Plastic Straws Begone

In the last unit of my elective class Biomimicry, we learned about fungi. We learned the different parts of a mushroom, and different decomposers and detritivores as well as composting and decomposition. We also learned about closed loop economies and closed loop systems versus linear economies. This is the difference between a product that supports itself and can be upcycled, or a product that is used and then discarded. Our class visited The Plant Chicago to learn about aquaponics. We toured their facility and did our own design activity. We also visited Interface, which is a sustainable carpet company founded by Ray Anderson. We learned about what it takes to make a large company sustainable. For this project, we picked a product to redesign. We had to research how the product is made currently, and then redesign our product to make it a closed loop system. We then compared it to Interface's "Mount Sustainability." This is a set of goals that interface set to become the most sustainable company, My project was actually able to reach the top of the mountain.

 

I did like this project because it was more of a redesign of an existing product rather than a total redesign. I am proud of the research that I did because my family has recently given up plastic straws. My favorite part of this project was drawing the systems. I liked this because it was more hands-on than just doing a slideshow. This project made me realize more and more that we need a solution to plastic straws. I think there are enough ways to make straws sustainable and eco-friendly, but everyone needs to come together to make it a reality.

Becoming A Satyagrahi

In the final unit of my elective humanities class, Global Peace, we continued to study violence and intervention. We also continued our studies of Gandhi and is 4 principles of nonviolence and Sharp's Methods. We did not have much time between our last project before winter break, and this project just after. We had a visit from Under A Tree which is a Socratic school organization. We talked about different beliefs and how we deal with our differences. We visited ALSO which is a violence intervention group where we learned about how to intervene peacefully in violent situations. For this project, we had to do our own violence intervention. Most of the class had been working on this project for the entire term or longer. I chose to use my time coaching skating to intervene with childhood health problems like obesity.

I really did like this project because we actually got to do something real. I really liked working with the kids and I am happy that I got to use my experience to fo a school project. This was a difficult project, because I did the actual intervention a while ago, and I had to piece things back together. I am proud that I had an impact on some people in real life. 

Marsha P. Johnson: Fighting for LGBTQ Rights

For our class Global Peace, we studied worldwide issues and how we might go about solving them in peaceful ways. To dive further into this, we learned about Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of nonviolent actions. The principles or pillars that we studied were: Sarvodaya, Swaraj, Swadeshi, and Satyagraha. Sarvodaya means the uplifting of all or the progress of all. Swaraj means self-governing or self-rule. Swadeshi refers to local economy and self-fulfilling resources. Satyagraha is the practice of non-violent political protest. Along with Gandhi's methods, we learned about Sharpe's Methods. This is a list of 198 ways to protest nonviolently. We also learned about different types of violence. There are structural, cultural. and direct. Structural violence is violence through a large institution or bigger power. This could be through schools or even prisons. Cultural violence is violence through cultural beliefs. This could be something like honor killings in some cultures. Direct violence is direct aggression like murder or any other one on one violent actions. We studied conflict analysis tools as well. We learned about the conflict analysis tree and iceberg. The tree refers to 3 stages of analysis with the causes as the root of the tree, the core problem as the trunk, and the effects as the branches. The iceberg tool shows the hidden problems under the waterline and the visible problems above the waterline. Both of these tools can be used to analyze most conflicts.

I studied Marsha P. Johnson who was a famous LGBTQ activist and Drag Queen. She was born as a male in 1945. Johnson moved to New York at a young age and lived on the streets. She made a living by being a drag queen and prostitute on Christopher Street. She soon joined and created various organizations such as STAR and ACT UP. She was one of the key figures in early LGBTQ rights movements. I learned a lot from Marsha P. Johnson. I realized that no matter how poor you are, or how much of an outcast you are, you can still make a big difference in this world. I also learned that you can be confident in who you are no matter what. Johnson was a social outcast and part of a very small minority in New York at the time. She was a confident progressive activist who didn't let anyone tell her how to live her life.

Pay It No Mind. "A Photo of Marsha. P Johnson." 7, Oct 2017.

Can Animals Help Us Live Sustainable Life?

For our second action project for my elective class, Biomimicry, we created designs of homes and transportation inspired by animals. In the second unit, we focused on the animal side of Biomimicry. What can we learn from animals? We discovered that we can learn from animals through Biomimicry in 3 ways: Form, Process, and Ecosystem. These are the 3 things we are inspired by. Form - the build or physical structures of the animal. Process - the behavior or processes of animals. Ecosystem - how animals interact with their environment. We also looked at how different animals move and build. We studied how wings work with Bernoulli's principle and lift, weight, drag, and thrust. We had a guest come in from Biomimicry Chicago. She showed us various animals skins, and how these skins show adaptations. She also lead us in an exercise of Biomimicry. For our action project, we had to create an architectural design and transportation design. I picked the Namibian Beetle, and the Shovel Snouted Lizard. We had to make a design, and then draw a diagram and build a model. I am proud of how my project turned out!

In the end, I really enjoyed this project. This was probably the most work intensive AP I have ever done. I was a lot of work, but it didn't feel overwhelming. I liked the challenge of this project. Unlike the last Biomimicry Ap, I really liked both of my ideas. I thought both of them were very strong and very practical. I wish my model turned out a bit better and that I could have added more detail, but we only had about 2 hours to build a full model. I am proud of this project and I thought it was very though provoking.

Baobab Cat Tree

In my Junior STEAM elective, Biomimicry, we learned about designs based on nature, specifically plants. In the first unit, Like a Plant, we studied different plants and their survival and evolution tactics and how they evolved with the certain traits they have. We also looked at evolution to see how different species evolved to survive over time. We looked at different products made that were inspired by plants. We traveled to the Lincoln Park Conservatory to study different plants and their traits. We also studied the Fibonacci sequence, which is a sequence of numbers commonly found in nature. For this action project, we were asked to either think of a human challenge and find a plant that could help solve it, or find a plant, and design a product inspired by that plant. I chose the latter. I was watching my cats play at home, and I was thinking about their cat tree, so I decided I would try to come up with a creative and more sustainable idea for a cat tree. I found the Baobab Tree, which is a tall tree that has an ecosystem of its own. I enjoyed this project, but it did challenge me to think outside of the box. I hope you enjoy my design.

In conclusion, this product was somewhat challenging for me. I learned more about design than I did plants, but it was still very useful. I really had to think outside the box for this project, as I really didn't have any solid ideas for a design until I saw my own cats playing around. I am proud of the design, although it is more of a novelty than I would have liked it to be. I have gotten positive feedback, but I maybe would have liked to think of a more useful product. In the end, I am happy with how this project turned out, and I liked that I was challenged more than I usually am. 

Get the Crud out of Your Blood

Sadly, this is my last Unit in my favorite class, Cure. In this last unit, we learned about prevention of diseases. We didn't have very much time to complete this unit, so we did some math concepts like probability, to relate to the probability of contracting diseases and medications working. We also created a family tree for ourselves to look t any diseases that are present in our family. I liked this activity because I got to learn more about my family and what they were affected by. For our field experiences, we had a certified Yoga Nidra instructor come in and guide us through a meditation session. This was to show us alternative ways of healing other than medication or surgery which we covered in our previous unit. I thought this session was relaxing, although, I couldn't really get into the meditation but I enjoyed seeing ways of healing that I am unaware of. For this action project, we combined pretty much everything we learned in Disease and Cure. We were essentially playing doctor. We had to create a patient profile for a fictional person, that could be based on someone real. For my purposes, I chose someone fake. In this profile, we had to discuss their history, their main concerns and the reason for a consultation. We had to make recommendations to the patient about their lifestyle, their diet, and other therapies we wanted them to do. I chose to create someone with a risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolisms (PE) because I am very interested in vascular surgery.

In the end, I am very sad that this class is over, as it was my favorite I have ever taken at GCE, and probably will ever take. I am so grateful I got to participate and share my knowledge. I really liked this action project because it was a very nice closure to both Disease and Cure. It incorporated most things and really had us show off what we learned in these classes. I had some trouble with making up a person for this project because the original person was based off a real person who had a rare syndrome but it didn't really affect his life so it would have been hard to do. I am very sad that this class is over, but I toughly enjoyed it, and I am very proud of all the work I have done.

Feminism Throughout Time

In our last humanities class for sophomore year, Drama, we read Henrick Ibsen's "A Dolls House." We read this in the same format as we did with Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." We would read an act or a scene and then have a quiz on the play. Once we were finished with the play, we watched the movie version of "A Dolls House." I really liked the movie and thought it stayed very true to the play. It was almost word for word. I enjoyed "A Dolls House" a lot. It was shorter than "The Taming of the Shrew," and the language was much easier to understand. I thought maybe we should have read "A Dolls House" First to get used to reading scripts, and then gone onto "The Taming of the Shrew" which was more difficult to read."A Doll's House" takes place in the late 1800s in Norway. It is about a woman who is controlled by her husband and keeps a secret from him. He then finds out the secret and is upset, but after learning it would be ok, he forgives her. This causes her to see how badly he treats her and she leaves him. For this unit, we went to the Goodman Theater in Chicago to get a tour of their stage, and then to work on our plays with some of their staff. I thought these field experiences were helpful, but not very fun. For this action project, we were randomly paired up. I was paired with IF and ZG. You can see their blogs here and here. We had to write a script discussing feminism throughout different times. This was a daunting task, but with 2 other people, it was fairly straightforward. We then filmed up acting out the play.

In the end, I liked this project. It was very daunting at first, but with partners, it was fairly easy to split up the work so we were not overwhelmed. I liked the creative process of writing the play, and it was also very fun to act out the play. The most difficult part was to get good lighting and audio in the video. I am happy with how this turned out, and I really liked the action projects in Drama.