CDH GCE Portfolio

It's only been about two weeks and we are on to our second action project for Journalism. For this unit we took a look at photojournalism. We met with Caleb Hamernick, a photographer from Chicago now in New York, and he first gave a brief history on photography and the older ways people would take pictures as well as why the first photo taken had only one person in it. He explained what makes a picture what it is and what it can mean. Thinking of that he showed some of his own pieces from a set called 'Fears and phobias' where people posed with what they are afraid of. After the interview we went to take our own photos, taking pictures of motion, shadows, and stills. After that we moved to the action project. The idea is to interview anyone on what they believe the meaning of life to be. The reason it is anyone is because of the diverse views that can come from each person as no one has had the exact same life experience. I asked a friend of mine, JH, to be my interviewee a...

For senior year I wanted to try something I have always had an interest in but never knew where to start. I thought coding seemed cool and wanted to figure out how we write code as humans and understand how a computer could "understand" anything we write.  The first thing to note is that it doesn't understand everything  we write as computers only understand the most literal of text. We did a few experiments in class to think about how literal and thorough you need to be. We first spoke commands as a classmate tried to follow them to complete a goal. This showed we need to take things like body size, movement distance, and perception into account. Generally thinking about thoroughness of instructions. After that we individually explained how we might describe a basic game and its rules to a computer. I chose hangman so I explain what a "word" or "phrase" might be to write and how a player would interact with the computer. Again, thoroughness.  For this...

In my latest STEAM class, Econ, we have been covering a wide range of topics. From stocks to loans, we did the math and methodology together in class. For the math portion we mainly used the three interest rate formulas: I=Prt for simple interest, A=P(1+r/n)^n x t for compounding interest, and A=Pe^r x t for continuously compounding interest. Continuously compounding interest is the most commonly used today as it can be used to find interest on debt/ investment, inflation, and how fast you might pay back said loan/ investment.  We also had two Field Experiences, first with one of the founders/creators of the Rapunzl app and second a workshop on money management with Capital One.  Rapunzl is an app that simulates how you might invest in stocks using a fake portfolio with 10,000 dollars to start with and then lets the stock change based on real stock prices in the market each day. The workshop went well and gave a good overview of information that I think every high schooler nee...

 This is the first official action project of my senior year at GCE . For the first two weeks in "Journalism" we have to establish what fake news is and how to identify a good source of information. After deciding that the best way to tell what is solid information is by research, we had to ask how and what do we research? When looking at study results for example, you should look at who is conducting the study and how credible they may be by ethos but also who might be funding the study. We talked with a journalist from the Wall Street Journal named Julie Wernau . She talked primarily about what a journalist does and some personal experience which helped out one of my classmates, JH, that is a writer. For the AP I will be trying to work as a journalist by establishing an issue or event in my community by interview and research.  Vaccine hesitancy is leading us back to quarantine Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic (2019-2021) , the country has seen many people remain hesit...

 As I make my way into my senior year at GCE, orientation sets us up for our first action project of the year. While looking into "what a classroom is" we found much similarity with little change to traditional classrooms in the last 2000 years. To test what could work as a classroom, we went down town to the Pritzker Pavilion to listen to an installation made for "sound testing" proving even an open field can be a learning space.  As myself an others started to walk up to the pavilion after getting our ID photos taken, we immediately felt as if we were walking into the final stage of a battle tower or if we stood in the center of a colosseum to fight a big boss. The teiko drums of the piece "Sonorous Admitting's" written by Kioto Aoki, could be described as surprising. From the idea of fighting a boss to traditional vibrating tones, the thunderous drumming could be heard very well all over. That was only the beginning. When we finally sat down in the ...

To end out my final term of junior year in humanities, this term we have been looking into policy but this unit it was specifically "war" policy. How legal (by constitutional standards) they are, why policies are made more rapidly during war, and what they may mean for the public. For the action project we need to write about a specific war policy and what effects it had in its war. So here is the "war" and a policy from it that I chose. In 1947 the "Cold War" between the US and Soviet Union had begun. It happened not long after the conclusion of WWII primarily due to the American fear of the spread of communism. There were  other reasons like nuclear power being new to the world and distrust between leaders but the main reason the public was ready to enter this cold war was fear. This "battle" of one-upping each other happened through out communist land and US/UN territories. It was fought by means of showing greater strength, hence "one-up...

 Hi! Helloo, (that was on purpose) welcome to the final AP from STEAM in my junior year.  This year has been a whirlwind of new worries, troubles, excitement and boredom. Specifically in STEAM equations have been the hardest and work projects (making things) have been the best. In my current AP I have both to do. As the class name suggests, (Urban Planning) I will be planning a new area in my neighborhood. Because there are many open lots around me, I chose these two lots next to each other to put a skate park.  Satellite Screenshot, CDH, 2021 When looking in Google Maps with satellite mode you see they are in a good location, being near a bus stop, school, small business, and train stop a few blocks away. As I got into skating this year, I realized there are many people who skate, many people who would want to learn and few places to do so. When I was explaining this to my mother, an active member of the community and community outreach, she said it would be a great idea...