Dear Future Team AP Bio:
Click here to read about creating my advice video!
Reflecting on my Site…
At first, I was really nervous about creating my site! I really do not consider myself a tech-savy person and definitely had lots of questions while I was setting up my first posts. Blogging quickly became something that I enjoyed because I got to post about my interests and had lots of freedom how I wanted to structure each post. I never thought that I would create a website and post my own content on it! A year later, blogging feels like a regular part of my schedule. I also think it is amazing that this blog allows the opportunity to share my work with a greater audience beyond the classroom! One of my favorite features of blogging is the comment feature! By having comments open to the public, we are able to interact with our other AP Bio teammates and other people who are able to give us feedback!
I love how Mrs. Girard allows us to post about content that was not assigned. I interviewed a neurologist from Stanford University, and was so excited to share the interview on my blog! Click here to watch the interview.
One of my favorite posts was about a swimmer, Diana Niyad. Mrs.Girard had us watch a ted talk on Diana Niyad, a woman who swam from Cuba to Florida! Although this post did not relate to biology, it ties in to a greater lesson that I have derived from this class: If you maintain good focus, you will be able to achieve your goals. This sounds like a cliche, but the heavy workload of this class put the skills I have accumulated in my entire high school career to the test! In AP Biology, it is extremely easy to lose your work ethic and become lazy. Now don’t get me wrong here, each AP Bio class is very interesting and engaging, but work outside of the classroom can be difficult to keep up with. I learned that if you truly want to succeed, you need to block out distractions and handle your priorities first.
Other than constantly gaining new knowledge, my favorite part of taking biology was how much I was able to learn about myself. Mrs. Girard often also allowed each student to choose our own deadlines to finish projects and submit our blog posts, which made us to plan in advance to make sure blogging fits in to our schedules. This helped me become organized and more of what I needed to accomplish.
I honestly really enjoyed blogging and plan on creating a new blog next year! Some of my favorite topics to write about were round ups and field trips! I love to tell stories and share my experiences with everyone! I can totally see myself creating an exploration/travel blog that where I talk about my future adventures!
Even though this blog is far from perfect, I am so proud of each post! Even though Mrs.Girard sometimes assigned certain topics, each student’s post is completely unique from another which shows all of our hard work and creativity! I hope that anyone who has checked out my blog has enjoyed reading it as much as I have loved creating it! 🙂
Alexa's Biology Blog 
Wow! Alexa, you were able to reach a wide audience. Your site is amazing and really demonstrates how much you have grown and learned this year. Remember, with great effort comes great success. I know there were challenges this year, but you have succeeded and I could not be more proud of the way you powered through at the end of the semester. Organization and time management will be keys to your continued success. You have these keys…be sure to use and improve them 🙂 I can’t wait to hear about your new adventures. You know where to find me!
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Dear Alexa, I know I never had you as a student, but I have still enjoyed watching your progress. From Med school 101 to AP Bio, you have a had such an enriching experience.
Best wishes as you venture out into the world.
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Hi Alexa,
Very interesting blogs indeed!
You are very fortunate to have all these experiences and having been able to explore at such a young age, I definitely foresee you being a MD or a scientist in the future. Remember that only smart and determined people can do all these and you are one of them.
One blog of yours that caught my attention is about the “human organs in Pigs”. Being a Registered Nurse In the Operating Room for 22 years ( UCSF Medical Center) I almost always encounter patients losing a part of their body be it a limb,organ,tissue or skin. It always breaks my heart and wishful thinks that someday someone will recreate a replacement for every human loses on their body where it will regenerate a healthy human cells. And hopefully you will be that scientist!
Goodluck and Keep up the good work!
Carol
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Hi Alexa,
I enjoyed reading your different blogs. I learned so much! I’m a travel nurse so I like learning about the different locations I visit . I particularly liked your blog and experience on Save the Bay! I found your blogs to be very well written.
As a nurse who has worked at places like Stanford and in other states, I know firsthand how intimidating it can be to talk to doctors and surgeons. I think you did a great job with your interview!
Good luck in the future! 🙂
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Thank you for sharing your AP Biology Blog Alexa! It’s amazing to see the progress you’ve made this year, and how much you’ve grown as a student and as a scientist!! It seems like just yesterday we were in chemistry class together 🙂
I love that you got to interview a neurosurgeon, especially since that is a career that interests you. Sounds like you are doing excellent interdisciplinary work at NDB for your senior projects. Your pic of the fetal pig’s heart definitely caught my attention too…hats off to you and Mrs. Girard for creating and participating in hands-on, real life science!
I enjoyed reading your reflection of your journey through AP Biology and what you’ve learned about yourself as a learner. I have all the confidence you will have a smooth transition to college because of the skills you have developed through your time at NDB. Please give hugs to everyone for me…I miss seeing all of you and hope we can catch up soon! Congratulations to you, Mrs. Girard, and all of your AP Biology peers on an exceptional year together 🙂
Much love,
Ms. Chun 🙂
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I was very impressed with your biology blog and found the topics you covered extremely interesting. It is informative due to the variety of topics covered from nature, genetics and even organ regeneration!
Since I am a nurse manager at Stanford as well as a former operating room nurse, one blog I found quite interesting was about the human organs in pigs. How fascinating! I personally know that there are many patients on kidney, liver, lung and cardiac transplant lists waiting for a precious organ from a donor. Organ transplantation is always a bittersweet experience because unfortunately someone has to die in order to donate their organs to a recipient. Therefore, I completely understand your mixed emotions regarding your empathy for the pigs yet the scientific/medical need for organ donation. The wonderful aspect of organ donation is that a precious life is spared and the donor literally lives on inside the recipient!
Because I work at Stanford, I also enjoyed the interview you conducted with the neurosurgeon at Stanford. First, I would like to commend you for approaching Dr. Veeravagu during the Med School 101 event. It takes great confidence to approach a surgeon and inquire about an interview with them. Surgeons can be quite intimidating at certain times! I believe the interview is inspiring to young students interested in pursuing a medical career as well as inspiring to those that dream about assisting sick people when they require it the most. Giving the gift of good health or the gift of life itself is a priceless gift!
Great job, Alexa!
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Reading your blog is so inspiring! I love how you reference specific parts of the AP bio course that resonated with you most… I took Honors bio at NDB with Mrs. Girard and I loved the integration of technology. I am so proud of you for creating such a great blog!
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your blog and watching the videos you posted. It reminds me of my own school days (in the previous century!) when we were encouraged to keep a log of things we learned and discovered in the course of our studies. I wish we had blogs like this because it reaches a wider audience and is far more interactive. I especially like your video for future AP Bio students. We are not merely learning individuals, but individuals who are part of a learning community. There are many who came before us, and there will be many more to follow. I appreciate how you have taken time to share what you have learned and your willingness to pass on these bits of wisdom to future learners. Great job!
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Your mention of Diana Niyad, helps to provide perspective on what you believe is important and relevant. I especially how it ties in with the skills that have acquired at Notre Dame.
Above all, you blog is uplifting. I especially like the interview with the Stanford neurosurgeon. The planning and guts it took to accomplish that must have been quite challenging.
Keep on blogging. It will help shape the way you will think about different things in the future.
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Super cool about going to the Baylands. Reading this makes me wish I took AP bio when I was at Notre Dame.
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This was so cool! Your class seems so interesting! I loved the field trip to the Baylands! I’ve learned so much!
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This honestly makes me wish I was taking AP Bio next year.
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This is amazing! I can really see how much your hard work paid off, I’m so excited to take this course next year! I will take your advice and remember to keep myself on track with this work load.
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Love it!! It was so cool to see how much you have learned in just one year of AP Bio and I love that you put so much work into a project that you will be continuing in your college career. I also think you gave great advice for people thinking about taking the class next year!
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Good blog saw that you learned lots I enjoyed it (:
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It is extremely enjoyable to check in and read your blog posts because it has given me an inside look on all the things you have learned through the course of AP Biology this year. One of my favorites was your post about your class field trip to the Palo Alto Baylands. I found this to be very interesting because living in the Bay Area, I think we sometimes don’t realize the things going on in the environment so near to us. It was amazing to see how hands on your class is with teaching about important topics such as preserving our estuaries & marshes.
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Awesome! You have learned so much this year and worked so hard. It’s so cool that you have invested time into something that involves your career. You also have creat advice for future students. Great work!!!!
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It’s fantastic to see such informative content compiled in an efficient manner. Although the overarching purpose of the website revolves around biology, Alexa presents an interesting Ted Talk, which she connects to not only biology, but also life itself.
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It’s amazing to see how much you learned throughout your year taking AP Bio. I like the post about Dr. Anand Veeravagu, the Neurosurgeon at Stanford the most because it showed how engaged and interested you were with a specific part of the AP Bio class and all it taught you.
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