2012 Senior Project Fair

Heath Commons was abuzz with conversation, video, poetry, original guitar works, and electronic notes on Friday May 18 as select seniors presented the Senior Project Fair. From research projects to illustration, volunteer work to EMT training, French cooking to eating local, dance performances to guitar compositions, and the senior class video, the spectrum of topics represented at the fair offered visitors a diverse and fascinating smörgåsbord of information.

The following are descriptions of all the projects. See a full gallery of photos from the fair, as well as photos and video of All in a Moment, the dance performance by Shawn Charles & Taashaylaray McDuffie in the attached media.

TRIFOLDS, PICTURES and PAPERS

William Bagnall
Illustrations of Death
Adviser: Mr. Casanova
For my project I drew weapons from every period of history, these include swords, axes, firearms, tanks and even planes. The intention of the drawings was to illustrate (literally) that throughout history we as a species have developed more and more effective means of destroying ourselves. The drawings are done in a simplistic, schematic style in order to display the drawings not in an artistically creative way but to display them as nothing more than tools and machines of death. The drawings are place against the background of a graph that displays the relationship of Lethality to Dispersion.  This is not just a project to display artistic talent; it is a project to show all that we are our greatest enemy.

Tessa Bloomquist
Project Oceanology
Adviser: Ms. Fabian
Over the past six weeks I have worked at Project Oceanology in Groton CT. Each day I worked on a boat teaching elementary age children about the environment. From deploying nets, to calculating pH, to learning about marine navigation, we strive to teach kids about environmental issues so they'll be more aware of the world they live in.

Leslie Brunker
At Least it’s Not Neuroscience, Except It is: The Horvath Lab and the Basics of Neuroscience
Adviser: Ms. Leite
The brain is a maze that no one has quite solved. For the past seven months, I have been working in the lab of Tamas Horvath at the Yale Medical School as the team attempts to unwind the intricacies of the neuronal regulation of hormones especially via the hypothalamus. To further examine what they are researching, I dove into two neuroscience textbooks and produced life-sized plaster brain slices with detailed descriptions of some of what we do know about the brain. But man, the phrase "at least it's not neuroscience" is completely accurate - our brains are hard to think about!

Emma Campbell-Mohn
Success without Scruples: A Historical Analysis of Justification in All the King’s Men
Adviser: Mr. Czepiel
Former Governor Huey Long was not only a notorious blackmailer and briber, but he was also one of Louisiana’s greatest social reformers, providing free schoolbooks to children and paving roads for the needy. This man’s political evolution from brazen idealist to political demagogue is captured in Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. When researching the historical context behind All the King’s Men, I found that Warren’s characters differ from their historical equivalents in one key manner. The fictional characters believe that Warren’s Governor Willie Talos’ inspiring results justify his despicable methods while the historical figures vehemently oppose Long’s corrupt practices. Read about this insight and more in my part history, part literary essay.

Dylan Cutler
The Graveyard Scene: Hamlet in Comics
Adviser: Ms. Ratcliffe
My project takes act 5 scene 1 from Shakespeare's Hamlet, commonly referred to as the "gravedigger" or "graveyard" scene, and to retell it through the medium of comics. My project includes storyboarding of the entire scene as well as a few selected moments. The project also includes 2 inked, scanned, and digitally finished pages which help provide the imagination as to what the whole scene may look like in comic book form.

Maggie De Berardine
Becoming and Being a Yale New Haven Hospital Art Cart Volunteer
Adviser: Ms. Gleason
For my senior project, I have been volunteering at YNHH on the art cart.  There, I do arts and crafts activities with kids in the Primary Care Center waiting room.  To supplement my time at the hospital, I have also been writing a guide, which includes personal advice on how to become a volunteer, and memoirs about my experiences there.

Stephen Falcigno
Junior School Baseball
Adviser: Mr. Roberts
For my senior project, I joined the Junior School baseball team as the pitching coach. I worked with a number of players, not only on the mound, but on the field as well. We worked on fielding, throwing, and batting daily.

Amanda Fath
Plastic: Health Risk?
Adviser: Dr. Fischer
I tested the neurological and behavioral effects of the plasticizer Benzyl butyl phthalate ("BBP") in rats. The work included developing a protocol on how to optimally breed rats.  The specific methods employed to test the effects of BBP in rats and the findings are shown in Exhibit A.  Exhibit A  also includes a section explaining the methodology used in breeding the rats and the critical factors related to breeding. Exhibit B is illustrative of some of the equipment used during the lab. I hope to present fresh samples under a microscope at the fair.

Sarah Kravitz
Coaching Girls’ Youth Lacrosse
Adviser: Mr. Mueller
Over the past 6 weeks, I have been an assistant coach for Eli Youth Lacrosse. I have attended practices and games. My project included creating drills and writing journal entries reflective of practice. My final product includes my journal entries, a play book, and a coaching manual.

Jack Lubin
Writing a Novella
Adviser: Mr. Czepiel
For my Senior Project, I wanted to tell a story. I took this writing project with the hope of creating a narrative that was fun to read. This science-fiction thriller brings the reader along on a sad journey to the Moon where our astronaut hero, Jim, is sent on a rescue mission. But when he reaches his destination, things take a twist. This is a story of adventure, deceit, and greed, along with a surprise ending. I hope you enjoy.

Margaret Migdalski
In Human Care: On the Other Side of the Glass
A Deeper Look into Marine Mammal Captivity and its Effects ?as Experienced by Scientist, Educator and Tourist
Adviser: Mr. Young
Starting in February, I began an intensive training class to become a docent, (essentially a public educator,) at Mystic Aquarium. By the time the project officially started, I was working Sundays at the aquarium, talking to guests and teaching them about marine animals. I then used the experiences I gained to ask questions about the effects of captivity, and then tried to find the answers via examining research papers and books. Throughout the project, I wrote down my findings so I could write a paper of my own. By the middle of May, I ended up with a 35+ page research review paper, which investigates the causes and implications of captivity-related animalian problems, incorporating with various business and scientific perspectives. The whole paper is seen through the lens of my personal experiences and knowledge gained at Mystic Aquarium.

Andrew Nitirouth
Lacrosse for Wishes Fundraiser
Adviser: Sandy MacMullen
For my senior project, I raised funds and awareness for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut with the help of the Hopkins Boys Lacrosse team. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy, and I set my monetary goal at $8,500 – the average cost of a single wish. I kept a website updated periodically sharing my experiences during my battle with leukemia and recovery after suffering a stroke, sent emails and messages to people asking for donations and support, and I planned and held a jog-a-thon at school to raise money and show support for the fundraiser. My goal was to not only raise enough money to grant a wish, but to bring together a community of people centered around a cause, demonstrate the power of such a community and provide hope and inspiration to people by means of this project.

Annie Shoup
Strokes, Heart Attacks and HIV: Some of the Things I Encountered on My Way to Becoming an EMT
Adviser: Ms. Adamiak
This senior project is not a product of six weeks but more a culmination of two years of work. My junior year I took an Emergency Medical Responder class, which, after becoming state-certified, enabled me to volunteer on the ambulances at Westport Emergency Medical Service. For my project, I continued to ride the ambulances, working at least ten hours each week and producing a call log of all of the calls I worked. In addition to volunteering, I took an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class eight hours each week, which, after passing, has qualified me to take state and national EMT certification exams.

Amjad Talib
Research Paper: “The Presidential Cycle and the DOW Jones”
Adviser: Mr. Davenport
This is a that report provides an analysis and evaluation of the Presidential Cycle Effect on the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1900. It tries to understand the relationship between the presidential administrations and the economy. Different factors and variables are looked at to come up with helpful conclusions.


WALK-AROUND EXHIBITS

Jake Al-Haffar
Reductive Sculpting
Adviser: Mr. Mueller
My project was based on learning the method of reductive sculpting which, simply put, is making a sculpture by chipping and carving away at a chunk of a certain material. I started with some foam studies to get a feel for the type of thinking ahead that had to go into the process. I followed the foam studies with a few wax studies, one being the plan for the final sculpture. The wax acquainted me with dealing with a more solid and difficult to use material. The final sculpture was then carved from a block of plaster which I chose because of its stone-like properties and permanence.

Alex Leffell
Learning to Forge Knives from Scratch
Adviser: Mr. Kops
Forging a knife has been a goal of mine for many years. For my senior project I outlined a simple curriculum so I could most efficiently learn the skill in six weeks. I started with small blades with an integrated handle to get a sense for how the heated metal changed when struck. Next I challenged myself to forge three identical blades to test the consistency of my technique. My project culminated with the creation of one clean knife, made to the highest standards my six weeks of self-instruction allowed me.

Caroline Monahan
10 Classic French Recipe Translations
Adviser: Ms. Venter
I translated ten classic French recipes into English and cooked them. I wrote a first draft of each recipe, then cooked each to ensure accurate translation. I took photos along the way to accompany my recipes, and then assembled a cookbook.

Rebecca Orleans
Project Local Eating
Adviser: Ms. Gleason
I went on a mission to learn all about local eating, from the farming to the buying to the cooking. It can be hard to stock your kitchen with local ingredients, but learning about the environmental and community benefits of a local lifestyle may push you to do so. I talked to farmers who know all about farm-to-table living and tested recipes using local foods. Come check out my blog that I used to track my project and see if you can guess what Connecticut-grown ingredients are used in the tasty samples!


MUSIC, VIDEO and LIVE PERFORMANCE

S. Arthurs
Penguin vs. Rubix Cube
Adviser: Mr. Mueller
In this exploration of character and technique through frame by frame stop motion animation, a penguin and a rubix cube interact. Along with the final product, some of the steps taken in this animation process will be displayed: animations from different points in the project (including some that show some of the techniques used), the puppet used for character studies, some video of the character studies, and other video.

Grace Baldwin & Alexander Shoop
Senior Class of 2012 Video
Adviser: Ms. Hartup
“The Senior Class Video is an annual video that is shown during the senior breakfast on prize day. It consists of two candid sections, a teacher section, an arts section, an athletics section and opening and closing sections. The video highlights our classes most distinctive characteristics, talents and spirit that we bring to the Hopkins community. The breakfast is the last time our class is together besides graduation, so the senior video holds an enormous amount of sentimental value; many seniors, teachers and advisors are crying by the end of it.”

Annie Flynn
Ovid Slammed
Adviser: Ms. Ratcliffe
I studied three mythological tales in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and from them I created two-voice slam poems. I chose to study the tales of Echo and Narcissus, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Apollo and Daphne, because each of them portrays the destructive power of love. I tried to give words to the voiceless women of the stories, and make their voices more powerful through rhythm and rhyme. In the end, I think I succeeded in showing the connections between the blind love of the men and the tragic downfalls of the women.?

Andrew Hogan
Fingerstyle Guitar Music Composition and Recording
Adviser: Mr. Smith
I composed five songs for solo fingerstyle guitar, four of which I then notated. This was followed by a recording session at Firehouse 12, a local studio, to produce a short CD of these five songs.
Andrew will perform his compositions live in the Heath Commons during the fair.

Chanyoung Park & Lucian Wang
Theremin Duet
Adviser: Mr. Taylor
The theremin was one of the first electronic instruments; the musician's hand positions relative to two antennae control pitch and volume, without physically touching the instrument. In this project, we have constructed a fully functional kit theremin and a volume control board built from scratch, both on display here. We have also recorded the construction over time in photos and the process of learning to play the instrument, which can be viewed on our blog.? For those interested in the science behind the theremin, the musician's hand acts as the grounded plate of the variable capacitor of an inductance-capacitance circuit, altering the flow of electric current in the instrument, which in turn alters the sound.

Sam Rosen
An Exploration of Electronic Music Composition and Production
Adviser: Mr. Gries
For my senior project I used Logic Pro (which is similar, but more advanced than Garageband) to compose and produce in three different styles of electronic music.  I tried to emulate the three artists Avicii, Skrillex and Ratatat, whose genres are dance, dubstep and electronic rock respectively.  I did not use any loops; I used drum samples and placed each individual hit, and I made each synth sound from scratch (sometimes with a little help from Youtube tutorials) using Native Instruments' synthesizer called Massive.

Theodore Schaffer
Arden and Bobby: A Documentary Short
Adviser: Ms. Hartup
Arden and Bobby is a documentary short which studies the lifetime of love of an elderly couple, Arden and Bobby. The film is a compilation of interviews of Arden and Bobby, mixed with clips of some of Hollywood’s greatest love stories. The film is proof that even the most magical love stories can and have come true.

Molly Wartenberg
Interview Middle-Eastern Immigrants
Adviser: Ms. Burgess
This project examined the lives of Middle Eastern and Muslim immigrants living in the United States. Consisting of interviews with seven participants, it focuses on the struggles of transitioning between two vastly different cultures and societies. The project contains a thirty minute video featuring highlights from the interviews, as well as three short essays examining some of the broader aspects of the immigrants' experiences, such as prejudice in America, what factored into their success, and, finally, why they chose to come to (and stay in) the United States.


Live at Lovell, but at Special Times

May 18, showing at 1:00!
Shawn Charles & Taashaylaray McDuffie (with company)
All in a Moment
Adviser: Ms. Wardlaw
Running time: 50 minutes
This senior project is a dancical produced, choreographed, and directed by Taashaylaray McDuffie and Shawn Charles along with ten other volunteer hopkins students. This dancical has choreography and selected songs that would emphasize the story of a teenage drama. This show includes lights, music, blood, sweat, and tears, and should be a good time for everyone.

May 21 showing at 1:15!
Linda Huang
Putting the Art in Martial Arts:
An Exploration of the Underlying Chinese Principles Behind Wushu as a Performance Art
Adviser: Mr. Melchinger
Running time: 20 minutes
For the past nine years, I have been training in wushu, a type of Chinese martial arts, primarily as a performance art. Recently, I have become increasingly aware of the shift in focus towards the superficial, entertainment-driven nature of wushu. I wanted to debunk some common misconceptions attached to modern-day wushu from how it’s displayed in movies and even the shows I regularly perform in. My senior project consisted of me teaching a wushu class to young children and choreographing a straight sword form. But the heart of my project lies in my lecture-demonstration that I am delivering to the Hopkins community to not only showcase my routine, but to also educate viewers on some of the underlying, Chinese philosophies present in wushu forms and how they play a role in elevating it to a simultaneously deadly and elegant art form.


SCIENCE OLYMPIAD NATIONALS
(They’re out of town winning glory for Hopkins, but we still love their projects)

Roger Lo
Making a Guitar
Adviser: Mr. Taylor
I learned and applied the first steps towards making an acoustic steel string guitar by working closely with the woodshop teacher Mr. Kops and following the advice of Mr. Taylor, who has built a few guitars himself. Starting with flat pieces of wood, I learned techniques to plane, shape, join and glue pieces together. I carved the neck of the guitar completely by hand, while other aspects of the build required knowledge of how to use woodworking machines. Finally, I used a heated bending iron to bend the side pieces into the curved shape of a guitar. The gutiar is by no means finished, but I did make significant progress, and the techniques I learned will defintely make it easier for me to finish the guitar on my own this summer.

Gregory Schaefer
Deciphering Biblical Hebrew Meter: A Classicist’s Conundrum
Adviser: Mr. Anderson
For my senior project, I took the first steps in an attempt to decipher the meter of the Hebrew Bible. The reason that nobody has discovered it yet is because the lengths of the vowels, and thus the syllables, are unknown. In order to figure this out, I cataloged all of the proper names in Exodus and Kings I in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Ancient Greek. By observing how these different languages expressed the same name, I was able to draw some conclusions about how Biblical Hebrew treats certain syllables. This project has been fascinating and informing, and will surely be an invaluable step on my Classics journey.


Best wishes, the Senior Project Committee
Ms. Alina Badus, Ms. Susan Bennitt, Mr. Michael Calderone, Mr. Mark Davenport, Ms. Shelly Fabian, Mr. Dan Gries, Mr. David Harpin, Mr. Bruce Kaplan, Ms. Karen Klugman, Mr. Dan Kops, Ms. Jen Lane, Mr. Ian Melchinger (chair), Ms. Sue Paton, Mr. Miguel Pizarro, Ms. Penny Ratcliffe, Mr. Brad Ridky, Mr. Benjamin Taylor, Mr. Michael Weingarth, Mr. Joshua Young.

Special Thanks, as always, to Mr. Mike King’s Team and to the Mighty Men of Maintenance.