Pre-AP Social Science Class: Personal Statement Analysis

On the first day of my 4th period Pre-AP Social Science class, my teacher announced that she would be nominating 2 students for a scholarship based on their academic performance and service to the community. For an 8th grader, this seemed to be the most exciting opportunity I had ever heard of. It would allow some separation from my ultracompetitive classmates at one of the top middle schools in California. Even though history was not my forte, I devised a regimen that I would follow. I studied everyday afterschool, spent hours upon hours on projects, and never turned in an assignment without checking it over 3 times. At the end of the year, I was not chosen. Flash forward 3 years later, as I am on my way to an LSU School of Public Health summer internship 2,241 miles away from my home in Stockton, California. Although I had read through countless documents on lead poisoning, I could not help but wonder if I would be of any help. While attempting to navigate the second floor of the building, a labyrinth of offices and …show more content…
I was instructed to immerse myself with the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model. The goal was to create a time trend analysis of lead releases throughout New Orleans and then all of Louisiana. It could show the total amount of lead released by many facilities throughout the city in comparison to the state over a specific time period. In addition, facilities with the largest impacts could be highlighted. Post-Katrina New Orleans is still recovering 10 years later. With the known health consequences of lead exposure having been known since the 1800s, recent interest in environmental lead concentrations has sparked research projects. There has been grave concern by the medical community that a significant amount of children have elevated blood lead levels. The analysis could help to further reduce lead exposure and its corresponding potential for neurological