Samantha Pape 340

Enlighten to Empower Our mission is to inspire future generations to follow their dreams through educational empowerment. I have been passionate about education since I began working with Há Esperança the summer after my freshman year at USC. Há Esperança is a social business organization based in Brazil that provides educational materials to children in the favelas of Rio and offers supplementary learning opportunities. Their work was particularly important during the pandemic when kids could no longer go to schools, but also had no way to attend remotely. While working with them, I got to see and was inspired by the impact education can have on the lives of children. This desire to have an impact on equal educational opportunities has followed me throughout my college career and I particularly love the idea of helping to inspire the next generation to follow their biggest dreams. This led me to the creation of Enlighten to Empower. Enlighten to Empower ultimately aims to provide more...

World We Dare to Imagine Part 1 If I could follow any dream or passion to make the world a better place, I would focus on education. Equal opportunity for education is something that I have been interested in since high school, when I realized all of the opportunities I had been given that others never have access to.  This ultimately inspired me to work with Há Esperança after my freshman year here at USC. Há Esperança is a NGO based in Brazil that focuses on providing educational materials to children in the favelas of Rio. I acted as a project consultant for them at the onset of COVID to help with their marketing and fundraising efforts to ensure that the children would have access to reading materials during the pandemic. By working with them over the course of the summer, I got to see the impact that education has on children and solidified my interest in providing equal opportunities for it.  So, ideally I would like to work towards all children across the world being ab...

The Definitive Ranking of the High School Musical Movies A topic that has caused multiple screaming matches in my house, the High School Musical movies stir up significant amounts of passion between me and my roommates. Up for discussion: what is the best and worst High School Musical movie? As a movie franchise that defined our early lives, we pull no punches in determining who is wrong. So, I present to you: the definitive ranking of the movies in the High School Musical franchise. Because I am right, and all of my roommates are wrong.  High School Musical The first High School Musical movie is undoubtedly the best simply because of its classic nature. That and the fact that it is the only one with an original plot considering the other two are the exact same story. Therefore, the first movie wins just because it was, in fact, the first. Let us also consider the music. While not the best soundtrack of the three movies, all of the songs are iconic in their own right. Most importan...

Road Out of Winter Post Two Road Out of Winter follows Wil as she tries to escape the eternal winter that is taking over Ohio, and potentially the entire world. When Wil’s best friend leaves their hometown, Wil realizes she has no reason to stay and sets out to find her mother in California. Along the way she collects other people trying to make their way out of the winter. Grayson and Dance are from her hometown and are traveling with Wil when they are trapped in a cult-like commune fashioned around a skate park. When they escape they take Jamey and her daughter, Starla, with them as they attempt to get back on track to California. Eventually, Dance and Grayson leave the group and Wil is left to care for Jamey and Starla in an unresolved ending.  I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to take away from this book. I believe the unresolved ending is supposed to make me understand that we don’t actually know what climate change will wind up doing to the world. Really, I think the book...

Road Out of Winter: Post 1 When I started Road Out of Winter, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The description seemed rather vague, and I honestly don’t think the blurb does it justice. As it happens, Ohio is experiencing a perpetual winter. Wil is a 22-year-old marijuana farmer living alone and doing her best to survive the conditions. About a quarter of the way through the book, we have only really met characters. Lisbeth is a member of The Church and bends to the will of her parents to please them and the establishment. She runs from the winter early into the book, but I am anxious to see if she makes a return. Lisbeth is replaced as Wil’s closest confidant by Grayson, whose parents left after the onset of the winter and has now taken up residence in Wil’s house. The Pumpkin King sells at the flea market and does a deal with Wil to trade pumpkin seeds for a warming light from her farm. Most recently, she met Dance, a high school dropout who was affected by the gas station explos...

  TO: Clark Hansen, CEO, AMDP FROM: Samantha Pape, Research and Development, AMDP DATE: March 11, 2022 SUBJECT: Recommendation to Invest in Hope Sews As a member of the Research and Development team with AMDP, I am well versed in finding business opportunities that do not just prioritize profitability, but also social responsibility and sustainability. That being said, I highly recommend investing in Hope Sews, an organization dedicated to sustainable fashion and developing entrepreneurial skills in women in other countries.  AMDP Standards  In determining potential investment opportunities, it is important that organizations are evaluated in accordance with AMDP’s standards.  Triple Bottom Line: companies that adhere to the triple bottom line standard are committed to valuing profits, as well as social and environmental impacts it makes as it operates Corporate Social Responsibility: the level to which a business or organization holds itself accountable for the impa...

  Yes, I Have “Allergies” You probably don’t know, but you’re tested for it as a baby. You have a 1 in 15,000 chance of having it. That translates to .006% of the population that lives with PKU. I am part of that .006%. PKU is the inability of the body to produce an enzyme that is used to break down phenylalanine. This buildup of phenylalanine in the body can lead to multiple side effects/symptoms including: Eczema…had it! (probably coincidental) Fair skin and blue eyes…got ‘em! (this is DEFINITELY coincidental) Hyperactivity Delayed development  Intellectual disability  I have a mild form of PKU called Mild Hyperphe, which means I am at less risk of these symptoms and side effects because my enzymes are present, but just partially functioning. However, I still can’t have things that contain phenylalanine, which occurs in food way more often than you might think. Gum, almost anything diet or sugar-free, and most foods that contain natural proteins all have phenylalanine i...

  All the Young Men: Post Two All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks follows Ruth's journey as she navigates love and loss through the AIDS epidemic in the south. Ruth gets pulled into taking care of a man with AIDS by chance when she is at the hospital visiting her friend. From there, more and more people come to her for help as they or their loved ones deal with the side effects of the virus. While financially struggling, she tries to take care of these men--finding them housing, diving into dumpsters to get them food, and finding them jobs. She also works to take care of her daughter as they are effectively ostracized from their community and looked down upon for their compassion and efforts. You get to experience the relationships she develops with the men she helps from her point of view, and because of this, are able to feel (just a fraction of) the loss she felt when they are eventually gone in the story of her life.  I mainly think this book taught me the power of human...

Cheating or Competing?  How professional sports teams can use salary cap loopholes to their advantage in hopes of winning it all.  You’ve been living in a constant state of sports fan despair for most of your life. None of your teams have won anything and you are in desperate need of a victory parade around your city. How far do you want your teams to go to ensure a spot in the playoffs or--even better--a trophy? Are you okay with them exploiting loopholes in their salary structure? Are you okay with having accusations of cheating slung at you, or people trying to tarnish the reputation of your beloved team? And how would you feel if another team was using these tactics while yours suffered even further?  The salary cap can be exploited differently in each of the leagues it’s used in. Let’s look at some of the different ways salary caps can be worked around in three major leagues in the United States and how they might have worked in practice.  What is the Salary Cap...

All the Young Men Post One I’m currently 72% of the way through All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks , according to my iPad. I chose this book for, perhaps, a really superficial reason--it takes place in Arkansas. My best friend is from Arkansas. It is based on a woman’s experience as she cares for patients that have HIV/AIDS and have nowhere else to go in a town that is deeply ingrained in their southern and religious roots. This seemed like an extremely interesting premise, and I really wanted to read about her life experience and how she became involved in the epidemic without any personal interest. I wanted to learn more about the epidemic, as most of what I know is from Rent. I think it is important to learn about people’s experiences revolving around caring for and helping others, as it can inspire you to be a better person. I also think it just puts life in perspective when you see everything that other people have to go through. I hope I can come out of this book with a new ...

  HomeGoods Associate   I think HomeGoods is a store that everyone knows about but doesn’t have to actually enter until they start getting ready to shop for college. I had absolutely no desire to enter a HomeGoods until my mom came home with a job application to be an associate there. She shoved it at me and told me I needed to make some money. Which I did. I just didn’t expect that it would make me so miserable.   A sales associate at HomeGoods is in charge of everything. The managers sit in their office for most of the day, unless called upon. You stock shelves, act as a cashier, change prices, and move furniture. But really, it’s so much more. Working there is truly an experience that no one can describe. My friends in high school told me my job by far sounded like the worst, but I could always entertain them with my stories from the day prior.   If I had to explain to you what a sales associate at HomeGoods does, I’d leave you with these three descriptions. · ...