Introduction
During the first week of STEM, our class completed two primary activities in order to build a greater sense of community and set a preface for further work. The first activity that we did was a Wakelet assignment that gave us the opportunity to share our personal interests and passions with our peers. Such interests ranged from favorite memories to favorite foods and what we are excited to accomplish this semester. All of this information was posted to a shared link where we could view the responses of the class and potentially use such information to determine who we would like to have in our STEM CAPSTONE project groups. I personally found this activity to be rather fun, as it was interesting to learn new things about my classmates that I had not known since freshman year in Conceptual Physics.
Besides our Wakelet assignment, our class did an assignment where we were instructed to act as if we were extraterrestrial creatures observing everyday human objects for the first time. The object that I selected was a volleyball, and I utilized my creative writing skills to create an interdisciplinary description of it. Such subject areas that I drew on included history, chemistry, music, and literature. The main purpose of this activity was to resituate ourselves with the engineering design process and become more familiar with finding new ways to observe different objects. This experience will help us in the STEM CAPSTONE Project where we will once again be analyzing different objects to eventually create our own product. This project was very fun and I enjoyed creating interdisciplinary connections while working on it. |
All about me!
As a student whose favorite subject its history, one of my favorite things to do in the classroom and beyond is making interdisciplinary connections between a variety of distinct subject areas. I love to learn by making my own mistakes and working on self directed projects, and I love to discover subtle remnants of academic reasoning hidden in often overlooked places. At San Marin High School, I am involved in a multitude of extracurricular actives including Mock Trial, Volleyball, Quiz Bowl, Leadership, Rock band, and the Global Improvement club just to name a few. Outside of school, I have a job at my church, I run a mock political campaign, I direct a free virtual summer camp, and I cook and sew recreationally. As you can see, my interests are quite varied, and I enjoy utilizing the skills from each distinct activity to learn more about myself and the world around me. Keep scrolling to learn more about some of my interests!
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More particulars about my interests and passions
History:
History is perhaps my favorite subject, as I view it as a fascinating story of humanity. Because history is the human story, I believe that it encompasses a wealth of subject areas and can help provide clues regarding what me may accomplish as a society in the future. My love for history has brought me to some rather interesting places, including Honolulu and Berlin for International History Olympiads where I have earned international medals. |
Mock Trial:
In the future, I am interested in potentially becoming a lawyer and using my experiences working with others to use legal principles in order to serve others and protect vulnerable individuals. My interest in the field of law stems greatly from my involvement in San Marin's mock trial team where I analyze case law and legal precedent as a pretrial attorney. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be our starting pretrial lawyer when we faced Tam High in the final round of the county competition, our first time placing within the top two teams in two decades. |
Volleyball:
I love playing sports and being active! One of my favorite ways to involve myself in physical activity is by playing on the San Marin High School men's varsity volleyball team as a starting setter. I have played volleyball since freshman year, and I have grown from a back row passer to running the offense. I enjoy being able to learn more about the game with my team and our awesome coach, Mr. Williams. One of my favorite memories competing on San Marin volleyball was reaching NCS as a freshman and upsetting Redwood in MCAL play.
I love playing sports and being active! One of my favorite ways to involve myself in physical activity is by playing on the San Marin High School men's varsity volleyball team as a starting setter. I have played volleyball since freshman year, and I have grown from a back row passer to running the offense. I enjoy being able to learn more about the game with my team and our awesome coach, Mr. Williams. One of my favorite memories competing on San Marin volleyball was reaching NCS as a freshman and upsetting Redwood in MCAL play.
Quiz Bowl:
Quiz Bowl is an academic competition where teams go head to head in answering questions across subjects including science, literature, math, history, fine arts, and pop culture. As the founder and co president of San Marin Quiz Bowl, I travel to tournaments with my team where we square off against particularly strong teams in the San Jose and Davis areas. Quiz Bowl is buzzer based and similar to the history competitions I have competed in, and as a member of SMHS Quiz Bowl, I mainly serve as a history and pop culture specialist.
Quiz Bowl is an academic competition where teams go head to head in answering questions across subjects including science, literature, math, history, fine arts, and pop culture. As the founder and co president of San Marin Quiz Bowl, I travel to tournaments with my team where we square off against particularly strong teams in the San Jose and Davis areas. Quiz Bowl is buzzer based and similar to the history competitions I have competed in, and as a member of SMHS Quiz Bowl, I mainly serve as a history and pop culture specialist.
Leadership:
I have been in the San Marin Leadership program since sophomore year. I have served as class Vice President twice, and I am currently ASB President and in charge of the leadership program. Being in leadership has opened up opportunities for further service including by serving on the NUSD COVID Re-entry Task Force. |
Star Wars:
I am a huge Star Wars fan! I have made it a tradition to watch the new movies whenever they come out in theaters with my best friend, and I have amassed a rather large collection of Star Wars action figures and other memorabilia over the years. I currently have over 150 pieces in my question, but I frankly lost count a few years ago so I likely have even more. |
Cooking and sewing:
Even though my sister makes fun of me for these hobbies because they are stereotypically reserved for "older individuals", I truly enjoy working in the kitchen and at the sewing machine. I have used my sewing skills to run a Mask-Athon where I raised over $1,000 for the food bank and made over 80 masks for at risk individuals. In terms of cooking, I enjoy cooking for my family and have gotten rather decent at hand rolling pasta. That being said, if I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would probably be some type of hearty soup with vegetables and some noodles.
Even though my sister makes fun of me for these hobbies because they are stereotypically reserved for "older individuals", I truly enjoy working in the kitchen and at the sewing machine. I have used my sewing skills to run a Mask-Athon where I raised over $1,000 for the food bank and made over 80 masks for at risk individuals. In terms of cooking, I enjoy cooking for my family and have gotten rather decent at hand rolling pasta. That being said, if I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would probably be some type of hearty soup with vegetables and some noodles.
Polish Dogs 2020:
One of my main extracurriculars is running the mock political campaign known as Polish Dogs 2020, aimed at advocating for the reinstatement of the discontinued Polish Dog in Costcos across America. Initially created as a way to learn about the principles of business and marketing, the movement has grown to encompass over 700 followers across multiple platforms, has landed features in ABC7 News, The Kitchn, and Mashed, and endorsements form individuals such as competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut. To learn more about Polish Dogs 2020, click this button -> |
NextGen Summer Camp:
I am the founder and director of NextGen Summer Camp, a free, virtual academy aimed at encouraging middle school aged students to advocate for social change in efficient ways. As director, I led the creation of a camp curriculum in conjunction with a member of Stanford University's d.school, directed a team of six staffers, advertised camp, and corresponded with guest speakers including the Global Marketing Director of Nike Brand and the Senior Social Media Manager of the Golden State Warriors. Future iterations of camp are currently being planned, and if you would like to learn more, click one of these buttons -> |
"Looking at an object like an Extraterrestrial" Write Up
(Note: The "Voldarians" are a species of extraterrestrial creatures who have arrived on earth to conduct research)
The Voldarian search party has discovered a new planet; we seem to have landed on a blue and green planet that the inhabiting beings have called “earth”. Our starships landed on a green and gold field with short green plants, and the first object we have discovered is a small spherical orb that nearly resembles the shape and structure of earth.
Consisting of a patchwork of white, black, and green panels, this object is around the size of a Voldarian’s front mandible and its entire circumference can be easily clasped by one tentacle. Upon grabbing this object with my tentacle, I was able to squeeze it into a contorted shape. As I let go, its form peculiarly turned back to normal and emanated a hollow sound.
Utilizing the utmost caution, I sniffed the outer panels of the spherical object where I was able to discern an odd and slightly odious odor, potentially from intense use in recreational play. Perhaps this object is used in a game similar to our home planet’s pastime of bolleyvall, as the odor most closely resembles the sweat of a Voldarian. Furthermore, this orb contains dark streaks that may hint towards heavy usage in some type of physical activity.
The surface of the orb had the texture of the leather from a Voldarian cow; its surface was slightly wrinkled and rather soft to the touch. However, the object displayed inner mesh and stretchable supportings potentially hinting towards a more synthetic origin. I am unsure of the chemical composition of such a unique surface, yet I will investigate on the space ride back to home base.
My crew and I discussed the meaning of this orb, yet we were unable to reach a consensus of what its main purpose may be. Our navigator surmised that it may be a peace offering, and a crewmate suggested that it might be an article of clothing. Our captain repeatedly wacked the sides of the object which made a satisfying “thunk” sound. He seems to believe that what we have found is some type of musical instrument, as the sound waves emanating from its shape carry well throughout our surroundings. I was personally intrigued by the historical prospects this object may present.
What can this orb tell us about the objects of such a strange planet?
Why did its inhabitants create it?
Do the markings resembling the characters “SMVB” on it represent any cultural symbolism?
I will send a sample of the object back to the laboratory for tests.
A crewmate inadvertently dropped the object whilst transporting it to our shap, and it bounced up and down in a perfect parabolic motion. The planet’s gravity caused it to accelerate downwards at a rate of 9.8 m/s^2 (our Voldarian minds are capable of conducting complex calculations), which provided some keen insight into the planet's inner workings. Nevertheless, we got distracted while testing the bounciness of the object and began to toss it across the field; it flew rather well with astounding rotations as to stabilize its motion, and it was a welcome reprieve from the cramped quarters of our space capsule.
The Voldarian search party has discovered a new planet; we seem to have landed on a blue and green planet that the inhabiting beings have called “earth”. Our starships landed on a green and gold field with short green plants, and the first object we have discovered is a small spherical orb that nearly resembles the shape and structure of earth.
Consisting of a patchwork of white, black, and green panels, this object is around the size of a Voldarian’s front mandible and its entire circumference can be easily clasped by one tentacle. Upon grabbing this object with my tentacle, I was able to squeeze it into a contorted shape. As I let go, its form peculiarly turned back to normal and emanated a hollow sound.
Utilizing the utmost caution, I sniffed the outer panels of the spherical object where I was able to discern an odd and slightly odious odor, potentially from intense use in recreational play. Perhaps this object is used in a game similar to our home planet’s pastime of bolleyvall, as the odor most closely resembles the sweat of a Voldarian. Furthermore, this orb contains dark streaks that may hint towards heavy usage in some type of physical activity.
The surface of the orb had the texture of the leather from a Voldarian cow; its surface was slightly wrinkled and rather soft to the touch. However, the object displayed inner mesh and stretchable supportings potentially hinting towards a more synthetic origin. I am unsure of the chemical composition of such a unique surface, yet I will investigate on the space ride back to home base.
My crew and I discussed the meaning of this orb, yet we were unable to reach a consensus of what its main purpose may be. Our navigator surmised that it may be a peace offering, and a crewmate suggested that it might be an article of clothing. Our captain repeatedly wacked the sides of the object which made a satisfying “thunk” sound. He seems to believe that what we have found is some type of musical instrument, as the sound waves emanating from its shape carry well throughout our surroundings. I was personally intrigued by the historical prospects this object may present.
What can this orb tell us about the objects of such a strange planet?
Why did its inhabitants create it?
Do the markings resembling the characters “SMVB” on it represent any cultural symbolism?
I will send a sample of the object back to the laboratory for tests.
A crewmate inadvertently dropped the object whilst transporting it to our shap, and it bounced up and down in a perfect parabolic motion. The planet’s gravity caused it to accelerate downwards at a rate of 9.8 m/s^2 (our Voldarian minds are capable of conducting complex calculations), which provided some keen insight into the planet's inner workings. Nevertheless, we got distracted while testing the bounciness of the object and began to toss it across the field; it flew rather well with astounding rotations as to stabilize its motion, and it was a welcome reprieve from the cramped quarters of our space capsule.
Reflection
This writing exercise was particularly challenging since I had to channel a sense of empathy for a made up being that consequently does not exist. As such, I essentially had to “unlearn” everything I had previously known about my object in order to gain a greater grasp of its overall purpose and engineering implications. Thus, this activity was an interesting “tune up” of my observation skills, and while rather difficult, it was still fun to go through and reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses when analyzing objects. I hope to be able to apply such lessons during the rest of the semester, leveraging my stronger areas to work well with others on the CAPSTONE project while also observing my peers who are proficient in my areas of weakness so that I may improve myself as well.
That being said, there are several things that I believe I did well throughout the course of this assignment. First and foremost, I believe that I did a rather sufficient job of drawing interdisciplinary connections while describing my object. Even though this is a STEM Engineering class, Mr. Tronconi encouraged us to create an amalgamation of our academic subjects, drawing on classes such as history, english, and even music to paint more vivid pictures of the object’s intended purpose and background information. This was a welcome deviation from the normal, as many of my experiences in STEM have been with quantifiable data sets and it was fascinating to uncover a different analytical facet of the engineering design cycle. I was able to draw upon my interdisciplinary experience by questioning the history of my object as an “extraterrestrial being”, discussing the physics of the object being thrown and bounced, and even suggesting that the object could potentially be a musical instrument based on the sounds it made when hit like a drum. Furthermore, this assignment allowed me to utilize my creative writing skills, as I embodied the personality of a foreign alien in order to describe my object from a unique perspective. Such interdisciplinary work will serve me well after high school, and I intend to attend a liberal arts core university where such connections are encouraged. By majoring in History at such a school while also having a strong background in the sciences, I hope that I will be able to create cross disciplinary solutions to pertinent world issues.
Beyond drawing interdisciplinary connections, I believe that I was able to improve my efficiency in class by utilizing the time Mr. Tronconi gave us to work to its fullest extent. In previous years of high school, I have often been notorious for doing other side projects in class instead of using the allotted time to complete certain assignments. However, I believe that I have been able to identify this weakness, making strides towards utilizing my in class time in a more responsible manner. During our Thursday block period, Mr. Tronconi gave us an ample amount of time to work on our write ups and other miscellaneous work, and I took full advantage of this time by completing my extraterrestrial writing. I worked diligently the entire time, and was able to complete my writing mostly within the span of the given time period. This helped greatly decrease my levels of stress later, as I did not have to complete it as homework. I believe that this improvement can be attributed to a growing sense of maturity since I am now a senior, and I hope to be able to apply this skill when working on my CAPSTONE.
Even though I did many things well on this assignment, I still believe that I do have some areas I should work on improving. For instance, even though this was an individual assignment, I should have done a better job of listening to others throughout the process. Throughout writing my extraterrestrial object observation, Mr. Tronconi would often give tips of what to observe, certain questions to ask, etc. on the Zoom. Since I was extremely focused on my own work, I often inadvertently tuned out what Mr. Tronconi was saying which was not extremely beneficial for myself considering that the input he was providing served as excellent guiding principles for the project. Even though I ended up adding some variation of these suggestions later on my own, it would have been more instantaneous had I listened better to what Mr. Tronconi was saying the entire time. In order to improve on this in the future, I will stop whatever I am doing whenever someone else is talking so I can give them my full attention and listen.
Another area that I believe I need to improve on is budgeting my time better. As previously stated, I worked rather diligently during class to get my write up done in a timely manner. However, I personally feel that I wrote a bit much when it came to my object description, and as such, I could have probably spent less time accomplishing the intended goal of communicating certain clear goals. Thus, my writing was rather wordy and flowery, and I could have been parsed down to increase understandability. Relatedly, since I spent so much time working on the write up itself, I had less class time to work on my website update and other assignments in class. Had I set a specific time to get my write up done, I would have likely been forced to write in a clearer style with more surplus time to complete my other work. In order to improve upon this in the future, I would like to create Gantt charts and planners to specifically map out my time of work, setting a standard for how I should split up my time in order to complete quality work in the given time constraints.
That being said, there are several things that I believe I did well throughout the course of this assignment. First and foremost, I believe that I did a rather sufficient job of drawing interdisciplinary connections while describing my object. Even though this is a STEM Engineering class, Mr. Tronconi encouraged us to create an amalgamation of our academic subjects, drawing on classes such as history, english, and even music to paint more vivid pictures of the object’s intended purpose and background information. This was a welcome deviation from the normal, as many of my experiences in STEM have been with quantifiable data sets and it was fascinating to uncover a different analytical facet of the engineering design cycle. I was able to draw upon my interdisciplinary experience by questioning the history of my object as an “extraterrestrial being”, discussing the physics of the object being thrown and bounced, and even suggesting that the object could potentially be a musical instrument based on the sounds it made when hit like a drum. Furthermore, this assignment allowed me to utilize my creative writing skills, as I embodied the personality of a foreign alien in order to describe my object from a unique perspective. Such interdisciplinary work will serve me well after high school, and I intend to attend a liberal arts core university where such connections are encouraged. By majoring in History at such a school while also having a strong background in the sciences, I hope that I will be able to create cross disciplinary solutions to pertinent world issues.
Beyond drawing interdisciplinary connections, I believe that I was able to improve my efficiency in class by utilizing the time Mr. Tronconi gave us to work to its fullest extent. In previous years of high school, I have often been notorious for doing other side projects in class instead of using the allotted time to complete certain assignments. However, I believe that I have been able to identify this weakness, making strides towards utilizing my in class time in a more responsible manner. During our Thursday block period, Mr. Tronconi gave us an ample amount of time to work on our write ups and other miscellaneous work, and I took full advantage of this time by completing my extraterrestrial writing. I worked diligently the entire time, and was able to complete my writing mostly within the span of the given time period. This helped greatly decrease my levels of stress later, as I did not have to complete it as homework. I believe that this improvement can be attributed to a growing sense of maturity since I am now a senior, and I hope to be able to apply this skill when working on my CAPSTONE.
Even though I did many things well on this assignment, I still believe that I do have some areas I should work on improving. For instance, even though this was an individual assignment, I should have done a better job of listening to others throughout the process. Throughout writing my extraterrestrial object observation, Mr. Tronconi would often give tips of what to observe, certain questions to ask, etc. on the Zoom. Since I was extremely focused on my own work, I often inadvertently tuned out what Mr. Tronconi was saying which was not extremely beneficial for myself considering that the input he was providing served as excellent guiding principles for the project. Even though I ended up adding some variation of these suggestions later on my own, it would have been more instantaneous had I listened better to what Mr. Tronconi was saying the entire time. In order to improve on this in the future, I will stop whatever I am doing whenever someone else is talking so I can give them my full attention and listen.
Another area that I believe I need to improve on is budgeting my time better. As previously stated, I worked rather diligently during class to get my write up done in a timely manner. However, I personally feel that I wrote a bit much when it came to my object description, and as such, I could have probably spent less time accomplishing the intended goal of communicating certain clear goals. Thus, my writing was rather wordy and flowery, and I could have been parsed down to increase understandability. Relatedly, since I spent so much time working on the write up itself, I had less class time to work on my website update and other assignments in class. Had I set a specific time to get my write up done, I would have likely been forced to write in a clearer style with more surplus time to complete my other work. In order to improve upon this in the future, I would like to create Gantt charts and planners to specifically map out my time of work, setting a standard for how I should split up my time in order to complete quality work in the given time constraints.