PEPSI Screening 1

PEPSI SCREENING

By: Destiny Winn

Biography
The child that I did my PEPSI Screening on was my 16-year-old brother in law. He was

born and raised in Chino Hills, California. About 5 years ago he moved to Le Center, Minnesota.

This move impacted him because he had to leave his friends during the summer in middle

school. Starting over at a new middle school, in a small town where everyone else grew up

together made it hard for him to fit in.

He comes from a broken family where his mom has remarried. His father passed away

when he was 3 years old. He lives in the suburbs and is classified as a lower-middle-class family.

In California, he lived in a low-income community in the middle of a wealthy community. He is

used to being poorer than the children around him at school.

His household consists of his mother and stepdad and his 6-year-old niece. His mother is

now raising his niece because his older sister passed away last year. His sister had a problem

with drugs and lost custody of her children. Last year she passed away when she jumped off of a

bridge into the Minnesota River.

His mother identifies as a Christian, but I have never seen them go to church or practice

the religion. My brother in law does not claim to be religious. He is not required to do chores

around the house. His parents underestimate what he is capable of doing. They want all of his

focus to be on his schoolwork so he can graduate. He is the youngest of 3 siblings; none of which

have graduated.

The most common hobbies I have seen him interested in are basketball and boxing. He

also spends a lot of his time playing video games after he is done with his homework. He does

not go outside too often, usually, when I go to his house he is cooped up in his room.
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Physical Development

My brother-in-law is 6’1 and weighs about 170 lbs. His height interferes with his

coordination and causes him to trip over his feet a lot. He is surrounded by people who are

shorter than him, so he is constantly slouching and bending down to be at eye level with us.

He goes to the gym with his older brother almost every day to practice boxing and muscle

toning. He struggles with severe asthma which limits him on how physical he would like to be.

He needs to work on his stamina to do better in basketball and boxing. During one of his

basketball games, he was completely winded from running down one end of the court to the

other end. Since we live in a small town in Minnesota and are surrounded by farming his asthma

gets affected seasonally. During the fall when they are harvesting all the corn there is tons of

debris floating around in the air. This time of the year is also basketball season, so his asthma

affects him more severely. An individual's asthma does not necessarily remain in the same

category permanently. UI Health (2020) says “a person with seasonal asthma triggers may find

that at a certain time of year — for instance, when ragweed pollen is in the air — he or she is in a

higher severity group than during the rest of the year” (paras. 8).

Even though he is skinny he is very self-conscience about his appearance which is pretty

normal for his age. According to Disabled World (2017), he is above the weight and height

average for his age. Teenage boys average a weight of 134 lbs. and are about 5’6 (Table 8).

Since he is taller, he is naturally going to weigh a little more, but he is still slender.

Although he plays a lot of video games there have been research studies showing the

benefits of teens using video games to enhance skills like cognitive and social skills. Tigerfitness

(2018) says, it can boost their creativity by problem-solving or building their own entire world in

Minecraft (paras. 6). The way technology is moving we are all going to end up doing a lot of
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jobs online. The more we learn at a young age we can continue to grow and stay current with

modern technology. Tigerfitness (2018) states, “there are also so many simulation games that can

simulate careers or learning opportunities that are hands-on and you can't just learn from

watching” (paras. 19).

Emotional Development

This child can show a lack of emotion and is very reserved. When he received the

information about his sister passing away, he did not show much emotion. Since then he has

never spoke about how it affected him and claimed to be fine with it. He was very close to his

older sister growing up. His mother was gone at the bar a lot and left his sister to babysit. His

sister was essentially the one who raised him since his mom was gone so often. She cooked and

cleaned for him and helped out with his homework.

Parental emotional support does not directly affect adolescent happiness, but rather

influences it indirectly through the mediating effect of self-esteem. Lim (2014) discovered:

While both maternal and paternal emotional support has a positive influence on self-

esteem, only maternal emotional support has shown a significant impact on emotional

intelligence, indicating that parental emotional support may have different influences on

adolescent emotional intelligence according to the parents’ gender. (p. 631).

My subject may show a lack of emotion because his father is no longer present. His mother also

shows a lack of emotion because she drinks all her problems away to feel numb. The child has

no active role models showing him how important it is to let things out and not keep them bottled

up inside. His stepfather is also very reserved.

He does not have many friends since he moved here to Minnesota, he never really fit in.

He also didn’t feel the need to try and fit in or change who he was to conform to others. This

emotion is normal for his age group. Ellsworth (1999) states the lessened need to be one type of

person for peers helps a sense of integrity to formulate (paras. 3). Since Covid-19 spread, he has

decided to do online schooling instead of returning to high school. He is a junior this year and

says that the schoolwork seems more excessive online. I believe he chose to do online classes

instead of returning to high school because now he does not have to socialize with peers that he

does not relate to. Raising Children (2020) mentioned the following:

Children his age might show strong feelings and intense emotions, and their moods might

seem unpredictable. These emotional ups and downs can lead to increased conflict. They

happen partly because the child’s brain is still learning how to control and express

emotions in a grown-up way. (paras. 10).

However, this is not the case for him, and he is very calm and levelheaded most of the time. He

usually does not get emotionally frustrated and knows how to formulate his words properly when

asking questions.

Philosophical Development

Stanford Children (2020) says, “children ages 12 to 18 are called adolescence. Kids and

teens in this age group do more complex thinking. This type of thinking is also known as formal

logical operations” (paras. 3). This student is an extremely deep thinker. He is exceptionally

mature for his age and can hold down a meaningful conversation with adults. He feels his peers

do not think the same way and are close-minded, so this is why it is hard for him to communicate

with them. A lot of children might find him to be weird or nerdy because he is so knowledgeable

when he speaks but he is just misunderstood. Lipman (2003) states, “in constructivist
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classrooms, learners are agents in their own learning, capitalizing on their natural curiosity and

addressing their own beliefs, attitudes, and interests. In CPI, students are encouraged to engage

in critical, creative, and caring thinking” (p. 438). He capitalizes on these beliefs and does tons of

research on anything he is interested in.

When he gets in trouble or does things that he is not supposed to, he can act clueless like

he does not understand. When he is called out for acting clueless then he feels guilty and takes

responsibility for his actions. “Between 6 and 10 years old, children begin to make correct

judgments of actions based on several types of emotions. These emotions include mixed, hidden,

and social emotions, like guilt or pride” (Callaghan, 2005, p. 204). So, at his age, he is fully

aware of his actions and the consequences that follow.

Social Development

He usually only speaks when spoken to. You will have to initiate a conversation with him

by asking him questions first. However, when he does engage in a conversation, he starts to ask

informative questions. He gets an overall enjoyment from learning new things. He also likes the

share information and random facts with his older brother a lot. They are 9 years apart but are

still very close. They are best friends. Since my brother in law does not attend regular high

school, he does not have many social interactions. Because we live in such a small town there are

not many places to go and hang out with his peers. During basketball season he has to attend

practice and has to socialize with his teammates to practice drills and strategies.

CDC (2020) describes the following:

during high school, relationships with friends are still important, yet your teen will have

other interests as they develop a clearer sense of who he/she is. This is also an important
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time to prepare for more independence and responsibility; many teenagers start working,

and many will be leaving home soon after high school (paras. 1).

He had a job before being a busboy at a restaurant. He hated the low pay but stuck it out for a

year and a half. He spent a lot of his money on gaming equipment and video games. But he is

also great at managing his money and opened a savings account on his own. The lack of

socializing can also come from him being socially awkward and not knowing how to relate to

others. Tashiro (2018) explains:

While social awkwardness may be uncomfortable, it is not necessarily a bad thing. With

more intense focus comes certain skills in systematic thinking. In fact, socially awkward

individuals often excel in specialized areas, bringing a unique perspective to their work

and lives. (paras. 4)

Lisa Bowen (2014) states that more than 70 percent of gamers play with a friend, and

millions of people worldwide participate in massive virtual worlds through video games such as

"Farmville" and "World of Warcraft” (paras. 9). Multiplayer games become virtual social

communities, where decisions need to be made quickly about how to lead a group, and what

strategies will be made to win the game.

I have witnessed how competitive my subject gets while playing video games. To

successfully play online games they require a microphone to communicate with your teammates

for strategies. Even though my brother in law does not have many friends at school he does

interact with a lot of people online. He has made friends from all over the world. He commonly

plays with people from New Zealand, Canada, and The United Kingdom. I think it is amazing to

bring friends together from all across the world to share their culture and experiences online. For

example, they discuss the way politics differ in their country or the different laws they have.
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Bowen (2014) also mentions that there have been negative reports on gaming for decades

saying the effects of gaming, include addiction, depression, and aggression but new research

studies have shown great benefits as well (paras. 3). If it weren’t for online gaming this student

might not have an outlet for anyone to talk to. When he talks to people who play games with

him, they are more relatable, and he can be more open with someone who has never actually

seen him face to face.

Intellectual Development

Fetterman, Campellone, and Turley (2020) have results showing:

It doesn’t matter how smart teens are or how well they scored on the SAT or ACT. Good

judgment isn’t something they can excel in, at least not yet. The rational part of a teen’s

brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so. Recent research has found

that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the

brain’s rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good

judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with

the amygdala. This is the emotional part (paras. 1-3).

Although my subject likes to read and do research about subjects he is interested in he

does not research other things that are important to life when growing up. For instance, since his

parents do not have him do chores, he can be unaware of what cleaning supplies are for what or

when to use them. I have personally taken an interest in helping him in this subject and have had

him clean my apartment once a week for $20 an hour. This went on for about 3 months. I taught

him how to clean the entire bathroom/kitchen, sweep, mop, vacuum, etc. Chores are useful for so

many reasons other than cleaning. Momentum Life (2017) mentions how chores help teach life

skills and build a great work ethic. Children learn responsibility and self-reliance. It takes
PEPSI Screening 9

moving away from home for most of us to fully appreciate all the hard work our parents did

around the house. Our children are likely no different but assigning them chores may help this

insight come a little quicker (paras. 6).

Overall, he does extremely well with his homework and testing. He strives to receive

awards for perfect attendance and student of the month. He takes pride in his work and likes to

make his mom happy with his grades. If he has a C or lower in any of his classes, then his

mother will take his privileges away like video games and television. Sometimes they unplug the

WIFI router so that he cannot stay up late and play video games past a certain time. Graduating

is the most important thing to his mom since his other siblings did not do it. Sometimes he slacks

off and does not see the use in the things he is learning at school. He thinks he can teach himself

more important things by researching what he likes instead of learning about a subject like

science or history. He knows that high school is not necessarily a requirement to get into college.

Even though his older brother did not graduate he got his GED early and went to college. He

looks up to his older brother and believes he is one of the smartest people in his life. Staff

Writers (2020) breaks this down:

students can take individual classes without being formally admitted to a university. But

there’s a catch – they’ll have caps on how many credits they can take, won’t be eligible

for federal financial aid, and ultimately won’t receive a degree. Still, this could be an

ideal option for students who just want to gain a specific skill or knowledge for a

particular job. Some community colleges also allow students without high school

credentials to enroll in certificate programs as well (paras. 3).

Graph
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Recommendations
The first thing I would like to recommend for the parents is to talk to their child more.

They need to spend time with him to learn who he is and be able to share their life experiences

with him and give him proper advice and guidance. Especially since he has not opened up to any

feelings, he has toward his sister's death. His parents should be looking for signs of depression or

even suicide. Family counseling might be the best route if the parents are unsure of how to start

these conversations and get him to open up and express his feelings. Showing an interest in the

things he likes is also a good start to communicate with him.

He has seen a lot of drug use in his family so I think it would be important for a teacher

or counselor to go over the dangers of drugs and sex with high school students. I know the

D.A.R.E. program is popular at elementary school, but I think it should continue and be

discussed throughout middle school and high school as well.

I think chores need to be implemented into his daily routine because it is skill building for

his future. Graduating should not be the most important thing for his parents. He needs to be

prepared to go out into the world one day and be independent. Chores can help improve planning

and time management skills. When he decides how he wants to incorporate his chores into his

homework and free time each day that is time management. Chores also allow families to bond

they can create special moments between children and adults. For example, a moody teen may

decide to open up over a shared task.

Overall, the most important recommendation is communication. This is key in any

relationship with a friend, family member, or teacher/student. The only way to get to know

someone is to talk with them and get them to feel comfortable enough to share their feelings and

emotions.
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