Breanna Guzman
Summary

When finding the perfect project to carry out, I came to the conclusion that my focus should be around intervention of speech and language disorders for younger children. Younger children and speech related disorders have been an interest of mine since the beginning of this program.

After some discussion, I decided to create an at home literacy kit that could be presented to caregivers to begin early literacy learning in the homes. I have seen changes in my personal life as my parents have read to my sisters and I since we were young. As I completed this project, I grew my understanding of early literacy, especially in the ways in which children can thrive through language and reading, by incorporated it into their daily lives. Helping children in this way has always been a passion of mine. Through creating this kit, I came to better understand how a child’s skills can start at a young age, with the help of early language intervention in the home.

As I started to research for this project, I realized I wanted to incorporate a bilingual aspect, specifically Spanish, allowing my literacy kit to be available for a wider range of individuals.

I chose a book to focus my project on, that had a Spanish version of the text, as well as an audio CD. The book I chose, “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes”. With this book in mind, I started to create activities for the children to complete individually, or with a grown-up, that will hopefully expand their language skills.

Other aspects of this project included a reading log to track the progress of time spent reading books, as well as a writing journal with a few prompts to get the writing started. To make my project as user friendly as I could for the families who may receive this kit, I also included different links to online resources that they can utilize to further their understanding of early literacy.

My project was very beneficial for my learning, as I was working through my courses this semester. I was able to relate this project heavily back to my “Intervention of Speech and Language” course. Through early literacy with children, we may be able to limit the amount of intervention that is needed for the child in the future. The whole goal of intervention is to improve the skills that may be falling behind for a child, but there is a possibility this need can be reduced with resources like this kit. Completing this project as my Honors enhancement project was a great experience. I was able to apply my interests of working with the younger population through speech and language aspects, as well as apply them to the Honors program by creating a better community around me, and sharing helpful information that will hopefully decrease the need for intervention in the future generations. My hope for this project is that others in the future will enjoy this information as much as I enjoyed researching, bringing it together and creating this final project.

Katie Gower
Abstract

In his analysis of representative democracy and its demerits, English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill proposes a solution to address the political inequality that often proliferates in representative systems. Mill argues for proportional representation, a type of representation encompassing multiple methods that ensure minority groups are represented. Through his political and philosophical analysis of Mill’s book “Considerations on Representative Government”, a compelling argument for proportional representation can be derived. Political representation is a critical subject within the field of political science, and understanding the many forms and methods of representation allows political scientists to evaluate the political freedom of individuals within a democracy, how well the individuals are truly represented, and how effective, or ineffective, the method of political representation renders the government and society as a whole.

The ideal of a true democracy, in which all of the people are represented equally, can be difficult to achieve, and political scientists and philosophers have strived to find solutions to this problem. Mill believed that this problem, and two additional weaknesses within democracies, can be solved by addressing the method of representation within that democracy.

Proportional representation creates a solution to two dangers of democracy as identified by Mill: 1)T the inaptitude of the ruling body, and 2),The interests of said ruling body diverting from the interests of the people.

As Mill argues, proportional representation creates a number of benefits for both the individual and the democracy as a whole. By analyzing its merits, further understanding of democracy and the importance of representation can be established.