Kiy's Tech Repair

 Hello, and welcome to my second and final action project for the second unit of my S.T.E.A.M core class, "Social Entrepreneurship". In this unit, we learned about how to plan and start a social enterprise. A social enterprise is a business with specific social objectives that serve its primary purpose. Through this process, we researched the types of legal structures of businesses and the ways they're taxed differently, where they get their funding, and what are goals of a business are. Next, we started to talk about the mission and vision statements of our social enterprises. For our field experiences, we had the opportunities to speak to Felicia Winiecki who is the strategic engagement officer and the head of fundraising at our school, Ian MacKaye who is the owner/ founder of Discord Records, and visited the neighborhood schools program (NSP) at the University of Chicago. All our field experience guests are all entrepreneurs. For this action project, I was assigned to create my own social enterprise. I decided to create a tech repair shop for my social enterprise. I was influenced by the startup story of the company Joe'sGE to start my tech repair shop social enterprise. During the process of drafting and finalizing this social enterprise, I felt that this project was pretty straightforward when coming up with a business idea. When it came to properly creating the structure I felt somewhat overwhelmed. I hope you enjoy my project below and thank you for visiting my blog!

Kiy's Tech Repair (KTR)

How many of you love technology? Everyone, I assume. Now, who loves it when their phone screen cracks or laptop battery needs to be replaced and there aren’t any repair shops in your area? How about when you find a repair shop, the cost of the repair is out of your budget? 

The correct answer is that nobody likes to deal with those inconveniences. Many people can relate to cracking their phone screen and not being able to afford the repair for it. At Kiy’s Tech Repair (KTR) we value the devices you

 love and use so much that we make device repair services as affordable as possible.

In conclusion to my presentation, I hope that I can pursue this business venture while I'm in college next fall.  I enjoyed creating this social enterprise because it would do so much good in the community that I grew up in. I love exploring the possibilities in the tech industry through tinkering and technical engineering.

Works Cited:

First, Kids. “Kids First Chicago.” Kids First Chicago, 2014, kidsfirstchicago.org/digital-equity-coronavirus#digital-equity-explore-data.

Lynch, Matthew. “Why Should We Invest in STEM Education? - the Tech Edvocate.” The Tech Edvocate, 22 Feb. 2017, www.thetechedvocate.org/why-should-we-invest-in-stem education/#:~:text=STEM%20programs%20inspire%20children%2C%20boost,%2C%20engineers%2C%20and%20computer%20programmers.&text=STEM%20affects%20everything%20that%20we%20do%20as%20citizens%20of%20the%20modern%20world..

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Traveling to Panama

 This is my first action project for my Spanish class over the fall term of my senior year. Throughout this class, I've grown in mastering the basics of Spanish and further growing in having some conversations in Spanish. For this action project, I created a travel brochure of a Spanish speaking country which includes tourists attractions, cultural foods, and activities to do in the country. I chose Panama. I hope you enjoy my project below.

Works Cited

“File:Flag of Panama.svg - Wikimedia Commons.” Wikimedia.org, 2017, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Panama.svg.

Retire in Panama. “Pros and Cons of Living in Panama | Retire in Panama Tours.” Retire in Panama Tours | Panama’s Most Exclusive Relocation Company, 2 Feb. 2019, www.retireinpanamatours.com/post/pros-and-cons-of-living-in-panama/.

Szalai, Liz. “Top 25 Foods of Panama (with Pictures!) - Chef’s Pencil.” Chef’s Pencil, 16 Mar. 2021, www.chefspencil.com/top-25-foods-of-panama/.

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“11 Top-Rated Attractions & Things to Do in Panama | PlanetWare.” Planetware.com, 2021, www.planetware.com/panama/top-rated-attractions-things-to-do-in-panama-crc-1-3.htm.

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I Made my First Camera!

 Hello and welcome to my first action project for the unit of Light in my STEAM core class, "Light, Sound, and Time". In this class via virtual learning, we learned about We learned about the electromagnetic spectrum which is a spectrum that shows the wide range of all types of electromagnetic radiation (light) and the visible spectrum (what we can see).The electromagnetic spectrum includes  UV rays, X rays, infrared, gamma rays, microwaves, and radio waves. Light is energy as matter that we can see it but we can’t touch. Reflection is light bouncing back in a direction based on the angle of the shined light; and refraction is the change of light as it goes through objects. We didn't have any Field Experiences for this unit but I did get the chance to work on and build my camera in-person at GCE's new school space. In our class meetings via google meet, we dove deeper into the math and science that explains how light travels through our eyes to our brain. We covered topics such as trigonometry, the unit circle, light rays, and the electromagnetic spectrum. For this action project, we were instructed to build a pinhole camera that would be used to create an image using light through the camera itself. Overall, I enjoyed this project and especially making my very first camera. 

LST Camera Obscura. N.L. (2020)

I really enjoyed making a camera from simple materials I had laying around my house. I'm looking forward for what is to come in this class and more hands on experiences. The building process of the camera was very simple which I did not expect but did appreciate. During this time of this global pandemic of Covid-19, I'd like to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to view my projects. I hope you enjoyed this action project!

Garden Shears Reimagined

Hello and welcome to my first action project for my STEAM core class, Design & Engineering. In this class via virtual learning, we learned about what it means to have empathy in the topic of design. Empathy is to understand and share feelings with others. We got the opportunity to speak with Field Experience guests from Greater Good Studio about empathy and how they incorporate it into their designs and projects. We also spoke with some designers from Dyson and participated in a design activity based on reinventing a household product. In our class meetings via google meet, we dove deeper into the math and engineering that goes into the design process. We covered topics such as simple machines, classification of levers, trigonometry, and algebra. For this action project, we were instructed to create a new product based off of tools we looked at in Home Depot during another Field Experience. We started the process by interviewing people who participate in gardening about the tools they use and discussing how they felt about gardening and their tools. Next, we researched the tools we chose from Home Depot and discussed it with their employees. We did this in order to try to create a product that properly met the needs of an elderly person. My partner and I worked on creating a new product based on the concept and tool, garden shears. Our garden shear is a battery-powered tool. It comes with a charging stand and adapter for the charging stand. The hardest part of this project for me was deciding what tool I should redesign. I worked with my teacher and my partner on the project to create a schedule that worked for me. Check out my partner's project here. During this time of this global pandemic of Covid-19, I'd like to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to view my projects. I hope you enjoy this action project!

Citations: 

“Best Garden Clippers - Titanium & Teflon Coated Blades - Traditional Bypass Pruning Shears. Garden Scissors With Anti Slip Ergonomic Rotating Handle. Garden Tool Avoids Carpal Tunnel & Blisters. - Walmart.Com.” 2018, www.walmart.com/ip/Coated-Blades-Shears-Carpal-Slip-Blisters-Rotating-With-Ergonomic-Titanium-Pruning-Best-Anti-Tool-Teflon-Garden-Avoids-Handle-Tunnel-Bypass-Scissors-/941252306. Accessed 16 Oct. 2020.

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Snapshots of Street Skateboarding!

Welcome to my blogger. For my final presentation of my Sophomore year, I decided to focus on my love for skateboarding and include it towards a snapshot of how I have been spending my time during this quarantine. I was able to meet an artist by the name of Andrew Durgin-Barnes and connect with him about a particular painting of his and what it reflects. I hope you enjoy this last project of my Sophomore year!

Endoscopic Colonoscopy

Hi and welcome to my first action project in my S.T.E.A.M. course class Cure, we studied and researched a surgical procedure. I chose to research an endoscopic colonoscopy because I had access to a former patient to interview and colorectal cancer is common among many people in the United States. In this class via virtual learning, we learned about cells in the body and surgical prefixes for procedures. We got the opportunity to video call with Dr.  Neeraj Jain about his experiences in his career as an anesthesiologist. For this action project, we were required to describe a surgery in detail and a patient's experience from the surgery. This project was very interesting and exciting to me because I learned about all of my possible options in case I was facing nerve damage. It was very interesting to learn about how and why this specific procedure is very common and important in our world today. During this time of this global pandemic of Covid-19, I'd like to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to view my projects. I hope you enjoy this action project!

Here are some vocabulary words you might want to consider as reference points as you continue down this post. 

Electrocautery: A process where an electrode generates heat to destroy tissue inside of the body.

Colorectal polyps: A small clump of cells that forms on the lining of the colon. Over time, some colon polyps can develop into colon cancer.

Oscopy: The viewing of something with a scope.  

Rectum: The final section of the large intestine.

Biopsy: The examination of tissue removed from a living body to discover the presence and cause of a disease. 

Sedative: A drug taken for its calming and sleep-inducing effect.

Heres a video of a colonoscopy. 

In conclusion to this action project, I've enjoyed researching this surgery. The biggest lessons I got from this interview were to make sure to get yourself checked out periodically for the sake of your health, research the drugs prescribed by your doctor to be aware of what goes into your body and the effects of it, and discuss your health with your doctor and family.

Works Cited

Whelan, Corey. “How Safe Is a Colonoscopy?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 29 Oct. 2018, .www.healthline.com/health/colonoscopy-risks#risks. Accessed 16 May 2020

“Colonoscopy: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.” Medlineplus.Gov, 2016, medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003886.htm. Accessed 17 May 2020.

‌“Colonoscopy - Mayo Clinic.” Mayoclinic.Org,  , 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/colonoscopy/about/pac-20393569. Accessed 17 May 2020.

‌https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/understanding-hemorrhoids-basics#1

“Preparing For Your Colonoscopy | Kaiser Permanente Washington.” Kaiserpermanente.Org, 2020, wa.kaiserpermanente.org/html/public/specialties/gastroenterology/colon-prep. Accessed 18 May 2020.

Marks, Jay W. “Colon Polyps: Symptoms, Causes, Cancer Risk, Treatment, and Prevention.” MedicineNet, MedicineNet, 17 Dec. 2019, www.medicinenet.com/colon_polyps/article.htm. Accessed 18 May 2020.

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My Garden Plan

In the first unit of my freshman STEAM course class Food, we have been learning about ecosystems, interactions/symbiosis within ecosystems, the nitrogen cycle, the symbiosis between plants, nutrients plants need, and philosophy about agriculture. We have been studying the ecology of planting, different farming methods and how these methods affect the food we eat. We went on Field Experiences to Patchwork Farms where we learned about how they managed their farm and to Big Delicious Planet where we learned about how their catering company as a business takes actions towards being as green, clean, and sustainable as possible. For this AP, my class was instructed to design a garden, find a location, find ways to make the soil compatible, find materials or containers that we could grow plants in, and pick 10 vegetables to grow. I enjoyed everything that has led up to this action project. Here is a slideshow of all the vegetables I plan to plant in my garden and a sketch of my garden.

 

 Below are the containers I will grow my vegetables in.

4 Plastic Bins (10 plants per pin) Volume = 91356.85 cm.³

( L x W x H): 26.5 x 16.5 x 12.75 in.).

5 five-gallon buckets (5 plants per bucket) Volume = 29233.52 cm.

(11.91 Top "x 10.33" Bottom x 14.5 in." H)

5 plastic rectangular containers (3 plants per half bottle) Volume= 1577.25 cm.³

(L x W x H): 8 3/4" x 5.5" x 2 in.")

Below are my calculations for what product or supplement and quantities per 100 square feet. I need for each outdoor space.

Original Soil Quality:

Nitrogen in soil: 15 out of 40 (low amount of nitrogen)

Phosphorus in soil: 23 out of 30 (high amount of phosphorus)

Potassium in soil: 61 out of 300 (very low amount of potassium)

These are the products and need to add in order to amend the soil.

(F101 Blood Meal)     F2100 Soft Rock Phosphate           F2260 Sulfate of Potash

5 lbs per 100 ft²                   2 lbs per 100ft²                              0.5 lbs per 100ft²

5.5 lbs per 150 ft²               2.5 lbs per 150ft²                            0.85 lbs per 150ft²

10 lbs per 200 ft²                   4 lbs per 200ft²                            1 lbs per 200ft²

Ron Finley is a guerrilla gardener ad he is making a difference and impact in his community of South Central, Los Angeles. He started free and voluntary community gardening and plans to make this practice into future business and project. In a TED Talk by Ron Finley, he said, “Food is the problem and food is the solution.” To me, this means unhealthy food and food practices are the problems and healthy food and food practices are the solutions to that problem. For my garden, I planned to have it in my complex yard and in a yard at a local community college. I chose both of these locations because they are local and accessible places for a garden in my neighborhood. The dimensions of my complex yard are 10ft. long by 15ft. wide and the dimensions of the community college yard are 10ft. long by 20ft. wide. In all, the area of my complex yard is 150 square feet and the area of the community college yard is 200 square feet. I will plant cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, corn, peppers, cabbage, beans, and lettuce in my garden. I chose cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. I will plant these vegetables because these are some of my favorite vegetables and they also are compatible companion plants to some plants out of the ten I chose. Beans, cucumbers, and cabbage are companion plants to each other and onions, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce are also companion plants to each other. Carrots take the nitrogen from the soil and allow the tomatoes to take in the amount of nitrogen needed in order to grow. My garden will represent the symbiotic relationships of mutualism and commensalism because my garden will be public to my surrounding community and I will have a garden where organisms will have interactions of mutualism and commensalism. For example, if a cottontail rabbit happens to eat a carrot from the garden and then produce organic waste, my garden will benefit from the organic waste and the rabbit will also benefit. I will use the principles of natural farming no chemical fertilizer, no weeding by tillage or herbicides because I feel and learned that any synthetic chemicals and addends to plants and crops will hurt the soil and land over time.

In conclusion to this project, I learned about the history of agriculture and ecosystems, different methods within maintaining and sustaining agriculture, and the reasoning and importance behind the different ways and methods of agriculture. I also learned about why it is important to have healthy fertile soil compared to dirt for plants, why the symbiosis between plants matter, and why food needs to be sustainable for all people. If I could do this project again, I would plan a garden for a space about 500 square feet just so I can add components and factors to it.

United States and Venezuela Oil Production

Hello, my name is N.L. I am a freshman at GCE Lab School. This action project is for my STEAM course "Fuel". In this class, we have been learning about energy and energy density, renewable and nonrenewable resources, slope, and the elements of the periodic table. A field experience guest speaker named Christa from Nicor Gas company talked to us about what her company does, many different and interesting energy resources, and how important carbon emissions are. For this action project, I made a slide show showing oil production between two different countries by using slope or rate of change.

Space Travelers Board Game

Hello I am a freshman at GCE Lab School. In my STEAM course Game Changers we've been learning about and playing many different games. Mostly card, board, and dexterity games. We also learned about the elements of a game and how you would play it. We also got to meet and talk with game designers.My teammates and I made a game for our class and the game we’ve created is called Space Travelers.

Space Travelers is a game where players are placed on earth, choose what planet they want to go to. Players have to go around the game board and pick up resources from different planets such as Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Neptune. In order to win the game, each player that feels like they have enough resources in order to return to Earth with, they stay. The player with the most resources who comes back to Earth wins the game.The audience that might utilize our game are groups and organizations who are interested in space. A lesson that our game can be used to teach is making strategic decisions.

I feel that our game is the outcome of hard work and teamwork. Thinking about game as an idea then making the game was a pretty good start into the creation of the game. Creating the game started as an idea, got into visualizing the game by drawing sketches of the game, then from there we started physically putting our game together. The first time we play-tested our game, we noticed many things that we can improve, change and take from our game. The play-testing went good and we got some descriptive feedback. During the play test, some people enjoyed playing our game and some got uninterested in our game. The revision process of our game was very critical towards inventing our game. We made a lot of changes to our game. We changed the size and shape of the board, discarded of our cards we made and added small blocks into the game, changed the icons of the spaces and we added more planets to the game, and we also changed some of the rules to the game. Overall the making of this game took a lot of work and effort and I think our group succeeded in making a game people will enjoy. 
Space Travelers is the first official game that I have ever made. Including myself, I worked in a group of 3. I feel that I personally put as much work into the whole process of inventing a game as my teammates. Some of my personal contributions to this game are being open minded to new ideas for the game, making multiple game boards by cutting paper and cardboard, making game pieces such as meeples, getting materials from the “Waste Shed” for the game, making cards that were for the original version, finding time to work on improvements for the game, and just overall participating in group work and activities. I am most proud of all the hard work and teamwork that resorted to our game being a representation of something that started off as an idea and then became reality. I feel that I have the most room to improve on the game board of the game and some of the factors to the game. I feel that if I have resources that I need, I can improve the quality of our game board. Some of the factors I would add are things like low gravity airs on the board and more player interaction features like the taking resources factor.

#20ShotsForChange

For this elective term, I am taking the class Global Peace. In this class, we have been learning about  Gandhian principles such as Sarvodaya (the uplift of all), Swadeshi (local economy), Swaraj (self-rule), and Satyagraha (the power of truth). We have studied different types of violence. They are structural, cultural, and direct violence. Structural violence is injustice and exploitation that is built into a social system. Cultural violence is the prevailing attitudes and beliefs. Direct violence is a combination and the outcome of both structural and cultural violence referred to as one-to-one. Sharp's Methods are a list of more than 190 methods on non-violence actions. For this action project, we selected an issue we have noticed around our city and society, and I chose to address the issue of homelessness in Chicago.

  N.L.#20ShotsForChange.1/14/2019
N.L. #20ShotsForChange.1/14/2019

Works Cited 

“Cornerstone Community Outreach.” Cornerstone Community Outreach, 1 Jan. 2014, http://www.ccolife.org/. 

‌“Homeless Facts - The Conflict - Warriors Center.” Warriorscenter.Org, 1 Jan. 2012, http://www.warriorscenter.org/the-conflict/homeless-facts/. 

‌Zacarias, Michelle. “Chicago Residents Losing Their Home under a Major Viaduct.” People’s World, 24 Aug. 2017, https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/chicago-residents-losing-their-home-under-a-major-viaduct/. 

Rokhaya Diallo: Peace Activist

For this elective term, I am taking the class Global Peace. In this class we have been learning about  Gandhian principles such as Sarvodaya (the uplift of all), Swadeshi (local economy), Swaraj (self-rule), and Satyagraha (the power of truth). We studied the different types of violence. They are structural, cultural, and direct violence. Structural violence is injustice and exploitation that is built into a social system. Cultural violence is the prevailing attitudes and beliefs. Direct violence is a combination and the outcome of both structural and cultural violence, referred to as one -to-one. In class we used a conflict iceberg and analysis tree as ways to look at conflicts differently. The conflict iceberg allowed us to view conflicts from  The conflict analysis tree allowed to view conflict from 3 levels, the conflict itself, the cause of it and the effect of it. Sharp's Methods are a list of more than 190 methods on non-violence actions. People all everywhere use these methods but might not even know it. For this action project, we had to choose an activist to learn about.

The activist I chose to study for my research paper is Rokhaya Diallo, who started the"Les Indivisibles". In conclusion, I learned a lot about how the United States' and France's society have similarities in racism, similarities in perception of minorities, and I learned about how problems aren't just in one place but global. The most important thing I learned from Rokhaya is that anyone can make a difference and be the change. This action project was not only to learn about someone new but to also reflect on who fits the characteristics of the Gandhian principles and a peace activist.

Gwyndon. Rokhaya Diallo, March 17, .2018

How does climate change effect Chicago?

This action project is for my STEAM course, on the unit of water. This week we were focusing on the difference between climate and weather. We converted temperatures in Fahrenheit to Celsius and Celsius to Fahrenheit. We went on a Field Experience to the Lincoln Park Conservatory where we measured temperature and humidity in each room. I learned how the conservatory varies the climate in each room by using steam heating and windows on the ceilings as vents. At the end of the week, we were assigned an action project that took one region, country, or city and explained how the weather and climate in that place will change by 2100. Hope you enjoy.




Works Cited:
Benfield, Kaid. “What Communities Should Do To Protect Against Climate Change.” CityLab, 22 Mar. 2012, www.citylab.com/equity/2012/03/what-communities-should-do-protect-against-climate-change/1562/.
“Illinois State Water Survey - the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.” The climate of Chicago - Description, Illinois State Climatologist Office, Illinois State Water Survey, U of I, www.isws.illinois.edu/statecli/General/chicago-climate-narrative.htm.

“WeatherSpark.com.” Average Weather in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Year Round - Weather Spark, weatherspark.com/y/14091/Average-Weather-in-Chicago-Illinois-United-States-Year-Round.

What Is the Carbon Cycle?, www.netl.doe.gov/research/coal/carbon-storage-1/faqs/what-is-the-carbon-cycle.

“350 Climate Science Basics.” 350.Org, 350.org/science/.