My college reasoning project
We were challenged to make a project based on reasoning, and so I made a cheap, easy recipe book for college students who don't have time, money or both. I used many resources and personal experiences to create an easy way for students to eat healthily while getting used to living on their own. I wanted to understand how a college student would go through the day and spend as little money as possible. I also wanted to prepare myself for college so that I could help my peers in the future. In order to use reasoning, I had to take many things into consideration while making this directed towards college students. First, I had to focus on the money part of college. As you can read in my history potion for this project, college is not getting any cheaper. Most college students struggle to pay off their education for years after they graduate, so while they're in college they must save as much money as possible. In my recipes, the ingredients are all fairly cheap and easy to find. Most colleges have stores that are available, but it can be hard to find cheap ingredients, especially if they're attending college in a city area. Some of my ingredients include bananas, frozen veggies, eggs and even canned soup. These are all fairly cheap and easy to find. Next I had to think about the accessibility of kitchen supplies college students have. The recipes I made are all different, but some can be made in microwaves, some can be made at home on the weekend and kept stored in a freezer throughout the week, and most of these are easy to heat up and pack on the go. Some kids also have no experience cooking before college, so most of these recipes can be easily made for those who are just learning how to make food from scratch. Lastly, I thought about the healthy aspect. I wanted to put healthy options in my recipe book to break the stigma of the "freshman 15" and the iconic ramen dishes. Even though these junk foods never hurt, I also put in options to make these foods healthier for kids, like putting bean sprouts and eggs in your soup. All of these things made an ideal recipe book to help the students with their everyday lives.
Recipe book
Like I explained in my project goal, my first idea was to take easy and cheap recipes, then create a book for college student who are new to cooking. I used the recipes to make my own ideas and put them in a book, then I researched some of the ingredients and substituted them for cheaper foods. My older sister is a senior, and growing up I would always cook food for her. This meant that she never learned how to cook, so I figured that there would be other people in her situation. If she could burn toast in two minutes but use my recipe to make a healthy meal, then I made my goal!
making the food
I made a taco salad and brought it in to school for my peers to try. I then asked them some questions about the salad and the results were surprising. 100 percent of my peers said they liked the salad, then 80 percent of the students said that they think they could make the salad. After this I asked who will learn to cook if they go to college. Surprisingly 40 percent said they wouldn't and 60 percent said they would. Will you?
Below is the recipe book I made
College debt
For the American history part of my project, I researched how college debt affect different people in different ways. The difference between races, genders and even age is what I focused on. Debt rises more with African American males specifically, and it's the lowest with white men. I even looked into the side of the parents paying for their child's college. Guardians are more likely to pay for a son's college, rather than a daughters. (Even though statistics show that females are more likely to graduate from college.) The surprising hardship is that college debt depends on your race and gender. Even some adults who return back to school have worse debt. You can see an increase particularly in online colleges for working parents. Sadly, the numbers and costs for college have only increased in the years, but the education stays the same with every field. To show my research, I created an instagram page to educate our newer generations on how college loans can take a toll on your life even after you graduate. My page has fun facts, tips and even some "college loan memes" to give a brighter side to the controversial topic. My instagram tag is @own.your.loan and you can check out the page any time!