Are You Lost?

The second STEAM course of my senior year, I'm taking a class called Systems and Models. This class teaches us how to study people from the outside, inside and between. The second unit is called Group. This unit focuses on how people's behavior changes while around other people. For the action project, we had to conduct a social experiment. I worked with a partner and wanted to see how different stores reacted when it came to us wanting help. I hope you enjoy our project!

                                                                                                                    

Remembering 9/11

This is the second Humanities course of my senior year. This course is called Equality, and we discuss issues about inequality. The first unit is named History and during it we discussed the historical background of gender, race, and class. For the action project we were assigned to recount a historical event with some research and a voice. It was really cool to look back at certain events, but it was also hard to choose because they're all super interesting. I eventually chose researching 9/11. I hope you enjoy reading below!

Out With The Old, In With The New.

The second course of my senior STEAM class is called Systems and Models. This class teaches us how to study ourselves, as well as other people and groups.The first unit of this class is called Individual. This unit focused on studying ourselves through psychology. To do this, we looked at a lot of different personality tests, which I talk about a lot in my project. For the action project, we were assigned to take all the information we learned about ourselves, and present it in a artistic way. The art could be whatever we consider art to be. I liked that a lot because many people have different views on what could be considered art, and it's good to have an open mind and see the differences. I enjoyed learning a lot about myself through these different tests, and it was fun to make that into art. I hope you enjoy reading below!

During this class, we were assigned to take a few personality tests to see if they would help us identify ourselves, as well as to see how we handle certain situations. The one that I think best connected with me was the Myers Briggs test. The point of this test was to figure out how I perceive the world and how I make decisions. At the end, my results were INFP. Those letters stand for introversion, intuition, feeling, and perception. Introversion means that I am energized by having some time to myself. Intuition means that I can recognize patterns and possibilities. Feeling means that I take other people’s feelings seriously. Perceiving means that I enjoy freedom and flexibility. All this can also be described as the “mediator”. This made sense to me because people describe me as being reserved, gentle, and understanding. Once I knew all this information, I thought my result for the TKI test, which describes how we handle a conflict, was pretty accurate. The number one word I got was avoider. This means that I shy away from a conflict or that I’d rather not face it at all.

Out with the old, in with the new. (RD). 2017.

The name of my art piece is called "Out with the old, in with the new". I traced out both of my hands with pencil and marker and added details into them with colored pencils and markers. All this was done on regular printer paper. The size is 8.5x11in. The little details included aren’t actually little in my life, but since there’s a lot going on, they had to be a certain size. One hand represents all the things in life that I want and want to pull in. On the other is stuff that I avoid or push away, and don’t want to include in my life. The hand that wants to push things away is colored in darker, while the hand that wants to bring in things is lighter. The things I want to bring in includes peace, kindness, friendships, and adventure. I represented that through hearts, flowers, peace signs, and a lot of green to represent adventure and nature. I also drew tiny stars to represent the very dreamy personality that I have. When it comes to things that I want to push away I include stress, conflict, criticism ,and decisions. I represented that with a lot of question marks because all those things leave me feeling very unsure. I also drew clouds and a thunderstorm that represent all the stress that clumps together and eventually destroys all my inspiration.

Apart from the 2 tests that I talked about earlier, I also took the Enneagram personality test. The result I got for this one was type 4. This is also known as the "Individualist". Some of the words that are used to describe this type include, expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental. It's also known as the sensitive, introspective type. Most of this is pretty accurate. I've always been quiet, and I find myself sometimes stuck in my own head, and constantly daydreaming. Although this happens, I still like to branch out and connect with others. I represented that in my drawing by the leaves that are outside of the fingers. With this result in mind, I also thought that the result that I got from the DISC personality test was accurate. I got C for compliance. Again, this describes people who are a bit more reserved, people who would rather stay behind the scenes of anything, and those who hate pressure. I think it's cool how I can see a connection with all these different tests.

Throughout this class, we watched a few videos that studied certain behaviors. I thought the "Slap her" experiment was super interesting. The young boys knew it was wrong to slap a girl, so they didn't do it. I also really loved it because I also take other people's feelings seriously, and I could never imagine myself hurting someone else.

In order to fully understand the whole process of creating an artist statement, I talked to Hiu, who is an art teacher. I was curious about which elements she considered as the most important. I liked when she talked about how important it is to explain the story behind the art piece. “I also really love when an artist statement gives instructions on how the audience should interact with or view the piece of artwork. This really gives the artist the chance to immerse the audience into their work and not only view the piece, but also to experience it”. That’s what I hope for when people view my artwork.


Work cited:

"Type Four." The Enneagram Institute. The Enneagram Institute., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017

"C for Compliance." Discus Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.

"Free Personality Test." 16Personalities. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.

"The Use and Misuse of an Avoiding Style in Conflict Management." Mediate.com - Find Mediators - World's Leading Mediation Information Site. Mediate.com, Sept. 2006. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.

To, Hiu. Email interview. 18. Jan. 2017

Ocean Beats

I'm taking a class called Radio-Rithmetic. In this class we studied the relationship between math, science, and music. In the second unit, the class went over topics like pitch, frequency, notation,waves, intervals, scales, and many other effects in of music. The FE's for this unit were super fun. We were able to take a tour of a radio station and a recording studio. Both were very helpful to this unit. For the action project, the class was assigned to make a musical collage with existing samples, and see how we could change them with some of the effects we learned about.  I hope you enjoy listening!

This project took some time, especially when it came to picking the right sample songs. I looked at my own playlist to find some inspiration, and it worked. I really like the vocals to Ocean Eyes by Billie Ellish. Her voice is very dreamy, and I knew I wanted to include her voice in my project. I also really like the melody. I did some searching and found a piano cover of it. Even though both samples are from the same song, they sound really different, and I had a lot of fun mixing and playing around with them.



 In the beginning of this piece, I added a little drum beat. The notation is below.

Drum beat notation (RD)

For the interval, I decided to pick the piano piece at the end. It's a long G and B.

Interval (RD)

To make this track a bit more interesting, I added some cool effects. I included a reverse tape sound effect to highlight the differences in the quality of sound. I added a delay on that reverse tape, which means that the same sound is repeated quietly after it’s done playing. And as I stated before, I added my own little drum beat to the beginning, fading into the the first piano solo. I added the wah-wah effect to the first vocals that are featured. The wah-wah effect is when the resonance of musical notes are altered, to extend expressiveness, which makes it sound like a voice saying “wah”. I think the vocals are dreamy, so I added a solo with vocals. I really enjoyed the reverse tape sound effect, so I added that again to fade into the vocal and piano solo towards the end. 

Labeled Piece. (RD)

In this class we discussed consonance and dissonance, which means what does or doesn't sound good together. In the beginning, there was probably a hint of consonance with the drums and piano, but it doesn't sound horrible. The form of this piece is ABCD. It's sort of choppy but it starts off with an instrumental break, and then goes into the first verse. After that verse it cuts off to another verse and then ends with an instrumental. 

Although this project was kind of difficult and time consuming, I had a lot of fun completing it. I enjoyed exploring and learning about the cool effects that can be done to music and sounds. I also had fun mashing some sounds together, and trying to figure out which sounds sounded good with which.

Citations:
"Billie Eilish - Ocean Eyes (Official Music Video)." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

"Ocean Eyes" by Billie Eilish-easy Piano Arrangement." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

My Favorite Song :)

For the elective term in my senior year I’m taking a class called Radio-Rithmetic. In this class I’m learning about the relationship between math, science, and music. The first unit focused on rhythm. During this first unit we learned about how music is formed, how it keeps its time, how the beats are notated, and learning about how the Fibonacci Series and Golden Ratio can figure out patterns in music. For the action project the class was assigned to each pick a song and analyze it. I hope you enjoy watching below!

 

Future Portfolio

In the second unit of the Econ class, which is called Wealth and Wages, the class learned about economic systems and studied how wealth is distributed through markets and governments. For the action project, we were assigned to create a personal investment portfolio. The purpose is to see how we take a certain amount of money, and invest it in stocks while seeing how that stock is doing. We were also asked to add SMART goals to layout what our incentive is to invest. It was interesting making this portfolio. I had a hard time understanding this whole stock process in the beginning, but with more research, I was starting to understand. I’m proud at how I took the time to do good and accurate research, in order to get a good portfolio. I hope you enjoy looking at my portfolio!

There was a certain scenario that we had to work with in this project. We had a college plan that was created 18 years ago by our guardian angel, with $18,000. Each month, $50 was added to the plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth $49128.87. Yesterday, you cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on your own.

In order to see if a stock is worth buying, I’ll look at the value. I want to see what’s low, and then sell it higher. I chose to have a longer time horizon because of my SMART goals. It’s going to take awhile before I can achieve them, but I’m totally up for it. I took a quiz online with the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, and I scored a 25, which means I have a average/moderate tolerance risk. Below, I have my goals listed for 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years.

1-year goal: Save about $15,000 to travel for one full summer.
5-year goal: Put a down payment of $10,000 for an Audi.
25 year goal- Buy a home in Lincoln Park: $350,000

I value companies that are family owned because there is a personal touch added to that company. It’s also easier to control that company and figure out the outcomes for that business. Another reason why I value them, is because those kind of companies value and understand the lifestyle of a larger family better, so they’ll do their best to meet their needs.

Company 1- Walmart.
I decided to invest in Walmart because other companies and retailers have tried to go head to head with Walmart, but have not been able to compete with their low prices. Their buying power has made their economic moat wide and sustainable. I also appreciate their mission which is, “Saving people money so they can live better”. It’s an international business, and it’s expected that Walmart will keep on making acquisitions internationally as time goes on to boost growth in the global market. They have a healthy payout ratio of 42.89%, which means that it has the potential to keep or increase its dividends.

Company 2- Walt Disney.
I decided to invest in Disney because it has an excellent growth rate. It gets that rate from its movie studio, business segment, consumer merchandise and theme parks. It’s also a top 10 stock. While doing my research, I discovered that it has a 10 year dividend growth rate of 23%. It also has a reasonable p/e ratio of 18.

Company 3-TJX.
The company TJX owns stores like TJ MAXX, Marshalls, and Homegoods. This company takes in name brand products that didn’t sell, and put them at a lower price in their department stores. Their highest earning revenue comes from their housing products because of the housing market recovery. It’s profit growth is expected to be 10%, while other department stores have only a single digit number when it comes to their growth.

1 year portfolio
I invested $15,000 in my one year goal.
30 shares of Wal-Mart at $70.11($2,103.30)(28% profile)
60 shares of TJX at $73.66($4,419.60)(72% profile) WMT and TJX together, has an expected ROI of 24.92%

5 year portfolioI invested $10,000 in my 5 year portfolio 

50 shares of Disney at $93.71 ($4,685.50) (30%)
22 shares of Wal-Mart at $70.11 ($1,542.42)(70%) DIS and WMT together, has an expected ROI of 389.27%

25 year portfolio
I invested $350,000 for my 25 year goal.

70 shares of TJX at $73.66($5,156.20) (60%)
50 shares of Disney at $93.71($4,685.50) (40%) TJX and DS together, has an expected ROI of 11681%.

I made three different investments, and 2 of them are in the same stock sector. Wal-mart and TJX is listed under consumer goods, and Disney is put under Entertainment. While deciding, I wanted to have at least one different stock in a different sector, which is one of the reasons why I chose Disney. Based on the math I did, I'm going to be able to reach my goals.

Citations:

Weil, Dan. "Best Investments: Good Investments In 2016 And Beyond | Bankrate.com." Best Investments: Good Investments In 2016 And Beyond | Bankrate.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

BasuMallick, Chiradeep. "5 Reasons Why Disney Is a Must-Have Stock."TheStreet. N.p., 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Rossolillo, Nicholas. "Is Wal-Mart a Good Dividend Investment?" The Motley Fool. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Listen to Dr. Seuss!

In the 2nd unit of the Journalism class, which is called Sound, the class studied the idea of how radio can let you hear the world. It was fun being able to listen to old radio reports, as well as new ones. The Fe's were also super interesting in this class. We were actually able to go to the media department at Columbia college For the action project, the class was assigned to create a podcast about a voice that we think made a influence in the 20th century. I had many people in mind, but at the end I chose Dr. Seuss. As a child, I remembered all his most of his books in my messy bookshelf. Even now, I still admire his work. I have a very special connection with one of his books, so I was very excited to put this together. I also really enjoyed interviewing people who also have a special connection with his work. I already knew some things about him, but as I was doing research I learned a lot more about him. Many things go unnoticed about him, and I think more people should be educated on the world's best children's author. He's a super cool guy! I hope you enjoy my podcast below.

WHEN	WHO/HOW	WHAT
0:00-0:34 0:34-0:46 0:48-1:12 1:13:1:39 1:40:2:10 2:11-2:18 2:18-2:35 2:35-2:52 2:53:311 3:11-3:25	[RD]     [Dr. Seuss] Music fades in   [Kid Voice]        [RD] Music Fades in again.  [Kid voice] [RD and kid] [RD and MF] [RD] [Adult speaker]   [RD] THE END	Hi, I’m RD from GCE Lab school. Today I’m going to talk about a voice that made a huge difference in people’s lives. His name is Dr.Seuss. He’s the best selling children's author of all time and revolutionized the way kids learned how to read with one simple concept, he made it fun. Many may think that his books just consist of silly rhymes and pictures, but there is so much more than that. His stories focus on obstacles and situations that we come upon as we go through life. They also hold many lessons that we can apply in our lives. I, Ted Geisel, and perhaps better known to the juvenile reading public as Dr. Seuss. My current best-seller, The Cat In The Hat, has sold so far, over a quarter of a million copies. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right. Feet in the morning, feet at night. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right. Wet foot, dry foot, high foot, low foot.Front feet, back feet, red feet, black feet. Left foot, righty foot. Reading is a huge part of everyone’s life, especially when you’re in first grade first learning how. I remember 6 year old me sitting in the classroom library looking for a cool book to read, and I’ll admit I was judging a book by its cover. My eyes finally came across The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. For some reason the weird creature on the cover caught my attention, and when I opened it, so did the little amount of text. Feet, feet, feet, how many feet you meet.Slow feet, quick feet, trick feet, sick feet.Up feet, down feet.Here comes clown feet.Small feet, big feet.Here comes pig feet.His feet, her feet, fuzzy fur feet. So, what did this book teach you?It taught me that people are really different and that even our feet are different but that's okay. I’m going to talk to one of my friends who’s also into Dr. Seuss books. So what’s your connection with Dr. Seuss? The first book I ever read when I was little was The Cat In The Hat. This book was the first one I was actually able to read all the way through with no help. Because of that, this book will always hold a special place in my heart. Many think that Dr. Seuss’s work is just for children, but it’s not. Like I said before, his books hold hidden meanings and teach lessons. One example is his book, Who are you Sue Snue? I’m going to talk to an adult who has a connection with this book. In this book, Dr. Seuss covers a topic that many young people and adults go through. That topic is about finding yourself. The book focuses on a young girl who is pushed to find who she is and what she’s going to do with her life. I for sure have been gone through this, and I think I still am honestly. So, If you ever need advice, need a good laugh, or just want to take a trip down memory lane, make sure to pick up a Dr. Seuss book. Thanks for listening!