WH GCE Portfolio

For this second unit of our STEAM class, Light, Sound, And Time, we learned about sound and the basic principles behind it, such as the Doppler Effect, the speed of sound, and how wavelengths and frequencies work. We also went on a Field Experience to the Chicago Hearing Society, where we learned about how deaf people manage to communicate and how their day-to-day lives differ from ours. For this Action Project, we had to build our own simplified version of a guitar called a "diddley bow", and record calculations based on the process of building it. Below is a slideshow chronicling my diddley bow, as well as an audio recording of me playing my diddely bow. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was somewhat frustrating during the building process, but was overall an interesting Action Project to participate in, since I'd never built or even heard of a diddley bow before now. It was also interesting to learn about how sound works and interacts with the...

In this first unit of our Humanities class, named Argument, we learned more about how to make a proper argument by looking at the Declaration of Independence. We learned about concepts such as  syllogisms and inductive and deductive premises, and even got to go out and talk to Alderman Walter Burnett about Argument and the city government. For this Action Project, we had to declare our right to study a specific course of our own design. Below is my declaration to study Video Games as Art. A scene from the game Journey . Flickr, Playstation Europe, June 3rd 2010.  Topic: Video Games As Art Introduction:  I am creating this declaration to fight for a class based on learning about art through a modern, digital eye, through the context of games and the effects they have on people. It is necessary for me to write this declaration because I think that people should be able to learn in ways that relate to modern society. My official declaration is that people of my age,...

In this first unit of our STEAM Class, Light, Sound, and Time, we focused on the concept of light and how it interacts with space around it. For this Action Project, I had to build a pinhole camera and take a photo with it using light-sensitive paper. Our class went to Truman College during the process of this Action Project to develop our photos, and to learn more about how a darkroom actually functions from one of the professors there. Below is a slideshow documenting the process of building my pinhole camera and taking a photo with it. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was an interesting challenge, and that making photos by hand instead of using a digital camera is actually a lot more complicated than I originally thought it was. I think that maybe if I were to do this project over again, I think I would make my camera a more traditional design than what I had, although my more unique design did produce some pretty interesting photos.

In my only class this term, ReDesign the Future, we learned more about how to design products and more about how to take inspiration from nature to help us design more eco-friendly prototypes. We went on several Field Experiences (FEs) to different companies and non-profits such as Rheaply and Plant Chicago. Rheaply helps other companies make a circular economy within their company, by letting them use their application to re-sell old equipment and The Plant is a non-profit promoting sustainable, circular gardening systems. For this Action Project, we were challenged to base an innovative design of our own on one of Bill Gates' 5 grand challenges for us to solve. Below is a slideshow documenting the design process of my design. In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was quite enjoyable, although the brainstorming process was a bit difficult for me. I just had too many ideas! And that's a bad thing for me, since I get overwhelmed and can't decide very easily...

Liberation Library, Logo , 2019 Liberation Library is a non-profit organization that takes book donations and sends them out to incarcerated youth. They do this because providing books to youth in prison helps encourage imagination, self-determination and connection to the outside world. Liberation Library also believes that books help empower the youth to change the criminal justice system. I went to Liberation Library because I wanted to find a way to further obtain service hours, and Liberation Library was an enjoyable and interesting option. Liberation Library relies on volunteers to pack and organize book requests from multiple juvenile detention centers across the state. Volunteers fulfill order forms that the youth fill out regarding their favorite books and authors. If they cannot find a book by one of the authors listed, they find a similar book. The volunteer also writes the kid's name on the inside cover and top of the book, and write out a little note and make a ...

This third unit of our Humanities class this term, Rhetoric, was all about investigating the ways rhetoric can work to motivate people to be engaged. The same appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos from our last unit can be used to analyze many forms of art, not just written texts. We went on a Field Experience to Marquette Park to visit the Living Memorial to Martin Luther King and the Chicago Freedom Movement, a piece of public art erected in recognition of the anti-segregation march held there in 1966. While we were there, we met Sadia Nawab, the Director of Arts and Culture at non-profit community organization Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). She was one of the primary drivers behind the creation and installation of the project. We also explored how artists use their work as a platform to send political messages, and how Cuban art fed Africa's liberation struggles. For this Action Project, we had to look at an important social topic in today's society and make an art...

For this second unit of Design and Engineering, we learned about how engineers design bikes. We went on several Field Experiences to different bike shops and had designers come in to talk to us about the design of bikes and how that whole process works. At Earth Rider and Working Bikes, we learned about how bikes are made and repaired, and also went out and rode a brand-new type of bike called e-bikes that use electricity to help you pedal. For this Action Project, Better Bikes, as part of a team we brainstormed and developed a custom bike design to best meet the needs of a specific user. The persona that my team was assigned for this project was Vanessa. She has a younger sibling that she needs to take to daycare every morning, and they need to also deal with potholes and loud cars and trains around them. She also has to work around there not being any space inside her home, so she have to lock her bike up outside instead of bringing it inside. Our new bike design is needed becaus...