The Vision

In unit 3 of my class System and Models we learned about how to make a company or group work the best, and different methods that are used to have the best working group. This includes looking at measures like Total Quality or Six Sigma, then looking at Commons, which are resources that are shared but not regulated. We also looked at the different work environments and how they can change the amount of productivity in a company. For an FE we talked to the head of the school Eric Davis about the different functions of our school. For the action project, we had to take a system with in the school, could be anything, and talk about about it through SWOT. I will explain SWOT in the presentation below. While explaining it through SWOT we also had to show how it relates to different trends that businesses do, the Commons, and Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. We then have to figure out how to make this system better and explain why it would work. I chose to talk about the teachers and how they collaborate with each other. Something I thought was interesting about this project, was there have been times when they use what we say and implement in the school itself. Something I thought was difficult was coming up with a way to present all of this, because it didn't need to be a presentation, that is just how I ended doing it. I would have liked more time so I could have made it more interesting and creative.

 

Road to Olympus!

In unit two of my class, Game Changers, we basically worked creating our own game and looking at the process to see how games are made. We talked to many different officials in the field of game making and designing as well as seeing how playtesting can work in the designers favor. We went to the Chicago Toy and Game Fair to present our second edition of the games in the Young Inventors Challenge. This was super helpful in seeing what the industry looks for and really seeing a good game vs. a sellable game. For the action project, we worked on making the board and making it better also just had to really show our game off, by showing the process, and making an elevator pitch. The game I co-created was Road to Olympus, which you can learn more about below. What I really liked was that I got to have a partner, which made it easier to do a more complex idea and really get different viewpoints on what we should do. What was stressful was getting the board ready for the Game Fair because we had to have two editions done in a week to make it ready for the fair. I over came that stress by worker hard and using any free time to my advantage. I really hope you like learning about the game I created with my partner DR!

                                                                                              

Hello! I am NVA and my partner is DR; together we have created the game Road To Olympus - a Greek Mythological game where you can play as one of 7 demigods. Hades has captured these 7 demigods and now they must make their way back to Olympus, going through 5 creatures the Sphinx, the Cyclops, the Hydra, the Minotaur, Medusa, as well as Hades himself to get to Olympus. They can pray to the gods to help them, but their prayers can be heard by any god, even Hades. In the end, only 3 can make it back to Olympus.

Creating this game was so fun, but stressful at the same time. What was fun about it was how my partner and I were able to make an actual game and in a pretty short amount of time. That was fun for me because I got to see how I can really push myself. I also really liked doing playtests with so many different people. It was a great way to really learn on what can be improved and made better to appeal to more people. One day during lunch, I got bunch of people and we just started playing my game and slowly more and more people wanted to see what the game was about. That was something I was super happy to see - that our games was actually appealing to people, and it was still in its first edition. We got to talk to the people from Marbles and they were able to give us great feedback on how our game could be improved. I think the thing I am most proud of is making the last board. I say that because so many people were telling me that we need to make it where the person gets the sensation of actually getting to climb to Olympus. The only thing that was stressful were due dates, and needing to get it ready for Chicago Toy and Game Fair with only a week. Besides that, I am very proud of the game I have created with my partner DR, we learned a lot together and I could not have done everything without him. In the end, I put a lot of mental and physical work into this project and I am happy to look at my game and see all the different stages it went through to become what it is now.

Directing My Life

In unit 1 of my STEAM class Economics, we learned about opportunity cost and how everything has a price: your time, your choices, and your passions. It was heavily filled with concepts of how people think and incentives. From a math point of view we went over calculating interest, such as compounding or continuously; another thing we touched on was matrices and how they work. One big thing we looked over was Supply and Demand and how a graph of that works. For FEs, we went to the Federal Reserve Bank to talk about how they work, and how they really control the economy. For our action project we had to pick a future job and think about two routes to get there, and make a presentation about all the costs that go into it. The career I chose was a film director, because it is something I have always wanted to do. The purpose of this was really to help us map out our future using what we learned. It wasn't just for a project, this helped us a lot in mapping out our lives. My main challenges were getting the correct information and how to put it all together. I am the most proud of getting to finish it on time, and using my time productively when doing this. Below is a Soundcloud of me explaining my two routes and below that my presentation, thank you!

Glimpse of Glimpse

Over the summer of 2016, I was fortunate to be accepted to a program called Global Glimpse. With Global Glimpse I traveled to the Dominican Republic for 18 days with one other student from GCE Lab School; in total there were 20 students and two teachers from different high schools in the Chicago area. The city I traveled to in the Dominican was Bonao, which is in the center of all the mountains The main purpose of this trip was to work with local people teaching children to speak English.

Teaching wasn’t everything, we got to experience the lifestyle of the locals and how one area of the Dominican was different from another. Our experience in the Dominican highlighted differences of living in the United States. There was no hot water for showers, so it was a cold bucket shower everyday; which to me wasn’t so bad, because the weather was so hot. We couldn’t drink the water there so we had special purified water made for us and we couldn’t eat street food, only the food that was made for us, or any place they said is safe. Everyday was different, where we could learn and do different things, for example we had a “Living like a local day” where we actually had to live like a local. This meant less food for the day, no lighting in the place we stayed at and no fans to cool us down. Or “Working like a local day” where we went out to help plant plants. Another example was “Imigration day” this day we got to meet a Dominican village where all the people came from Haitian descent and we got to see how Haitians were viewed by a lot of Dominicans.

Not everyday was like this. On Wednesday we had a fun day and on our first fun day we hiked to a waterfall. We also had Free days, where we got to go out in a group of four people and shop and just walk around Bonao. We did so much in just 18 days, and it was truly amazing. But I want you to walk away with an important lesson that I learned, these people while living in “poor conditions” don’t need our help. They want us working with them, and being a team; not just helping them a little and going away.

The last days were for our Community Action project (CAP), where we were presented with many different ideas of what we could to do by the locals. The one idea that caught our eye was building a playground so they didn’t have to play in the street. We did this by donating money and then we used that money to build the playground. We never got to finish but we did so much that the locals were very happy and couldn’t wait to complete it for us. Not only did we build this playground, but we had enough money to buy a deep freezer for another CAP, so our delegation was able to do two CAPs in the span of two days! Below is a slideshow with pictures of my trip, please enjoy! If you want to see more go to this link of a video I made of the trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF4dL-HW3xg.

One Man Army

In unit 3 of Policy we learned about what the judicial branch is, who it consists of, and the powers it can hold. We focused mainly on the Supreme Court and its involvement in the the checks and balances of the three branches. Also we reviewed Supreme Court cases and how they all challenge what the Constitution states. For the action project we had to choose a Supreme Court case and make a presentation on it, which consists of the historical context, looking at both sides of the argument, and if we think it was just or unjust. I chose research the Korematsu v. United States (1944), which had to deal with Japanese Americans being put in internment camps. I decided to this case, because when reading about it, it challenged me to think if it was just or unjust. Something I enjoyed about this action project is that it is in presentation form, whereas the previous action projects have been essays. A challenge I faced was being able to pick a case, because there are so many that it can be hard to find one that interests you. I hope you like reading about Korematsu v. United States!

Speaking Espanol

For my third period class, we went over speaking Spanish, but we did this by going over these topics: Spanglish, immigration, Latin American literature, influence on Chicago, food, and art. For this action project we had to write an essay in Spanish about one of the topics we went over, with an art visual. I chose to do Spanglish, because I like the concept of mixing languages, and I see it being used a lot more in popular media. With doing this we also had a 2 to 3 minute talk with our teach in Spanish about our topic. Something I liked about this project was getting to chose whatever topic and visual aspect to make this project to our liking. Something that challenged me was making an essay about Spanglish without repeating a statement over and over again. Hope you enjoy reading about what Spanglish is!

Saving Your Bills

In unit 2 of Urban Planning we learned a lot about electricity, such as what it is, AC (Alternating Currents) vs. DC (Direct Currents), and how it can used. We also focused on the War of Currents, which was a battle between Tesla (creator of AC) and Edison (creator of DC) to see which type of electricity is better. For an FE we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, where we looked at the Tesla coil and we went to the Brick by Brick exhibit. Also the area around the museum is where the World’s Fair in Chicago during 1893 was held, which is part of the book we are reading, Devil In The White City. For the action project we were paired with a partner and had to create a parallel circuit with 2 switches, one that controls everything and another that only controls part of it, and 5 resistors, such as a motor and light bulbs. Something I enjoyed was working with my partner and seeing what we could create together, and being able to just test so many things. Hope you enjoy the circuit my partner, MS, and I made.

King Me!

In unit 2 of Rapid Prototyping, we learned all about 3D printers and what different kinds there are. We also looked at Riemann Sums and impossible objects, and how those can relate to 3D printers. For an FE we went VisMed3D, which makes body parts out of 3D printers for people. For our action project we had to create three 3D models of a chess piece with a partner. My partner and I chose the king piece, and with that we had to create it out of clay, using 123D Make program, and with a 3D printer. The reason that it looks different was that we had to follow the pattern that each piece is made from the top part that everyone identifies with each piece; like a pawn will be all circles, so our piece is all crosses. What I liked about this project was getting to see a 3D printer print something my partner and I personally made. Something I didn't like about this project, was really having to make all these models in a week, because we had some tech issues. Please enjoy the King Piece we made!!

Spelling: Machine vs. Man

In unit 1 of my new class, Rapid Prototyping, we learned about vertices, traversable objects, shapes, and shapes’ interior angles. We also looked at different cutting machines and how they work, such as laser cutters, water cutters and blade cutters. Leading me to the action project, we received two different letters, either lower or upper case, and we had to cut those out from any material we chose, by hand and then with a blade cutter. The purpose of doing it both by hand and with a machine is to show the pluses and deltas in using a machine cutter. The letters I have are an uppercase “H” and a lowercase “v”. The purpose of doing it is that we are moving to a new location as a school, and everyone making these letters will help with signs that we might want to create for the new location. What I like about doing this is that we get to make the letters however we like, in whatever format, so people could have done them in cursive or even another language. 

          

Genova Here we Come!

For my Italian class, we have learned how to speak and the language, we also learned about the different cities that make up Italy; such as Rome, Venice, and Milan. Leading me to this fun project, each student had to pick from a hat and on the paper they took out was a city and we had to create a presentation, showing the main features of the city. My city was Genoa, or in Italian Genova. Please enjoy, it might give you an idea for your next vacation!

           

Spinal Disk Replacement

In Unit 1 of my Cure course, we learned about different ways to approach math problems like substitution and elimination, but most important we learned how cells work in the body. We also learned the different parts and the organelles inside of the cell and what they do. For the action project we had to create a Prezi presentation on a surgery of our choice and explain the organs involved and the cells they are made up of, and what happens in the surgery. I picked the replacement of a disk in the back, mainly the lower part, and I thought this would be could because of how serious it can be if the surgery were to be done wrong. The purpose of this project was to see how different cells in the body have very different ways of working and to show in a real life situation.


         

Military Dictatorship in Brazil 1964 - 85

For unit 2 of my Forbidden Books class we learned more about religions; where it started and how and the prophets were involved with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and their role in censorship. Then we learned more about how governments started to censor more things to gain political power. For the action project we were given a list of censorship cases that happen at different countries and times, but also we had to just research what was going on in the country at the time and how that lead to the censorship. I picked the Military Dictatorship in Brazil during 1964 - 1985, I thought this would be more interesting to learn how a military would censor different things to gain power and see what different things they would censor. Also this was a huge event that happened in Brazil, and is seen as one of the worst times for the Brazilian citizens, which was surprising to me since I never heard of it before. The purpose of this was to see how governments would censor items and why they chose to do that. I really liked this action project because it really pushed me to work harder, mainly because a lot of my sources that started out with had the same story, but different dates. To me censorship is really only justified if it is very small or specific, but I don't think big picture ones are justified. For example, dictatorship and them using censorship to gain power, but when it used to help keep a child from seeing things they aren't ready for, I think that would be justifiable.