I decided on Agent Orange because my mom used to show me videos of people in Vietnam missing body parts. I felt bad for them but became more interested in what was causing it. I learned that Agent Orange caused those diseases in Vietnam and Americans returned from the Vietnam War suffering from Agent Orange’s effects. I felt this connected to the Breaking Barriers theme and took this as an opportunity to learn more about people in Vietnam.
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I chose to do a website because I liked the idea of doing your work on the computer. I debated on doing a documentary but settled on an individual website. An advantage was not many of my classmates were competing in my category. Since the deadline for a website was a month earlier than other categories, I needed to manage my time well. 

I started by reading Silent Spring Deadly Autumn Of the Vietnam War, that gave me information on the ingredients in Agent Orange and denial from the Department of Veteran Affairs. I found secondary sources containing information on the jungle, veterans, and chemical companies secrecy and cover up on Agent Orange’s toxicity. This led me to interviews from Propublica telling stories of contaminated veterans' experiences in the war. I watched documentaries on Agent Orange's impact on Vietnamese people and began my second book. I found primary sources of letters from John F. Kennedy and Ngo Dinh Diem, an unclassified report on Agent Orange's effect on the jungle. I narrowed down on my information and started working on my website. I incorporated image sliders and videos to make it more interactive and created pages focused around the barriers and thesis.

Agent Orange relates to "Breaking Barriers in History" because when America got involved in Vietnam, they used Agent Orange on the jungle knowing the toxic effects in it and attempted to keep it secret. Veterans were told that Agent Orange was safe, but the information on the toxicity would be released after their service breaking the barrier of secrecy and lies. Veterans asked for compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs but were denied even with evidence. They argued against the Department of Veteran Affairs, bringing cases into court to prove their illnesses are caused by Agent Orange, this process took years, but broke the barrier of denial. Agent Orange impacted millions of people in America and Vietnam. They suffered diseases and people gave birth to children with birth deformities. Organization formed to help people in Vietnam and compensation was given to veterans. Generations of Vietnamese or American families are now impacted by Agent Orange only because the U.S government wanted to defoliate the jungle. ​​​​​​​