Viridiana Preciado

April 16, 2019

Problem solving

The first Interdisciplinary Project was about schizophrenia . This assignment shows the
background, treatments, ways that people can get help or be informed about schizophrenia in my
community. This assignment was completed spring of sophomore year. I had to research the
background of schizophrenia, as to what it is, the causes, who are most affected, and to create an
action plan. The action plan was to create a flyer to hand out to the community to inform them
about our research about schizophrenia in our community.

This artifact fits the category of problem solving because we are targeting the stereotypes
in our community about a mental illnesses, Schizophrenia. There are a lot of stereotypical
thoughts about mental illness in our community, such as “mental illnesses are not real”, “people
are crazy who are diagnosed with an illness”, and so much more. We worked at resolving this
problem by educating about mental illness, explaining to them that it is real and people should
start to solve and create ways to help those diagnosed. Schizophrenia also fits the problem
solving category because we are trying to create awareness for other communities, especially
communities where schizophrenia is common. Some people do not get the help they deserve, so
we are trying to spread awareness to inform others about community members who are
diagnosed with the illness so that they get to help them out.

During Spring of junior year, I completed another Interdisciplinary Project. In this group
project, I had to grow a cilantro plant using two types of water. I had to keep track of how using
Arrowhead water versus tap water affected the plants’ growth, by measuring everyday the plant I
was growing. I was also asked to explain, how lead hurts our body from adults to young kids. I
also had to explain the issues in our community which is to explain the symptoms’ people have
that are affected by lead. Lastly, I was asked to create a call to action, which I decided to go to
Walnut Park Middle School to educate middle schoolers about the issues of lead toxins in our
water and what they can do to inform others. I informed about these issues in presenting my own
finished powerpoint and properly presenting to them in a way they can understand the concepts.
This artifact fits the category of problem solving because there are lead contaminations in our
community due to all the industrial factories around us. It also fits the problems solving category
because we are making sure that people in our community of Huntington Park are aware of the
issues that are causing this lead contamination in our area, plants, and especially water. Our
project was created to make our community well aware of what the causes of lead contamination
are so that they can then take action. For instance, they can start to make a difference by cleaning
their water properly, as well as become aware of what they can do to prevent any lead
contamination. It required us to really research about our water in Huntington Park to see the
effect it had on plant’s growth and to know where our water is coming from.
 This project shows that I was a willing collaborator by working with students who had
different perspectives than me, but we worked together to come up with a cohesive idea. Though
my team members were more knowledgeable about our topic, schizophrenia, we worked together
and came up with a solution to the problem. Each individual was assigned one part that they
knew the most about, I got to work on an action plan. Creating the action plan was quite easy
because I asked my teammates the proper questions to get exact information of what I could do
to create the action plan. I was also an active citizen by being in charge of creating an action plan
and a flyer to inform our community about schizophrenia. Coming up with the idea of a flyer, I
suggested of going out into the community and handing out flyers as our action plan. I was an
active citizen with this idea because I made sure to explain the flyer to people as I handed it out.
The flyer consisted of background, informative treatments,places located in our community. This
flyer is to help those with this mental illness, providing numbers or websites that people can call
or visit. The way that my teammates and I informed our community is that we went out one day
to pass out our flyers. Since members of our community are Spanish speaking, I had to translate
the information and explain more of what this flyer is talking about so our community members
can further understand.

As an individual I have improved my presenting skills and communication with others.

My communication skills have better improved because before I would just read off the
powerpoint and I did not elaborate on the information I put on my slide. However, I improved on
the way I projected my voice because I would sound very general and not interested in what I
would say when I was presenting. The audience could not hear me sometimes because I was not
facing them because I was reading off the powerpoint. These two Interdisciplinary Project helped
me grow as a person. As an individual part of a low income community, I saw the challenges
most people face on a daily. This really has made me understand the importance of being
involved with my community and to choose to do the right thing. I will continue to be an active
citizen by making the right choice by giving back to my community in any way I can. In going
different organizations, programs, and volunteer work to give back to my community. These two
Interdisciplinary Projects helped me understand that importance of what is really happening in
my community.