Featured Work
Physics
Rocket Launch
For this project, we were in charge of creating our own model rocket. We designed, built, and decorated our own miniature air crafts.
During this process, I was in charge of predicting the height our rocket would achieve. I factored in the mass of the rocket, the forced of the launcher, and wind conditions a week before we did the actual test. When I finally concluded my research, I predicted that out rocket would launch up to 114.7 feet. When we ran the actual test, the rocket was measured to have reached 110 feet in the air.
Chemistry
Mad Scientist
For this project, our chemistry teacher allowed us to study and create our own chemical reaction. I decided to look into zinc and iodine. When the two chemicals are in their rawest form, and mixed with water, an explosive puff of purple smoke erupts.
We then had to explain why our projects were reacting this way. For my project, I said: "When Zinc and Iodine are mixed together, they form a chemical compound called Zinc Iodide (ZnI2). When Zinc Iodide is formed, a metal salt (Zinc) is trying to synthesize and react with a non-metal salt (Iodine). Normally, Zinc would react pretty tamely with other chemicals (such as, Zinc Chloride ZnCl2), but they only react tamely because the zinc is forming with tetrahedrally* coordinated atoms, much alike it’s own. But, when the Zinc is forming with the Iodine, tons of friction is caused because the Zincs tetrahedrally coordinated atoms are desperately searching Iodines atoms for tetrahedral coordination (which, Iodine doesn’t have). Because of this friction, the Iodine heats up, and gets so hot that smoke starts to erupt. It takes a while for the chemicals to get that hot on it’s own, so I like to add water as a catalyst* (the water adds more non-tetrahedral atoms, and creates more friction)."
Biology
Cellular Life
During this project, students studied the structure and function of cells. After answering questions and writing about cells, we took different organisms and placed them under a microscope. If we found the magnified image interesting, we would take a picture of the specimen through the lens. We then labeled the pictures and clipped them together for a full display of our molecules.
Using the knowledge that we gained about cells and their functions, we created an article that shows the unique traits and functions of a specific cell use or see in our everyday life. I wrote about papillae, taste bud cells. You can read my article about it below:
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This project stuck out to me because it made me realize all the work our body is doing, just to regularly operate. Our bodies are constantly moving, organizing, and filing millions of cells and molecules, it's time we gave our bodies a little more credit.
Demystifying Disease
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The demystifying disease project is about understanding sicknesses that have plagued our world for years now. When we were assigned this project, it seemed like a small, budding idea. I didn’t know where this project was remotely going when we were given the task of studying and creating a poster about cholera. I was wondering “What is this going to turn into?” As we were choosing a disease that we wanted to research for personal reasons, the project became more clear to me. We watched films and read books on our chosen disease so we could be more educated on the topic before conducted an interview with someone whose livelihood revolves around the disease. After the interview, we wrote an article combining quotes from our interview and research from our sources.
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The piece of work that represents my best efforts is definitely the infographic. When we first started the infographic, it honestly looked really bad. It had the bare minimum of information(I don’t think we even talked about the pancreas in the first draft), and the graphics were very few and far between, with a lot of blank white space. After the first critique, I really stepped up my game and filled up the white space. Then, we created our own graphics, then we really added a lot more information. This process goes to show how important critique, and grit is. Looking back at the first draft, I was actually shocked by the lack of effort I put into it. I’m really happy with how the infographic looks now.
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While all of this was happening in humanities class, in Bio, we worked on dissections. First, we dissected a sheep brain and analyzed the insides, trying to identify the functions of the things we saw. We also drew diagrams of our findings. Then we dissected a sheep heart. We would look at the inside and try to find out which areas were arteries, and which were veins. Afterwards, we drew diagrams of our findings. And finally, we conducted a surgery on a cow eye. First, we cut the cornea out of the sclera, then we suture the cornea back on to the eye. Once we finished the procedure, we dissected the entire eye, and identified different structures in the eye and figured out the functions of each structure.
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Humanities
Stories Alive
The Stories Alive project is a project about getting high schoolers into two things: social issues, and spoken word. The project begun when our teacher told us to choose any social issue we wanted to talk about. There were spoken words about police brutality, planned parenthood, domestic violence, etc. I chose mine to be about the war on drugs. After choosing the subject, we got right into research. We created these posters, our teachers called them sketch notes, about our topic, and they're loaded to the brim with information that we're going to use in our final spoken word.
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Then, we finally got into writing our spoken words. Before hand, our teacher showed us tons of videos and sources of good spoken words, so we could have an idea how to start. Basically, we just went for it on our own, and tackled it as best we could. Once we finished the first draft, we kept getting critique after critique, after critique. Once we finally had out final draft, we could get started on the art component. We first made four simple drawings of possible final draft ideas, and then we got critique on all four drawings. Whichever drawing was best acclaimed, the artist would build off of it, and make it their final draft idea. Then for the final draft, we would do a pencil drawing, then a trace over the pencil drawing with sharpie, then we would scan it and make a digital copy. On the left is how mine turned out.
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I feel like this project was really important because it showed teenagers that they can share their voices on serious issues in a unique way. I think my most significant learning experience was half way through the project, when we were critiquing the spoken words. Kelly critiqued my second draft of the spoken word, and recommended that I get rid of literally half the piece. At first, I didn't get it. I thought my spoken word was okay. But, that was the problem. These spoken words couldn't just be "okay," they had to be the best they could be. So, I completely restarted. Eventually, I got a product that I really liked, but in the end, Kelly taught me that "just okay" isn't enough. Like I previously mentioned, I think the writing piece represents my best work, for the reason stated above. I really put some time into it. I think the most challenging part of this project was channeling my more personal side. Part of the reason my earlier drafts were so bad was because they weren't personal enough. I realized I really had to break out of my shell and let people in to understand the complexity of the subject. I really think that perseverance has been the theme of my progress that's stuck with me. With this project, I really understood, if at first I don't succeed, I'll try again and again.