BLOG #1
First Post 8/25/2021
This is my first ever blog. Nervous, but I am excited to write one. The past summer I took history classes at SMC, designed a logo for a law group at Hanson Bridgett, and went to San Francisco. I am really excited about Engineering this year because of the capstone project. I want to design something that will help solve a problem. This is exciting to me because I will be designing something that will make a better difference. I really missed working with people in person and I cannot wait to do so this year. I am also excited for Chinese being completely back in person, as well as a full orchestra, and lacrosse!
BLOG #2
Monsters Inc. Debate! 9/12/2021
This past couple of weeks, we have been preparing for a debate! Whether or not the CEO from Monsters. Inc. was ethical and justified in its actions. Mrs. Snyder split the class into 2 groups via the alphabet. Within our groups, we chose who would argue for and against the CEO. I was arguing for the CEO. Synder picked our group to argue for the CEO and so last Thursday we presented. After both groups got to present, both groups were able to participate in the counterargument. Lots of questions were asked, and points about the scream extractor and laugher vs screams. It was hilarious that we ended up getting serious about a debate solely from a kid's animation movie. Learning about ethics in engineering will help with the Capstone project so that we don't run into problems or disasters like the case studies. If w can keep in mind what is ethical, we will be able to make sure our designs are not harmful.
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Outside of Engineering, I have been working with my teammates in lacrosse, finished a rigorous ACT test, and have had fun rollerblading!
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BLOG #3
Animatronics!! 11/3/2021
For the past month, I have been working in a group on an animatronic for Halloween. When Ms. Snyder first assigned the project, she made the final contraption due on the 29th, the Friday before Halloween and Her birthday. For the group I was a part of, we decided to do a bubbling cauldron with a witch moving around the rim of it. The mechanics for the bubbling mechanism was easy to figure out. Using cams and a follower system we were able to create a system to put the items we wanted to bounce out from the cauldron. The witch was harder. Our initial idea didn't consider the harder points of the mechanism in having a witch move around the rim. And after several days of simply scratching our heads, we scrapped the witch.
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During this project, we were also required to make presentations to show our progress as well as a poster depicting our progress and our results. My main role in the project was documenting the progress, working on the presentations, and creating the poster to show our work. Everything that we have worked on in the past month has been documented and posted in the completed works tab of this website.
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If I had a few pieces of advice to my future self I would say take time and don't be afraid to speak up when you think you have a solution to one of the problems. Also, as much as you have the ability to do the documentation, you don't have to do the documentation and instead, you can do the parts you really want to focus on and not just the documentation.
BLOG #4
Applying to Colleges: What I wish I had known...
Applying to college was not easy. I had to sign up for virtual meetings, email people with questions, write essays and other written responses, and fill out some confusing forms for the first time.
It was also hard to be organized about it too. I would sign up for an information session, sign in, then forget all about it later because I was just trying to get as much info as I could.
Emailing people was different. As a teen, I don't use a lot of emails and I always get mixed up on how I should address someone or how should I even sign the email at the end. I didn't want to be rude, I didn't want to be the embodiment of a robot. But I didn't know how to get any of what I wanted across.
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Writing my essays wasn't as hard as the others. It mainly is a lot of revising. I went through so many drafts for so many different questions that I can't remember them all.
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But the main thing I wish to have known about beforehand and would have like more help on were the confusing forms. The CommonApp was probably the most simple one to fill out. But filling out the CSS profile and the FAFSA was really hard. I had to get a lot of help from my parents when doing it and I sometimes felt like I was drowning in paper work. (dramatic, I know)
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When I started to think about colleges and get information onhow to apply. I wasn't told what to fully expect. I wasn't told that the forms would be complicated. And that worries me. Because for the FAFSA and the CSS, both me and my parents sometimes didn't understand some of the questions. So what about the people who struggle a lot more? I guess I want to say that applying to colleges is hard and I want people to know that so they're prepared, even for the forms whose difficulty was not talked about.
BLOG #5
Next school year, after graduating from Santa Monica High School, I plan to attend Connecticut College (Conn College). I am going in undecided because I want to explore many pathways before choosing an area of study simply because I don't know what I want to do. I do hope that I can obtain a job in the future but the type is currently a mystery.
BLOG #6
I am most proud of the Capstone Project. My fellow group members and I worked really hard to iron out all the details when it came to making a waste management system. But I am also proud of our project because of the consistent work we did to make it happen.
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Advice-wise I would give for the future class of Project Lead The Way seniors is to keep on top of your deadlines and to find a project that you're heavily invested in seeing through. A project you lose interest in is not a good idea for your Capstone Project.