Link: https://sites.google.com/stu.naperville203.org/paigedavis/homepage

Something I learned from my research project that was influential to me was how hard it is to manage black hair. I knew it was different than my hair, but I didn’t realize how much some of these women have to go through, both if they’re trying to make it straight or be natural. I also found it interesting how much these women value their hair, so much so that some of them would choose getting their hair done over eating just so they can fit into society, which is just heartbreaking to me, as taking care of one’s body and health should be prioritized. Something else that affected me during my research was how men perceive beauty compared to women. Black women talked about the pressure to be thin due to American standards, but then they would talk about how men liked how they looked, so it was two conflicting views for them, which demonstrates that the ideal female beauty standard is harmful.

I hope people will learn from my project how harmful American beauty standards are on not only black women, but everyone in general. Yes I mainly focused on black women since they seem to have a lot of pressure, but in general beauty standards should not be a thing. From the novel I read and the research that I did I learned so much about the pressure that black women feel to conform to American society, and I was able to learn about what that did to them, which was not good. There’s this journey that many go through in order to accept themselves, but that shouldn’t have to be the case.

I learned a lot during my time here at NNHS, but perhaps the most important thing I learned regarding myself is who I am. I found what type of student I am, my study habits, that I can overcome any challenge or hardship (as I did many during my time here), and so much more. I learned that the NNHS community strives for perfection and to be the best, especially everyone in our grade—there’s so many intelligent and talented people that work so hard, and it was a good environment for me to be in because it helped me push myself further than I ever thought I could go. We learned a lot about the world at NNHS through mutliple classes, and I think there’s one connection between all of them, and it’s that our world is not perfect, and we still have a lot we need to work on and get better.

Some advice I would give future NNHS seniors would be to start your college applications as early as possible so you don’t have to balance school, sports, and college apps because they take more time than one would think (especially the supplementals). The other piece of advice I would give seniors is to not overload themselves; it’s your last year, take time and enjoy it because before you know it it’s going to end in a blink of an eye.