The Global and Media Effects of Covid-19

Cassandra Ayoub, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in Biology and minor in Business

I wanted my capstone topic to be something that everyone could relate to and have a basic understanding of. As a biology major and with my desire to go into the healthcare field, I chose to write about Covid-19, as this virus has been constantly adapting and changing the world around us. I have family members that worked during the pandemic as a paramedic, a nurse, and a doctor; and all three of them had many first-hand experiences of working in the healthcare field during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I decided to tie in modern day social media because the internet and social media usage plays a huge role in everyone’s life. In our modern age, we have access to so many facts, articles, posts and videos right at our fingertips. During the pandemic specifically, I have seen so many posts or memes related to the pandemic shared on social media. People have also used social media platforms to share and voice their personal opinions, especially their personal points of view on subjects of social distancing, mask wearing, the Covid-19 virus, and their views on having to take the vaccine.

While social media may be a great way to share things globally, there should also be an emphasis that when sharing information regarding the pandemic, they should be factual and research-based blogs or articles posts.

I only had a limited amount of time to do my research project, and I did my best to find scholarly articles and info graphs that related to the topics I discussed in my capstone. If I had the chance to pursue my research, I would want to find more information on the Covid-19 variants and research how the variants were formed. Additionally, I would want to speak with and interview some of the researchers that had first taken notice to the virus, and to ask them their thoughts about when Covid had started as something small, then grew into the global pandemic. I would ask for their feedback on some of the information that has been shared over the internet and social media about the virus and the vaccine, and how this virus affected their personal lives.

This was my first time working on such a large research project, and I was able to present my capstone during the Undergraduate Research Conference.

Activities that can Optimize your Well-being

 Alexandria Thorpe, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Computer Science 

During the development process of my capstone, I certainly learned a lot. I had been casually studying Marzipan’s Memoir before I started my capstone, when I saw an opportunity to take things to the next level.

Over the course of the pandemic, it was very easy to get stuck in your own head as you may have experienced, so naturally I wondered, “What are some ways to optimize your well-being?” Some of these things were obvious and I already knew them such as, getting 8 hours of sleep a night, eating your veggies, or getting some exercise.  I really did not know why these things supposedly helped when actually, it all comes down to how they affect your brain. I started to wonder, “What are some other activities that optimize brain chemistry?” At that point, I knew I had a topic for my capstone, because it turned out there was a lot more.

What really interested me the most about these activities is how profound the effects they have for what little effort it takes to implement them into a routine. For example, if you meditate for a few minutes a day for a few weeks the grey matter in your brain will literally be altered. Think about that; you can change the overall composition of your brain just by thinking specific thoughts! It sounds ridiculous, but it is apparently true. A lot of our own neuro-chemistry is right at our hands and we are not even aware of how to manipulate it correctly. I think if this type of information were presented more widely, many people would have a higher quality life in general.

If I had to develop this game further, I would probably make it more digestible and entertaining

for the average player, with less clumsy topic placement and improved mechanics/graphics. 

Research wise it is a lot to take in, but really my goal would be for the player to walk away 

having a better idea of how to implement the habits presented if they wanted to try them.