Home » 5th Season » Volume 5.14
Category Archives: Volume 5.14
“Two Worlds”–Drawing with Color Pencil and Gouache
By Leean Li, V Form
“Two Worlds”–Drawing with Color Pencil and Gouache
Made with color pencil and gouache (a type of paint) on bright orange paper, this drawing is called Two Worlds. It examines pollution, part of my concentration topic for my Studio III portfolio. I approached the subject from a third person perspective. Inside the apartment, a couple sits comfortably, while outside is a polluted world which animals have to escape. The depiction reveals a discrepancy between human and animals’ experience with pollution. We never realize the price the ecosystem paid for us to enjoy our daily conveniences, such as having electricity and running water. Additionally, since our general public regard pollution as distant and irrelevant, we often made little effort to change. Nevertheless, to accept a polluted world is our selfish decision, negligent of not only the future of humanity but also of the entire ecosystem. (more…)
Autism-Vaccine Controversy: Video
By Izzy Kim & Riya Shankar, VI Form and Haley Dion & Laura Drepanos, V Form
Autism-Vaccine Controversy: Video
Editors’ Note: In Advanced Biology, students were encouraged to tell the story that they felt compelled to relate about their Public Health issue (click here for assignment). In this video, the students integrated a given Case Study with relevant information gathered through independent research. Their integration of the Case Study with additional research reflects an advanced understanding of, and ability to convey, scientific content.
Click on Image for Video
Diminishing the Diversity of Devastating Diarrhea
By Geetika Surapaneni, Frances Hornbostel, & Graham Butterfield, III Form with Will Figueroa, V Form
Diminishing the Diversity of Devastating Diarrhea
Please click the image to download/see the poster. Scroll below to see each individual piece.
CLICK ON EACH IMAGE BELOW TO ZOOM TO EACH PIECE OF PROJECT. (more…)
Playing Rachmaninoff On the Alto Saxophone
When I was five years old, my parents signed me up for my first music lesson. “Lesson” was a far-cry statement – it was a teacher with four five-year-olds sitting in a circle creating a ruckus with the various instruments in the room. Despite what the lesson actually was, that was when my music career began. Nine months later, I would begin taking private piano lessons – one thirty-minute-lesson every week – with my parents urging me to practice during the hours in between. I did not enjoy practicing. I guess my attention span was not long enough, or I just did not have the discipline to practice. About a year later, I tried to learn the guitar, but it did not work too well for me. In the end, I decided to just stick with the piano.
Like most third-graders I knew, I was required to play the recorder for music class. I had a unique liking to the instrument – something about it was just so appealing. As a result, I was one of the better players in my class. In fifth grade, I had the option to join the band program. I hesitated, and missed my chance to join. Luckily, the band teacher still let me join two weeks later after my constant pleading. I chose to play the saxophone – it was similar to the recorder, and I was able to pick it up very quickly. Had it not been for my band teacher, who would eventually become my saxophone teacher, I would have never thought about learning how to play the saxophone. (more…)
The Shen Prize Speech Competition: Contraction or Expansion of Democracy in American History
By Colin Capenito, Rosanna Zhao, and Matthew Gates, V Form
The Shen Prize Speech Competition: Contraction or Expansion of Democracy in American History
Editors’ Note: Below are three finalists of The Shen Prize Speech Competition
Winner–Colin Capenito: On The Federal Reserve and Democracy
Money. We work for it. We fight for it. We die for it. We live because of it. Whether you agree with this reality or not, there can be no denying that money is at the front and center of our society. And when something goes wrong with our money? We panic. And when we panic, we make rash decisions, decisions that often lead to unforeseen consequences. This happens every day on an individual level- panic tied to money. But what happens when this panic, followed by rash decision making, happens at a national level?
Well, we do not need to ponder over this question, because the answer already exists- and that is the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23rd, 1913. The act gave way to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1914, the central banking system that we still live under today.
Click here for the full speech!
Runner up–Rosanna Zhao: America and the Holocaust
During the start of World War II, a complete autocracy was becoming increasingly powerful across the oceans, spreading ideals that starkly contrasted American democracy. American democracy is not only the guarantee of social equality for every citizen of the country, but also the divine obligation to project social equality onto every corner of the world – a world without discrimination for race, ethnicity, or religion. On the other hand, Hitler led Nazi Germany to spread terror and oppression across Europe, erasing all traces of social equality for many minorities, especially Jews. (more…)
Autonomous Navigation and Decision-Making Process Using Machine and Deep Learning
By Jeongyong Chris Yang, VI Form
Autonomous Navigation and Decision-Making Process Using Machine Learning and Deep Learning
Abstract
Please click the image to download/see the poster. Zoom in to read specifics.
Autonomous vehicles are self-driving cars that do not require human drivers. They use sensors that are attached to the vehicle as their vision to detect their environment. After the vehicle detects other objects or signals, computer programming (coding) allows them to react to the situations adaptively. Even though the sensors do not need to be improved, the millions of situations the cars can face on roads create difficulties for people to build a sophisticated computer program that makes the autonomous vehicles completely safe on roads.
First, I decided to build an algorithm pseudocode to help resolve this problem. During this process, I built mazes and followed the instructions based on the algorithm manually to check whether the algorithm is effective. I mainly used three different models for my mazes, each with different difficulty levels to ensure that the algorithm works every time. Then, I decided to record the information (velocity and displacement for both x and y directions) about the vehicle on the map so that the following vehicles can get a picture of the map automatically. However, if the subsequent vehicle detects a different or an altered map with its sensors, the new information will also be recorded on the map. Finally, the final vehicle will follow the path set by the first vehicle, but the map will guide the car with the most efficient path after completely learning and optimizing the possible paths.
20% Time Project: Longest Time Balancing A Shoe Upside Down On Top Of Your Head
By Ian Moore, III Form
20% Time Project: Longest Time Balancing A Shoe Upside Down On Top Of Your Head
Editors’ Note: In Ms. Amanda Hultin’s III Form English classes, her students pursue 20% Time (or “Genius Hour”) projects. Some essential elements include taking control of one’s own learning, choosing an individual topic, deciding how to learn and to produce a public product, and reflecting on the process.
Click on image to experience Ian’s Weebly pages.
Click on this image to see Ian’s time-lapse with the shoe on his head!
Reflection on learning:
*What content/information did you learn during this project?
I learned a lot of valuable information throughout this project. First, I learned about breaking a world record. I now know that there are a couple different ways to break a world record. First, you can apply on Guinness World Record to have an employee from their office come and watch you break the record. Then, you may have the opportunity to get into the Guinness World Records book. However, you can also do it online using a website called recordsetter.com. This is a very useful website and is the one that I used for my record. It relies on videos to see if you actually break the record. I also learned how to make a blog throughout this project. I used weebly.com to make my blog. It is a website that teaches you how to make and use a blog. This was a fun and interactive public product to make.
20% Time Project: Gardening–The Long Process of Planting
By Eve Elkins, III Form
20% Time Project: Gardening–The Long Process of Planting
Editors’ Note: In Ms. Amanda Hultin’s III Form English classes, her students pursue 20% Time (or “Genius Hour”) projects. Some essential elements include taking control of one’s own learning, choosing an individual topic, deciding how to learn and to produce a public product, and reflecting on the process.
Click on image to view Eve’s Padlet.
Reflection on learning:
*What content/information did you learn during this project?
I learned about gardening. I learned that the perfect time to water the plants is in the afternoon. If you water them at night or early morning, they are more likely to grow fungus. I also learned that snap peas, which was the vegetable I was growing, grow best in mid-spring, which was when we started this project. They also have the quickest growing rate which was about two months. That is how I came to choose snap peas. When I contacted the manager of Chestnut Hill Farms, I was able to find out about the evolution about gardening. Now, in current times, gardening has shifted to being grown indoors all year round. Gardening used to be seasonal but now, due to modern technology, there have been trucks and trailers developed to sustain plants even in winter. Lots of people still garden but the way we do it has changed. (more…)
LEO 