Capstone Project

The end of the school year is always a stressful but blissful moment. The burdens of testing lessened by the imminent reward of vacation. As for my project, I have not been able to devote significant time to tinkering and fine-tuning. Standardized testing coupled with athletics and music really do weigh me down for time. Although progress has slowed, I am still committed to my goal. By May 20th, I hope to be able to present a finished and working device; fully welded and polished product with no exposed wiring.

Creativity:  During the early stages of planning, before I had conceived a suitable idea, creativity really seemed like an issue. However, enough stress has pushed me to form my idea, and thus I no longer see creativity as an issue. Managing ambiguity:  Settling and pinning down on a decision has always been a struggle. Many parts of the project have left ambiguous futures that will need to be dealt with. But again, with the push of stress and deadline, I feel that I can 'force' myself to 'do'.  Planning/time management:  Time management is the bane of most teenagers. In the process of maturing, planning and effectively using time is a requisite-level skill that one cannot dismiss entering adulthood. This has historically been my downfall, as work all the way 'til middle school necessitated so little of my time that I had never needed supervision or habit reinforcements. Now in the latter stages of high-school, with a mountain of work ever increasing, time manag

  Over spring break, I managed to shift my focus and settle on a concept which satisfied both my personal criteria and the 'rules' laid out previously. I knew that I wanted to apply some of the things I've learned in the class room and integrate it with a hobby.   The prototype of the project is complete, and over the next few weeks coming into deadline will be refinement and perfecting the vision set upon.

Spring-break is a busier time than the regular academic rotation, particularly during the Junior year. Obligations and ambitions compound exponentially as the college application process enters full swing. Kids often have college visits and other activities scheduled alongside their downtime, and this felt true to me. Over the three-and-a-half week vacation, I set out to create a prototype of my new idea: an LED strip that increases in luminosity with violin playing. The biggest struggle I had was not the logistics and mechanisms behind the design, but rather the commitment and resource prerequisites. Just because I knew how a circuit and its components worked does not equate to me understanding how to construct one. Finding and locating each individual part that I needed, as well as finding the tools needed (Solder, breadboards, etc...) proved to be a significant challenge. More than 10 hours were spent simply looking at components and comparing prices. Now with the parts and materia