My name is Daniel Krafft. For a long time I had felt that my Why statement was ambiguous. “Make dreams into reality.” Isn’t that what we all intend to do? It wasn’t until I focused on others’ dreams instead of my own that my why statement was clarified. I am, by all definitions, an entrepreneur. I love pursuing goals and improving skills. When I started a Youtube channel a year ago, I intended it to work for me. I focused my time on targeting specific audiences so that I could sell products. My goals were primarily to post each week and grow my subscriber count. However, at some point I realized that was no way to approach content creation. I did away with my goals for that month and replaced them with one big one: “Cause someone to tell me that I changed their life.” I wanted someone to reach out, unprovoked, and tell me that I changed their life. This change in my way of thinking caused me to become obsessed with how to help people as much as possible with my videos, and the hard work paid off almost immediately. This paradigm shift in how I viewed my content caused many people to be helped by my videos; some viewers even send very kind messages to this day. And as a bonus, my channel’s growth has skyrocketed past its initial stages. Today I have 360 thousand subscribers and 14 million views on my videos, but what’s most important to me is making videos that are meaningful to viewers. My artifact represents what I believe is the most good possible: making someone else’s day better. If I can change even one person’s life for the better, then it is all worth it. I want to spend my time improving myself to be a good example for others and continue to bring them enjoyable and meaningful content that leaves an impact. As an influencer, it is my responsibility to set a positive example for viewers to further the message of good that is so important these days.
Dante Chandler-Haas
I am Dante Chandler-Haas, and I love creating music. I feel that I can spread good by putting music and art out into the world, because of the inspiration and good that I feel from others' music. I believe that art in any form creates and spreads good in the world, and that others and myself can grow for good by improving art skills. I have grown in music a lot over this past year or so, and have finally put music out under the band “Barn”. I also feel that I do good by being friendly, and caring for those around me. Being nice spreads good to people in important ways and is infectious. I feel that I have spread good by participating in Love Of Learning at the Boys and Girls Club. I spent a lot of time with my two buddies who I saw each time I went, and they were always so excited to see that I had come back to them which was a great feeling. We read picture books, drew pictures, wrote a song about Pac-Man, and played paper airplane tag (Which was their absolute favorite). I feel that we are spreading good through my community garden Project Good as well. We have been working on the new roots garden, it is near my house and I’ve always noticed that it seems neglected and not being put to use. So far we have knocked out all the dead crops and prepared compost and soil in order to grow things there in the future. It is a great feeling to be working on restoring a garden that no one else seems to care about, but most around it would appreciate. I have always wanted to get into gardening as well and this experience has helped me learn a lot more about it. Despite all the bad, I believe that there’s a lot of good in the world, and lots to go around.
Declan Brown
Humans in Nature
I found that being in nature for multiple hours a week was an extremely grounding experience. I took part in the (human)Nature immersion, in which every Monday and Thursday we would go hiking in the Boise foothills. This was during a very stressful time for me, as well as my peers, but when I was up in the hills with my fellow students I was able to disconnect myself from the troubles of our world from a human perspective and instead focus on the beauty of the world and strengthen my bond with my friends.
A key moment that helped me to realize that we need to preserve our planet was when I was sitting in the snow eating lunch with some friends. I had previously eaten in the same area two weeks prior, but it looked entirely different the second time, as the landscape was now covered in snow. It was truly an amazing experience to spend two weeks learning the area around me only to start a new adventure where the area I had spent time getting to know was now entirely changed.
I went outside the same night, at my house, and looked up at the night sky. I saw only a few stars. It was then I realized that in places with no light pollution you can see the whole milky way. I looked at a map that showed light pollution in the US and saw that Idaho was one of the least light polluted states, and I still could only see a few stars. No wonder people feel so lonely when they can't see how connected we are with the universe.
The realization that modern human civilization has had such a massive negative impact on the world around me, right here in Idaho, has inspired me to do all I can to conserve the area around me.
Declynn Brian
My name is Declynn Brian and I’m really passionate about keeping people informed. I think awareness of the issues going on in the world and equipping people with ways to solve or help with these issues is very crucial. My Why statement is, “To inform and educate the people in order to protect them.” One of the ways I’ve been actively doing that is through Model United Nations. Model United Nations is my favorite part of my week because I love having the opportunity to learn about major issues facing the world and ways to solve them. This past month I had the opportunity to attend Teton County Model United Nations conference and Pacific Model United Nations conference where I represented the Russian Federation and the Republic of Cyprus in topics such as making space in the European Union budget for a European Green Deal and illicit organ trafficking. Model UN has also shown me the importance of kindness, diplomacy, and empathy. My ability to communicate and keep an open mind has grown significantly. I’m able to work on issues I’m passionate about and have meaningful and impactful discussions. Three other students and I are working on the second Boise Model United Nations conference where I am the chair of the Human Rights Committee. In the HRC, I have found space to create solutions to issues that are important to me like advocating for LGBT equality and ensuring fair elections. I believe my work with the mock Human Rights Committee will inspire a lasting love and care for human rights issues in others. Also, I believe this committee will equip participants with the tools to advocate for human rights outside of extracurricular activities. Over these past 10 weeks, I’ve learned a lot about my passion for human rights issues. I’ve learned about my interest in keeping human rights at the front of everything, in every discussion, and in every space. For all of my colleges, I’ve applied to their human rights, peace and justice, and international relations programs to hopefully put me on track to work for a human rights organization in the future.
Dilyn Waldron
When I first heard about this project my mind immediately went to music. This year I made a goal for myself to explore music production and I knew this was a good opportunity. I knew I wanted to focus on bringing people together because I feel like music is a bridge that can connect people no matter what. During my first immersion this year I focused on what politics have done to relationships and it broke my heart that there was so much separation and anger within the world. Especially in times like this, we need our people to help us get through and we need to help others when they need it. An act of good to me could mean so many things. It could be donating food for those that don’t have any or simply smiling at someone walking down the street. One day I sat outside in a busy area just to observe how people interacted with each other and almost everyone walked past someone on the street without even making eye contact. I was talking to my friend Micah, and he was telling me about how he felt a strong connection to music as well and so we decided to partner together. We were talking about how music now is always sending a negative message and we wanted to stay as far away from that as possible. We decided to make a cover of “Where is the love” by The Black Eyed Peas. It talks about how the world is filled with hate and we only have one world so we need to keep it safe. My hope for the future is that we can all allow a little love into our hearts and continue to spread it out into our communities.
Dorian Meier
My name is Dorian Meier, and I am someone for whom spreading good occurs spontaneously. Since it's my YLab year, I am often very busy, so committing myself to doing good can be a challenge. Instead, I use the time I have between my various commitments to help out and do what I can. For example, during the fall term, I planned to stay at One Stone after my immersion was over each day in order to get college work done. However, in the time between when my immersion ended and I started on my college work, I began helping Adan with an event for an organization called Catch, an organization that works with families experiencing homelessness. Catch, with Adan’s help, was using One Stone’s kitchen to create deliverable meals for their sponsors. Additionally, Adan was preparing to host a Catch live stream fundraising event to pay deposits and the first three months of rent for ten families. I used this small bit of time each day to help put bags together and also put together the plating for the show dishes on the live stream. These spontaneous acts of good each day ended up being more meaningful to me than some of the Project Good projects I’ve participated in, and I’ve realized that doing good doesn’t necessarily mean fixing an overwhelming problem. I believe I can help in all sorts of ways to aid the fight against climate change, homelessness, declining mental health, starvation, malnutrition, human rights, and other problems by lending a hand when and where I can. I hope this inspires others to do good in their day-to-day lives, to not feel pressured to have a world changing idea, but to instead create good from the small moments in between. My artifact reflects my current life. The inclusion of my laptop and water bottle is a nod to my school work. My phone and tea cup reflects the good I do for myself by treating myself, and the bag, mask, and salad plate show the good I have done for others.
Elani Waight
Hi! I’m Elani, I’m 16 years old and have a love for digital art, it’s my favorite way to make art. This year I explored a lot of immersions with art. Ranging from simple watercolors to 3D Design. To me, I find art as a way to relax and have never held myself to high expectations in it. I would say I am the opposite for about every other thing I work in so it’s nice to have an outlet. To me, being good is reflecting your positivity towards others and sharing it with them. This can be through volunteering, writing letters, expressing gratitude, sharing art and knowledge. Doing anything that doesn’t directly benefit you, just to help others or empower others is being good. In my 3D Design immersion, I found that that was my favorite art form to do, I have never been a big painter or drawer or just about anything except Digital art. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t really have an art form I like that much, I bet it's the same for some people too. What’s sad is this could be the case for some people who may love technology or digital art or be inventive, but they don’t have access to it. It reminds me of a community read book we read one year called, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” In short, It was about a boy who built a windmill to help his family have electricity. That’s amazing! And it’s heartbreaking to know there are people out there with such a want to learn and explore things, but can’t or struggle to because of the lack of resources. My artifact represents the things you can do when provided with the resources. It inspires me to help provide the resources to eager learners so they can make things like this too! Even their own digital artwork! For me personally, when I myself was doing good, it was not during this experience but after. The project itself isn’t an example of doing good, but my experience after that, after exploring that skill, I didn’t do projects for myself, I did it for others, I offered to do artwork for other people, like I have done before when exploring digital art that’s my connection to good, sharing my art to help others. I’m sure there are people out there interested in digital art, who want to do the same!
Eleanor Bush
Hello! My name is Eleanor, I am a sophomore equivalent at One Stone with the intent to graduate in 2023. This year I have discovered a number of new passions and formed meaningful connections and relationships with people around me, all while remembering to stay true to myself. During January 2020, One Stone helped me and many other new students come up with a Vision Statement that represents what they stand for and how they want to present themselves to the world. My Vision Statement is “Ineffable To The Sky.” This is a quote I created for myself to represent my feelings towards other people’s judgements.I believe that the sky knows all my thoughts, so my secrets are the same as the sky’s. That is why the sky looks at me and feels I am ineffable. What does it mean to do good? To me, I would answer this question by saying that you do not have to be a good person to do good things. Good things happen all around us made by ordinary people. My Be the Good art piece proves that good can also be a form of conversation and relationship and it doesn’t always need to be noticed, that is what being good is all about. It shouldn’t be selfish and egotistical. It should be natural. It is unfortunate that people make the choice not to do good things, but I don’t feel sorry because they know they are choosing to make that choice. That is what makes good experiences so special, if you share your true self and persona with others and the world, you are the best person you can be. Be yourself and good things will happen. This brings me to my Be the Good artifact, which is a drawing of my Project Good buddy Robbie. Project Good is a One Stone program that provides connection and makes positive social change. That is exactly the effect it had on me this fall of 2020. I am a part of the Game Changers Project Good team. A couple days a week throughout the fall months, our team would head out to different locations around Boise and build confidence, athleticism, and promote inclusivity with children and teens who experience physical and neuro differences. I definitely was not expecting the wonderful, warm feelings after an afternoon volunteering with Game Changers. I feel so empowered to spread the love that Game Changers continues to promote. My first Game Changers event I met the sweetest boy named Robbie. From the moment I saw Robbie, I just knew that he loves to move his body and share loads of enthusiasm with those around him. I feel super lucky to have been his buddy for the day and talk about comic books and video games as well as cheering others on as we played soccer. I think I learned and had more fun than he did to be honest! Without One Stone, I wouldn’t be able to form connections like this one.
Elijah Rodes
My name is Elijah Christopher Rodes. I am a YLAB student at One Stone’s Lab51, an avid hunter, and a friend’s friend. Through my work at One Stone, I’ve developed a personal statement that describes the motivation behind why I do what I do. My statement or motto is “to explore and enjoy the Lord’s creation so that I may share stories and connect with others.” The artifact I’ve chosen to share is related to who I am and what I love to do and think about. My artifact is a picture of me with the first elk I harvested on a hunt. This artifact is particularly relevant to me and what I try to share with the others because hunting is a way for me to explore the world and earn stories that I share with others. Hunting means many different things to me. It is a way that I enjoy the land, grow closer to God, provide food for my family, gain great stories to share with others, and grow deeper relationships with people I care about. Over the past 10 weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to explore various topics related to hunting in an academic setting. In particular, I’ve been exploring why people hunt, what problems exist within the sport, and misconceptions associated with hunting. This is important to me personally, and it’s important to my community. In my studies and in interviews I’ve held over the past few months, I’ve learned that a few bad apples in the hunting community can make the whole barrel of apples look rotten. I’ve learned that there are poachers and unsafe people who hold themselves out to be hunters, yet fail to uphold basic safety rules, do not live up to the ethics of the community, and are just plain immoral. I now communicate with folks with a more educated lens and am applying design thinking principles to improve the safety and well-being of the hunting community. For me, hunting is a lifestyle and provides a way for me to work as a steward of God’s creation, to grow closer to Him and others, to have good food, and to live a healthy and exciting life. Hunting has been a huge part of my life, and I am very thankful I get to explore this topic at school.
Elliot Saxton
Doing Good for Good
My life flows like water. I let things work themselves out as I know I only have partial control of each situation. An opportunity presents itself to me as if it is supposed to happen at a specific time and place; I love the thought of living spontaneously in the now of life. I think it’s better to take life as it comes and to take life with a grain of salt, nothing lasts forever so cherish what it is and can be. I am fueled by my passion and I love finding the deepest of connections to myself and others inside and outside of my comfort zone. Much of my personality is an assertive adventurer and explorer, I enjoy getting out and experiencing new things that I have yet to experience, especially experiencing those things with the people I love to be around. Everyone needs their adventure buddy.
My Why statement is “to understand myself so that I can complete my personal legend.” Some of the most important things on my TPopper are family, skateboarding, being outdoors, and traveling.
There are a lot of defining moments in your life; all of these defining moments help you grow. Some of those defining moments have been having a great supportive and loving family, skateboarding, having amazing friends that have positively impacted my life. We as humans take these defining moments so that we can give meaning to our ideas and understandings. Each one of those defining moments has shown what it means to do good. For me, doing good is the act of doing something that doesn't only benefit you but others around you. "Do good" has the connotation to do good by yourself or others. Doing good can be as little as just being positive for your own well being and for others because positivity is contagious. Doing good can even just help peers with their project or assignment. Doing good is just purely having a positive manner for others to feed off of.
Over the past 10 weeks, there have been a couple of moments that have inspired me to “do good.” One of those moments was talking with my Sound of Music immersion coach Jun. Whenever I needed any help with an assignment or even just talking about what’s going on in our lives, Jun helped me in any way I needed and that inspired me to reach out to more people and see if anyone needed help. Not every inspiration has to come from somewhere big, I was inspired just by simply talking to my coach and that made me want to do the same for others and DO GOOD.
Emma Fitchner
My name is Emma Fitchner, and I’m in my second year at Lab51. When I think of something that breaks my heart in the world, the first thing that comes to mind is the downward spiral or substance abuse. My goal and passion is to help those who are struggling, whether that means changing just one life or many. In this term at One Stone, I had the opportunity to use the design thinking process to focus on helping with the treatment and prevention of substance abuse in our community. This is where I discovered this passion and my group is currently in the ideation process. Oftentimes, when people are not using empathy to help someone struggling with substance abuse, more harm is done than good. I chose to use a photograph of Rhodes skatepark for my artifact because this is one example of that in our community. Although Rhodes has provided so many good opportunities for people, it has also done harm to certain people who are experiencing the cycle of substance abuse by taking away a place for them to stay and causing them to fall deeper into this cycle. In my interview with Jodi Peterson, the co-founder and executive director of Interfaith sanctuary, I learned about this cycle and so much more. This is just one example of this in our community and my goal is to prevent more of these dangerous things from happening in the future.
Ethan Watkins
Hey! I’m Ethan Watkins! I am in XLab at One Stone. I love art, books, space, youtube and editing. Editing has always been a passion of mine that recently became very prominent in my life recently. I love making friends and just being nice in general. Editing was one of the biggest parts of my T-popper, and I feel like it just keeps growing. The reason that I have really started to be pushed to edit is because of Two Birds.
During my time at One Stone, I started going to an after pi activity called Flight School. This was really exciting for me because I have always loved using the Adobe programs and I thought that it would be a great experience for me to learn how to use them further to my ability. I learned that I was also the most interested in Adobe Premiere Pro, and I thought that since Covid-19 is a thing, I have more time at home to learn. I learned a lot of editing techniques that I actually used in one of my youtube videos. This video shows off a lot of editing techniques I learned. I feel like I was really able to get creative with my video and I really got excited because without One Stone I wouldn’t have discovered that my passion for editing is actually really big. It has also helped me gain more subscribers on my youtube channel because I can now make my videos more engaging and entertaining. This overall has helped me make stuff that people love, and that’s what makes me happy! I feel like this is doing good for people because I am inspiring and I feel like I am helping people grow channels and making people happy. I also feel like i'm doing good by making people happy.
The way that Two Birds has pushed me is by telling me to try new things, even when I don’t think I would like it. I’m so grateful for One Stone, because if I never found it, I probably would not have loved editing as much as I do now! Being good to me means to make people happy, and help people out. My artifact is really reflective of that because when I made it, I meant for it to entertain and bring joy. I also received a lot of help and gave feedback while working on it. This experience reflects on how much I feel like people don’t push themselves enough. I feel like people have started to give up way too fast and that makes it so they never try anything new. In my project I tried to do something new, and now I have a new passion. I just want to make people happy, and to inspire people to try. That’s why I feel like I'm doing good for people. This artifact can inspire people to do good through making people happy and teaching people. I learned that when I make something people enjoy, it’s really inspiring to them. I feel like this makes me really happy. This can inspire people to teach and make people happy. I have learned that I have a real passion for editing and making people happy. I feel like over the next ten weeks that I would want to incorporate adobe software into my work that I do. I am really excited to see how much I will change over the next ten weeks!
Ethan Thompson
My name is Ethan Thompson, I am a second year Dlab student at One Stone. During the Fall 2020 term I worked as a team member with an after school program called F.L.I.P. F.L.I.P. is an extension of Project Good, and works to refurbish dressers for families who are transitioning out of homelessness and are being housed through CATCH. F.L.I.P. students work to refurbish and personalize the dressers specifically to the family it will be going to, so as to make it more special and personal to the recipient. This semester we began by meeting remotely and figuring out a game plan for our team. We started a dresser donation drive, hoping to find some good, sturdy dressers to get us kick-started with the refurbishing and designing process. Many generous families donated dressers, and we were so grateful for their kindness. We ended up receiving 7 very good quality dressers total, and even got to meet one such generous family in person while picking them up. After getting in touch with our contact at CATCH, we were paired with a family who had recently transitioned out of homelessness, and in need of a few dressers. After contacting the family's it was time to begin cleaning and refurbishing the dressers. During after school hours, another student and I began the general refurbishment aspect, cleaning and sanding down dressers so they can later be painted and designed for the recipient. We are currently beginning prep for paint and stain, and our next step is to get feedback from the family about the personalizations they would like to see on their dresser. A meeting with the family has been scheduled, and we are all super excited to meet with them and get to know them and their needs better. So far, I have learned a lot about the homeless community in Boise as well as the organizations that work with the homeless to house them. This opportunity has allowed me to find new ways of spreading the GOOD in the Boise community. I have really enjoyed this experience so far and I can't wait to finish the dressers and give them to the families.
Fawn Hoffman
My name is Fawn and I am in my YLab year at One Stone. The why statement I created to guide my work during this final year is: Embracing diversity with an acceptance for change to better understand and empathize with all perspectives and values. The artifact I have chosen to represent my personal growth and reflect on how I have engaged in doing good throughout this semester connects very closely to my why statement. To me, doing Good means using one’s passions and life experiences to help others. In order to do good in a meaningful way, you need to know yourself first. Through my brain immersion, I engaged in the process of learning about oneself and what's important in one's life by creating something to represent my own brain. We created an artifact displaying our mind and how it works; for mine, I created a mosaic of a tree as a symbol of an ever-expanding growth and included how my passions and perspectives have shifted over time in a more literal meaning through words on the other side. On the back of my mosaic, I was inspired to use the natural formation of the tree’s rings as it grows to represent how my perspectives and interests have shifted and expanded as I better understand the world around me (starting from when I was still a little kid to where I am now). Through learning about myself, I think I can be better prepared to help others in ways that matter to me and are meaningful. As I evaluated what matters most to me and who I am as a person, I was able to find different issues in our world that resonate with me more than others, which provide ways for me to do Good in areas that are significant to me. I think this artifact can inspire others to do Good as they see how I display Good in my life. Everyone does Good in different ways and I think it’s important for everyone to remember that. Rather than trying to serve others in the same way you see someone else doing it, it’s important to be self-evaluative to find what matters most to you in order to have the most meaningful impact. I hope that others can be inspired to find ways to do Good based on their individual interests and personality as they explore new experiences and find ways to grow. This artifact of self-reflection also helped me reflect on my passion and purpose as I was able to see how my interests have changed over time. It was helpful to see how they have shifted, but also to identify patterns to determine what is still the most important for me to pursue. I was able to see how I’d always been interested in animals through 4-H, how that had made me interested in veterinary medicine, how that interest led me to explore biology, how I’d become interested in human medicine, and then how I’d become fascinated with neuroscience. It was a journey that helped me see how things that seemed very different actually formed who I am and my interests today.
Gabby Brennan
My name is Gabby Brennan, and I am a student at One Stone’s Lab51. I love science, theater, and storytelling. I try to be a kind face that people can come to if they have a problem or need a shoulder to cry on. My personal vision statement is “Break the Fourth Wall.” Break the Fourth Wall is a term used in theater to describe an actor talking or connecting to the audience directly, breaking down the metaphorical wall that separates the audience from the story. I chose this term as my vision statement because it is about connection and relationships which is what I think about when I envision my future. My artifact is a collage that highlights quotes from empathy interviews I have done during Design Lab. I often find after an interview that I discover new inspiration to keep going with the project. The interview reminds me why what I’m doing is important. To me “being the good” is about inspiration. It is about getting inspired to do good and inspiring others through your actions. These interviews have inspired me to make a change as I hope it will for others. They have inspired me to be the good. One interview I got to be a part of this term was with Jodi Peterson, the Executive Director of Interfaith Sanctuary. This was a really impactful experience for me because her passion is infectious. She not only talked about how substance abuse is affecting people experiencing homelessness but how we can attack the issue as a whole. She had some really meaningful insights and getting to work with her really inspired me. Over the past couple of weeks I have had opportunities to dive into my T-Popper and start to understand my passions. I have had the chance to dive into subjects I am interested in learning about like astronomy and foster skills that I can put to use both now and in the future like knitting and math. I have also had the chance to discover new things I am interested in like writing. I think I have also worked this past term to find a balance with the amount of work I take on and have really grown in being aware of how I’m feeling so that when I have committed to doing something I can give it my all. I am very excited to continue this work over the next term and gain a better understanding of myself and what I want to do in the world.
Garrett Packer
I’m Garrett Packer. I’m a Dlab year one student and for my artifact, I chose to share about my music experience. I was in the Sound of Music immersion and for it, we were able to make music on Logic Pro X. At first, it wasn’t easy for me and I wasn’t too good at it. I couldn’t always reach my expectations for what I wanted to do. I had to start over a lot but the more and more I kept trying the more I was learning. At the beginning of the immersion, I couldn’t even make a decently good sounding beat, and by the end, I still wasn’t all that good but compared to the start and the end, progress, and growth had definitely been made. I can relate it a lot to skateboarding in the sense that when you first start it isn’t the easiest thing and can definitely be frustrating but as long as you keep trying and pushing yourself to do better you start getting closer to where you want to be. You’ve just got to give it time and know that not all things will come easy. Despite the fact that I wasn’t all that good, it was still something I enjoyed doing and that’s also what made me want to keep trying to get better. This growth mindset and ability to fail forward are some of the components that have been central to my learning at One Stone and even outside of One Stone. To me, doing good is going out and spreading love for others, even to those that may not even love you back. Doing good is not always just what we are doing but also our intentions for whatever cause we may be supporting. Going out and serving others and not expecting anything in return is good. To do good though it doesn’t always have to be towards others, we can also do good towards ourselves. I think this experience taught me to not stop trying and I think we should push others to do the same and not let them give up on their goals and dreams. Over the past ten weeks I learned more about my passion for music and where my interests are geared towards within the topic of music. I don’t just enjoy listening to it but taking the time to make it as well. Now I will share with you guys an original piece of music that I created on Logic Pro X during the immersion. I hope you enjoy.
Gerald Landry
My name is Gerald Landry. My search for personal autonomy and better ways to love and care for the world around me will probably never end. My experiences at One Stone have been fruitful in this search. In the last ten weeks, my passions have grown immensely for the outdoors. In fact, I recently worked on a project related to lead poisoning in animals, and my artifact is an x-ray of fragments of lead ammunition in a big game. As a hunter, I’ve come to realize that I inadvertently inflict harm upon animals that I am not hunting. During my project, I learned that birds, coyotes, and other scavengers can be poisoned from the use of lead ammunition. After an animal is shot, bits of lead can be spread within unused parts of its carcass. When the carcass is left behind, the scavengers consume the carcass and the lead. Of course this is greatly disheartening for me, especially because I strive to be a moral and ethical hunter. My pursuit for that station in hunting drove me to research the effects of lead ammunition ways to decrease its impact. One way to decrease the impact of lead toxicity is using copper ammunition. Copper ammunition is only ten dollars more. The reason I say “only” is because ammo is the cheapest part of a hunt. Another way to decrease the impact of lead toxicity is by burying the carcass and excess tissue. Although I’ll probably use copper ammunition, the important take-away for me is that my perspective of hunting, nature, the outdoors, and the way the ecosystem meshes together has been significantly altered through this experience. I’ve always cared about the environment, but it was never an academic focus for me. I now look forward to continuing this research and am an advocate for changing the way people hunt.
Gracie Rodes
My name is Gracie Rodes, I am a DLAB 2 student, and I intend to graduate in 2022. I have many passions and have been discovering more over this past year. My vision statement is “Live everyday to discover the beauty God created within me”. I have been feeling very inspired by poets in the past few weeks and very recently have fallen in love with words and poetry. Poetry has been a great way for me to express my feelings and learn how to be more vulnerable with people. My artifact is a poem I wrote this winter to express my love for all of the little things in life and to spread some positivity. To me, doing good can look many different ways, but one thing that always makes me feel like I am making a difference and disrupting for good is spreading joy and helping people feel seen, and loved. I love making people smile, and I love seeing what makes people happy and excited. I hope for my poem to positively impact people. Even if it only speaks to one person, my goal will be met. It feels real to me, and I want to show my perspective to others and hopefully expand their perspective. This poem represents my last few months because I have really found a new passion for poetry and have been learning what makes life so beautiful and special to me. It breaks my heart when people feel hopeless or can’t find reasons to smile. I want to help others feel their worth and validate that they are loved. I hope it inspires other people to find what makes life exciting for them and to fall in love with living.
Greta Borzea
My name is Greta Borzea. I am 17 and in my final year at One Stone Lab51. This is my audio artifact for my Be The Good piece. I love that we are all able to share what the students are doing here at One Stone to update our community and express our love through our army of Good for Good. We have been forging this army at One Stone for several years now, and I have been lucky enough to be a part of Lab51 for the past 2 and half years. I believe in being good. What does that mean? Well, it has to do with increasing our individual values such as selflessness, charity, integrity, and virtue. This means doing good even when nobody's looking or there to acknowledge your services. My vision statement is “Learn from everything, love anything.” I can learn from anyone's mistakes, including my own, and learn how to make others feel loved and acknowledged. Mistakes, hardships, problems, it's all human! I learned that through those I looked up to, and now it’s my turn to take the plate and be who my little sister, Sofia, with Big Brothers and Big Sisters needs me to be. To love anything put in my path, whether that be brain cancer or talking to my little sister through a screen every week. I have learned what being good is to me through my work with my little sister. My talk here is audio only. I want you to focus your attention on my voice and the emotion it carries. I have nothing to show but my strength to feel and my vulnerability.
Griffin Cook
Hello, my name is Griffin Cook, I’m a first-year Dlab student at One Stone. This summer, I got my first job working at a unique catering company called Under The Table (UTT) where I helped cook five-course dinners for groups of eight guests, and take photos for the company’s social media. I’ve selected some of these photos to be the artifacts for my statement. Before Under The Table, I had very little interest in cooking for my job and only took photos as a hobby. I saw cooking as an important life skill, but something I couldn’t be successful in. I was shocked when One Stone’s Adan Callsen invited me to intern with UTT as I had very limited cooking experience, but accepted regardless because it was an amazing opportunity. Over the summer, I worked two Saturdays a month from three-thirty to nine accomplishing my goals of learning how to cook, plate food, wait tables, use effective kitchen knife skills, and elevating my photography from a hobby to a skill. Food means something completely different to me now, it’s a creative outlet, and my favorite part of using this outlet is getting to eat what I create, and being able to share it with others. The guests are their own company, they sit around a big table and talk to each other throughout the night. Being able to provide an experience that spreads good through interacting with strangers, getting to know them and sharing a meal is what makes UTT unique. The photos accompanying this statement each remind me of a fond memory, like when I made my first dish by myself, or when we tried something completely new. Not everyone gets the chance to have such an incredible first employment experience like I did. I’m extremely grateful to Adan and Kevin for giving me the chance to learn under them, and have such a positive and life changing experience. I’ve been inspired to pursue a career in cooking, where I’ll get to continue to spread good with good food.
