Kayla W's. 12/19 Exhibition Reflection

If I could describe this experience of participating in this exhibition in two words, they would be inspiring and exciting. When I first heard that we were going to do a study of cancer I thought it was a great idea because my grandpa (at the time) was suffering from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I wanted to learn more about what he was going through and about the different cancer types. This experience was really interesting. I learned alot about Lymphoma and Yellow fever. I enjoyed gathering information to put together into a big project for the finale. Overall, my favorite part of doing this exhibition was during the presentation. I thought it was really interesting guiding the kids and viewing their reactions to our work. I also enjoyed presenting the Yellow Fever 1793 piece with Isaac becuase I enjoyed reading the book and it was fun explaining it.
I studied Lymphoma as my cancer type. I learned that there are two different types of Lymphoma: Hodgkins and Non-Hodgkins. Hodgkins Lymphoma is a cancer of the Lymphatic system that most commonly affects people in their late 50's, early 20's.
There are 4 main types of Hodgkins disease: Nodular Sclerosing, Lymphocyte Predominant, Mixed Cellularity, Lymphocyte Depleted and a Lymphnode biopsy. Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma includes all the types of Hodgkins Lymphoma. The symptoms of Lymphoma are enlarged or swollen Lymphnodes, also known as Lymphadenopathy. The cause of Lymphoma remains unknown. There are different stages of Lymphoma too. The stages of Lymphoma are I, II, III or IV. Staging is very important imformation for every patient with Lymphoma. It provides a common language for doctors and patients to describe how much Lymphoma and it is vital for deciding on the correct treatment.
There were many things that I learned that I didnt know before I did this expedition. I learned that Hodgkins lymphoma is named after an English patholigist who origionally described the disease in the 1800's. In my studies I also discovered that there are two different types of growths in cancer. Benign and Malignant are the two forms of growth. Benign is a growth that is not cancerous. Malignant is a form of cancer that is cancerous. I actually didnt know there was a type of cancer that can turn out to be non-cancerous.
The challenges that I encountered during this enhibition was that when we were presenting the information to the kids I was confused on where I needed to be. I think it was a little unorganized because I ended up doing some jobs that I wasnt assigned to do. Another challenge that I faced was when I had to handle the task of having to guide groups around the exhibition and do a presentation on Yellow fever at the same time. I was needed in two different places at the same time so it was very difficult to handle both tasks.
If I was able to to continue an expedition I would probably pursue the project of Contaminated water and Air pollution. I would like to study the effects on communities and their effects on living things.
If we have an exhebition next year I think that I would change the way it was organized. I would let everyone know their specific positions in planning for the event. I would also have at least two or three managers which will help them to organize and therefore avoid less stress and I would plan the event a little earlier so that people could improve their work more.
Overall, I think this event was a great success and I think everyone at BCS should now know What happends when Cells go wild.