World Water Day 2013 - My Friend the Jerry Can

I announced a week ago about World Water Day. The day,designated by the United Nations, is meant to bring greater awareness to the dire issue of the lack of adequate drinking water in third world countries. Despite these individuals having to walk miles for water, they aren't met with an oasis of fresh spring water. Many times, they have to depend on disease-ridden water due to this being their only option. 

World Water Day 2013 was an amazing initiative I was proud to be involved with this year. The use of social media as a vehicle for change was profound. The amazing crew at charity: Water was so nice and approachable, as always! Especially Stephanie Goetz, who was always there to answer questions and alleviate worries! 

So, what did I do for the day? The task I pledged for this year was to carry the Jerry Can around for a full 24 hours. This included around the house and even in school. While doing so, I tallied my distance using my Nike+ app. The grand total at midnight Saturday was .7 miles.

The measure may have seemed small, however I was pleasantly surprised at the response I've gotten. From individuals asking "what the hell" I was doing, to others sharing their personal experiences in third world countries of the need of water. It was truly eye opening, and both reactions allowed me to explain more about charity: water's efforts, the water crisis in general, and even individuals looking to make a pledge.
This was a wonderful opportunity I was offered. However, you don't have to be a World Water Day Champion or wait until World Water Day 2014 to help! From pledging birthdays to offering your own campaigns, there are numerous ways to contribute!

Thanks to the charity: water team and the United Nations!,

Emmanuel

I am a charity: water World Water Day Champion!

One of the most basic needs of human life is water. However, this is a need that not all individuals have adequately available. These individuals are in third world countries. They simply can't go to a grocery store, or even go into their own ground water supply to find drinking water. The resources simply aren't available.

However, charity: water is an organization that helps individuals in underdeveloped countries produce clean drinking water. charity: water funds water projects, including the building of wells in these countries, to ensure that citizens can sustain themselves with regularly available, clean water. Through this mission, charity: water aims to solve the water crisis that is currently afflicting nearly 800 million people.

This is a serious problem guys, and that's why I became involved with charity: water two years ago. Now, I am proud to announce that for World Water Day 2013, I am one of 30 individuals from 10 U.S. states and 12 countries who will be World Water Day Champions!

charity: water has sent me a Jerry Can and other charity: water items. I pledge on March 22nd, 2013 to lug around a Jerry Can for a full 24 hours! Yes, from when I wake up at 6:30AM, when walking around the house, around town, and around school until 11:59PM March 22nd. This is done not only for me to get a small taste of the struggle millions of individuals have to make every day to lug water to and from their village each day for adequate drinking water. This is meant to bring on a discussion about charity: water's efforts and the water crisis in general.

Throughout the day, I will also be checking in on social media, my website, and on Teens in Tech about World Water Day. Getting involved with charity: water and the clean water initiative is easy to do. I hope you will take the time to check out charity: water's efforts as well!

Thanks guys!

Emmanuel

Using Evernote During the College Application Process

As many of you may know, I'm currently a senior in high school. One thing I want to say to those who've already graduated - where did you get that this was the easiest time of your high school career? It totally isn't. At least not in January for that matter.

You're still on the college search, and if not, you're applying to the colleges on your list. Once that's done, many of them want to ensure you are keeping your grades up until the next semester. There really doesn't seem to be a time in the near future where I can see myself slacking. However, one program that has been quite helpful for me during this time was Evernote.

I have found myself making use of this program to keep up with deadlines, draft up college essays, pin information I find out about or from colleges. I also scan and keep a digital copy of my acceptance/deference/rejection (luckily none of those yet!) in Evernote as well. Any required information a college may need (grades, current ranks, schedules, and all are readily shareable and email able from Evernote.

Currently, I have a working chart of colleges I've applied to and/or heard back from. The minute a status changes, I go to Evernote and color code it (green for acceptance, yellow for deferred). For the Mac users out there, if you want to color code as well, simply highlight the text > perform the command of Command+T > text configurations will then appear!

Also, in the essay writing process, Evernote's share tool made it seamless for me to email my final draft to my editor to offer any final suggestions. Once I get feedback from the Evernote collaboration tool, I can hit print if I have to mail off an application, or simply copy and paste if I'm applying in Common App.

Evernote has been a tremendous help in the college application process. With two acceptances already under my belt, I can't wait for many more to come!

First Day of School Tomorrow

Summer has officially ended, as I look back on this summer, it was truly a unique one for me. I was able to have a nice balance of fun, productivity, and work in San Francisco. This summer has also been a reflective time for me. This is a key time for me, where I will begin to break away from the training camp called high school that prepares me for the adult life to come. A life that begins with college. For this reason, I have nine months ahead of me where I have to make the best of my last year as a child in high school, to prepare for college ahead of me, all while giving myself the opprotunity to absorb and reflect on it all. Will I be able to do it? I hope so...

My Minor Obsession with Borgen

American television can sometimes feel like the same ol', same ol'. When there isn't a new reality show out, there's...well, a reality show being planned. The diversity of television nowadays seems to be a bit non-existant. However, one channel I really do love is LinkTV. They seem to find a great way of offering the best in television, news, and movies from around the world. They have seriously gotten me hooked on a ton of shows from other countries. However, one show that has grabbed my attention is Borgen.

While I got a snippet of the show a couple of months, if not a year ago. But it didn't catch my attention because it conflicted with another show I watched (priorities, I know!). But a Borgen, Danish for "Castle", marathon was announced a couple weeks ago. This made me want to dig in and see what Borgen had to offer. The marathon, currently in progress, airs two episodes every weekday at 8PM and 9PM. This gives the word "marathon" a whole new meaning.

While I will not go into what has been going on with the show, no spoiler alerts needed here, I will give you a short premise of what Borgen is about and why I love it. Borgen outlines the lives of three main characters,

• The politican: Birgitte (Burr-gee-teh) 
• A news reporter: Katrine (the actress's real name is ironically Birgitte) 
• The press communicator: Kasper. 

Each character has their own professional, personal, and family issues that are outlined on Borgen. What I can say is:

• You'll fall for Birgitte...
• Feel for Katrine ...
• Find that Kasper's life has influenced a lot of his personal choices.

There are so many twists and turns, so much so that having them occur each day makes it too much to handle! But I'm enjoying it and I think you should get in on this Danish treat. Personally, I've found it to be one of the best shows I've seen. Did I mention that it's subtittled through LinkTV? Yes, you can enjoy it even if you don't understand Danish (I don't).

http://www.linktv.org/borgen - Watch all episodes, subtitled, and for free online for the rest of this week!