AAU Basketball

AAU basketball was a great experience for me growing up. My first AAU team was a team out of Van Wert. My friends Nicolle, Maddie, and I would carpool down to Van Wert every Sunday to practice and we would have tournaments on the weekends. This was a great experience for me because my entire team got along and it was more about having fun than winning. Then my freshman year I joined the Northwest Ohio Hoopstars because the Van Wert team was no longer a team. This team was a lot different because there were a ton of girls on the team so you would play with someone different each weekend. My junior year I then switched over to Toledo Elite. This was also a fun group of girls that I played with and our team was very talented. We were invited to play at D.C. This was a great experience for our team. Another memorable experience from Toledo Elite was when we saw Geno Auriemma who is UConns women basketball head coach. Playing for Toledo Elite brought us in contact with many college basketball coaches, but I chose to pursue tennis in college.

Synthesizing the Themes of Hitchcock

Hitchcock used psychology, technology, ethics, and historical context in his films. Hitchcock used many unique techniques and different equipment to create enticing movies that left viewers always wanting more. For the psychology in Hitchcock's films he used Freud's psychoanalytical viewpoints. An example would be when Alicia found out she was being poisoned, she reacted quickly and was worried what would happen to her. For the technology, Hitchcock used many different camera techniques such as zooming in and out on an important item. An example would be when Hitchcock zoomed in on the Champaign bottles slowly dwindling to increase the suspense of the movie. Ethics in Hitchcock include different morals that were broken during his films. A few examples include, women wearing little clothing and kissing scenes being longer than normal. In Alfred Hitchcock's film Notorious they are all after uranium. Uranium is what the Nazis were trying to hide during and after WWII. This would be an example of the historical context in Hitchcock's films.

Top Ten Songs

I really enjoy all genres of music. My favorite is Christian music, but I also like country, rap and R&B.

1. The first song that describes me would be "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me. I love this song because my mother always played it in the car when I was little. Usually both my mom and I get emotional when hearing it today because it is such a positive uplifting song.
2. Another song that I really enjoy is "How Great Thou Art." When my great grandma Matilda was in the hospital after she broke her hip she asked my dad to sing that song for her. I will never forget going to the station to record my dad singing this song for my great grandma. My grandma was close to passing away and the last song she heard was my dad singing, and she had a large tear roll down her face.
3. Another song that I really enjoy is "Go Tell it on the Mountain!" My church presents a Christmas program each year and the ages of the children in the program range from age 5 to age 16. A song that is played each year is "Go Tell it on the Mountain." During the verses everyone would sing very softly and then when the chorus came everyone would shout, "GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN!"
4. A fourth song would be "When the Saints Come Marching In." This was the song that I preformed when I was auditioning for a play in second grade. I played this song on the piano and also sang it.
5. A fifth song would be "Remember When" by Alan Jackson. This song was played at my grandma and grandpa's 40th surprise wedding anniversary. I was very young at the anniversary party, but I definitely remembered this song playing on the slideshow.
6. Another song would be "Replay" by Iyaz. I will always remember this song because it was very popular during my seventh grade year. We would play this song over and over again before and after basketball practice in the locker room.
7. Another song would be "Fireman" by Lil Wayne. This song has a very catchy opening and we chose to use it our senior year in basketball for our run out song. It definitely pumped us and got us ready for games.
8. An eighth song would be "Cinderella Man" by Eminem. This was another song that we would play before basketball games in the locker room. I would always sing the lyrics too high and my friends would yell at me, but we all loved that song.
9. Another song would be "Everlasting God" by Lincoln Brewster. This song is very special to me because Lincoln Brewster was the first Christian concert I had ever been to. He sang this song and I really felt connected to it. I felt so connected to it that I chose the main verse in the song to be my Confirmation verse at church.
10. My last song would be "All American Girl" by Carrie Underwood. This song was big my eighth grade year and my friends and I created a video like the original music video. The video we created is a huge memory of junior high and I will never forget all of the laughs that came with it.

Skills I Would Like to Learn

1. After college I would like to have learned successful note taking skills. My major is Early Childhood Education and I think note taking skills are very important. I will also need to know how to note take for my every day life after college. Learning how to take good notes will keep you more organized in your everyday life.
2. Another skill I would like to have for after college would be organization. Many times at home and at college I am not very organized and I will need to be organized for my job. I will need to have lesson plans typed out and worksheets printed. In my every day life I will need to make sure that all the bills are paid and that I am not spending more money than I have coming in.
3. A third skill I would like to have would be how to work hard and have strong motivation. Sometimes I like to procrastinate and wait until the last minute to do everything. This is not a good skill to have, instead I need to learn to work hard in each class because it will carry over after college. I will need to always stay motivated throughout the school year as a teacher.
4. Another valuable skill I would like to have would be finances. During college many students go in debt from taking out many student loans. I need to learn how to balance my money and learn how to balance out my check book as well. By learning these things, I hope to be successful after college. 
5. The last skill I will want to have will be how to successfully work with others. In college you do a lot of group work in class and you will also need to know how to work with others in your field of work. Going into early childhood education, I know I will need to work with the other teachers in my grade on lesson plans and other activities. I will also need to work with others such as an accountant or others as the need arises in my everyday life.

Matches Down in Hilton Head

While down in Hilton Head, South Carolina the women's tennis team played three matches and the men's tennis team played five. Many of the matches were very close, but unfortunately the girls team finished with an 0-3 record and the boys finished with a 1-5 record. One thing that I struggle with frequently is third set tie breakers. Almost every single one of my matches went to a third set tie break. My first match, I lost in a tie breaker 9-11. In my third and final match I lost 8-10 in a tie break. To fix this problem, I have decided to join a tennis team this summer to work on tie breakers and to overall get better. One of my favorite moments at Hilton Head was when Adam and James came back from being down 6-0 and won 8-6. This match took place at night under the lights and it was a very cool atmosphere overall. In Hilton Head we had great competition and learned many new things. I had never played on a clay tennis court before and down in Hilton Head our second match was on clay. It was fun to experience a new court and figure out how to successfully move and slide on clay. I am very excited to travel down to Hilton Head next year and hopefully redeem ourselves.

Group Work

     Hitchcock has many different technology techniques that he uses in his films. He uses the use of uranium, different camera angles, rear projection process shots and more to create suspenseful films that others want to watch.

     In the movie Notorious, the main motive of Devlin and Alicia is to investigate the Germans and their suspected use of uranium. Uranium is a radioactive that can be used for energy or weaponry because of its radioactivity. Radioactivity can be defined in terms of the atom, which is the smallest part of an element that can exist. Some atoms are unstable and break down into new atoms. When this happens, it gives off energy, referred to as radioactivity. A radioactive element emits energy in the form of waves or particles. As for Uranium, it  primarily emits alpha particles which are the biggest and most destructive type up until a point. While alpha particles are big and bad they can only penetrate so far because of their size. They can be typically blocked by a piece of paper and at worst external exposure can give you a bad burn because it can not penetrate farther than your skin. However in the movie, Alicia ingests the uranium which is a huge problem. Inside the body alpha particles can do tremendous damage to the body and all the organs. Within the first hours  of exposure you can experience headache, fever, diarrhea, nausea and, vomiting and within the week Weakness, fatigue dizziness and disorientation. All of these are symptoms that Alicia experienced.  

      One form of technology that Alfred Hitchcock used was different camera angles. In many of his movies Hitchcock would focus on the character’s eyes to create suspense. Eyes are a great way of relaying emotional messages. Hitchcock portrays many different character emotions by showing what they are looking at, or by actually showing an image of their eyes. One scene in Notorious that focused on the characters eyes was when Alicia realized that she was being poisoned by the tea. The characters do not come right out and say, you poisoned me, but instead Hitchcock shows Alicia’s eyes. The audience can see the fear in her eyes, as the camera moves from her eyes to the mother and then her husband. Also during this entire scene in the right hand corner was an enlarged tea cup. This also helps to create the suspense in Notorious.

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/09/alfred-hitchcock-use-eyes-subject-video-essay

       The use of the camera in Notorious helped let the audience and viewers know something was important. In the movie Hitchcock would focus in on objects as well as characters. He would start the scene high and wide, then ending it low and close In one of the scenes Hitchcock zoomed in on the cup of tea Alicia was drinking which had something in it which made her very ill. Hitchcock uses this technique very well.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NotoriousTrackingStart.png

        While we see plenty of outdoor scenes in Notorious such as the drunk driving scene at the beginning, the scene of the plane flying into Brazil and the scene where they are watching the horse race, none of those scenes were actually shot outside. In fact, the only scene that was shot outside was the scene where Develin and Alicia ride the horses next to Sebastian. Hitchcock instead used rear projection process shots (prerecorded backgrounds) to achieve the appearance of being outdoors. Hitchcock preferred filming indoors because it gave him maximum control over filming throughout the day. In other words, he could film a day time “outside” scene late in the evening and it still appear to be early morning.

Drunk driving scene that was actually filmed indoors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious_(1946_film)#Production_2

      One form of technology that is often overlooked in films is the physical positioning of the camera.  Before the time of green screens getting a shot with the background that the director wanted was much harder.  At times the director would have to take multiple takes from multiple angles in order to complete a scene.  One example of this is the shower scene from the movie Psycho (1960).  In this scene, first link below, multiple camera angles are used to create an overall sense for the action that takes place throughout the scene.  Because of the size of the set multiple takes of the scene had to be conducted in order to collect enough film for the scene.  In the picture below the shower wall was removed to allow for the point of view shots that are spread throughout the scene.  Another example of this is in the movie Notorious (1946).  In an early scene the viewer sees Ingrid Bergman waking up with a hangover.  As Cary Grant approaches the camera rotates as if you are viewing him from the point of view of Ingrid Bergman.  This scene, second link below, was filmed in two segments.  The first consisted of all the shots of Ingrid Bergman in the bed.  In the second the bed was moved and a camera was placed in its place to give the audience the correct angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WtDmbr9xyY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl-SWWJb62E

Letter to a High School Student

Dear High School Student,
Enjoy high school while it lasts because college is a lot different than high school. One specific difference is college work requires new kinds of motivation and self-discipline. Remember yesterday when your mother woke you up three different times just to get ready for school. Yeah, that doesn't happen in college. You will live in a dorm room and will count on your alarm clock or maybe a close roommate to wake you up each morning for class. And lets hope you do not get an eight a.m. There will also be many distractions once you get into college. You will not have your parents breathing down your neck and making sure you attend every class and get every assignment done on time. You will need to find the motivation to get up each morning and attend class. This does not mean you can't go to class in your pajamas. Another difference is college courses are not direct continuations of high school instruction. This means you can get straight A's in all of your high school chem classes, but your first college chem class could be completely different. This is because college professors each have their different ways of teaching and it will be different than your regular high school teachers. Also college professors are much more strict when it comes to assignments and projects and their tests and exams tend to be a lot harder than high school. Another difference I have found is note taking is a lot different in college. Note taking in high school was usually fill in the blank where the teacher gave you each direct answer and did most of the work for you. In college you are lucky to get an outline from the professor. Note taking is done mostly on your own and requires you to learn different note taking skills that work best for you. Another difference I have found is designating time. In high school it was easy to get all of my homework done in study hall or when we had free time at the end of class. In college, professors jam pack the lessons and then give you a lot of homework to do all outside of class. Very rarely do you get to work on things in class. Many people think that college is a time to party and will be a breeze, but really college requires a lot of extra work. After all, you are paying for your own education. Work hard in high school and have fun because college is right around the corner.
Sincerely,
Hannah