Global Peace Confence

Today,  a sophomore at my school held a Field Conference about global peace and it was my pleasure to attend! My mom ran a workshop about peace building and conflict resolution where we learned about the different stages of conflict and ways to deal with them. Later we listened to the keynote speaker, Gisele Kordestani, who spoke to us about her involvement with the Palestine- Israel Conflict and what her work at google contributed to it. Next came one of the most interesting parts, the Skype conversation between two Palestinian and Israel high schoolers. We got to ask them any question we wanted! It was such an amazing experience to see their two sides and debates! I was very impressed by their professional attitude but I was a little disappointed because both of them did not see peace in the near future. It was like not scripted or anything but still it was so perfect! It went deeper then just talking around the topic, we actually got to hear from people in the middle of the conflict! It was truly unforgettable!

Forensic Science: The Mystery of Lyle and Louise

Today I had another M-BEST workshop about Forensic Science! This time my fellow middle school advisors and I helped design and run it. We read a mystery called Lyle and Louise that was created to explore different parts of forensics! Our group did bite mark analysis! We took wax and took an imprint of our jaw and teeth and then compared them to other people at our table. We realized that everyone's bites are different and have a very high variant. We then compared the sample bite marks from suspects to the picture of the bite on the victims arm. We concluded that suspect number two was guilty and added our results to the findings of the whole group! I really enjoyed this workshop! Since I was a little girl, I have loved to read mystery books and watch mystery TV shows and movies so thats why I wanted to do a workshop on it during MBEST!

Happy Norooz!

Happy Norooz! Today is Persian New Year or the true start of the year for mother earth! It is the very moment that the vernal equinox happens and spring starts in the northern hemisphere. Norooz is an ancient persian holiday and it has been unchanged by all the people that have invaded Persia over the years. This is a tradition and holiday deeply routed in the persian culture. It is also the oldest persian tradition and institution and it's observed by almost all iranians regardless of their religion or ethnicity. Although this doesn't happen in places like the US, in iran, Norooz is followed by 13 days of holidays and celebrations. During this time people visit each other, younger people have to pay respect to elders by going to their homes, older people give younger people presents, and usually only kids get presents, only until they are 18 though! Families need to be together at the very moment of the vernal equinox, no matter what time of day or night it is. Legend has it that whatever one is doing at the very moment of the vernal equinox, he or she will be doing for the rest of the year! You need to be seated with your family holding hands when the countdown happens then you kiss each other and wish each other a happy new year

and then gifts are given! This year the vernal equinox will happen at approximately 10:14 in the eving on march 19th, which was only a couple minutes ago!! Good night and Happy New Year to all! 

Stem Cell M-BEST Session

I am apart of a group at my school called MBEST that is Menlo's Bridge to Engineering, science, and technology. Today, we went on a field trip to Stanford's School of Medicine at the  Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine. We got to hear from the group's leader Renee. She shared her impressive knowledge about the first five days of an embro with us. We even got a tour of the labs and got to play with some of the tools! This trip got me so interested the science field! 

The Institute for Stem Cell Research at Stanford University 

Castro Elementary

Yesterday, my whole eight grade class had a community service day. Our advocacy went to Castro Elememtary school. We got assigned to a kid, read to them, drew with them, and played with them outside. My buddy's name was Natalia. She was so cute. She ran around the play structure and always wanted to play tag. I think it was a great opportunity to donate our time verses our family's money. I know that when I give my time I feel more accomplished and feel like I made a big difference. Overall, I had a great time and look forward to visiting and keeping in touch with the preschoolers!

KONY 2012

Last year, my brother was studying terrorism in Uganda and he read about the LRA and Joseph Kony. He would often cry and ask my mom, "why doesn't the us do anything to stop him?!" Finally after many years of hard work, an organization called Invisible Children, has gotten 70 million plus views on their informational video! Kony basically goes around to villages, rapes girls and makes to boys join a child army. This cruel action needs to stop! Show you support by watching this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Tech Challenge

I worked on tech challenge today with three of my best friends! It was actually quite fun! We rocked out to music while working away on our design thinking process! We are pretty behind though, so we have to meet like every day now! We have to design a way to rescue a person who fell off a bridge during a natural disaster! It is quite challenging :)

Me and Elizabeth Warren, Senate Challenger from MA

Women on the Road to the Senate: 12 and Counting - Bay Area

Today, I went to the DSCC's Lunch in San Francisco with all the women incumbent and challenging senators of the United States Congress.


Barbra Boxer, CA
Jeanee Shaheen, NH
Maria Cantwell, WA
Dianne Feinstein, CA
Kirsten Gilliband, NY
Amy Klobuchar, MN
Claire McCaskill, MO
Debbie Stabenow, MI
Tammy Baldwin, WI
Shelly Berkley, NV
Heidi Heitkamp, ND
Elizabeth Warren, MA
Patty Murray, Head of DSCC
Kay Hagan, Women's Senate Network Chair


It was really inspirational and educational! I really enjoyed it! I had the honor to sit at the same table with Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and Square, Laurene Powell Jobs, the chair of this event and an influential philanthropist in the Bay Area, and Kirsten Gillibrand, a Senator of New York.  We got a chance to hear from all the senators and what they are passionate about and working on a the moment. It really opened up my mind to the many problems and the positive impact woman can have on their solutions. Only 17% of Congress is made up of women, this is definitely not enough representation.  It is so necessary to re-elect/ elect these wonderful women senators! I hope to continue to support these senators in the future! 

Hi!

Hi! My name is Denna Nazem and this is my blog! I blog about anything I am interested in from politics to service, style to travel, and quotes to projects! I hope you like my blog! Feel free to email me at dnazem@gmail.com! 

Have a nice day! Carpe diem :)