Garrett's Blog

My Experience Volunteering at a Local Food Bank By Garrett Zhou As you may know, my blog is dedicated to addressing food insecurity. This past summer, I discovered an opportunity to volunteer at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Naturally, I seized this chance and volunteered several times, contributing approximately 10 hours of my time. I would like to share my experience with you and explain why you should consider volunteering as well. When you arrive at the food bank, you will check in and receive a name tag. Please note that if you are under the age of 16, you must have an adult or guardian with you at all times. After entering the work area, you will be introduced to a staff member, who will explain the tasks ahead. Some tasks are nice and clean. This may include organizing canned goods or preparing meals. However, some tasks are gross. These include sorting fruits and vegetables and any sort of cleaning. Before you do any sort of work, you’ll need to wash your...

Food Insecurity Crisis Spotlight: Ukraine By Garrett Zhou In a study conducted by researchers at Hamburg University, a bibliometric literature review was performed using an initial keyword search, which was subsequently refined. The researchers analyzed 631 peer-reviewed research papers from the Scopus database to obtain results that illustrate how conflict affects food insecurity. Additionally, ten case studies were included to enrich the research and provide specific insights into the situation in Ukraine. In this brief blog post, I will analyze the findings obtained by researchers regarding food insecurity during the Russia- Ukraine war. The paper examines the effects of the conflict on global supply chains, and I will paraphrase those findings for you here.  The war in Ukraine has been catastrophic, resulting in the deaths of over half a million people and profoundly impacting the lives of countless others. This situation allows us to examine the ramifications of this devastati...

The Economic and Political State of Somaliland: the World’s most Controversial “State” By Garrett Zhou Somaliland. Located on the Horn of Africa, it still is a region of Somalia. However, it's been vying for independence for decades. Before we actually get into the post, let's get you, as the reader, some basic background knowledge of Somaliland. It has an area of approximately 68,000 sq miles(176,000 sq km) and a population of 6.2 million people. Its capital and largest city is Hargeisa. Its official language is Somali with secondary languages such as Arabic and English. The official national religion is Islam. So, now that you have the basic background knowledge of Somaliland to understand the post, let's finish with a map and go on to the exciting stuff.  [Map of the Horn of Africa → https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-africa-14115069&psig=AOvVaw3KXn6zHW5dFgKTbOdAzn0E&ust=1734481288779000&source=images&cd=vfe...

The Effect of the Presidential Election on the Economy   By Garrett Zhou While not as controversial as last, this year’s election has had its fair share of drama. From superstar athletes such as Jon “Bones” Jones and Christian “Captain America” Pulisic hitting the “Trump Dance” as celebrations to people claiming that this presidency is the end of the world, Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris has swayed a lot of people. Many Trump supporters’ main reason for voting for him was simply the economy. Claims that he would fix inflation, lower gas prices, and bring more jobs to Americans were floating around. However, let’s see how true this claim that “Trump is going to fix the economy” actually is. [Christian Pulisic in the USMNT win over Jamaica → https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5934687/2024/11/20/christian-pulisic-donald-trump-dance-usmnt/] The best way to predict future outcomes is to look at empirical examples. Trump had a presidency from 2016-2020, making him only the second presi...

 Hello everyone, this post has a slightly different theme than the others I have been doing. This time, I am going to talk about my extracurriculars and what I do to maximize them. Hope you enjoy! Soccer: I play both school and club soccer. As you know from my previous posts, I am on the second ECNL National Team at NCFC and I attend Durham Academy. For my club soccer team, I have been to ECNL Nationals twice; I have also won Player of the Year for the regional league. Lastly, I have been to New York with the Academy Team to play against NYRB Academy, PDA, and NYFC Academy. For school soccer, I was on JV as an 8th grader and made Varsity since freshman year. In sophomore year, I got second-team all TISAC. I have 8 goals, and 6 assists in my career, including a goal in the State Playoffs. Debate: I also do debate at Durham Academy. The event I do is Public Forum. I have been on the debate team since freshman year. For my achievements, I have the Honor Badge for my merit points, whic...

Greetings, I am 15-year-old Garrett Zhou, a Durham Academy High School student. I enjoy studying, exercising, playing soccer, and maintaining discipline in general. My history with soccer is fairly straightforward: I began playing when I was 7 years old, and at the age of 12, I was chosen for the ECNL regional Carolinas team as the top player in the state. I was selected to travel with 20 players from my club, NCFC, to play against NY Red Bulls Academy, PDA Academy, and NYFC Academy that summer. I'm currently with the second-ranked NCFC 09 ECNL club. The eternal debate. The cause of the greatest division in football. Who is better, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Avieros or Lionel Andreas Messi? The answer to this question is often the GOAT of football. Many take pleasure in the criticism of both, while others plead for the good of both.  For me, it has always been clear. Lionel Messi is a great footballer, but Ronaldo is the best of all time for me. Cristiano is my favorite player an...