Akia
My name is Akia and I am a high school student striving for the best in life. I know that the first step to success is through education, which is why I am thrilled to be in the USC Upward Bound Math/Science Program. Through this program, I receive the tools that will prepare me for higher education. These tools include SAT preparatory classes, scholarship workshops, college visitations, and tutors who assist me in the application process. In addition to preparing me for college, Upward Bound provides classes to expand my technological skills. It is within these classes that I have had the opportunity to create this website with a team of my peers.
Because my team and I live in the downtown Los Angeles area, which is prominent for graffiti art, we thought that graffiti would be an excellent topic to cover. We also knew it would be very controversial. We chose this topic because we initially believed graffitists were criminals. Because it was everywhere we turned, we never paid it any attention until now. We wanted to see the brighter side of graffiti and educate others and ourselves about it. We also wanted to show that it isn’t always a crime, and that it can also be a type of art.
Making this website taught me a lot of things. First of all, it taught me how to work with others better and how to compromise. My group is very diverse and we are all, believe it or not, completely different. We all had our own ideas but we were able to cope with one another and create something clear and cohesive. Constructing this website also taught me how to look outside of my community and look at the world with an open mind. As I stated before, I only saw the negative aspects of graffiti because this was how I was taught to see it, but creating this website and being the researcher of my group enabled me to educate myself otherwise.
I am very proud of my group and all of our achievements with our website “Graffiti”. We faced many obstacles when creating this website but we were able to overcome them all and create a wonderful website.
I am happy to be a part of my team and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything because it gave me many opportunities and helped me take a better understanding of the world.
