CJH GCE Portfolio

 This is the very last Action Project I will ever make. I have spent my last three years making a lot of action projects, and I am at the end of them. This last AP is for my core class Endurance. This class was all about learning how one might endure something and the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental, strength it takes to endure something. So in order to finish my last class, I need to create a survival guide on how to become an electrician, my future career. This survival guide will show how I will reach my goals and also give a timeline for how quickly I want to reach them. This is important because I am able to look back on this and show how much I have changed, and it will also help me if I get into a bad spot in my life. Overall, this AP will also show you how I plan to reach my goal and become successful in the future. Overall this class was one to remember. I was able to create a project I am proud of. I also know that this is the last action project of my time as ...

This is my final action project for my Core class Frontiers, and also my second to last action project ever! This last action project was all about challenging and pushing the frontiers of space and oceanic exploration. For both of these projects, we formed a guiding research question in order to be able to complete and write a research paper regarding problems with space and ocean exploration. For space, I decided to research and analyze the Big Banf and other questions connected to it. I was able to figure out just how much the Big Bang has had an influence on the world and research today. I was also able to figure out how the theories that are given, could be wrong. In order to complete this class, I was tasked with turning one of my research papers into a science fair poster. These posters have bits of information that give context to the research paper but do not give too much information. Below is my research paper created online. I am pretty proud of this poster and overall woul...

 What was the Big Bang and how can we prove it? These are questions that scientists have been trying to answer for decades. Where did our universe come from? When did it start? Is it still going? Is there any way for us to be able to track the big bang? The big bang was billions of years ago, but how can science prove that it actually happened? If scientists can prove this then how could this affect religious beliefs? These questions have been asked, yet still remain unanswered. When asking questions, getting the answer can bring a whole lot more questions. When it comes to the creation of the universe, there are just as many questions as there are theories as to how the universe was created. Just a few of them have been stated above, and only a couple have been answered below.  But how did it begin? The universe as we know it started in one extremely hot and dense point that inflated and stretched, first at unmeasurable speeds, then slowly over time, it became measurable. 13....

 This is a project for my core class Endurance. For this project, I spent twelve hours doing one thing. This class was all about what is endurance? We started the course by defining endurance and looking at historic people who had to. endure something for a specific amount of time. I spent time trying to figure out what you need in order to endure something for a period of time. In order to endure something, you have to be strong-willed, unbreakable, and willing to face hardship and know that it won't be fun or pleasant. So what is endurance? Endurance is being able to push through a hardship/inconvenience. Being able to endure something is one of the hardest things in the world. Especially when it isn't something you choose to do. Forced endurance is something that many people throughout history had to go through. A specific example we looked at was Ellie Wiesel and how he and his family and his whole culture was tortured and killed over the span of years. Ellie lost all of hi...

 This is an action project for my core class, Frontiers. This is an action project about oceans and how they are being affected right now. For this unit, we learned about oceans as a whole and the problems that are affecting them. One of the main problems we learned about is how ocean acidification is affecting them right now. We were each tasked with coming up with a guiding question to answer. I came up with the question "how can ocean acidification cause a mass life extinction?" In order to answer this question, I had to do primary and secondary research. For the primary research, I reached out to an FE guest Phil Nicodemus, about how rivers are affected and I got his personal insight and information about ocean acidification. Phil is someone who works with Urban Rivers to reinvent the Chicago river for the better. They put plants into the water in order to revive the water. He was able to give me valuable information on how the oceans are being affected right now and also...

This is a reflection of my time spent over the past 4 years working as a music leader at Covenant Presbyterian Church. This was an activity I did every Sunday night from 5pm - 8pm. Although, most of the time spent was me engaging in activities with the youth program. This was something that I have enjoyed the most because I was able to provide for a community while using something I am passionate about. I played guitar during this time and it also helped me enhance my own guitar playing skills. I met and made new friends and was able to make connections through the community. Overall this was a very memorable opportunity and I am glad to have had this experience. Below is a photo of me playing in front of the other students and youth I played for.

 This is an action project for one of my workshops, Digital Fabrication. This class was probably my favorite I've ever taken for the fact that I was given the opportunity to create whatever I could imagine. This class was filled with many ways to create anything. For example, I spent time working with a silhouette cutter to create a lightsaber blade that I can stick on my computer. I also spent time creating many 3d prints. I was able to create many things that I always wanted or things that I just thought were cool. I was able to create a few things that I have below in the slideshow. My favorite creation has to be the Mandalorian helmet that I made as a desk toy. It started out rough but I was able to figure out how to make anything with a 3d printer. I became an "expert" on how to use a 3d printer and I can definitely see myself creating many more things in the future. This class was filled with a lot of interesting designs and opportunities for me. I even created an o...

     This is an action project for my core class Equality. In this unit, we spent our time looking at the inequalities of race, class, and gender. We took a deep dive into each subject and listened to different stories from people who have experienced inequality.  We listened to a podcast about a racist school, we read stories of "micro"- aggressions, and we played monopoly except each player plays in a different class. For example, I was lower class and I started with only five hundred dollars whereas my opponent had 2500 dollars to start. I was limited and very susceptible to taxes and bankruptcy. I enjoyed the different stories that we listened to because it allowed me to get a new perspective on things that people do. For this AP we were tasked with envisioning a policy change in the year 2122. The policy I chose to change was the equal pay act because it hasn't limited some businesses from paying women less than men SCRIPT : (March 4th, 2122)  The Start of ...

 This is an action project for my core class Social Entrepreneurship. In this class, we spent the last few weeks taking a deep dive into businesses. Specifically the smaller details about what makes up a business. We focused on how a business functions and also its mission and vision statement. Overall this unit has been interesting as we spent our time researching and learning the ins and outs of how a business can be successful. We were visited by a few FE guests. We heard from Sharon Cho and Felicia (GCE's fundraiser). Both FE's helped me and my classmates get a better understanding about business. For this AP, we were tasked with coming up with our own Social Entrepreneurship business. We took all of the information and data we collected to create an influential and important business. After taking a look at the possibilities of what my business could be, I landed on a Non-profit organization that is an after school teaching program. This program teaches kids music and musi...

This is an Action Project for my core class, Equality. In this class, we took a deep dive into equality and how it plays out on the world. We focused on what it means to be truly equal and if we need to change how society views equality. Something this class did was take a look at some of the more influential voices in history. For example, we read excerpts from different writers like John Locke, Simone de Beauvoir, and Betty Friedan. These readings let us see into the theories and perspectives of different inequalities. In Betty Friedan's reading, we heard the perspectives of housewives and their missing feeling of "fulfillment" within the household. Other than sex equality, we also focused on class and race. Overall, this class was very diverse in the way we talked about equality. Our assignment for the class was making Zines. Zines are mini infographics that tell an important story through text and images. We were visited by a Zine expert and someone who works at the U...

 This is an Action Project for my core class Social Entrepreneurship. In this unit, we have been learning about SWOT analysis and how we can better GCE with it. This Unit, we were also visited by a counselor who works with businesses for legal advice. This helped us figure out what all we need to have prepared for our interviews. Overall it was an interesting Unit. For this project, we were tasked with analyzing our school to look for something that needs improvement in the school. We needed to follow SWOT analysis and interview four people about the school and find what they think can be improved or changed in GCE. For this AP, I decided to focus on the betterment of student outreach in GCE. Right now GCE has done a great job with outreach, yet there is still room for improvement. I will go into more detail in the paragraphs below.  Student Mental health is something that is one of the most important things when it comes to a school. If a student is not doing well, it can lea...

 This is an Action Project for my class Podcasting 101. The purpose of this class is to learn about and create podcasts. For this class I teamed up with four other classmates to create a podcast that talks about how we as high school students experience life and reflect other past life experiences. We each come from different parts of the city so we enjoy comparing opinions and other fun stories. Typically we talk about random topics and have a great time laughing and just talking to each other. Below is the first episode of our podcast. So without further ado, welcome to the Unorthodox Podcast. Personally I am very proud about how this turned out in the end. It was a great experience and something we as a class all seemed to enjoy making. I was able to learn about editing and how to make a podcast sound good. This eventually helped me out a lot in my core class Journalism. I am happy with the podcast I was able to produce but also being able to record with friends. Overall, I had ...

       This is an Action Project for my core class Economics. In this unit, our main focus was on the book Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth. In this book, Raworth takes the ideas and past economist's theories and goes into why they aren't working in todays society or how they could be more effective. For this assignment, we were tasked with writing another chapter for Doughnut Economics. Our chapter is meant to create and idea for our economy and why something should change. For my chapter I decided to talk about how someone who has enough power can change the economy and how that is something that needs to change. We were also tasked with creating an image to go along with our chapter. This image is meant to show our economic idea clearly. My image is meant to show the impact someone can have on the economy. Now, please enjoy my Action Project.      This chapter is all about the downsides of the economy. The chapter tries to answer the question, “Wh...

 This is an Action Project for my core class Journalism. This unit we focused all on voices and how they can impact people. For this Action Project, we were tasked with finding an influential voice that has affected people in history. I paired up with a partner and together we decided to research and talk about a voice that has been very influential in our past. Together we chose Stevie Wonder. The blind male solo artist who raised millions of dollars for charities around the globe. Stevie Wonder has changed the music industry in such a positive way that it has affected many generations. It is a voice that has affected the world in the way that people will remember Stevie Wonders voice easily. Stevie's voice has targeted a lot of people in the African American community. His happy birthday cover alone influenced millions of homes across the world and it is being sung everywhere I go. His voice has not only influenced me and the way that I live, but also millions of people on the pl...

   This is an Action Project for my core class Journalism. During this unit, we had a few focuses. The first is cameras and how they work. We focused on the more core parts of photography, for example, rule of thirds, aperture, shutter speed, focus, etc. We were visited by a special guest Caleb Hamernick who showed us in better detail what it takes to do photography professionally. During the FE, he was able to show us some of his work and pieces he was proud of. I enjoyed being able to learn more about photography and how I can implement what I learned into how I take photos regularly. The second thing we touched on most were chapters from the book Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. The sections we focused on most were the parts about a little boy getting thrown out of the window of a tall building. We talked about life and how death can affect people. We took these chapters and decided to interview someone and ask them what they believe the meaning of ...

  This project was a heavy one. There was a whole lot to think about and it made me think about the amount I would make and ow much the interest would be over time. There were a few points I would go back and try again. For example, I feel like I scrapped together this information very quickly. I would want to research further what each career makes. 

 This is an Action Project for my core class Journalism. In this class, we talked about the journalism as a whole. For the most part, we talked about articles and the impact they have on the world today. We started by taking articles from each decade and researching them. We also took a deeper dive into how journalists write their articles. For one, we watched the movie Spotlight, because of that I was able to understand why writing articles and telling the public is so important. After all of the research we did, I was able to pick an important topic from Chicago that I wanted to report on. For all of 2020, the world was in the midst of a pandemic. During that time, the number of carjackings increased. This is something I think is very important to tell the public about because it is something that affects anyone with a vehicle.  Carjacking Spikes 135% in 2020     For almost 30 years being a firefighter, Lt. Dwain Williams knew what dangers lie ahead in the world. ...

This is an Action Project for Orientation. This week has been all about the GCE community and how we can expand/create boundaries for the classroom and the people. In my last post we talked about how music can influence a classroom and also how it affects the learning stage of the classroom. Though I called that post the Action Project, it counts more as a reflection if anything. This current post is the actual "AP" that will include more information on the topic of classrooms, students, teachers, etc. Another part of this AP is that I was put into a group and our group together created a classroom layout that can help create a successful learning environment.  In order to really understand what makes a GCE classroom, we first have to understand the roles that are "teacher" and "student." During orientation, we as a school brainstormed what we all want in a teacher/student. We started off by naming good characteristics that a student must have when being a...

Hello! This is an action project for Orientation. During this first week back in person we were able to understand what this project is and immediately figure out designs and how we want this classroom to look in the future. In the reflection below, I explain what we did to prepare for this project and how we enjoyed the process we had when researching and experiencing the first week of orientation. This was a fun project to do because we were able to do things I hadn't done before, like laying in the grass listening to taiko drums or synthesizers or designing a classroom. Kioto Aoki/Kioto Banging Taiko Drums/2021 During the internal investigation we researched classrooms, and how they can change over the years or even not change at all. This project focused on designing a classroom for the school so looking at how the classrooms have changed over the years, helping us get a better understanding on the design portion of making our own classroom. During the external investigation, w...

 This is an action project for my core class Policy. This is the last action project for this class for the year. During this unit, we learned about different wars and how they have affected the world. We also took a look at if they are justified or not. We chose between wars fought in the past and decided to research that specific war. We also took a deeper dive into what makes a policy and who makes them. We looked at policies made by congress and some that are made by the president without the advise of congress. For this project I was tasked with researching a war in history and how it affected the US and if it is a justified war or not. The Vietnam War     The Vietnam War is justified by fighting against the spread of communism.  The Vietnam war took place during the midst of the Cold War from 1954 to 1975. The United States didn't join the war until eleven years after the start of the war in 1965. This war was fought in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and South East A...