Cool Geschichte Bruder: Dies ist ein Stift.

Maker Faire

Yesterday, the XTech crew, including myself, went to the wonderful event that is the San Mateo Maker Faire.

I got there around 9 AM and began to set up Squishy Circuits. This activity expose younger children to the concept of basic circuits and some parts of chemistry. There are two types of clay, one that is salty and one that is sugary. The salty one is the that conducts because of the ionic properties of salt, and the sugary one does not conduct and is used as an insulator because of the way the sugar molecule is formed. 

Since I took the first shift of the day, I was done around 11:30. I left the Exploratorium area to go explore.

This fair has got to be one of the most interesting things that I’ve seen to date. At every turn and corer there would be some exciting artist or exhibition to oh-and-ah about.

All and all, it was a very exciting and fulfilling day.  

Girl’s Engineering Week

This past week I was working with Cassie and her Spring Break camp specifically to interest young girls (most were in fourth or fifth grade) in engineering. Monday: Monday’s theme was chemical engineering. When I arrived I sat down with a group of four girls (They were Amanda, Lucie, Harriet, and Lily. They were very outgoing from the start and I had a very easy time getting to know them. When all of the girls had arrived, we played an icebreaker in introduce ourselves and the week’s theme. After that, we dove right into polymers and DNA extraction. We obtained the DNA from kiwis. Most of the kids did not really seem that into the DNA extraction but for me, it was fun. Afterward, we set the girls to make slime. This was an activity that all the girls were really into and it showed plainly on all of their faces. I think this was because it was more hands on and more to their age group. After lunch, we got down to making shrink dinkies and jewelry. Tuesday: Tuesday was all about mechanical engineering. This day’s icebreaker was a game called be the machine where the girls were split up and given a machine that they had to act out. Afterwards, there was a scavenger hunt to find all six simple machines (inclined plane, screw, pulley, wheel and axel, lever, and wedge). After lunch, we set on taking apart a motor bike’s engine. Since I was taking pictures, I was not able to get into the first part of it but after I set the camera down to get down a dirty with a group. Wednesday: On Wednesday, the theme was structural engineering. We already do this activity with the kids in Xtech so I felt very comfortable this day. The group that I was working with was very into it and had great ideas for their bridge. My group built a combination of a beam bridge and a suspension bridge. It was supported by two pillars at the bottom and then further supported by yarn that was attached to the chairs that were acting as the bases. In the end, our bridge was able to support an 80-pound girl with twenty pounds of potatoes in her lap. The bridge did end up collapsing though. Thursday: Thursday was electrical engineering day. To explain electricity, the girls played a game called electric pulse. In the morning, the girls sat down a learned about the basic components of electricity and learned how to make different types of circuits. They also learnt how to use electrician symbols and they were challenged to make a complex circuit, write it down using the symbols, and then have another person make it. The fun of this day began in the afternoon when the girls were let loose to take apart an array of electrical devices, which ranged from small disposable camera to full blown computer towers. Friday: On Friday, the culminated day of the week, the girls were challenged to bring together what they had learnt in the past week to build a “contraption”. This was really just a Rube Goldberg machine that each group was responsible for making a section of. Each section had to include a simple machine, circuit, and it must run the length of a table. The whole day was dedicated to this. The adults and Xtechers mainly floated around in the morning, shifting to different groups and just generally keeping hands off. I was taking pictures to this part of the day and I had a great time getting shots of the girls working. Eventually I settled down to help one group, but they seemed very well of on their own so I fluttered off again. After lunch, the crunch really started. By this point many of the groups were already testing the machines (as the previous one had to set their off and they had to set off the next one’s machine). The final group was not very interested in this day’s activities and Allie and Sidney did the brute of the work. I was sucked into this as well and it ended up being that most of the Xtechers were working on the grand finale. In all, this week was really fun as it presented a new learning and teaching environment that I was not accustomed to.

9/10/2011

Today we had most of the kids come in for two training sessions, the photography and blogging training. 

At first, it was pretty chaotic because a huge wave of kids showed up and we didn’t know what to do with them. We just ended up letting them stay in the LC for a blog training. That went pretty smoothly with that batch of kids because they all listen really well and waited for us to show how and when to do something.After most of the kids were don I showed them upstairs to the classroom but it turns out they were suppose to go on a tour of exhibits that were related to photography.

I went back to the LC to help with the next batch of kids that needed a blogging training (those kids had shown up later and had already gotten their photography training).This group of kids was harder to deal with because some didn’t listen and some of the staff were going ahead of others, so nobody as on the same page.Later on in the training, things smoothed out and in the end everyone got their blog set up and their first post had been made. 

College Trip with Cal Academy

Yesterday, we went on a two college visits with the Inters. 

We were visiting San Jose State and Santa Clara University. 

We took a private charter bus down to Downtown San Jose were SJ state is located. We were met by our tour guide there.

First she just showed us around the front and of campus explaining that the campus is a square mile and explaining the basic demographics and diversity of SJSU. There are a total of about 31,000 student at SJSU, with 17,139 females and 14, 767 males. Also, about 24,000 are undergraduates with the rest being graduate students. Most of the students are of the students are from California with only 10% being from out of state.

Then, she went on to show all the main department buildings of SJSU (arts, math, science, social science, physical, etc.). She also showed us the on campus living buildings. She went on to tell us that freshmen students are required to live on campus. She also explained the basic set up of the rooms and suites and about how many students you should expect to live with.

Our guide also explained that SJSU has 134 major’s(which include Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Geology, Astronomy, and many more). They also offer a wide graduate program, which includes a teaching school as SJSU started out a a teaching school way back when.

Near the end of the campus tour, the guide explained how the expected tuition cost and living expenses; they add up to about 18,000 dollars. These include living (on campus or within two blocks), the meal plan, and books and supplies.

After eating lunch in the SJSU dinning hall, we all got back on the bus to head over to Santa Clara university. 

When we got there, we were ushered into a room were we could ask questions to a admissions officer (who was also the soccer coach) and a current student some questions.

I was surprised by some of the things they told us. The read every single application and have a 50% acceptance rate (but only about 30% of those students attend SCU). 

Also, to even apply to ACU you have to have completed 1000 hours of community service. This is because SCU if very committed to helping and giving back to the community.

After some more questions, we left with our guide (who walked really fast so most of use had to run to keep up) to walk around campus. Our first stop was the Mission Church, a the center of campus. There our guide explained that over four years, you have to take three theology classes. I was put off at first bu then he explained that it wasn’t just Catholicism offered and we didn’t even have to attend mass( though most students still do, especially during finals week). There was a wide variety of classes including “If God was a Women”, Buddhism, and the Study of Religion. 

After leaving the church we went into the Arts and Sciences building.

Our guide that the building was part of the three main schools at SCU.

The other schools are Engineering and Business. (There are also schools of Theology, Psychology, and Law.)

SCU also has a great Study Abroad program, to all parts of the world. I specifically asked about Germany, and the admissions officer said that there was a professor there that would pay all express to have a student travel to Germany. 

The gym and work out room also seemed really nice, and our guide showed us the cafeteria, which had a really wide range of food and even had a sort of farmer’s market in the lower floor.

Tuition and living expenses total to around $50,000, but with finical aid and grants that can be brought down.

In all both of these schools are great, but you can see the differences between a public and a private school. 

I, personally, would only apply to SCU, not only because the campus and the academics are awesome but because it seems like a better atmosphere for me.

The most amazing camping trip ever.

PRE-DAY 1: Packing for this trip was kind of a headache. I had never been camping in Yosemite before so I had no idea what to pack. From previous camping trips I had learned that bringing stuff you may not need was better than not bringing something that yo do need. I ended up having a HUGE bag, plus my pillow and my blanket. I also brought a lot of little books to read but I never really got a chance to read them.

DAY 1: I had to wake up around 6 AM for this trip, which I don’t think is that bad considering I wake p at 5:30 for school. Getting to the Exploratorium was a mess though, because for some reason the was a buttload of traffic on Lombard and it took a while to get through. Once I actually did get to the Explo, I had to wait for someone to open the front door because there was no one there.

After someone actually got there, we still had to wait for another half hour until everyone got there. 

When we starting packing it was really a hard task trying fit every-one’s luggage plus all the supplies and food that we needed for camping.

After fussing with that for about half an hour we were finally on the road. i was in the van that still had to pick up Jason and Geo, so around the end of the Bay Bridge, we broke up with the other van.

After we picked up Jason and Geo, we began a long and tedious drive towards Manteca, where we were set top meet up with the other van. It turns out that the other van was moving faster than us and we met up on the highway someone where closer to Tracy.

We went to Target in Tracy( tasted weird) and then headed off to Manteca to eat at In and Out.

After eating we continued out to Yosemite.

It took another four or five hours to reach Hetch Hetchy. We explored the dam for a little bit and went through a tunnel was was pretty fun. 

After that it was another hour drive to our campsite.

Now, by this time it was around nineish, so when we got tot eh campsite it was a mad dash to set up the tents and make dinner.

After we made dinner everyone or of dispersed. 

I went on a night hike with the  majority of the people.

It was beautiful. The sky was so full of stars that it looks a pearly grey. I saw a deer on the hike with was scary because I thought it was a bear for a few seconds.

When we got back I honked out first chance I got.

DAY 2:

I woke up pretty early, I think around 7 ish on the second day. 

We made a yummy breakfast of sasuge, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. 

After that the whole group that it would be an awesome idea to go jump in the river to cool down, because even though it was only around 10 it was HOT.

When we got to the river, it was pretty cold but it could have been colder. 

Later on, everyone (but a few people inculding me) thought it waould be a good idea to swim out to some rocks a ways down stream. I thought it was funny at first but then some people start get swept away and it got scary.

I left after a while because I was getting cold and I was still tired from the day before so I got up and got out to go lie a little bit in the sun and my tent. 

After eveyone else got out of the water we got a quick lunch and piled back into the vans to go see Half-Dome and get down into the valley.

After exploring for a while we were going to hike up to Vernal Falls. I, along with Cara and some other people saw and deer really close and decided to get pictures.

In the two mitues it took for photos, the rest of the group disappeared.

My little group was stranded for a while, until the other group got back.

When we got back to camp, Mark made some delicious chicken for dinner.

After dinner, the group sat around the campfire. Denny told us all his amazing stories from college it was really enjoyable. Ally also suggested that we light paint and take pictures with the new Nikon.

The pictures of the sky were AMAZING and I got a really good shot of the Big Dipper.

After that, most of the group went to sleep but some stayed around the campfire until around one.

DAY 3:

On day three I woke up at around 6:30, surprised that other people were awake.

After eating brekfest it packing up, packing up, and more packing up.

We packed until around 11 ish. After that A few people decided that it would be awesome to get in the river. Now, by this time it was pouring rain and it was thundering.

After only about five minutes in the (FREZZING) water, a ranger kicked us out because of the danger of a lighting striking the water and killing us.

So we hoped in the van for more drive-driving. 

It was an uneventlful drive back; we stopped at a truck stop for lunch. On the way the one high point was my van signing along to Make a Man Out of You and Hey There Delila. 

It was a six hour drive back to SF, but when we got there it  WAY worth it. The bay was b-e-a-utiful. And the sun was out.

But nothing beat the feeling of getting home.

Biography

Hey, my Kathleen Nunez. I am 14 and have just finished my first year of high school at Lowell High School in San Francisco. I love to write, read, and draw. I also like to do some photography on the side. I have lived in this city all my life with both my parents and my older and younger sister.I have also always gone to school within the city and those schools have been public schools.I work at the Exploratorium in San Francisco as a High School Outreach Explainer and this summer I will also be working as just a regular High School Explainer in the museum. 

After I graduate high school, I hope to go to college and major in either International Politics an minor in German or major in Graphic Design. After college I want to travel around Europe and eventually move to either Germany. For a career I want to be involved with NATO or similarity the UN or become the American ambassador to Germany.