Showing posts with label Representation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Representation. Show all posts
Monday, May 16, 2016
Yummy Business
For our second action project in our Entrepreneurship class we took all the information we learned in the first unit and applied it to the real world. We looked at many examples and then made it more personalized by either creating our own business or working on an existing one. I chose to look into Insomnia Cookies and make many improvements. We then had to each create a business plan for those businesses, as our action project. The project was pretty difficult but I'm proud of all the work I did and that I completed it.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Closer Look at the Council
For our final unit in Systems and Models, we studied I-O Psychology, specifically its history, relevance, systems dynamics, and an organization’s ability to attract and serve its employees. Psychology has been around since the 4th century but wasn't considered a legitimate science until the APA was formed in 1892. I enjoyed this unit because it made me think more about what is important to look for when getting a job and what types of places I may want to work for in the future. For our last action project we each chose a part of the school to focus on and then were assigned to create a SWOT based on that part. I’m proud of my final result because it was about a part of the school that I am a part of and think is very important, so I was glad I got to represent it.
The way the Council solves problems reminded me of Six Sigma. They have two processes for improvement, DMAIC process consists of: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control; the DMADV process consists of: define, measure, analyze, design, and verify. The DMAIC is for existing processes that aren’t meeting expectations and the DMADV is to develop new processes or products. I compared this to the way we look at issues in Student Council and how we implement policies, we pretty much used the same steps. I also saw similarities to Total Quality. A part of the Total Quality Management definition is “In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work,” this is what members of the Council do as well. I was glad to notice these comparisons because I feel that it validates how the Council works. If this is how these big, well known, companies run things, it must be effective.
When interviewing people about the Student Council, I got a lot of positive comments which reminded me of all the strengths the Council has. I wanted to get a range of feedback so I made sure to interview a student on the Council as well as one that is not on the Council. Similarly when interviewing the staff, I wanted to interview the teacher who is present at all Council meetings as well as someone who only sees the external effects of the Council. JM, the Student Council Vice-President, stated that “The Student Council is a really helpful tool for communicating with teachers. A lot of times there are issues in classes that have easy solutions but the class doesn’t feel comfortable telling the teacher because we don’t want to negatively affect the classroom dynamic. Through the Council, we’re able to respectfully let a teacher know about any issues and what solutions we have come up with.” BKJ said “I feel like it finally gives us a voice” which I was very glad to hear. Hiu told me that “Spirit week was awesome” but also suggested that “more events like that should be put on, not enough community action from the Student Council”. I thought her suggestion was really good and decided to get some more advice from people on how to improve the Council. Jamie who is present at all meetings suggested: “The Council should collaborate more frequently on projects that will directly engage students and staff to build community.” Eric also pointed out to me a really interesting opportunity I had never considered before, the opportunity to meet and talk with Student Councils at other schools in order to learn from each other.
I was thinking about possible solutions to the Council’s weaknesses and possible threats. I wanted a solution that related to systems thinking, so that we really solved the root of the problems. One of the issues that I thought was really important to think about more closely was the lack of communication between the Council and the rest of the student body. I thought a good solution that would actually solve the issue is a mandatory sort of exit slip at the end of every two weeks. This way everyone would get a chance to say what they think, and it would be anonymous so they would be able to tell us things that they might not have felt comfortable letting us know one on one. This would be really beneficial to the entire school because it will address more issues to the Council and give us the opportunity to help come up with solutions for these issues. Another issue I came up with a systems thinking solution for was not having a designated space, which causes confusion and some members to not show up due to not knowing where to go. A solution to this would be to have a set space in the new building where we are already scheduled to meet each week and cannot have the space taken from us. This will remove confusion and thanks to that more members will show up. The more members show up, the more insight the Council has on new issues and the more minds we have available to help brainstorm solutions.
Works Cited
 |
| AG . Examples of Maslow's hierarchy implemented by Student Council . 2016 |
For my SWOT I focused on the Student Council. As President of the Student Council, I have a great insight on how everything is run and what strengths and weaknesses there are. When thinking about this group, you must also think about the “Tragedy of the Commons,” which is the potential to abuse a shared opportunity and everyone shares the consequences. There are multiple different commons in my scenario. One of those would be time; the Student Council meets each Thursday during lunch, which is an hour long. However, Falcon Fiesta got added to the schedule making lunch 55 mins. We then allow the Council members 10 minutes to get lunch, cutting our time down to 45 minutes. If Falcon Fiesta runs longer, or if members take extra time getting lunch, that affects everyone else on the Council because we can’t fully start without all the members. It also interrupts the discussion every time someone walks in late. Another example of the commons would be the entire student body. The Student Council is the student body’s representation on any issues; if the representatives of the school aren’t doing their job, then the entire student body, and in turn the entire school, is impacted.
The way the Council solves problems reminded me of Six Sigma. They have two processes for improvement, DMAIC process consists of: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control; the DMADV process consists of: define, measure, analyze, design, and verify. The DMAIC is for existing processes that aren’t meeting expectations and the DMADV is to develop new processes or products. I compared this to the way we look at issues in Student Council and how we implement policies, we pretty much used the same steps. I also saw similarities to Total Quality. A part of the Total Quality Management definition is “In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work,” this is what members of the Council do as well. I was glad to notice these comparisons because I feel that it validates how the Council works. If this is how these big, well known, companies run things, it must be effective.
When interviewing people about the Student Council, I got a lot of positive comments which reminded me of all the strengths the Council has. I wanted to get a range of feedback so I made sure to interview a student on the Council as well as one that is not on the Council. Similarly when interviewing the staff, I wanted to interview the teacher who is present at all Council meetings as well as someone who only sees the external effects of the Council. JM, the Student Council Vice-President, stated that “The Student Council is a really helpful tool for communicating with teachers. A lot of times there are issues in classes that have easy solutions but the class doesn’t feel comfortable telling the teacher because we don’t want to negatively affect the classroom dynamic. Through the Council, we’re able to respectfully let a teacher know about any issues and what solutions we have come up with.” BKJ said “I feel like it finally gives us a voice” which I was very glad to hear. Hiu told me that “Spirit week was awesome” but also suggested that “more events like that should be put on, not enough community action from the Student Council”. I thought her suggestion was really good and decided to get some more advice from people on how to improve the Council. Jamie who is present at all meetings suggested: “The Council should collaborate more frequently on projects that will directly engage students and staff to build community.” Eric also pointed out to me a really interesting opportunity I had never considered before, the opportunity to meet and talk with Student Councils at other schools in order to learn from each other.
I was thinking about possible solutions to the Council’s weaknesses and possible threats. I wanted a solution that related to systems thinking, so that we really solved the root of the problems. One of the issues that I thought was really important to think about more closely was the lack of communication between the Council and the rest of the student body. I thought a good solution that would actually solve the issue is a mandatory sort of exit slip at the end of every two weeks. This way everyone would get a chance to say what they think, and it would be anonymous so they would be able to tell us things that they might not have felt comfortable letting us know one on one. This would be really beneficial to the entire school because it will address more issues to the Council and give us the opportunity to help come up with solutions for these issues. Another issue I came up with a systems thinking solution for was not having a designated space, which causes confusion and some members to not show up due to not knowing where to go. A solution to this would be to have a set space in the new building where we are already scheduled to meet each week and cannot have the space taken from us. This will remove confusion and thanks to that more members will show up. The more members show up, the more insight the Council has on new issues and the more minds we have available to help brainstorm solutions.
Works Cited
- Koppes, Laura L. "What Is I-O?" A Brief History of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc.-. SIOP. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
- McLeod, Saul. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Simply Psychology. 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
- T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology." pp 9 Web. 18 Mar. 2016
- "Total Quality Management (TQM)." TQM. ASQ. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
- "What Is Six Sigma?" ISixSigma. ISixSigma. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Money, Money, Money, Must Be Funny, In The Rich Man's World
For our second unit of Economics, Wealth and Wages, we looked into how wealth is accumulated and how it is distributed. We gained knowledge on how to invest our money and increase our money as much as possible, and we were assigned to put this knowledge into use for our Action Project by making a portfolio. This project was challenging because it required a lot of planning and calculating but I really enjoyed it and plan to use some of these skills in real life.
For this project, we received a scenario where 18 years ago, our “guardian angel” set up a college savings plan for us with an initial investment of $8,500. They then would continue to add $50 each month ($600 yearly). After 18 years, at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth $50,556.80. We then had to decide what we do with the money after cashing it out and depositing the money in a brokerage account to invest on our own.
My investment philosophy is to invest when a stock is lower than the annual stock rate, for example when Disney’s stock dropped in July of 2015, and cash out when it’s really high up, but also to wait a long amount of time, because the more years you wait the more likely you are to profit. I also don't care for big fluctuations and prefer stability in my investments, the more fluctuations the less likely I am to invest.
According to a risk assessment quiz I took, by Rutgers, I have an average tolerance for risk. I agree with that result. While, I am willing to take some risks, they aren’t usually aren’t very large risks. If I don’t feel it is almost certain that I will profit, I am not willing to invest my money. I’m more willing to invest in something that I will make less of a profit on it it’s less risky, than to invest in something that I would make a much larger profit on but that has high risk.
I chose three investment goals I have over different periods of time. 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years.
1-year goal: Own a used car - Jeep ($6,500)
5-year goal: Rent an apartment for one year without having to work ($12,000)
25-year goal: Pay off all my student loans ($120,000) Own a house ($400,000)
When choosing which companies to invest in I looked at how well they have done over the course of 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and since the company first started. I also paid attention to fluctuations and how big they were. If a company’s stocks would change constantly, I automatically crossed them off my list. If they were a sure and steady company for years and continued to have a steady increase the past year, I took a closer look at them. This way I could be almost positive that I would make a large profit and I knew that they would be the least risky. I also was only willing to invest in companies that don’t do anything that harms animals, people, or the environment. I decided that when it comes to money, I think the most important thing to look at is what will make money, not what is the nicest or friendliest, but I also have morals and harming others isn’t acceptable to me.
The two companies I chose were the Walt Disney Company and Amazon. The reason I chose these two companies is because I felt could invest in them both no matter what time horizon, since they both have had a steady increase over the years and I think they’re a safe bet no matter what time frame you choose.
I then organized my investments into three portfolios, one for each goal.
Portfolio I- 1 Year Goal
$3,954.24
4 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($2,255.64 total) (57.0% of portfolio)
15 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($1,698.60 total) (43.0% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 64.4%. After one year, I should have enough money for the car I want- $6,500.
For this project, we received a scenario where 18 years ago, our “guardian angel” set up a college savings plan for us with an initial investment of $8,500. They then would continue to add $50 each month ($600 yearly). After 18 years, at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth $50,556.80. We then had to decide what we do with the money after cashing it out and depositing the money in a brokerage account to invest on our own.
My investment philosophy is to invest when a stock is lower than the annual stock rate, for example when Disney’s stock dropped in July of 2015, and cash out when it’s really high up, but also to wait a long amount of time, because the more years you wait the more likely you are to profit. I also don't care for big fluctuations and prefer stability in my investments, the more fluctuations the less likely I am to invest.
According to a risk assessment quiz I took, by Rutgers, I have an average tolerance for risk. I agree with that result. While, I am willing to take some risks, they aren’t usually aren’t very large risks. If I don’t feel it is almost certain that I will profit, I am not willing to invest my money. I’m more willing to invest in something that I will make less of a profit on it it’s less risky, than to invest in something that I would make a much larger profit on but that has high risk.
 |
| AG Screenshot Risk Assessment 2015 |
I chose three investment goals I have over different periods of time. 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years.
1-year goal: Own a used car - Jeep ($6,500)
5-year goal: Rent an apartment for one year without having to work ($12,000)
25-year goal: Pay off all my student loans ($120,000) Own a house ($400,000)
When choosing which companies to invest in I looked at how well they have done over the course of 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and since the company first started. I also paid attention to fluctuations and how big they were. If a company’s stocks would change constantly, I automatically crossed them off my list. If they were a sure and steady company for years and continued to have a steady increase the past year, I took a closer look at them. This way I could be almost positive that I would make a large profit and I knew that they would be the least risky. I also was only willing to invest in companies that don’t do anything that harms animals, people, or the environment. I decided that when it comes to money, I think the most important thing to look at is what will make money, not what is the nicest or friendliest, but I also have morals and harming others isn’t acceptable to me.
The two companies I chose were the Walt Disney Company and Amazon. The reason I chose these two companies is because I felt could invest in them both no matter what time horizon, since they both have had a steady increase over the years and I think they’re a safe bet no matter what time frame you choose.
- Walt Disney Company has a great competitive advantage over other companies in the entertainment industry. They have one of the largest shares in animation, television, film, theme park, and merchandising industries and over 10 years of a steady growth. They also offer dividends, $0.66/share biannually, but what’s more impressive is their steady growth, with an ROI of over 200% in just the past 5 years. They are constantly releasing new movies, TV shows, merchandise, and attractions.
 |
| Disney Stock Price. 2015. Via Google |
- Similarly to Walt Disney Company, Amazon has a competitive advantage over other companies in their industry. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States. They are not likely to fail because of how many different things they offer, such as entertainment or retail. There is almost nothing you can’t find on Amazon and they find you the cheapest prices which is something consumers love, so I doubt they would drop in the market anytime soon. While Amazon itself hasn’t profited that much, people who invest in them have because of their good business model that customers like so much. Like Disney, they have had a steady growth over the years and also have an ROI of over 200% which is incredible.
 |
| Amazon Stock Price. 2015. Via Google |
I then organized my investments into three portfolios, one for each goal.
Portfolio I- 1 Year Goal
$3,954.24
4 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($2,255.64 total) (57.0% of portfolio)
15 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($1,698.60 total) (43.0% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 64.4%. After one year, I should have enough money for the car I want- $6,500.
Portfolio II- 5 Year Goal
$2,033.74
2 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($1,127.82 total) (55.5% of portfolio)
8 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($905.92 total) (44.5% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 490%. After 5 years I should be able to have enough money to pay rent for an apartment for an entire year without having to work- $12,000.
$2,033.74
2 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($1,127.82 total) (55.5% of portfolio)
8 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($905.92 total) (44.5% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 490%. After 5 years I should be able to have enough money to pay rent for an apartment for an entire year without having to work- $12,000.
Portfolio III- 25 Year Goal
$44,980.21
39 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($21,992.49 total) (48.9% of portfolio)
203 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($22,987.72 total) (51.1% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 1056.06%. After 25 years I should have enough money to pay off my student loans- $120,000 and own a house- $400,000.
$44,980.21
39 shares of Amazon @ $563.91 ($21,992.49 total) (48.9% of portfolio)
203 shares of Disney @ $113.24 ($22,987.72 total) (51.1% of portfolio)
This grouping of Amazon and Disney has an expected ROI of 1056.06%. After 25 years I should have enough money to pay off my student loans- $120,000 and own a house- $400,000.
Total Investment Portfolios Value- $50,968.19 (This is $411.39 over how much my guardian angel gave me to invest but I have my own $411.39 to invest already saved so it’s ok👍)
If you look at my Stock Sector, you see that I have chosen two companies that are very different and would branch into two very different sectors. A sector is a type of business that a company deals with, basically the category or industry, for example Disney’s Stock Sector is entertainment. The reason I chose entertainment and retail was because, while I doubt either of these sectors would fail anytime soon; if they were to for some reason, some of my money would still be safe in another stock so my loss won’t be as detrimental.
With each portfolio I tried to put in as close to a 50/50 balance in each company as I could, so that if one were to fail I would still have half of my money. I put the majority of the money I’m investing into my 25 year goal, since that is where I need the most amount of money.
Financial Advisor Nathan Aldinger came to speak to our class and a big part of what he does and what he talks about it financial planning. He also talked about how things happen a lot that you just can’t account for with the government, banks, and just money in general. You can never really plan something because you don’t know what might happen. So I think it’s important to keep that in mind while investing, because even if everything were to go perfectly in the stock market for me, I never know if something like what happened in Greece will happen in America, where I won’t be able to get my money out of the banks. I think it’s important to have another back up plan with the money I make on my own, not from my guardian angel.
Three assumptions I made while doing this project were that:
If you look at my Stock Sector, you see that I have chosen two companies that are very different and would branch into two very different sectors. A sector is a type of business that a company deals with, basically the category or industry, for example Disney’s Stock Sector is entertainment. The reason I chose entertainment and retail was because, while I doubt either of these sectors would fail anytime soon; if they were to for some reason, some of my money would still be safe in another stock so my loss won’t be as detrimental.
With each portfolio I tried to put in as close to a 50/50 balance in each company as I could, so that if one were to fail I would still have half of my money. I put the majority of the money I’m investing into my 25 year goal, since that is where I need the most amount of money.
Financial Advisor Nathan Aldinger came to speak to our class and a big part of what he does and what he talks about it financial planning. He also talked about how things happen a lot that you just can’t account for with the government, banks, and just money in general. You can never really plan something because you don’t know what might happen. So I think it’s important to keep that in mind while investing, because even if everything were to go perfectly in the stock market for me, I never know if something like what happened in Greece will happen in America, where I won’t be able to get my money out of the banks. I think it’s important to have another back up plan with the money I make on my own, not from my guardian angel.
Three assumptions I made while doing this project were that:
- These companies will continue to flourish and their stocks will continue to rise at a steady rate.
- That nothing major will happen with American money or the value of the dollar or my bank (Chase)
- That Disney’s recent drop is just an anomaly and won’t happen multiple times.
If this scenario were in real life I would definitely choose to actually do this project and put in it the stocks the way I did. The only thing I would change is the time horizon, because I would rather focus on my long term goals rather than my long term goals, so I would most likely just cash out the majority of the stocks after 25 years if not longer.
Works Cited
- Amazon.com. (2015, October 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:35, October 16, 2015
- Douglas Satterfield. "Core Values: Amazon.com." Theleadermaker.com. N.p., 15 June 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2015
- Investopedia. "Who Are Amazon's (AMZN) Main Competitors?"Investopedia.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015
- Peter Roff. "The Man, the Medium and Message." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 06 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2015
- Rutgers. Investment Risk Tolerance Quiz. 2015. NA
Childhood Taken Over By Technology...Or Is There Some Hope?
For our final unit in Journalism, Text, we learned about written journalism and how it has been used to connect us to here and now. We studied essential skills, values, and concepts of written journalism in our century, and we learned about spot stories, in which all of the information is gathered “on the spot”. For our Action Project, we were assigned to cover our own spot stories at an event that we each chose to attend. This was a unit I enjoyed because I’m someone who loves to write, and I liked being able to improve upon my writing skills.
Childhood Taken Over By Technology...Or Is There Some Hope?
“Give that back! Why would you take that away from him?” a father yelled at his 9 year old daughter for taking away an iPhone from her 3 year old brother. Meanwhile, the small boy is screaming and crying off to the the side. This familial moment, which nowadays seems to happen all too often, is a prime example of what I worry about most when I think about today’s youth (by which I mean younger than me).
To clarify, I’m referring specifically about young children in this generation, children whose lives will be changed forever because they will never have the opportunity for a childhood that isn’t taken over technology. People my age are already technology obsessed - I’m not any different - but at least when we were younger we had childhoods where we actually played, childhoods where we still played outdoors, and with each other, with actual toys, not all-tech all of the time. Today’s youth have childhoods that don’t involve these things, but instead are corrupted by technology, disconnection, less socialization, and what I consider to be a much duller experience of being a kid.
On October 18th, I had an opportunity to witness both phenomena in action at this year’s annual Fall Harvest Festival at Wagner Farm in Glenview, Illinois. I was there volunteering for community service hours and had been assigned to supervise the Arts and Crafts section of the festival. The event was comprised of many different sections and opportunities for creativity and okay: the farm contained a large field with a farmhouse, a historic center, many different educational exhibits, and there were other fun, hands on activities such as wagon rides, apple cider making, animal petting, pumpkin picking, tours, and a lot more. Being in the crafts section, I got the opportunity to witness a variety of “interesting” artistic talents in my young “students” that day, but my mind also kept returning to our glaring difference in childhood experiences - tech or no/less tech.
This isn’t a concern to me alone. Fellow twitter users will recognize the trending hashtag “#TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow” where people nostalgically share the different games, books, or experiences in general that this and future generations of children don’t and won’t ever know because of how overcome they gave been by technology. Everything is just at their fingertips, and it’s there without any waiting. It’s amazing that technology has gotten so advanced, but what ever happened to jump rope, freeze tag, passing notes in class, mash, mood rings, Twister, the Barbie Cash Register or Hot Wheels? Do kids even still want treehouses? The most my generation had, technology-wise, when we were growing up were Gameboys, slow internet that would take 15 minutes (if you were lucky) to start up, flip phones that you had to record your ringtones on, cableless TV, and CDs. Movies weren’t “instantly streamed”-- you went to Blockbuster to rent them with your family and then you would spend some time rewinding the tapes to the beginning before returning them to the store. You couldn’t look up the definition of everything on Google in a couple of seconds -- you had to flip through the dictionary. You didn’t just take a million pictures on your phone -- you had a disposable camera, where every picture was taken with precision and care because there was no redo or delete button. And then went and developed the film -- it didn’t just upload quickly to your computer. But “Today’s Kids Will Never Know” and that’s just downright sad.
What I witnessed at the Fall Harvest Festival, however, was a relief to anyone who worries that technology is taking over today’s children. Kids were actually playing with toys, each other, animals, and the outdoors. They weren’t all sitting with tablets and cell phones and Gameboys. In fact, aside from the one incident I overheard with the child crying over the iPhone being taken away, I didn’t see any kids playing with any tech, which made me feel extremely relieved. One of my fellow volunteers said “I’m surprised we had this many kids coming in; I thought most kids nowadays just play on their phones.” The children and parents in my section were genuinely excited about the crafts we had set out to make. We created apples out of yarn and leaves out of paper, which might not sound like the most exciting things to do, but the kids actually enjoyed it, their little smiles along with exclamations of oohs and aahs, were proof that this was certainly a highlight of their day. We helped children of all ages - some of them so young that they even struggled to loop yarn around cardboard - who stuck with the crafting and did their best. An excited parent exclaimed, “It’s really nice to get to see the kids play with things hands-on for a change.” Whether her comment and this whole experience confirms my worries or proves them wrong, it was nice to get to spend a day with children, playing and creating, just like I once did.
Childhood Taken Over By Technology...Or Is There Some Hope?
 |
| AG Technology Taking Over 2015 |
To clarify, I’m referring specifically about young children in this generation, children whose lives will be changed forever because they will never have the opportunity for a childhood that isn’t taken over technology. People my age are already technology obsessed - I’m not any different - but at least when we were younger we had childhoods where we actually played, childhoods where we still played outdoors, and with each other, with actual toys, not all-tech all of the time. Today’s youth have childhoods that don’t involve these things, but instead are corrupted by technology, disconnection, less socialization, and what I consider to be a much duller experience of being a kid.
On October 18th, I had an opportunity to witness both phenomena in action at this year’s annual Fall Harvest Festival at Wagner Farm in Glenview, Illinois. I was there volunteering for community service hours and had been assigned to supervise the Arts and Crafts section of the festival. The event was comprised of many different sections and opportunities for creativity and okay: the farm contained a large field with a farmhouse, a historic center, many different educational exhibits, and there were other fun, hands on activities such as wagon rides, apple cider making, animal petting, pumpkin picking, tours, and a lot more. Being in the crafts section, I got the opportunity to witness a variety of “interesting” artistic talents in my young “students” that day, but my mind also kept returning to our glaring difference in childhood experiences - tech or no/less tech.
This isn’t a concern to me alone. Fellow twitter users will recognize the trending hashtag “#TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow” where people nostalgically share the different games, books, or experiences in general that this and future generations of children don’t and won’t ever know because of how overcome they gave been by technology. Everything is just at their fingertips, and it’s there without any waiting. It’s amazing that technology has gotten so advanced, but what ever happened to jump rope, freeze tag, passing notes in class, mash, mood rings, Twister, the Barbie Cash Register or Hot Wheels? Do kids even still want treehouses? The most my generation had, technology-wise, when we were growing up were Gameboys, slow internet that would take 15 minutes (if you were lucky) to start up, flip phones that you had to record your ringtones on, cableless TV, and CDs. Movies weren’t “instantly streamed”-- you went to Blockbuster to rent them with your family and then you would spend some time rewinding the tapes to the beginning before returning them to the store. You couldn’t look up the definition of everything on Google in a couple of seconds -- you had to flip through the dictionary. You didn’t just take a million pictures on your phone -- you had a disposable camera, where every picture was taken with precision and care because there was no redo or delete button. And then went and developed the film -- it didn’t just upload quickly to your computer. But “Today’s Kids Will Never Know” and that’s just downright sad.
What I witnessed at the Fall Harvest Festival, however, was a relief to anyone who worries that technology is taking over today’s children. Kids were actually playing with toys, each other, animals, and the outdoors. They weren’t all sitting with tablets and cell phones and Gameboys. In fact, aside from the one incident I overheard with the child crying over the iPhone being taken away, I didn’t see any kids playing with any tech, which made me feel extremely relieved. One of my fellow volunteers said “I’m surprised we had this many kids coming in; I thought most kids nowadays just play on their phones.” The children and parents in my section were genuinely excited about the crafts we had set out to make. We created apples out of yarn and leaves out of paper, which might not sound like the most exciting things to do, but the kids actually enjoyed it, their little smiles along with exclamations of oohs and aahs, were proof that this was certainly a highlight of their day. We helped children of all ages - some of them so young that they even struggled to loop yarn around cardboard - who stuck with the crafting and did their best. An excited parent exclaimed, “It’s really nice to get to see the kids play with things hands-on for a change.” Whether her comment and this whole experience confirms my worries or proves them wrong, it was nice to get to spend a day with children, playing and creating, just like I once did.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Planning Ahead
Our first STEAM class as seniors in Economics. The unit this course starts with is Utility and Value which mainly looked at how and why people made decisions, and the economic value behind these decisions. For our action project, we were assigned to chose two post-high school paths leading to our careers. I personally, want to be a lawyer, so both my path required college and a further education. This action project was a lot of work and quite time consuming, but I'm so glad we got to do it because not only was it interesting, but it gave me a sense of what kind of money I'll be paying for college and how long I'll be paying it.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Circle of Life
Our first humanities class for our senior year is Journalism. Journalism is about observing, analyzing, and reporting current events through different media. Our first unit is about journalism through images, also known as photojournalism. In this unit we learned about photography skills and how photographs are an essential part of journalism. For our first action project, we were given the task of interviewing someone who we believe has an interesting view of the world, and what they believe the meaning of life is.
For my action project, I chose to interview a friend who is very close to me. I’ve known him for only a year but he’s already become a very influential person in my life, and I believe I already have pretty good sense of what kind of a person he is. JM is almost 18 years old, going to the top ranked school in Illinois, and one of the brightest people I know. He enjoys bike riding and being out with friends; he also mentors underprivileged kids three days a week. I chose him for my interview due to how much he has already experienced in his life. Growing up in Colombia, I know he’s witnessed many deaths and has dealt with many hardships, and has to have a different perspective of the world than most people our age, even those who’ve lived in Chicago.
In our interview, conducted on September 15th at my house, JM told me he believed that the meaning of life is “to leave something behind that others will experience and learn from, while at the same time, having experiences that will you with pleasure,” part of what shaped his view on life, surprisingly had little to do with his childhood and Colombia, but instead came from a book his father gave him during a rough patch in his life. The book, Amador, is a Spanish book written by Fernando Savater as a sort of guide for his son. It is about the ethics of life and the questions his son should ask to lead a good life. This book, which my interviewee read last year, inspired him to change his views on what was worth shaping his life toward, and it enlightened him with topics and perspectives he had not previously considered.
JM personally, has yet to demonstrate the first part of what he believes the meaning of life is- leaving something behind for others to experience and learn from; however, he explained to me, how his parents have done this for him. He stated “My parents were the first ones to get an education in our family and to strive for a stabilized financial situation. The trials and tribulations that I experienced in life are not something I want my children to have to experience as well.” He has, however, demonstrated the second part of his meaning in life- filling your life with experiences that fill you with pleasure, and this is something I’ve personally witnessed many times. For the past two summers I would constantly see him doing things that I know he finds fun. Even before I knew him, when I would just see him around, he always had a smile on his face whether he was somewhere lively like a music festival, or just somewhere more ordinary like a park, showing how he strives to find something positive in everything he does, in order to fill his life with pleasure like he stated.
When I asked JM to describe what image he thinks would represent his meaning of life- he said a circle, a fun, adventurous, colorful circle, not a regular one. The circle represents his belief that life goes on, but it’s not just ordinary because so much happens - good or bad - in life. That’s how I came up with my idea for the subject of photograph.
For my action project, I chose to interview a friend who is very close to me. I’ve known him for only a year but he’s already become a very influential person in my life, and I believe I already have pretty good sense of what kind of a person he is. JM is almost 18 years old, going to the top ranked school in Illinois, and one of the brightest people I know. He enjoys bike riding and being out with friends; he also mentors underprivileged kids three days a week. I chose him for my interview due to how much he has already experienced in his life. Growing up in Colombia, I know he’s witnessed many deaths and has dealt with many hardships, and has to have a different perspective of the world than most people our age, even those who’ve lived in Chicago.
In our interview, conducted on September 15th at my house, JM told me he believed that the meaning of life is “to leave something behind that others will experience and learn from, while at the same time, having experiences that will you with pleasure,” part of what shaped his view on life, surprisingly had little to do with his childhood and Colombia, but instead came from a book his father gave him during a rough patch in his life. The book, Amador, is a Spanish book written by Fernando Savater as a sort of guide for his son. It is about the ethics of life and the questions his son should ask to lead a good life. This book, which my interviewee read last year, inspired him to change his views on what was worth shaping his life toward, and it enlightened him with topics and perspectives he had not previously considered.
JM personally, has yet to demonstrate the first part of what he believes the meaning of life is- leaving something behind for others to experience and learn from; however, he explained to me, how his parents have done this for him. He stated “My parents were the first ones to get an education in our family and to strive for a stabilized financial situation. The trials and tribulations that I experienced in life are not something I want my children to have to experience as well.” He has, however, demonstrated the second part of his meaning in life- filling your life with experiences that fill you with pleasure, and this is something I’ve personally witnessed many times. For the past two summers I would constantly see him doing things that I know he finds fun. Even before I knew him, when I would just see him around, he always had a smile on his face whether he was somewhere lively like a music festival, or just somewhere more ordinary like a park, showing how he strives to find something positive in everything he does, in order to fill his life with pleasure like he stated.
When I asked JM to describe what image he thinks would represent his meaning of life- he said a circle, a fun, adventurous, colorful circle, not a regular one. The circle represents his belief that life goes on, but it’s not just ordinary because so much happens - good or bad - in life. That’s how I came up with my idea for the subject of photograph.
 |
| AG Circle of Life (2015) |
The photo I chose to include with this piece is of a circle made of flowers because I thought it was a good representation of how JM described his image of the meaning of life. I chose flowers of all things because plants are actually life - they’re organisms and they help sustain life- and they are all different and unique, just life each individual and his/her experiences; but at the same time they are all in the same circle of life together. I chose to center the circle instead of using the rule of thirds because it’s just one shape and I thought it was more aesthetically pleasing that way. I used a pretty low aperture (f/2.2) to allow more light in so that the image would be brighter because I wanted to show life in a more bright and positive light. My shutter speed was pre-set, but it must have been short since I took a picture of something that was still and it wasn’t blurry. Furthermore, I set the focus directly the circle since it’s the subject and most important part of the image, and there wasn’t much else I wanted the viewer to see.
This action project was one I especially enjoyed, because not only did it allow me to become closer to someone in my life, and see their view of things even more, but it also allowed me to improve in a field that I find very enjoyable- photography. I’ve always had in interest in photography, but never felt as though I knew enough about camera’s and the science behind picture taking, so I never really pursued my interest in it. Now, however, I have almost a second opportunity too, and maybe it’s something that can bring more pleasure to my life.
This action project was one I especially enjoyed, because not only did it allow me to become closer to someone in my life, and see their view of things even more, but it also allowed me to improve in a field that I find very enjoyable- photography. I’ve always had in interest in photography, but never felt as though I knew enough about camera’s and the science behind picture taking, so I never really pursued my interest in it. Now, however, I have almost a second opportunity too, and maybe it’s something that can bring more pleasure to my life.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Judging
In our third unit of Policy, Judge, we learned about the Judicial branch and how it works. We got to look at different cases and different types of courts, such as the supreme court. I'm most proud of helping plan for an FE guest, my aunt, so the class could learn about Guantanamo Bay; it was really interesting and I enjoyed learning about it. For our action project we had to make a presentation about a supreme court case that we chose. I chose Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954).
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
LEGO Guitar
In our second Light & Sound unit we learned about what sound is, how it is made and heard, how it travels, and other fundamentals of sound. I am most proud of the science concepts learned such as how to graph sound waves and learning what each variable stood for. Our action project is about about creating sound waves and making an instrument that can be played by the Landfill Harmonic. We were each instructed to build a guitar from scratch. This would show how sound is produced and amplified.
The guitars we built work like a normal guitar: the strings vibrate the air, and the body amplifies the vibrations, projecting a louder sound. When you press on the strings you change the length of the vibrating which changes the pitch. The lower on the neck you go the higher the pitch.
The sounds the guitar makes show all the principles we learned. Sound waves are molecules contracting and expanding, which is shown on the guitar with the vibrating strings. They make vibrations in the air which are just contracting and expanding molecules. Wavelength is the distance from one peak/crest/trough to the next peak/crest/trough. The shorter the guitar string length the shorter the wavelength. Pitch/frequency is how fast a wave travels (how many cycles there are per second). Each string has a different pitch, and if you change the length of the string by putting your finger down, it will change the pitch. Amplitude is how high/low the wave is, the guitar’s body demonstrates this by amplifying the sound the strings make.The amplitude is how loud the sound is, the higher the amplitude, the louder the sound is.
All the dimensions are shown in the picture below. The rubber band width was .26 mm and the fishing wire width was .47mm. The volume of the body was 74 7/32 squared inches and the volume of the sound hole was 15 5/8 squared inches.
After building the guitar we also found the frequencies and wavelengths of the open notes and the octave notes of both strings. The rubber band string was a G note, the open note frequency was 403.4 Hz and the wavelength was 185.8 cm, the octave note frequency was 806.8 Hz and the wavelength was 92.9 cm.The fishing wire string was an A# note, the open note frequency was 455.9 Hz and the wavelength was 657.6 cm, the octave note frequency was 911.8 Hz and the wavelength was 328.8 cm.
Another thing we learned about in this unit was the Doppler Effect; this is the phenomenon that makes a sound’s pitch seem to get higher as it travels towards you and lower as it travels away from you. Really the pitch stays the same the whole time, but it sounds like it changes because the waves get pushed together and overlap when the sound is moving towards you, and spread out when moving away from you.
I really enjoyed this action project and had fun making the guitar. However, if I could do this project again I would add more strings and add tuning pegs so I could change the tension of the strings as well. That way it would be even more like a real guitar.
The guitars we built work like a normal guitar: the strings vibrate the air, and the body amplifies the vibrations, projecting a louder sound. When you press on the strings you change the length of the vibrating which changes the pitch. The lower on the neck you go the higher the pitch.
The sounds the guitar makes show all the principles we learned. Sound waves are molecules contracting and expanding, which is shown on the guitar with the vibrating strings. They make vibrations in the air which are just contracting and expanding molecules. Wavelength is the distance from one peak/crest/trough to the next peak/crest/trough. The shorter the guitar string length the shorter the wavelength. Pitch/frequency is how fast a wave travels (how many cycles there are per second). Each string has a different pitch, and if you change the length of the string by putting your finger down, it will change the pitch. Amplitude is how high/low the wave is, the guitar’s body demonstrates this by amplifying the sound the strings make.The amplitude is how loud the sound is, the higher the amplitude, the louder the sound is.
All the dimensions are shown in the picture below. The rubber band width was .26 mm and the fishing wire width was .47mm. The volume of the body was 74 7/32 squared inches and the volume of the sound hole was 15 5/8 squared inches.
 |
| AG Guitar Sketch (2015) |
 |
| AG Guitar Front (2015) |
 |
| AG Guitar Side (2015) |
Friday, January 16, 2015
Costumes For Days
For our final Stage Chemistry unit, we made our own adaptation of A Christmas Carol. We were put into groups as opposed to working individually and, instead of focusing on the staging area, we focused more on what goes into the actual play. Each group got their own aspect, and they had to choose two or three roles that have vested interest in our aspect. We then had to build an item that represents these roles and their needs. We learned about the different roles there are in the theater and I was proud of how my group and I represented our roles.
The aspect my group was assigned to was characters. We chose to represent this with a clothing rack with the characters’ outfits on them. In our opinion, clothes are an extremely important part of a character and are vital even more so in theater because not only can it help you tell apart the different characters but also, because often times, the the clothing says something about who the character is. Costumes are really essential to different characters, and are what set each character apart.
The roles we thought tied together most with this item were costume designers and actors. Costume designers would be the ones designing and making the costumes for the actors who would be wearing them during the performance. Moreover, costumes really help actors get into character and could make a huge difference in their mind set during the performance. There could be some causes for concern however, so we listed out what those could be as well as solutions to these problems.
A costume designer needs to make sure that the outfits they design fit the time period and look realistic, so our group did research on clothing in that time period. They also need to measure the actors so that everything fits correctly. Another important thing they would need is materials, so we made sure that they would be provided to them. Lastly, they would need for the clothes to not tear and rip easily so these costumes would need to made from good materials.
An actor will require comfortable clothes so it will be important that the right materials are chosen for the costumes. Furthermore, to help keep everything organized and to avoid mix ups labels with the name of the character will be sewn on the inside of the costume. Aside from that, it is important that the clothing fits, so they will need to be custom made and fitted. Another potential issue was the rack being bulky, so we decided to make the rack large enough for both the costumes and some extra space. This way they can easily find their costume and they can quickly put on, or take off, clothing from the rack.
All needs into consideration resulting in this rack. We found a good height for the model, 9.5 inches, because it would allow for bigger clothes than if we were to build a smaller rack. In real life we imagined it to be about 6.5 feet. We also made sure to add one hanger per character. We also wrote out, on a separate page, what the clothes would look like for each character, and added sketches for some of them. We chose which colors we wanted for the clothing, as well.
 |
| GS Prototype Rack (2015) |
 |
| JF Costumes Sketch (2015) |
 |
| JF Prototype (2015) |
 |
| GS Prototype II (2015) |
Our final model has some things that our first model and sketch did not. We made sure to incorporate the good things from the original racks onto our final racks. This resulted in a sturdier and much nicer looking model.
 |
| GS Costumes on Rack (2015) |
 |
| GS Costumes on Rack II (2015) |
 |
| GS Costumes on Rack III (2015) |
The project was done entirely during class time where we brainstormed and then built. After recording everything here is the time-lapse video of the entire process.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Model Stage
In our second Stage Chemistry unit, we learned about how different motion happens on the stage and the safety protocols to help accomplish them. This required not only looking at what happens on stage but also above and under the stage. We went to see A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre. Then for our second action project we were to build a model of out own theaters that we made blueprints of in unit one (see here), for our own performance of A Christmas Carol. We also had to design two pieces of motion for the performance and safety protocols for them. I’m proud of both of the motion pieces I made because they required me to think more, so I was proud when I succeeded to make the models of them.
On the top is an image of the room and stage area alone; on the bottom is an image of the room with all the different parts.
The moving deck is to show a setting. On it will be Scrooge’s house which is used in many scenes. It will be similar to the Goodman Theatre’s version of Scrooge’s house, where the left side shows the outside of the house, and the right part it Scrooge’s bedroom. However, it will be decorated differently. The deck will be towards the back of the stage so when it isn’t being used, a screen with different scenery painted on can be put in front of it.
The Safety Protocols for the Moving Deck are:
The deck will need to hold three people at most, with the expectation of around 550 lbs maximum, so it will be designed to hold twice that, 1100 lbs.
The model of the moving deck has two cut popsicle sticks on the back side. One on the left the other on the right. They stick out about a centimeter. In real life these are called the knives. On the model, those sticks insert into a slit in the stage model which represents the track. This is what keeps the deck in place and from going too far.
The dividers have two main purposes. The first is that they hide off the area that isn’t considered the stage, which provides for a backstage area. The second purpose is it works as a curtain. If you pull the divider out, it hides the stage area just like a curtain would. It won’t be done mechanically; someone will pull it out themselves.
The Safety Protocols for the Dividers are:
 |
| AG Empty Room (2014) |
 |
| AG Room With Movement (2014) |
On the top is an image of the room and stage area alone; on the bottom is an image of the room with all the different parts.
 |
| AG Deck Gif (2014) |
The moving deck is to show a setting. On it will be Scrooge’s house which is used in many scenes. It will be similar to the Goodman Theatre’s version of Scrooge’s house, where the left side shows the outside of the house, and the right part it Scrooge’s bedroom. However, it will be decorated differently. The deck will be towards the back of the stage so when it isn’t being used, a screen with different scenery painted on can be put in front of it.
| AG Deck Warning (2014) |
- If you are near the track (while it is still) be careful not to get anything stuck in it
- Watch deck while pushing controls so that not to make it move while someone is in front of it
- Be careful not to fall off deck
- The deck is set to not go fast - do not try to change the speed
- There will be an emergency button to kill the engine - be aware of how to use it
 |
| AG Force Calculations (2014) |
The deck will need to hold three people at most, with the expectation of around 550 lbs maximum, so it will be designed to hold twice that, 1100 lbs.
 |
| AG Bottom of Deck (2014) |
 |
| AG Deck With Track (2014) |
 |
| AG Deck In Trap (2014) |
 |
| AG Divider Gif (2014) |
The dividers have two main purposes. The first is that they hide off the area that isn’t considered the stage, which provides for a backstage area. The second purpose is it works as a curtain. If you pull the divider out, it hides the stage area just like a curtain would. It won’t be done mechanically; someone will pull it out themselves.
| AG Divider Warning (2014) |
- Watch your fingers
- Be careful where you are rolling the dividers
- Be careful not to knock dividers over since they are light
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Performance at Fasseas
For our first unit of Stage Chemistry, we learned about the different elements of a theater. We learned about measuring and scaling correctly. For our first action project, we were asked to take our newfound knowledge and apply it to a space of our choice; when then turned that space into a theater. I chose to use Menomonee, specifically Fasseas for the room with the stage. To help us with ideas we examined the Goodman Theatre and its elements. We then had to chose six of our own elements to show details of our space. The elements I chose were the stage, the viewing angles, the lobby showing how to get to the bathrooms, the coat check and concessions, the box office, and ticket pricing. I also had a blueprint of the entire area, as well as a comparison between my space and Goodman Theatre's. I really enjoyed the math parts of the project and making the blueprint to scale. It was difficult to measure all the walls and draw them to scale, because some of the walls weren't at a 90 degree angles. However, I ended up finding a good estimate that worked perfectly, which I was proud of accomplishing.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Showing A Speech
This Rhetoric unit tied together with our last one. We learned more about visual rhetoric and how to apply our rhetorical elements towards artwork. The main purpose was to make a visual representation of our speech. The political issue that my speech focused on was police brutality. I’m proud of being able to effectively transfer the main arguments of my speech into an art form.
I am a highschool student and have lived my whole life in Chicago; the topic I chose for my speech and artwork was police brutality. I chose this topic because police misconduct has increasingly gotten worse in Chicago, and because it affects me personally due to the death of one of my good friends at the hands of our city’s police. The message I want my artwork to send is that police brutality must be put to an end and for new regulations need be put in place. All of us should feel angry about what is happening. We all need to care, especially, about our youth! If we let this abuse of power go on we are saying that it is okay for police to kill the children in our city.
Some of the things I learned when doing research on this topic were that:
In my pamphlet I used description and narration in the personal story section when I wrote about and described an instance where police brutality occurred in my life. My pictures are an example of exemplification because they show rather than tell evidence. I also used process analysis in the solutions section when I outlined what steps must be taken in order to help resolve the issue. I also used amplification, for example, when I stated that police brutality “occurred in 14 of the 25 Chicago Police Districts, that is more than half of the districts.” to emphasize the severity of the issue.
If I could share my pamphlet I think the best place for them to be is at police anti-violence rallies, at funerals or memorials of victims of police brutality, or even just on busy street corners, in order to spread the word more and inform people who normally wouldn’t be so aware or involved in the issue. If I can get people to care about the issue, maybe I can get them to stand up and make a change, which then hopefully will put an end to it.
Sources
 |
| AG: Cover (2014) |
Some of the things I learned when doing research on this topic were that:
- In 2012, the Chicago Police Department shot 57 people, killing 8 of them.
- Between 2002 and 2004, 10,149 complaints were made accusing Chicago Police Department, but only 19 of these complaints led to any suspensions. 85% of the officers weren’t even interviewed about the complains that were made about them.
- In Rialto, California, officers are now obligated to wear tiny cameras that film all of their interactions with the public. This resulted in complaints against Rialto police officers decreasing by 88%, and use of force by officers falling by almost 60%.
In my pamphlet I used description and narration in the personal story section when I wrote about and described an instance where police brutality occurred in my life. My pictures are an example of exemplification because they show rather than tell evidence. I also used process analysis in the solutions section when I outlined what steps must be taken in order to help resolve the issue. I also used amplification, for example, when I stated that police brutality “occurred in 14 of the 25 Chicago Police Districts, that is more than half of the districts.” to emphasize the severity of the issue.
If I could share my pamphlet I think the best place for them to be is at police anti-violence rallies, at funerals or memorials of victims of police brutality, or even just on busy street corners, in order to spread the word more and inform people who normally wouldn’t be so aware or involved in the issue. If I can get people to care about the issue, maybe I can get them to stand up and make a change, which then hopefully will put an end to it.
 |
| AG: Outside (2014) |
 |
| AG: Inside (2014) |
Erye, Pete. “Infographic: A Neutral Look at Police Brutality | Cop Block." Cop Block RSS. N.p., 3 July 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://www.copblock.org/17484/infographic-a-neutral-look-police-brutality/>.
Hulsey, Emily. "California Town's Simple Solution To Police Brutality Has Lowered Use Of Force By 60 Percent." Independent Journal Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ijreview.com/2014/07/153997-california-towns-simple-solution-police-brutality-lowered-use-force-60-percent/>.
"IPRA Releases Report on 2012 Chicago Police Shootings | People's Law Office." Peoples Law Office. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://peoples lawoffice.com/ipra-releases-report-on-2012-chicago-police-shootings/>.
Hulsey, Emily. "California Town's Simple Solution To Police Brutality Has Lowered Use Of Force By 60 Percent." Independent Journal Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ijreview.com/2014/07/153997-california-towns-simple-solution-police-brutality-lowered-use-force-60-percent/>.
"IPRA Releases Report on 2012 Chicago Police Shootings | People's Law Office." Peoples Law Office. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://peoples lawoffice.com/ipra-releases-report-on-2012-chicago-police-shootings/>.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
FINish the Waste
 |
| HP: Sketch from Bottom (2014) |
We selected this material because I use at least two daily which really adds up over time, and because of the insane amount people all over the world use every day. When we found out just the daily amount we were shocked. Plastic is very bad for the environment. It comes from natural, chemically modified, and completely synthetic materials and it ends up in landfills or incinerated. Plastic’s main ingredients are ethylene, propylene, butadiene, vinyl chloride, terephthalic acid, adipic acid, sebacoyl chloride, hexamathylene diamine and bisphenol A (What are the ingredients used to make plastic?). However, there are many others. The first plastic based on a synthetic polymer was made from phenol and formaldehyde, with the first viable and cheap synthesis methods invented in 1907, by Leo Hendrik Baekeland (Plastic 2014). We want people to realize how bad wasting so much plastic and discarding so many water bottles is. Our planet wastes way too much of it. We want people to stop buying plastic water bottles and use a sports water bottle so they can use it over and over. Or to buy a filter and just drink filtered tap water.
As I stated earlier, 60 million (6 x 10^7) plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day. That means about 22 billion (2.2 x 10^10) plastic bottles are used in just one year! Moreover, we keep increasing the amount of plastic bottles that are manufactured and then throw away; as previously mentioned six times as many plastic water bottles were thrown away in the US in 2004 as in 1997. This increase is also shown in the graph below.
 |
| "Giving Back - a promise from Terra Polyester S.A. de C.V.." Internet: Terra Polyester |
The only obstacles we ran into during our project involved the building of our installation. Our first issue was with the shape of the fish: we couldn’t figure out how exactly we wanted the head and tail to look. Our next obstacle was with gluing: the hot glue melted our plastic so it was difficult to glue stuff together. Aside from that we had no problems with our project.
 |
| AG: View from Top (2014) |
 |
| AG: View from Side (2014) |
 |
| AG: View from Front (2014) |
Sources
Conntoro, Mark. "Six Reasons Why Plastic Is Bad for the Environment." Creeklife. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Franklin, Pat. "Down the drain." Down the drain. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
"Giving Back - a promise from Terra Polyester S.A. de C.V.." Terra Polyester. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Oceans: Plastic Pollution." TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Plastic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"What are the ingredients to make plastic?." Answers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Franklin, Pat. "Down the drain." Down the drain. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
"Giving Back - a promise from Terra Polyester S.A. de C.V.." Terra Polyester. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Oceans: Plastic Pollution." TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Plastic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"What are the ingredients to make plastic?." Answers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)