Future AP Biology Students

Dear Future AP Biology students,
Congratulations on taking AP Bio. This is a challenging and rewarding class that will teach you a ton of new things. The biggest piece of advice I can offer you is don't procrastinate anything, I'm sure you read this on nearly every other blog but it's really the most important thing to consider when taking a challenging class. I procrastinated a lot of things in this class and this made it very difficult to do well. The longer you wait the worse it is. My second piece of advice is always do the reading and extra credit reading guides. I didn't always do these and i regretted it on every test i didn't do them for. The reading assignments might not seem relevant when Mr. Landry assigns them but they really are important. I also found it helpful to go through previous years tests that Mr. Landry will put on the Google Drive. This is probably the best way to study & reinforce what you have learned in class. I hope this advice is helpful to you next year. Good luck with AP Bio!

                                                           What I Learned in AP Bio
I learned so much in AP Bio this year. Biology is a broad field and their is always something to be learned. I know that i learned something new every day of class. Biology is a great class because you can connect it to basically all other sciences. Taking AP bio helped me a lot in chemistry because many of the concepts were related.  Other than the obvious ideas and concepts associated with biology I learned a lot about  time management, hard work, and good study habits. I learned the importance of studying and I also learned better study techniques. Also I learned the importance of reading assignments (They don't seem that important until it's too late). Everything I learned in this class will benefit me when i go to college, I am glad i learned new study and work habits before i leave high school. Overall, AP Bio was a great class and you will learn a ton of new things.

                                                                  If I Were an Organelle
If I had to choose to be an organelle I would have to choose the lysosome. The lysosome fascinates me with the amazing things it does for the cell. The main function of a lysosome is to use it's powerfuul digestive enzymes to break things down that are unnecessary or harmful to the cell, the lysosome can even be triggered to kill the entire cell through a process known as apoptosis which is why the lysosome is often referred to as the suicide organelle.

Although the lysosome is a fascinating organelle it can unfortunately get diseases. One common disease that many lysosomes are effected by is lysosomal storage disorder or LSD's, these are inherited disorders caused by a deficiency of specific enzymes that are required for the breakdown of certain complex carbohydrates, because the necessary enzymes are not present the carbohydrate will build up in the lysosome disrupting the natural function of the cell.

 Fun facts about the lysosome:

• The lysosome uses about 40 different enzymes to aid in digestion 
• The interior of a lysosome has a PH of about 4.8
• The word lysosome comes from two different greek words: "lysis" meaning destruction and "soma" meaning body

What interests me about the lysosome is the fact that such a small organelle could save someone's life from a disease like cancer. If something goes wrong with the cell's mitosis process the lysosome can be triggered to kill off the entire cell. It is a tiny organelle with a huge job.

                                                      Human Stupidity                                                               

Humans have proven themselves to be very intelligent beings. We started out as cavemen back in the stone age and now, thanks to human intelligence, we enjoy technologies such as driving cars and using smart phones. Throughout the process in which we created our modern society, humans have been pretty stupid about the environment. Deforestation, water pollution, fracking, and global warming are just a few examples of the many forms of human ecological stupidity. Our class had discussions on subjects similar to these. Throughout the discussions I found the issue of ozone depletion to be really interesting. In ozone depletion, ozone depleting substances or ODS are found in the lower atmosphere and they naturally move to the upper atmosphere. As they move up they pull one oxygen from the ozone (o3) and create 02 (dioxide) when this happens the ozone is depleted. Ozone depletion has many harmful effects. Ozone depletion creates an increase in ultraviolet light which is harmful to humans, plants, and animals. Many materials such as wood, plastic, rubber, and fabrics are degraded by the increase in ultraviolet levels. Earth's increase to ultraviolet exposure has also led to the damage of marine life which threatens some species, reducing biodiversity in our oceans and lakes. There are many things we can do to prevent ozone depletion: make sure air conditioners are not leaking, do not use portable fire extinguishers that have halons; and do not refill your refrigerators, freezers, or air conditioners.

 

References: Class prezi, imaginepeacepro (youtube), The Ozone Hole tour.

Homecoming is by far my favorite time of year. Among our mock rock dance, float building, and many other competitions homecoming is a great week at Sparta High School. Every year there is a theme to go along with homecoming. This year the theme was decades. The seniors had the 80s the juniors had the 20s the sophomores had the 70s and the freshmen had the 90s. This year i'm a junior and this homecoming was by far my favorite. we killed it in Mock Rock which is my favorite part of homecoming. In  mock rock each grade makes a dance to go along with their theme, since the junior theme was 20s the girls wore flapper dresses, the guys wore sweater vests and we choreographed a cool dance that went with the 20s. The day of the homecoming game all the grades get out of class to compete with eachother for the red apple by playing fun games for points. The mock rock dance, float, food drive, and penny a point also count for points towards the red apple. The homecoming football game is always a fun time, our student section is awesome. To end homecoming we have the dance which is super fun. I love to get dressed up and go out to dinner with all of my friends and then we get to have a blast at the dance.

                                                                                About Me
My name is Wyatt Cornett. I enjoy Hunting, fishing, running, and biking. I hope to attend either Michigan State University or Northern Michigan University. I would like to join the medical field when i grow up i would enjoy working in orthopaedic medicine, cardiology, veterinary medicine, or dentistry. I am taking this course because i was really interested in biology when i took it last year and i left that class wanting to know more. Also, this class will help prepare me for more rigorous classes i will take in college. during this course i'm hoping to gain a better understanding and appreciation for biology.