How did it go?

I presented my project on Wednesday. I thought it went well expect honestly my judge stopped me halfway through my project. I showed her my video and that was supposed to be the halfway point. After the video, she started asking me questions instead of letting me go on to present my website. I did not mind because she asked me the questions that I was gonna answer anyways, but I kind of wish that she would have let me show her my website. I really liked my website. She was a really really nice judge though, so I did not want to be rude and be like, "I'm not finished talking!!" Overall, it was good, and I am glad that everything is over and all the stress will die down and let me focus on my other classes now. I cannot believe the year is ending. I am excited to finish, graduate and move on to university, but I think I am going to miss high school so much. I am going to miss the memories and people the most. Best wishes to Class of 2012! :)

The Big Presentation

Today is my day to present my final capstone project. I have prepared a website, poster, and posterboard to present to my judge. I'm dressed up and have a sketch up of a proposal for my end product, ready to take on questions. Goodluck to us all :)

Capstone Class 5 Minute Presentation Today!

So at 1:00 PM, I'll be in my Senior Project class having to present my Capstone project for my class. It is not the official presentation, but it still counts for a lot of my grade. I actually woke up really late, but ironically I'm more dressed up than usual because of this project. I am ready to present and get this day over with! I will most likely just present my website as my technology support and just talk about who I am, my project, and my goals.On the actual day, I plan to present my website and do the same yet have a prototype or some product as visual aid to get more of the gist of the idea of my end product as a solution. I am excited to see how all of our projects turn out to be. I'm so glad it's almost over, and we can have a little less stress in our lives afterwards.

The link to my website is below:

WEBSITE :)

If I already graduated...

...and finished school completely, my title would be "Orthodontist". I would be Dr. Lavarn the Orthodontist to be exact.

The pluses to the Capstone presentation:

• Gain a learning experience 
• Learn to really research
• Be able to write a 15 page paper
• Use your imagination and your brain
• Organization is gained
• Learn how to present and give a speech well
• Gain the ability to put technology to use

The minuses to the Capstone presentation:

• Working on a project for a whole year that may not be of your interest
• Stress
• Too many restrictions and not so much lenient say
• Ideas being rejected too much
• You get bored of it after working on it for so long
• So much research
• The idea of messing up and failing scares you

There are probably more pluses and minuses, but those stated above are the ones that just popped up in my head.

Summing up my efforts

I believe I am completely done and through with my 15 page paper. I thought we were finished dealing with it in our capstone classes, but apparently we are giving it another peer editing later today. My blog is fine the way it is. My website needs to be redone and re-uploaded. My poster is pretty much completed. My video has been done with for weeks. The only thing I need to actually have or do is my final end product. The professors say it has to be tangible, but I do not think I can actually make a retainer-like product that actually works to kill the bacteria in your mouth and freshen your breath as it dissolves while you sleep. What I am thinking to do is just to design a prototype on the computer and explain to everyone about it. I might bring Crest white strips to show how I would like the creation to somewhat be like. I am ready to get all these presentations and projects done... at the same time, I am totally not ready for it! Good luck to us all!

Poster Design and Rereading

Some of us turned in our poster designs today. I learned how to make my Photoshop version flatten and become a PDF file. It looks the same. I did not want to change anything really. I think it is cute, simple, and to the point. The only flaw is that it lists the website link to this website telling you to learn more about Halitosis here... but on this website I just post up updates and notes about my project not necessarily my research.

I took the time to reread my 15 page Capstone Paper again. I still do not see why we had to write so much over something most of us are honestly not passionate about. It was so hard to actually focus on my own topic and stick with what I wanted to do because most professors judge too hard and find mistakes for every little thing. I honestly kind of wish that Senior Project did not make us do this kind of thing. There really is no point in wasting our time because the majority of us will not further our studies and research about our projects in our futures. I bet after we graduate most of us will not even think about our projects anymore and forget everything we learned. I read over my paper and am not satisfied with what I have written. I feel like I could have written it better if I did not worry about the length or having a certain amount of citations in my paper. I feel like I could have written it from my heart if there was less requirements. Honestly, Senior Project made me so stressed and frustrated over something that will not mean as much to me in a year from now. I would hope that RCHS would change the system for future students and actually focus maybe on getting them to volunteer more or work alongside a nurse if they want to become a nurse, a firefighter if they want to become a firefighter and on forth. My old high school did this at least. Some of my friends I know now who want to be EMTs are actually working or volunteering as EMTs, working with firefighters and in ambulances at the age of 17. I feel like that is more amazing than what we are doing right now. I would rather be put in my field of study than have to write and focus on topics that barely go with my dream career. I am sorry that this was more like a rant than anything else. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Haven't updated in a while...

Today, we learned more about the intercultural festival, and it sounds like a fun event to take our minds off of stress for a little while. We also watched a video of a Ukraine's Got Talent auditioner. She played music and made drawings out of sand. I thought it was really cool. I think that is real talent. We are supposed to be working on finishing our posters to print. I think I like my poster how it is. I do not think I am going to change anything. I just want to keep it simple.

I need to remember that capstone presentations are during April 16th through the 20th. Now time is going by super fast. I cannot believe we have been doing this project for nearly a year now.