Project Day 11:

After these 4 weeks of working on our community building projects, I have become more aware of the communities around me. I learned that people will hang out in places where there are places to sit. That is why we created our bocce ball court with a bench. I notice that simply being in the same space can make a community form because most people can not stand silence, so they will start talking to each other. Community is created whenever you give people share goal or purpose, and in this case, it was bocce ball.

Since bocce ball courts are extremely simple, it just a wooden frame, it was simple to make. Our court was functional and we had people play the game multiple times. When we tested our prototype everyone was engaged and said they enjoyed the game. It was satisfying seeing people walk over curious, hang out at the bench and then play when there is room. This court did build community because the people who played often time had to wait a little bit before the game was over and another group could join in.

I am proud of our final product of our final product. The game its self is laid back, which is partially how I viewed my team. Even though my team always got our work down, we also did it in a laid back manner. We are efficient in our work so we would get it done. I like our bench because it is wide enough that people can sit back to back to double the sitting space, and the music system works well. The bocce ball court is a good memory because I enjoyed working with my group throughout these past few weeks.

Project Day 10:

Today was the day that all the groups did their final presentations to the people who are in charge of the locations we have been working on. The groups that worked on the Town Green location got to present to the Mayor and other people. All the Windsor High School people got to present in front of an AP Bio teacher, campus supervisor and three underclass man students.

Everyone left to go to the locations that they will present at. My group went to our English class to practice again and do one more practice presentation. We watched all the other Windsor High School groups do their practice presentations. This time, our presentation was practiced and transitioned smoothly. Since we were going to do our final presentation during second block and we were still in first, our teacher gave us all more advice on how to improve our presentations. As a team, we worked to fix some of the power point and practice the new plan, all through break.

When it came time to finally do the last presentation, we got to sit through everyone's presentations first. When we did our presentation, the panel did not have many negative comments. They questioned when people would be allowed to play and how they would get the equipment. One of the students really liked the idea of being able to play music off their phone and have it go through the speakers. When the presentations were done, we got to all go outside and test each other's prototypes.

Project Day 9:

The first part of this morning was spent on revisions. My group had thought about making a sign that had the rules for bocce ball, on one side, and then a chalkboard for keeping score on the other. We looked into what materials we would need: wood, more nails, paint, and a plan for how to present the rules. After discussing the cost and amount of time we would have, as a team, we decided against it. Since the bocce court would not be used again, the sign would never get used. It would not make the court look dramatically better. In all, we thought the sign would be a waste of money because if we ever got to make our final version, we would make everything look nicer, and make the sign then. 

It worked out that we had planned not to build any revisions because we had so many people gone last work day, so people had time to catch up during the first block. I went through a checklist, making sure that the team as completed all of our documents. I spent most of the first and second working to finish the overall plan budget because that had been barely worked on. Meanwhile, the part of the group that was presenting raced to get the power point completed and practiced. Royce and Thomas worked on creating the video that was assigned, last class.

When practice presentation time came, we had just finished the power point and pulled together a script for the presenters to read. This was our first time running through it and most of it went smoothly. We realized what we needed to add and what should be left out for the next time we present.

Project Day 8:

This day was testing and revision day. The team was down a few people due to AP testing. In the morning, the team got prepared to test the prototype during lunch. We looked at our results from the practice of the prototype testing to make a data table that will collect the information we are shooting to get and figured out what graph will be best to display our data.

Before lunch, we rotated classes and in each class, we were explained the different aspects of our final documentation expectations. In all, each group has to create a video, of the process of their project, flyers, to give information about our project, and a presentation that will be presented to people are in charge of the location the group was assigned. In my group the assignments were divided as follows:

• Flyers: Thomas and Bella
• Video: Royce, Steven, Bella and Jarod
• Presentation: Royce, Dylan, Brien, and Jarod

During lunch, a few of our group members went to the quad to set up the court. Throughout lunch we tested our prototype to see how students reacted. We did have people come and play.

During the last block, Dylan returned from the test and so he started working on the presentation. Each of our groups began working on their assignments. 

This our team logo.

Project Day 7:

This was our last day to build. Dylan and I began by gathering the group to assign tasks. Once they were working, Dylan and I started looking into the prototype testing requirement because our one media marketing person was not able to come today to do this portion of the work. We finished filling out documents that helped us to plan how we will test our prototype.

While Dylan and I were inside working, Brien and Royce, Broyce, fitted the wood sides into place, so that or bench is completely closed. This is to prevent people from messing with the speakers. It took most of the morning to get the side pieces to fit well into the bench. Once they accomplished that Broyce put in the speakers. With that, the bench was finished.

Thomas and Steven, Stomas, cut our last plank of wood into small pieces. Then they attached it to sides of the court fence/wall so that there is better support. This also took them most of the morning. Once they were finished with that we were completely done with all the construction of our project. 

For a little team huddle, the entire team grabbed their computers and sat on the bench. We had nothing else to do so we all worked on our blogs while listening to music.

Project Day 6:

Since I am one of the team leaders, I got to do a little of everything today.

For starters, I spent the beginning of the morning catching up on what the team had accomplished the day I was gone. Dylan helped the bench builders get started while I worked with Thomas and Steven on the court corners. During the first block, I switched between helping with the bench and the corners of the bocce ball court. 

The bench was mostly assembled last Friday, but the bench still needed supports inside, the back attached with hinges, sanding, finishing, and attaching the locks. We began with the supports inside, which went smoothly and with little problem solving required. Then the engineers carried it outside to get the back side cut and sanded. When that was finished we attached the hinges. Later we sanded the entire bench and moved it to the grass to get stained. Staining was an all-team effort while it was also a great way to get some team bonding.

The corners of the bocce ball courts needed the wood cut and screwed together. One and half of the corner were completed already, so Steven and Thomas knew what they needed to do. It was not brought to attention until the corners were assembled, that the screws were too big and stuck through the other side. The wood we bought is suppose to be 2inches thick, which is what the label said, but when we measured it was 1 1/2 inches. We had bought screws for the wood size we thought we had gotten. When possible, the team got a smaller screw size. This meant that the court team had to take all the screws out and put the new ones in. 

As a team, we function very well together. Dylan and I are able to trust that once we give someone a task, they will do it. We are always able to discuss a problem without anyone getting frustrated or upset. As a whole the team communicates well with each other and does their portion of the work to the best of their abilities.

Project Day 5

This was the first day that is completely dedicated to building our prototypes. I was not there because a family member had a baby.  The team worked on the bench all day, deciding on a final design for the bench and constructing it. They got 6 out 5 of the sides attached for the bench. Thomas and Steven started working on the corners of the courts. The mostly cut wood and screwed it together. The back part of the bench is two planks high, so they glued the two planks together and added metal supports so that is did not break off.
Everyone got to build all day.

Project Day 4:

Today was our first day to start construction. But first we started with the team leaders collecting the field trip forms and taking them to a brief meeting with Fitz and Vezino. After deciding which of our engineers will come with Dylan and I to meet with the Keysight team manager.
We went to Jolly's classroom and listened to him tell us about his experiences. We recieved pointer and he answered questions. Important points he made were:

• leaders need to be organized, clear, and set reasonable expectations

• check in with members and set and keep to schedule and goals

• identify critical pathes and stick to completing them

• remind members of the purpose of each meeting and address off topic ideas as side notes to be addressed later

• communicate to everyone as a group and individually depending what is needed

As Dylan and I, along with two other group members, waited for other group members to come back from the store. During that time we learned that a group member had changed the materials list, which our group was using the shop, without telling anyone. Dylan and I worked to figure out how we need to adjust our plans of construction to fit what could do with the supplies that were being bought. Also, during that time the group members that had stayed on campus worked to draw the bench and bocce ball court designs.

After lunch our team was complete. Everyone that was shopping had returned. First we discussed with them the change that were made and desinated assignments to each member. They broke off into small teams with the tasks Dylan and I had given to them. Dylan and I worked to help, and supervise the team. 

Project Day 3:

This day, we focused the fine details that are entailed with creating a bocce ball court. Our plan was to have a court, with the size scaled down, and benches surrounding. In our first class, the teacher encouraged everyone to consider whether or no adding technology to our projects will improve them. As my group considered this, one person suggested the idea of add speakers for music. We tossed the idea around questioning whether it will be with blue tooth or aux cord and other aspects of that. We concluded the volume would be set so that it can be heard by the people playing but not but all the groups on the quad.

Then we were tasked to figure out each step of our project, then breaking those steps into smaller ones. We had to assign people objectives. As that was being decided by Dylan and I our team research costs and where to get materials. They were challenged to figure out what each little piece would cost and how much would be needed. One member was working to sketch the bench and court to help with this process. As all this information got compiled into a budget chart, we made our shopping list. All these steps help everyone on the team to think more critically about what we were doing and how it would get done.

Project Day 2:

Today was our day to refine our problem. Our question became. How can we bring more groups to the quad? To answer this we came up with a plethora of ideas, some more realistic than others. After creating decision matrices and discussing our ideas, we narrowed down on the idea of making a bocce ball court.

Our group got some time to create a presentation to share the idea in front of a class. This was my team's first time really working together to accomplish something. I came to recognize which group members are more open to sharing their ideas and which ones were quieter. Along with that, their work habits became obvious. As a whole our group dynamic works well. There is only one very quiet person, but he will get a job done when told. Everyone else is extremely engaged and has been able to contribute ideas, listen to others, and build off of ideas.

When it came time to present, we had not really figured out who was saying what. It seemed to work out, though, because as each slide came, group members took over talking when it was about something they took part in. The feed back we got back was all stuff that our group had already realized would be an issue or was something that we had already discussed and decided against. For example, one person suggested we put the bocce court in between gyms, an unused field, instead of on the quad. The team had thought about this before hand a decided that if we did not put it in the quad, it would not address our problem. Other comment we received were about cost, but we were still trying to figure out what materials we wanted to use and that would decide whether our budget was in range. Overall the presentation helped us to finalize some aspects of the bocce ball court so that we can focus on the unknown variables.

Project Day 1:

This community building project is a task that is combining our English, history, and engineering classes. We are suppose to create an activity or game, that can be integrated into the space, with the goal of making the community there more sustainable. Our over arching question is: How can you make a community sustainable? We will use interviews and observations to narrow this question in order create a solution.

Today was our first time working together as a team. We began by discussing the location that we will be working with, Windsor High School. All of us identified the various locations on campus that are not used and the ones that are. We decided to scope down on the quad because it is the central area of the school. There, it could have the greatest impact on the students on Campus. We went out to this space to get an idea of what could be done.

As we returned to class, we began brainstorming. As a team we began a google doc folder and started a doc to compile interview questions. Meanwhile, a few group members printed out maps of the high school quad and created a key, so that we map the people that use the quad.

At the end of the day, we decided on group roles. It ended up being:

• Team Leaders: Dylan and I
• Marketing and Media: Jarod and Carla
• Engineers: Brien, Royce, Thomas, and Steven