For my civic issue topic, I am certainly going the choose the topic of public transport. My belief that public transport is crucial for societies hasn’t changed at all. I believe that it will be an enjoyable experience to write about how different countries and areas tackle public transport and evaluate them. I also think that it will be interesting to look into how culture affects the public transportation systems on different countries. For every blog post, I will analyse the public transportation of a different country or area.  I am thinking of analysing the US, Japan, China and Turkey. I am especially interested in the public transportation of Japan as I was amazed by it when I went there.

 

For my passion blog post, I am thinking of writing about Istanbul as it is a city that I care deeply about. I think that there is much to write about Istanbul as it is a huge city both culturally and geographically. It is also a very historic city that has been a prominent part of different empires such as the Roman empire and Ottoman empire and has traces left by them.

In conclusion, my Passion blog will be about Istanbul while my Civic blog will be about public transportation.

 

 

 

This is my speech script:

 

 

If you told me 4 years ago that simply entering all of my tasks and duties on a digital calendar would be the key to improve my grades, reduce my anxiety and maintain a good work/life balance, I wouldn’t believe you. However, now I can confidently say that it has made a significant improvement in my life. In this speech, I will talk about why I believe scheduling has a transformative impact on our lives. 

 

In my second year of high school, I was aiming to enter the IB program which required a certain gpa as a prerequisite. However, as someone who was struggling with ADHD, I was simply unable to keep up with my classes. I was constantly missing assignments and entering exams without sufficient preparation. 

 

The turning point came when I learned that my grades were not enough to enter the IB program. It was a devastating moment, I felt as if  all my time and effort was for nothing and that I was a disappointment to my parents. That’s when I realized that a change in my methods was necessary. 

 

I started by entering all of my assignments, exams, and study sessions into a digital calendar. It was a simple action but the impact was significant. I was able to keep track of my assignments much better and allowed me to allocate time to studying, breaks and my other responsibilities. As a result, I found my academic performance beginning to gradually improve. I was much better prepared for my exams and stopped missing my assignments. Thanks to my new method of scheduling, I was finally able to enter the IB program. 

 

Furthermore, it turns out that scheduling has benefits that extend beyond academics. Scheduling helped me manage my time effectively in different aspects of my life. For example, it made it easier for me to exercise consistently. In addition, surprisingly, I found myself playing video games more when I was scheduling as a well organized calendar allowed me to allocate time for personal interests, social life and hobbies which included video games. 

 

Moreover, this practice also severely improved my mental health. Before doing this, I had a crushing anxiety problem caused by my chaotic and undisciplined life and my grades falling didn’t help either. However, by organizing my time I felt as if I had my life under control and in a stable condition which decreased my anxiety. 

 

In conclusion, I believe in the transformative impact of scheduling. This is because for me personally, scheduling has had a monumental beneficial impact on my academic life, personal life as well as my mental health. However, it should be noted that this was for me personally and may not be applicable to everyone.