In robotics, our goal is to manufacture a robot that is able to complete a set of tasks given to us by FIRST robotics. In our off season, using the robot we used last year that we’ve been working on, we placed 1st in a local tournament against 20 other teams. This accomplishment required immense collaboration by everyone on the team to work together to build, program, and drive it. Over the year, I learned how to program better and design better. The skills required to make the robot will help me with jobs in the future.

In digital production we learnt how to use photoshop, so I decided to remake one of my favorite show’s poster. First I removed the titan in the upper center, and added a picture of a platypus. I darkened the photo extremely, and positioned it so that it looked better.

Original                                        Photoshopped

This connects to Creativity, because I had to decide what to make, and how to make it.

     During the one week I was in person I felt behind like if I had been in person for the entire quarter I could have done better when it came to how much weight I can life. Although I did exercise everyday I didn’t work on weights but instead took walks. I did however feel healthier and just overall happier after taking walks. It helped me wake up in the morning and feel refreshed. I plan on working out more by going swimming more often and riding my bike once the snow is gone. This would fall under Character because it shows the ability to commit to something for a period of time. I managed to lift Bench Press #95, Squat #115, Clean #135 , Push ups#20, Pull ups #5 for my final weights.

After writing my paper I am most proud of the statistics. Instead of writing vague terms like most, often, or some, I used actual statistics that were backed up by government institutions. I think that these numbers create a better understanding of the material. I also believe that numbers create a sense of credibility that words do not because words can be misleading while numbers can not. This commitment to credibility is what I am most proud of.

As I was writing my paper I encountered many problems. Most were caused by procrastination but when it came to the actual writing part my problem was that I would stray from the main point I was trying to make. In the end I went with a focus on gun safety research but that wasn’t until after the outline. This inability to find a main point was what led to the majority of my problems with writing as I didn’t have a clear point. My thesis statement underwent many changes because as I started to research I realized that different points would have more impact. This caused me to change my thesis statement many times.

This paper required creativity and critical thinking. When writing a persuasive paper you not only have to think about what sources would be useful but also creative ways to string your ideas and sources into a comprehensive paper. This combination of Creativity and Logic is what makes writing so hard. The difficulty is only amplified when you have to think about how to appeal to others in order to sway their opinion.

When writing my paper I spent a lot of time researching things that weren’t important to my main theme and that de-railed my train of thought. If I were to do this again I would prefer to research my topic extensively before I came up with my thesis statement that way I could be better educated on what was important and what to cover. I think that if I did this I would have had much easier time with staying on topic. Another reason why it took so long is that the sources I picked didn’t have many facts and were full of opinions. I would also have liked to go more into the NRA and their campaigning along with how much they spend on endorsing politicians.

When looking back at the presentation the part that I am most proud of was how I condensed the information into short easy to understand bites. I’m not proud of how long it took me to get it done. I kept procrastinating until the last minute and ended up with a lot of work in the end. I am proud of how I did it in an efficient manner though.

The project itself wasn’t the hard part for me, but reflecting on it in this paper is. I often don’t put enough effort into large projects like these and this leads to me not being proud of anything that I did. I didn’t feel relieved that I finished the project just dread that I need to do this reflection. Other than that it was finding motivation and time to do it.

This project connects with the Character C the most because it is directly researching a potential career path and deciding if it’s meant for me. It required me to think about what I wanted to do after school and if accounting was for me. An example of this would be me having to look for potential schools that I could go to in order to get a degree. A case could also be made for critical thinking because it required me to think about what would make a good accountant.

At the end of the day what did I learn? I learnt that maybe Accounting isn’t the career for me. I do not share the same interests that are needed in this career. If I were to do this project again I’d spend more time out of class working on the project. I’d also put more effort into the slides which I did very quickly without much thought.

This is the 3D model of the cell city

When creating my Cell City Project I first brainstormed analogies between a cell’s organelles and buildings in a city. I then used a 3d modeling program to create models of the assorted buildings. After that I placed them all into a singular file. I then arranged them into the form of a city. The next step was to create a video, I did that by recording my screen with a software called OBS. I then uploaded it to YouTube.

This project required me to be creative when designing the models and assets. It also required creativity when I was creating colorations between a city and a cell. Yet it also required critical thinking because I had to know how to model, the geometry used when making the model and had to know the function of all of the organelle in the first place. Over all this was an interesting and challenging project that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The aspect of my project that I’m most proud of is the models themselves. They each took a while to model and I’m proud of how they turned out. One of the challenges that I faced while completing the project was coming up with the metaphors. The hardest one for me was the cell wall, until I realized I could just put a wall around my city. This project helped me understand how to use Autodesk Inventor better and more efficiently.

Artifact:

I am interested in the career field of Computer engineering. Math plays a large role in this field because of how good computers are at math. Because of this running calculations on computers is much easier. Also in order to program physics engines math is required to predict where objects will end up and how they will end up there. This is why math is important to the career field of Computer engineering. This can be characterized under Critical thinking, because when programming something you have to know what formulas to use and when.

Reflection:

When looking back at the artifact I have just created, I am most proud of the research I did. When looking into how math was important to the field I chose I looked at several sources including how it is used to make programs more efficient.  The aspect that was most challenging for me was choosing which career field I would look at. I eventually chose Computer engineering because I have previous experience from robotics. This connects with critical thinking because of how I had to think about why math was important and write it down in a comprehensive paragraph. If I were to do the artifact again I would not have procrastinated for as long as I did and also would have done more research into the field.