Blog #11

Over spring break I got a general idea and design of my civil structure. This weekend I plan to wrap up my final products and start preparing for the upcoming presentation. I obviously need to work on my presenting skills because I am a really shy person. I believe that if I am prepared and confident, I can step up and present loudly and clearly to the class.

http://www.skipprichard.com/confidence-more-compelling-than-competence/

This image is to represent an ideal mood when presenting. For me, it might be difficult, but I need to start trying to improve my public speaking skills. I am really grateful that I attend schools with teachers that constantly push students. If my teachers had not constantly showed me videos of people speaking out, then I would not have realized how important it is to have good public speaking skills. What motivates me the most is when young kids, close to my age or younger, speak out in public. Public speaking gives you a voice and that voice will carry you a long way in life.

Blog #10

Lately, I have been trying to find new projects to do. Last Friday, I went to an engineering presentation here at school, provided by the MESA program. Unfortunately, majority of the college students were still taking their general education and could not provide much information on engineering. I did learn about college, programs, and applying.  Last weekend, I attempted to do the water clock project, but did not make precise measurements and cut the hole too big on the container. The water dripped out too quickly and resulted in inaccurate time measurements. Over spring break, I plan to redo my water clock, finish my civil structure models, and maybe even do a catapult. From there, I will look at my research and try to think of ideas for projects I can do.

This image reflects on my spring break. I will be filled up with the 20% project, a history project, badminton, and most likely, helping others. I need to stay working so I do not become lazy. At the moment, I always feel lazy and I need to get out of this bad habit and personality.
http://www.theemotionmachine.com/wp-content/uploads/busy.jpg

Blog #9

Recently, I have been thinking that I should make a Ping-Pong ball catapult. This project is complicated and any minor error I make will alter the whole catapult's appearance and ability to perform properly. Making even the slightest of changes or mistakes can make it fling the Ping-Pong ball a shorter distance as well as a different angle, as opposed to flinging it straight. I have gathered my materials for the water clock and civil structures. This weekend, if possible, I will finish these and try to post some pictures on my next weekly blog. Furthermore, tomorrow, I will be attending this engineering presentation provided by the MESA program. Students from San Jose State University will be giving the presentation. I will take some pictures and also upload them to my blog. The presentation excites me not only because it is about engineering, but also they might provide me with information that I do not have and may give me more ideas for more final products.

http://imgarcade.com/1/super-excited-smiley-face/

This excited face represents all the upcoming projects I will be doing. I do not see this project as an obligation, but a sort of hobby and something fun to do when I have free time. Also, there is an engineering presentation tomorrow that I will be looking forward to after school.

Blog #8

Lately, I have been thinking about making model bridges like the civil engineers. I am still trying to figure out what materials to use. Like the project for MESA, I could use a balsawood-like material if I can. If I am unable to get my hands on these materials then I think I will just use popsicle sticks as a substitute. I will try to do the water clock this weekend if I have time during the day. Last weekend, we had a family get together  throughout the day. I want to try to do these projects during the day so I can show the progress and final products of these projects in pictures with good lighting. I was informed by my mother that this past week, my uncle, who was supposedly my mentor, went to work at 9 a.m. and got home at 9 p.m. I never realized that an engineer needed to work that long for a whole week, especially being his own boss.

http://churchjobs.tv/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/overwhelmed.jpg

This image could describe me as I am spilling out my emotions to my friends or to myself. I do not want to make excuses, but about three hours of my day gone because of a sport is sort of taking a swing at me. I feel overwhelmed with work and badminton, trying to fight off any desires of sleeping. As my grades fall, my self-esteem diminishes and I feel somewhat careless. Not sure what kind of psychological or growing phase I am going through, but I feel overwhelmed.

Blog #7

Nothing new has actually happened with this 20% project this past week. I have been exhausted by AP World History homework and studies as well as badminton late in the evening. I have thought about a possible water clock to make though. I plan to make a water clock to measure a short amount of time like less then five hours. I cannot say that I am happy with the lack of progress, but I cannot exactly tell myself that I am failing considering the amount of reading and work I have been doing. Earlier this week, something interesting was that even though we were required to study three essay prompts for World History and be prepared to write an essay for any of the three, he played with our minds and gave us all the same prompts.

http://www.aspirekc.com/images/c8dfc0522e1d_B2F9/exhausted.jpg
This is me every night after eating dinner. I am not used to playing a sport and being outside of house this late. Badminton relieves stress within me, especially the stress and tension between my parents and I. Unfortunately, badminton makes me so tired I come home and eat dinner and sleep. Not sure if it is majorly affecting my school work, but I feel like I have fallen behind in the 20% project compared to others.

Blog #6

Lately, I have finished all of the research I plan to do. To compliment the final products though, I will do more research. Unfortunately, I did not start any of the final  products yet. Lately, I have just felt tired and found myself coming home and sleeping right away. I feel like I could of gotten more done, but lately I just found myself needing more sleep. Something interesting I did this past week was that barely any AP World History homework was given and I used this opportunity to increase my average hours of sleep per day by about three.

http://blog-proxy-endpoint.polleverywhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/lazy-cat5.jpg

This image can relate to my progress on the 20% project recently. I have been lazy not doing the project. My sluggish behavior will have me cramming the project and have a possible effect later on like what that bottle of beer might do for the cat. I also feel tired and sleepy every time I sit on the couch, which is really preventing me from doing my homework lately.

Project Update

I researched different types of engineering and plan to make projects covering the concepts used in those types of engineering. 

I will be nervous tomorrow, especially since I am speaking to many people I normally do not hang out with. While I respect my classmates, I do not view them as close friends, with only seeing them for about an hour a day. This makes me feel unwelcome, while expecting and fearing judgement. Additionally, I am still unsure of exactly what my final product is going to be, while only sure of what categories the projects will fall under. I feel that going first will alleviate the stress, but it also takes a lot of courage to volunteer first. Also, being among my fellow genius classmates, it is safe to predict that there will be confident volunteers. I believe that I will have nearly no confidence and that I will struggle trying to remember what I want to say. Public speaking is not one of my strong suits. Here are the main websites that I found my information and research from:

http://constructionmanagementdegree.org/blog/2010/100-awesome-engineering-projects-for-kids/

http://www.aboriginalaccess.ca/

http://engineeringfields.net/

More Research

Since blog entry #1 and #2, I have researched the different types of engineering and how it affects our daily life, which in turn would influence my final product. I found two useful websites, where the websites are hands on and show you how one could relate their daily lives to engineering. One website is: http://constructionmanagementdegree.org/blog/2010/100-awesome-engineering-projects-for-kids/, providing various ideas of fun projects to explain concepts of engineering. From my last blog, I stated that I was struggling to find a final product for the 20% project. I have been considering making many smaller final projects to cover more fields of engineering. This website gave me many ideas of final products that I could do by myself. The other website is: http://www.aboriginalaccess.ca/ , which is an organization trying to help expose engineering to people of all ages. The website contains many features and is fully-loaded with information. Information on this website includes in-depth detail about different types of engineering and learning modules to help people visualize the concepts of engineering better. The website also notify and recognizes many successful people in that certain field of engineering and also displays a list of colleges that provide excellent programs within that field of engineering.

Challenges

Challenges are what makes most scenarios interesting, such as movie plots. For projects, when challenges are dealt with, it forces people to slightly change the project or think differently. I am having trouble finding out what I am going to do for my final product. As engineers, it is natural for them to constantly innovate new ideas. This creativity differs from my personality. I feel that I should meet other people's expectations, to follow the crowd. If I were to come up with something new, rejection would be my greatest fear. Shame would flow throughout my whole body. So I have been trying to turn to my uncle for ideas and thoughts on the final product, but he has been busy with his company. Whether he has been working until late at night or going on business trips, I could not ask the man for help. He was tired and needed rest. So without his help and not much parent involvement, I decided to try to find something on the internet that seemed doable and did not require multiple people directly assisting me with the project. The problem was that projects like airplanes showing properties of aerodynamics was too simple, but water-powered engines seemed too difficult. But now I realized that I should start thinking differently to overcome this challenge. Although I am still trying to find out what I should do, I understand that I should start thinking outside the box.

This picture of a person struggling to open a door can relate to my challenge on the 20% project. While the door remains an obstacle, I am unable to pass because I am only thinking of one way, by pulling the door. If I were to be more creative, like to push the door or use a key, I would be able to realize what is there for me. But until I am able to open this door, I am still left wondering what awaits me.
http://coach-izzy-talks-fitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/pull-door.jpg

Progress on Project

So far, I have been searching up websites to look at while jotting a few notes down. I have encountered many informational websites as well as some making the learning fun! As of today, I have been exposed to the electrical field, such as computer and software engineering. Electrical engineering is huge in this advanced technological society. I get caught out just reading for fun that I forget to take notes. I should probably take note of that (-_-). I have also learned some of the less common engineering fields such as forestry, geomatics, and plastics. These types of engineering are still impactful, but just less popular because it connects with less lives than computer and systems. An interesting field of engineering was food. Interestingly, these engineers try to implement new ways to package and preserve food better. So food engineers try to make our lives easier by making the food more convenient, but the health risks are not regarded.

20% Project Pitch

I am going to research different fields of engineering and how each contributes to society.
Concerns I have for the pitch is presenting what my final product will be. The uncertainty I have with what object to build may make me nervous. I also feel that this project is too general. I want to research certain fields more than others, but as of now, I am starting fresh, without much knowledge of engineering. The lack of knowledge resulted me into researching into "just all things engineering." The confidence I have with the pitch is the excitement of studying engineering as a passion. Engineering and just inventing and math have always caught my attention. In my pitch presentation, I feel confident stating the research and subcategories of engineering I will undergo to complete this project.

Thoughts on 20% Project

This project so far has exposed to me to many different ideas. This exposure encourages me to explore the world with a motive of curiosity. Additionally, the 20% project, with its general and broad topic requirements, forces me to think about what I really want to learn about and what I want to do with my life. With this in mind, I decided to study about engineering. Because half of my mom's side of the family was into an engineering field, I have always heard plans of making models and other inventions, but never knew what engineers exactly did. Ever since I was little, when my mom told me that her career involved designing and innovating, like designing things to make up the Gameboy, I was interesting in inventing. My interest has grown so much since then. I try to get involved in clubs and activities requiring the use of imaginative minds to invent and build projects. I hope to use this 20% project to study about the different fields of engineering to be a little educated about the career that I am aiming for.

http://engineeringfields.net/
I found this website just curious about what engineering even was. This website gives me a general idea of engineering, the different fields, and the benefits of engineering. General and broad notes like these are the basics and fundamentals that I need to know about engineering.

http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/proft17.shtml
After reading the different fields of engineers, I was attracted to mechanical engineering because mechanical engineers were the one to invent things. With that career to pursue in mind, I searched for career information on mechanical engineering. My goal is to get a better view on this career for future references.

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