GS Portfolio

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the first Action Project of the STEAM class, Light, Sound, and Time. For the first unit, Light, we started by questioning what would our life look like without light. We then learned how light can act like a particle and a wave, how light equals energy, and about the electromagnetic spectrum. This unit helped us understand the importance of light in our lives and all of its uses. We also learned about the human eye and how it takes in light to create an image in our heads. Color was a big part of this unit because it is a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum humans can actually see. This part of the spectrum is called the visible light spectrum. We used trigonometry to solve problems of waves, the unit circle, and similar triangles. For this Action Project, we were asked to create a pinhole camera and use it to capture an image. My pinhole camera is made from a cardboard box and a lens made out of a soda can. I hope you enjoy reading...

Over the course of my sophomore year, I have been doing civic engagement to help out in my community and earn the service hours needed to graduate high school. For each year at GCE, students are asked to complete 50 hours of civic engagement. In this blog post, I will talk about each of the service opportunities I have done. Chicago Wildlife Watch Chicago Wildlife Watch is one of many projects on an online platform utilizing people-powered research. This platform is called Zooniverse. CWW focuses on using trail cameras placed in the Chicago area to identify animals such as squirrels, coyotes, dogs, birds, deer, and more. The website gives you an image and you can search around for any animals. If you find any you can identify it from the list of options which tells you basic information about the animals. This includes what they look like, their size, and where they can be located. These cameras are motion-triggered and are placed at more than 100 sites. Identifying these animals helps...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the first Action Project of the Humanities class, A Nation's Argument. In this class, we have been continuing our investigation of US history. This first unit has focused on the Declaration of Independence. After reading more of A People's History of the United States  by Howard Zinn and listening to a lecture by Yale Professor, Joanne Freeman, we debated who made the stronger argument about the Declaration. We learned about how arguments are formed and used as syllogisms. We also looked at other countries and how they made "Declarations of Independence" to end their struggles. For our External Investigation, we talked with a Chicago Montessori school principal, Ben Blair, and LA Public Defender, Ace Katano. Ben Blair helped our class learn more about the Montessori school system which is similar to GCE and Ace shared information about how public defenders work and how it has been affected over the course of the pandemic. For ...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the third Action Project of the Humanities class, The Art of Rhetoric. In this unit, we have been looking into the thirteen colonies and their origin. We have also studied the Seven Years War and its significance to how the colonies reacted afterward. We also looked at OSPAAL propaganda art which was anti-imperialist propaganda. OSPAAL stands for the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For Field Experiences this unit, we went to Marquette Park in Chicago to look at the Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial. This small memorial stands in Marquette Park to represent and provide remembrance from when Martin Luther King Jr. marched through the neighborhood to protest the segregation of housing. For this Action Project, we have been tasked with creating an art piece that addresses a certain issue. The issue I have chosen to work on is affordable housing in the West Loop and I am showing this in a mural th...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the STEAM class Design and Engineering. In this unit, we have been studying bicycles. We started off with a lab test on wheels and how different wheels work. Then, we looked at pulleys and wheels as simple machines. We learned how to graph circles and ellipses and later moved on to study weight, mass, speed, velocity, and acceleration. We also learned about functions, energy, and gears. The Field Experiences this term were with Earth Rider Cycling, Divvy, and Dyson. At Earth Rider, we talked about electric bikes with the owner of the shop and had the chance to ride electric bikes. A guest came in from the Chicago Department of Transportation with Divvy and talked to the class about how the bike share system can remodel city transportation. Meeting with Dyson helped us learn how to prototype and pitch our ideas. These have all led up to the Action Project of designing a bike of our own. This bike has to meet the need...

Welcome back to my blog, This post is for the Action Project in our Spanish class. In Spanish, we have been covering verbs, adjectives, comparisons, superlatives, and more. Throughout the course, we have been using our textbook to learn these topics and apply them in different real-life situations. For this Action Project, we are creating a travel pamphlet to a Spanish-speaking country of our choice. I chose Puerto Rico because I have traveled there in the past and had a great time. This travel pamphlet has an English and Spanish version which includes, where to stay, local food, tourist destinations, and activities. I hope you enjoy reading and are maybe convinced to travel to Puerto Rico. I hope you enjoyed reading over the travel pamphlet. I think Puerto Rico was a good choice for me because I have traveled there before. Del Morro castle was one of the first places my family and I visited many years ago. We also went on a bioluminescent bay and Camuy Cave excursions which were a lot...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the Humanities class, The Art of Rhetoric. In this second unit, we have continued looking at the rhetoric used in history. This includes analyzing the Doctrine of Discovery written by Pope Alexander VI, Bartolomé De Las Casas versus Columbus on Spanish cruelty in the colonies, and King Ferdinand's letter to the Taino-Arawak people. But one extremely important topic in this unit was the origins of slavery in the United States and the history behind that. This was introduced by reading Howard Zinn's, A People's History of the United States which talked about how slavery came around to the American colonies. We also had the chance to talk to Ugo Okere, a Democratic Socialist who ran for Chicago Alderman at the age of 22 in 2019, and 25th Ward Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez about challenging and accepting the status quo. For this Action Project, we have been asked to write an Op-Ed about a topic of our ...