WH GCE Portfolio

For this final unit of our STEAM Class this term, Frontiers, and the final unit of STEAM I'll have here at GCE, we dove into the Final Frontier itself; space. We learned about the abbreviated history of astrophysics, through reading Neil Degrasse Tyson's book  Astrophysics for People in a Hurry , and learned how to calculate a Riemann sum.  For this Action Project, we were tasked with creating a scientific conference poster that discussed the current state of space exploration, through detailing one of the several Space Technology Grand Challenges set up by NASA.  Below is my conference poster, detailing one of NASA's Grand Challenges, Colonization. This Grand Challenge has us aiming to create self-sustaining and reliable human environments and habitats that enable the permanent colonization of space and other planetary surfaces. Currently, the infrastructure and integrated technologies needed to enable permanent, self-sufficient human settlements away from Earth do ...

For this final unit of our Humanities class, Endurance, and my final unit of Humanities ever here at GCE, we ended up going on our own personal Field Experiences, tailored to what we chose to do for both our previous Action Project (12 hours of Endurance), and this one. I chose to visit the Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor at the Art Institute, to get a better idea of what people would've worn in the general time period I'm interested in writing for.  For this Action Project, we had to create a survival guide to what our dream job would be, and plan out how we'd get there. Below is my Survival Guide on becoming a fantasy writer, specifically for Tabletop Roleplaying Games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Writer’s Dream: This Survival Handbook is a guide for someone who may have a dream similar to mine. My dream is to become a writer, and ultimately a Tabletop Content Producer for Wizards of the Coast - the official writers/publishers o...

ICNA Relief strives to uplift the undeserved in the US through a nationwide network of shelters, food pantries, health clinics, skill development programs, disaster relief services, refugee services and more. ICNA Relief works to build healthy communities, strengthen families and create opportunities for those in despair while maintaining their dignity and advocating for their basic human needs. During my time there, I helped volunteer and stock their food, and helped guide customers through the setup that they had going. 

For this first unit of our STEAM Class Frontiers, we learned about the ocean and how it works geographically. Including currents, vents, and how the acid level of the ocean can change and affect the ecosystems within it. For this action project, though, we were tasked with writing a scientific paper on the state of the oceans and their future, while centering the paper around one of the Grand Challenges in marine ecosystems ecology.  Below is my paper, which is centered around the second aquatic Grand Challenge: Understanding Relationships Between Human Pressures and Ecosystems. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was quite difficult. I'd never written a proper scientific paper before, and although writing the paper itself wasn't that difficult, selecting what research I wanted to use was quite challenging.

For this second unit of our Humanities class this term, Endurance, we learned more about modern examples of people that have endured, such as people like David Blaine, who set a world record for the longest time a person could hold their breath underwater, and Laura Dekker, who embarked on a two-year voyage sailing around the world in pursuit of her dream to be the youngest person ever to do so.  For this specific Action Project, we were tasked with deciding on something that we would commit to work on and endure for 12 hours over the span of two weeks. I chose to write out a setting for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, personally, and see how far I could get with those twelve hours. Below is my video log of my work, documenting the process and my thoughts, and the planning table I used.   In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was actually really interesting and fun. I liked the complete creative freedom that we had in choosing what we wanted to do for the req...

The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers — more than a million people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications. These are some examples of what Zoonivese looks like when you're participating in assisting a project. 

For this first unit of Endurance, we learned about famous figures in history that've endured hardships, and looked at our own lives to see what we've endured throughout them. We also started reading Night  by Elie Wiesel, which is a book about his experiences in a concentration camp during the Holocaust and how he endured it and survived to tell the tale.  In this Action Project, we were tasked with writing our own autobiography from the future. Below is my autobiography. I’ve always had a certain place in my heart, a certain passion for books. Something about being able to escape reality and come into this new world that the author of the book has woven for you just captivated me, and it still does to this day. Books have been a constant throughout all of my childhood. Even now, I find myself getting hooked on a series of fantasy books and can’t wait for the author to release the next volume. The feeling of excitement and joy when I find out that that one book I’ve been waiti...

The Anti-Cruelty Society is an organization that specializes in helping cats and dogs in shelters and pounds. They're an animal welfare group that also educate folks on the subject of animal cruelty and how people like us, who aren't really involved in animal cruelty prevention, can help with the cause.  My reason for choosing to take part in this project was because I felt like helping create dog beds for animals in need is a very worthy cause and it really resonated with me as a pet owner myself. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for my dog, Cowboy, to be in the same situation that a lot of the pets in the pound and kennel system are in, and I'd want the best for him or any other dogs or cats in the system and for them to have the most comfort possible in their situation. Each year, it's estimated that more than one million adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in the United States. The number of euthanized animals could be reduced dramatically if more peo...

One of Chicago’s largest and longest-operating food pantries, Lakeview Pantry’s mission is to eliminate hunger and poverty in their community by providing food to fill the basic need of hungry people; empowering their clients to gain independence through innovative social service programs; and raising awareness of hunger and poverty and working towards solutions to eliminate them. When I was volunteering at Lakeview Pantry, my task was to help the other volunteers present (since it's an almost entirely volunteer-run program) pack and organize food items into bags, as a little care package or grocery bag of food, and then load it into trucks to be shipped off to another of Lakeview pantry's locations.   (pictures go here)

The Greater Chicago Food Depository is part of a united community effort working to bring food, dignity and hope to their Cook County neighbors. They act as the hub for a network of more than 700 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs. These programs provide food where it’s most needed. They also address the root causes of hunger. Public benefits outreach and job training programs offer support for their neighbors to overcome poverty. By taking hunger off the table, they enable families to focus on other priorities, like education, growth and security. They enable communities to face their challenges with confidence. Today and in the long term, providing nutritious food is an investment in health and hope for their neighbors and their community.  When I volunteered there, I assisted them in sorting and packaging various food items depending on what they needed that day. One day it was bell peppers, another it was potatoes, that sort of thing. I thought it was hon...

For this final unit of our Humanities class, Equality, we learned about the history of inequalities and people's efforts to change them. Specifically, we focused on learning about the various inequalities present in 3 categories; class, gender, and race. For our final Action Project for the class, we had to think about a future 100 years from now, and choose one of those 3 main concepts (gender, class, and race) to focus on. Then we had to write an article, an op-ed, and a piece of legislature for that future, as well as design a toy or product from that future, and then put them in a time capsule. I chose race, and created a future where the first generation of Martian colonists are being discriminated against by people born on Earth. Below is me explaining the contents of my time capsule and the documents contained within it. In conclusion, I thought that this project was a pretty difficult project, at first. It was very hard to brainstorm for it, since there were just so many po...

For this unit of Social Entrepreneurship, we learned a lot about how social businesses are managed, how they get investors and funding, and how they impact the communities that they cater to. To learn more about business in the real world, we spoke with Chicago business owner James Bateman, who owns and operates the restaurant Gadabout in Andersonville, Chicago. To learn more about funding, investors, and networking, we spoke to Matthew Nicklin, who works as a managing director at First Analysis. For this Action Project, we were tasked with coming up with our own social business prospect, and outlining and explaining our plan for it. Below is my business proposal for my social business, Jump Step. In conclusion, I though that this Action Project was very challenging to complete. The whole process of creating a business from scratch is frankly pretty extensive and exhausting, even for a relatively simple online business like this. It was fun to explore what cool ideas I could turn into ...

For this unit in Computer Science, we continued our work on Python, this time learning how to make things move as if they were animated. We also had a couple of guests come in to talk to us about computer science and their perspectives on it. For this Action Project, we were tasked with making our own little animation, using Python code and techniques we'd learned earlier in class. Here is my code in motion. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was quite fun to figure out, despite its difficulty. 

For this unit of our Humanities class, Equality, we learned about the racial and social disparity between black people and white people, reading several texts by black authors on the subject of their mistreatment and outrage. For this Action Project, we had to create a textbook chapter on a recent historical event. I chose the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980's, and below is my chapter. In conclusion, I found this project to be the most challenging yet. I really, really hit a roadblock with this one, mentally. I think I probably could've done better on managing my time with the project, and the prep work as well, but it was just a struggle to complete. Citations: Emergence of the aids crisis (article). (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1980s-america/a/emergence-of-the-aids-crisis Halloran, R. (1981, January 16). CARTER seeks $180 billion for 1982 military budget. Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/1...

 FreeGeek is an organization with a mission to sustainably reuse technology, enable digital access, and provide education to create a community that empowers people to realize their potential. Free Geek’s goal is to divert technology that would otherwise be recycled or thrown away, refurbish it, and give it back to the community at no or low cost. I volunteered at FreeGeek because I thought that dismantling computers could be equal parts educational and entertaining for me. And, it's a good way to give back to the community, since the way that FreeGeek operates is that they take in old technology, dismantle it for their parts, and then rebuild computers using those parts.  I plan on sharing this experience with others through this blog post, and through telling people close to me about the impact FreeGeek has and how it's good for the community. It's a great way to get some hands-on experience with both dismantling and building computers, and the computers that they sell ba...

For this first unit of our STEAM class this senior year, Social Entrepreneurship, we took our first dive into the world of economics. For this AP, we were asked to take an aspect from our school that we would like to change and make an analysis of that aspect. I chose Computer Science, which is a not graduation requirement (rather, it's an elective), but I and many other students believe that the system can be improved. I hope you enjoy this action project.  In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was quite a difficult one to finish in the end. It required a lot of research and just time put into it, and I also struggled with picking a topic to focus on for it, and completing it on time, frankly.  Citations: Learning to code vs. coding to learn. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/learning-code-vs-coding-learn Moving beyond computer literacy: Why schools should teach computer science. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from...

For this final unit of our Computer Science Class, the class was focused on learning more on Python and diving deeper into our knowledge of the coding language. This time around, we focused on loops, which allow you to run a line of code multiple times without having to re-write the whole thing over and over again and other more advanced functions of Python such as ranges and counting variables. For our final challenge, I was tasked with creating an interactive game using the knowledge on Python that I'd obtained over the course of the unit. Below you can view the resulting project. In conclusion, I thought that this project was quite a difficult one to complete in the end. I've never been very good with foreign languages, and attempting to learn Python really hasn't been any more different than attempting to learn, say, Spanish. In the end, though, I think it taught me to push through and not to be afraid to ask my teacher for help if I was really stuck on one particular p...

For our Civic term class, Music that Matters, we learned about music that has helped to teach, to inspire, and to ignite. During the course, we had a couple of active people in the music community come in to talk to us about the impact of music; Faiz Razi, Conan Neutron, and Fransisco Ramirez, respectively. For this Action Project, we were asked to create a proposal for My Block, My Hood, My City. Their newest project asks, "How can you make a positive impact on your neighborhood with something simple?" For my project, I'm proposing adding multiple wind-activated sail-like spinning signs, that when they spin, they trigger speakers within their base to play a small, recorded loop of Fly Like An Eagle by Steve Miller . Additionally, they'd have a message put across the surface of the signs relating to the song and what it protests. I’m going to be putting this musical installation at the Illinois Centennial Monument in Logan Square. This is because it’s not just physica...

This past term in our Economics: Risking Value STEM class, we’ve spent our time studying the formulas that are commonly used in various financial situations and how to apply them to our daily lives. In this unit, specifically, we’ve been studying the various facets of our economy, and what our place is within that economy. For this final action project for Economics, we had to look at Kate Raworth’s 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist, and come up with an 8th principle on our own. And, after looking into Kate Raworth’s principles, and one of Raworth’s standout books, Doughnut Economics , I’ve come up with my own principle for 21st century economics: Inequality Is Not Quality. Why "Inequality Is Not Quality", you may ask? Because, in our current and unsustainable economy, economic inequality between the rich and the poor of our country is a serious current issue. It’s one that very much needs to be addressed by the next generation of economists as soon as we can Acc...

 In this last Action Project for our Fall Term Computer Science class, we took a deeper dive into Python and its various functions, mainly focusing around if/else statements. We also learned about how to use different booleans, or little pieces of code that determine whether something is true or false. For our final task this term, we had to create a chatbot using Python code for a user to interact with, and have the chatbot ask them various questions and give various answers depending on the user's response. We additionally had to put comments in our code, since Python will stop reading a line of code after the # symbol, explaining our coding. Below is the chatbot that I've created, which you're free to interact with. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was an enjoyable and interesting project to develop. It was a little challenging to find the right questions to ask and how to implement them into Python for me, but overall it was cool to be able to code out ...