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2018 Artifact Reflection Form Student Name: Raul Pena

Advisor: Mr. Hutloff


Link(s) to Artifact:​ ​Infographic
Artifacts: 1. ___ Wild Card 2.___ CRA 3.__X_ Academic & Pathway

Content Area Teacher: Mr. Canek Pena-Vargas Signature of Approval: Canek Pena-Vargas

Purpose: ​This form helps prepare you for an in-depth discussion of your artifact during your defense.
Type your responses in a google doc and share with your advisory teacher and content area teacher who
assigned the project/artifact.

Section 1 : CONTEXT ​(Give background information about the artifact)

1. What was the ​project​? What were you asked to do? What general steps did you take to complete
your project?
In this project we were asked to make a creative project about immigration covering any topic that referred back to
the cause of immigration. To complete this project my group and I first gathered the information we researched. We
made a collaborative essay in which the whole group did paragraphs of the essay. After we grabbed one of the
paragraphs and used that information so that we can put it into our creative project. The creative project idea ended
up being an infographic talking about the topic of NAFTA and how NAFTA affected immigration to the US.

2. What is the ​artifact​ you will present in your senior defense? What was the purpose of the artifact?
Why did you produce this?
The artifact that will be presented in my senior defense will be the infographic that shows pictures and information
explaining, from beginning to end, how NAFTA destroyed Mexican farmer’s life and forcefully made them immigrate
to the US. The purpose of the artifact was to show people that NAFTA didn’t really help Mexico’s economy. Instead
NAFTA made mexico’s economy even worse and made an estimated of 2 million Mexican farm workers to migrate to
the US. We produced this because it was a clear way of showing such a harsh and complex topic since the US,
Mexico, and Canada agreed to this trade agreement because they thought it well help out all 3 economies in the long
run.

3. What ​content knowledge ​did you gain by creating the artifact? Be specific.
Ex: ​Knowledge about geography, government, economics, historical events, literature, poetry, writing,
formulas, scientific procedures or principles.
Ex. for Wildcard only: ​Knowledge about yourself or your community. Insights about life.

In this project, I learned about how the US government and private sector corporations/ agricultural growers and other
employers of undocumented immigrants was really just deceitful by using this problem of immigrants to their
advantage by giving them work but the lowest even lower than minimum wage and telling them if they ever rebel they
will be send back since they don’t have papers and came here illegally. Another thing was that the US just likes
taking advantage of others and feeding them into their economy. Anything to boost their own economy.
Some concepts I still don’t understand are subsidy. I didn’t really understand the point of paying farmers to grow
specific crops. To improve my understanding of this concept I looked into google and articles explaining subsidy in
their own way. I started to understand the reasoning behind using money to pay farmers to grow their crops. Like the
money comes from the taxpayers pocket which ties back into the immigrants because they pay for taxes also just like
the rest of us (sometimes more than citizens for less benefits). NAFTA allowed for free trade between the US and
Mexico but that came at a cost. Because of the subsidy that the US government payed the farmers working in the
US, the farmers were allowed to sell the corn at a lower price so that the mexican farmers couldn’t compete against
them. Also because of the mechanization that happened for the US farmers growing corn they were able to produce
more corn effeciently and effectively which in turn caused mexican farmers to not be able to compete both in prices
and in produce rate.

4. What learning outcomes (skills) did you develop while completing this ​artifact​?​ (Written, Oral,
Visual, Knowledge & Thinking, Collaboration, Agency)
In this project, I learned how to work with people that don’t do anything and just sit around and complain. I learned to
do this by having an open mind and keeping myself patient because I sometimes get mad easily and it starts to put
tension between groups. The strategies I use in order to keep myself at ease is either take a 5 min break by going
somewhere else or going to the restroom or just listening to some music for a few mins. Of course you might think
that’s bad because I am wasting crucial minutes needed but at the same time I would rather be at ease and relaxed
than get mad which will make the group perform worse overall and would make me perform even worse myself.
Some challenges I faced were the fact that I don’t like working in groups. This school is all about working in groups
but I don’t really enjoy depending on others to do something. The way I overcame this challenge was to just give in a
little trust to someone. It works out in the long run but sometimes you might find that one person that doesn’t do
anything so yeah you gotta learn to work around those things. Some skills I struggle with is my behavior or attitude
towards other. I am very hostile in the beginning or in general to random strangers because I don’t really know its just
my safety net you can say. I plan to improve this by slowly easing myself into just being more neutral and less hostile
towards people I don’t fully know yet. I also learned how to visually show in the infographic the problem that I was
addressing. The infographic clearly shows how the NAFTA agreement instead of help the mexican farmers it made
them compete against mechanized US farmers that were being paid subsidies by the government in order to produce
cheaper and faster corn. The amount of content I learned from this artifact was alot. Learning about NAFTA and how
it seemed like a friendly agreement between each others governments to help each other blossom went completely
wrong for one side. Mexico couldn’t compete with the cheap, faster producing corn the the US was making which
caused farmers in mexico to lose their jobs and be forced to immigrate to the US to find a job. NAFTA helped
increase immigration by the amount of sheer destruction it caused to mexico’s economy and their jobs.

5. How does this ​artifact​ demonstrate that you prepared to be a Global Ambassador?
Remember, a Global Ambassador is an LASGS graduate who exhibits habits of mind reflecting our school values of
agency, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, community involvement, and social justice.
Knowing about these issues that immigrants are facing helps me go towards the world differently because I myself
am illegal. I am AB540 which in turn means that I will have the same issues that all these people are having because
immigration has become a hot topic that in turn becomes worse for me. I will also be able to help other people who
are in the same category as me which is AB540. Immigration is a very tricky subject cause you really don’t know who
has papers and who doesn’t. The many disadvantages that being illegal gives you is many but that just means you
have to fight a harder fight, doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.
6. OPTIONAL: How does this ​artifact​ demonstrate your personal growth or the growth of your relationships
with others?
“Before this project, I used to feel _________________ (emotion) when _____________ (situation or issue). Now, I
____________ (how you have changed).
“This project helped me to develop my personal identity by…”
“This project helped me improve my __________________ (personal/ professional) relationships with others by…”

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