GCE Summer Hours

Over the summer I took multiple opportunities to gain service hours. First, I spent lot's of time right at GCE. I started a few weeks before the first day of school and came almost everyday from 10 am until 3 pm. Most of the things I did included cleaning or helping teachers/staff whenever I was needed. One of my favorite things I did there was use the Carvy and make a wooden sign. It was the first time I has used a wood carving machine and it was really fun. The second thing I did was at a Chicago Public Library branch. That program was all throughout the summer and I went 2-3 times a week. I was tasked with helping children and their parents enroll in the Summer Learning Challenge. The SLC guides elementary kids through the challenge of reading 500 mins, creating something, and visiting an interesting place like a museum. The biggest thing I took away from this was a better ability to talk to younger kids. I never really had any need to talk to them but it's always a nice skill to have.

CPL Merlo. (2016) Merlo

College Level Nutrition Course

Over the summer of 2016 I took a class at Truman college for extra credits. The course was a 107 Biology course focusing on Nutrition/Consumer education. The course lasted 8 weeks starting in June and was held Tuesday and Thursday from 9 am to 12 am until August. It covered a wide variety of material related to the digestive process, common eating habits, and more. Although I had taken nutrition in the past, this one was very different because of the setting and difficulty. Sitting in a class that was full of people much older than me and taking college level and quizzes was very different. While I did feel like I learned a lot about how the body works with food, I felt that the main thing I took away from the class was the experience of being a real college classroom.

City Colleges of Chicago. (2016) Truman College Building

Rahtio - The Reimagined Sledgehammer

LS & JI, Rahtio Sketch. 2016

In the first unit of Design and Engineering, we learned all about tools and their physics. We also studied simple machines such as the wedge. the inclined plane, and the lever. To further our knowledge on these subjects, we went on a field experience to Home Depot to talk to the expert gardeners. For this Action Project, we were asked to pick a tool and with a partner, redesign it for the elderly. What was especially important in doing this was having empathy. Using empathy while making our designs allowed us to step in the shoes of those who would use our product to better the final product. For my project, I decided to improve the sledgehammer for easier and more comfortable use.

For our external investigation, we conducted an interview with a gardener to help broaden our knowledge and gather opinions on tools. My interview was with my Italian grandmother, who is an avid gardener but doesn't speak very good English.  My interview mainly focused on what tools she used and what she liked and didn't like about them. What I learned was that she likes tools that are versatile and easy to use. One thing she said specifically was: “My favorite tools are the ones I can understand easiest.” This drove our design by pushing us to add the moving grip for more comfort. 

After our FE to Home Depot and before we created our initial idea, I did some research on some different kinds of sledgehammers and their uses. I decided to analyze 3 of the hammers we saw on our trip. A smaller/lighter one, one with an innovation such as the head having a + pattern, and a standard/basic one. After looking at all of these it’s pretty obvious that none really have any huge innovation that would allow a senior to use it easily. For the most part, they’re all just weights connected to bars. This research really helped in our decision as to how we were going to innovate the sledgehammer. Our biggest focuses were achieving comfort, balance, and power simultaneously. You will not find this combination of features on any other hammer because nobody else really has a reason to design a tool like the sledgehammer for the elderly.

LS & JI, Rahtio Forces. 2016

The photo above shows the way the force of the hammer would go. The force would only go one side a time; the top being a larger force because of the weight, and the bottom being smaller because your hands are only leading it. This hammer is most similar to a lever because you could add a fulcrum to the handle and gain and lose leverage as you lengthened the handle or moved your hand closer to the head.

To practice some of the math concepts we learned this unit, I calculated the approximate volume and surface area for the head of the sledgehammer:
height=15
diameter=8
V=753.98 cm^3
SA= 477.52 cm^2

Works Cited

Angela Pompeo. (9/18/16) Phone call interview.

Rhetorical Response to Gun Control

In the first Unit of Rhetoric, we learned how to use and classify different rhetorical devices and appeals. We looked at many modern day and past examples as well as imagined situations to find the context, speaker, and audience. On our field experience to the history museum, we gained further knowledge on how ethos, pathos, and logos can be seen and applied in unique objects. For this action project, we were asked to respond to a political question rhetorically. My question was: How should the issue of gun control be handled in the US?

Script:
One of the longest debates in US politics is the issue of gun control. The premise of gun ownership dates all the way back to when the 2nd amendment was ratified in 1791. Even though this amendment was agreed on over 200 years ago, it’s still often used today as an argument to oppose the idea of stronger gun control in the US. However, some people fail to accept that the amount of violence since then has only gone up. While the US does have laws in place to try to prevent gun violence, it seems they are doing almost nothing. “From 1998 to 2008, about 96 million background checks for gun purchases were processed through the federal background check system. Of these, approximately 681,000 or about 1% were denied.” Just last year, 244 people on a terrorist watch list attempted to purchase a firearm. 223 of these attempts were successful. By these numbers, you’d think that going to buy a gun is just as easy as going to buy some milk. Not only are we handing out guns to former criminals, but now also people that the FBI recognizes as potential terrorists.It seems like just in the past few years, we’ve seen another civil war. Countless killings such as Sandy Hook, where many small children were killed, and the Orlando Massacre. The shooter in the Orlando massacre had previously been on a terrorist watch list, but had no problem purchasing guns when he wanted to kill tens of people. In order to prevent the meaningless and horrid murder that happen daily, we need laws that prevent all criminals and and potential terrorists from buying guns.