Project Summary

For my capstone project, I aimed to combine my two interests/strengths: STEM and music. My first idea was a tuning tool, but it proved too difficult of a product to make unique. The second option, which I have now committed to, is an LED circuit featuring a Piezo Vibration Sensor that lights up when I play my instrument: The violin.

Taking up the capstone project certainly was not easy. In the winter term, I opted to join the capstone project, knowing that I had a multitude of other academia waiting in the junior year. It would be unfair to call this decision an act of confidence in ability, because I knew that if I could complete it with relative success, it could stand out on my college application.

By the spring trimester, despite the fact that I had completed my prototype and had achieved fair progress towards the end goal, the burden of work afflicted me intensely. By April, the stresses of standardized testing and the start of the Tennis season gripped me. The goal now is to power through with mental fortitude. All in all, the task at hand does not seem too daunting.

In regards to what I have learned during half of year of capstone, I can summarize it into a few things. The primary gains have been work processing skills; ways to approach a long-term self motivated task. Rather than nightly homework or a short-term paper, this was the first time I had to approach something that lasted for months. Amid the frustration of not having my initial designs work and the anguish in seeing my obligations pile up, the capstone project really did teach me important life lessons. My takeaway from the whole experience is this: Set your sights with effective boundaries, and always work diligently at pace. Procrastination can only be beaten by one's own willpower.

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