I myself am an artist who enjoys creating art pieces of all kinds when I have the chance. With the start of high school, I have become very busy, but I still make an effort to give myself the time to make some art. I find that for me, making art has a calming affect, and it helps me feel a lot better when I’m feeling especially sad or stressed.
It took me a long while to pick out a topic for this project, as I wanted to choose something that truly peaked my interests. I reflected over my likes, interests, and hobbies and finally decided on a topic I was quite excited about.

I considered the ways that art has helped me express myself, relieve stress, as well as give my mind a fresh boost to continue on with my day. I began to ponder if there was any scientific studies or data that could support the therapeutic benefits that I as an artist have received from practicing art. If art can help someone like me to calm my busy mind, could practicing art be beneficial to people who experience problems with their mental health?

[Please see bottom of post for the sites that I used to obtain the information that I used in my infographic]

After I started collecting data and learning more about my subject, I came upon the realization that there were indeed many scientific advances in this field, but there wasn’t a lot of data that I could use in this project that I could accompany with graphics. I read a lot of interesting articles about this topic, and I used the various facts and studies that I read about to compile enough data to make an appealing infographic.

I chose three sites in particular that I thought had very interesting studies, analytics and facts relating to my subject. Firstly, I found an article on Artnet News that talked about the changes in cortisol levels (a hormone related to stress) in people who partook in small art session. Upon research, I found that this company is a widely respected, sizable news outlet that I deemed as a trustable source.
The second site that I found was an article with a vast selection of facts about this topic, published by the World Health Organization. Of course, the WHO is an official organization so that is why I also deemed this site to have real, trustable information.
Lastly, somewhere in the vast articles that I read, I stumbled upon an article that I thought was very interesting and worth putting in my infographic. I found the article on ScienceDirect, a recognized website known for having an extensive database of bibliographic, scientific, and medical publications. The article talks about a pilot study, conducted for the purpose of measuring possible changes in dementia patients after partaking in a sculpting class for a number of weeks. I found the results very intriguing and I hope the field does more studies involving sculpting as a form of art therapy.
Overall, through my immense research, I learned a lot about the advances in this field, and learned a lot about how different forms of art therapy are indeed beneficial to people struggling with mental illnesses.

As I was reading these articles about creativity, mental health, and how the two could be brought together, I also learned about the different ways that one could access such therapy. This made me realize that having sites like this across the internet that not only help people become aware of solutions that can be utilized, but can also help them get in touch with people they may need help from. I, myself, currently have a person in my family who is coping with a mental illness that interferes with memory, so I understand how crucial it is for people around said patient to be aware of the situation and the different ways that they can help them.

[Sites that I used to complete my infographic in APA formatting:]

I set out to learn more about the troubling statistics that reveals  participation in sports are descending drastically in schools. Why did participation drop in the recent years? Along the way, I also came upon the fact that e-sports are a popular replacement for physical activities among youth.

I started my search by finding reliable sources, through Charles Best Secondary’s library database. The two websites I ended up using are ‘Explora Canada’ and ‘Gale Engage Learning’. [Please see links to specific articles at the bottom of this post!]

Through my searches, I found that there are many reasons behind the recent drop in physical activity participation, one of which was a result of the Covid-19 lockdown. I was able to continue training for my sport throughout the pandemic, as my sport (competitive figure skating) does not require athletes to be in close proximity to others, so Health Canada allowed sessions to continue.
Another reason that I found was poverty. Many families cannot afford to send their children to sports, as it is too much of a financial burden. In some cases, schools also don’t have sufficient funds to maintain sports teams.
This is when I found about e-sports, and how they are a cheaper alternative to physical sports. E-sports do not require a substantial amount of equipment, as well as spaces to train.

In conclusion, I came to see that e-sports are considered an alternative to physical sports, and are being widely popularized. Many see it as a ‘sport’, but in my honest opinion it would be unfair to put physical sports and e-sports in the same category. I, myself as a professional athlete have gone through my fair share of injuries and countless doctor visits, whereas I can imagine e-sport players don’t have to worry about these things. I strongly believe that children should still be having constant physical exercise each day, and that other forms of leisure should be put in different categories.

Sources: 

Gale Engage Learning:

School Sports Participation Drops, Raising Concern About ‘Physical Learning Loss’; But interest in e-sports and inclusive teams is rising.

Explora Canada:

Electronic sports

Today, I will be discovering if the Quokka really exists!

This is a post I found on Instagram about the so called “Quokka”. I have never heard about this animal before, so I was skeptical whether of not this animal really exists, or if this furry creature was created by computers.

For the first step, I need to check the source. I went to the account that posted this picture, and found that this is an account dedicated to this animal. The account had no blue checkmark, and had very few followers so I knew that I couldn’t trust this account with no other information to back them up.

There were many other accounts such as this one on Instagram, who did not have blue checkmarks and not a lot of followers. I deemed all of them untrustworthy because of their lack of presence on other sites that could prove their legitimacy.

For the next step, I decided to head over to Snopes.com, because this is a fact checking site that I know I can trust. I found an article titled: “Is the Quokka a Real Animal?”. It seems that others have also wondered the same thing as me. Time to find out if this adorable creature really does exist!

After reading the article, I successfully found out that the Quokka is in fact a real species! Snopes.com deemed this animal a real, living species. Even though the smiling face of this creature seems to cute to be true, this animal can actually be found living on Rottnest Island, Australia.

In conclusion, the Quokka is a real animal that is alive today!

For Take our kids to work day 2022, I spent a day at my friend’s sushi shop!

When I was at my workplace, I heard the sound of people chattering, and hurrying around. I noticed how some people were browsing the shops while others were in a hurry. From the back, I heard the dicing of vegetables to be put into the sushi, and the sound of ingredients sizzling in the deep frier.
I saw a lot of people passing by, looking for something to eat. Some people came and bought sushi in the morning, and a lot came to buy something to eat during lunch as well. When I looked around I saw a lot of different types of stores, all in different sizes.
As the sushi and the bento boxes were being made one after another, the smell of spices started to fill the air. I really enjoyed the smell of miso soup, as well as the deep fried tempura. I’ve never seen sushi being made before, and the fresh ingredients smelled quite tasty.

As I sat behind the cashier, I realized how a lot of the customers had relationships with owners. When someone would buy sushi, often there would be nice conversations. To me, that would be something that would encourage me to come to work everyday, because I get to catch up with people that I know, as well as make them a nice meal. I also find it pretty cool to have returning customers. To me, that means that I did a good job at creating food that they liked, which is always nice to know.