Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. My spring break recently started so I’m excited for that. I also passed my CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant) exam, which is a big deal for students at the Health Academy at my high school! Another exciting announcement is that my research paper (“How does exposure to war affect children’s physical and mental health, and what strategies can be implemented to protect them?”) got published in the Curiex Review! At times, I was not sure that I would be able to finish it at all, as it was very challenging to work on research and keep up with school at the same time, but it is done and I hope you will have time to check it out. I included a link in my portfolio on my website.

Recently, a new war started between Iran, Israel, and the United States. During the first few days of the conflict, an elementary school in Iran was struck by missiles which killed around 150 and wounded 100 people, most of them being young children. This was devastating to hear and made me reflect on my research paper. I believe this tragedy requires further investigation by the United Nations and International Criminal Court, because it is a grave violation of humanitarian law and a crime against children. As a Red Cross IHL advocate, I would like to use this to educate more people in my community about IHL law and the importance of having these laws in place. IHL stands for International Humanitarian Law. It protects those who are not fighting in the war such as civilians, medics, and humanitarian aid workers as well as restrict methods of warfare. A project I am close to completing is creating a presentation that will spread awareness and explain that even war must have rules and what IHL can do to help to enforce it. Hopefully, I will get an opportunity to present it during the Red Cross webinar, but I also plan to present it to my other clubs to raise awareness within my community and maybe even encourage some people to join the Red Cross and become an advocate for IHL as well. I will keep you all updated on how the presentation goes and please feel free to read my research paper!