early stage of nutrient overload as shown in an exhibit of the estuary.

X Day Estuarium Exhibits

We made it to the Estuarium in Washington, NC! We began by talking to the experts about the water cycle and watching the introduction video about the overview of the estuary. An estuary is where salt and freshwater meet, and there is an abundance of wildlife and a unique ecosystem. The guide walked us through the exhibits and we learned about the impact of hurricanes, the food chain, and saw alligators up close!