Juniors And Seniors Complete Projects At NHS

By Eliza Hallabeck

In preparation for the end of the semester, students in Newtown High School’s Junior/Senior Project class for the first semester practiced presenting their projects to the class the week of December 14.

This semester’s students completed projects ranging from redesigning their family kitchen to creating a work of art, and from developing and teaching a curriculum on microfinance to creating a website for all clubs at the school.

Matt Iassogna said taking the Senior Project class was nice, because it gave him a free period while also giving him credits.

“I took Senior Project,” said Matt, “because I had a project that I always wanted to do, which was anodizing [aluminum].”

Working with his mentor for the class, Rick Hall from Tier 1 LLC, where Matt also works on the assembly line, the two developed ideas for what Matt could do to further his understanding of chemical engineering. After about half-an-hour, Matt said they weeded out the best idea for his project.

“First we had to make sure we had all the materials,” Matt said. “Then we had to come up with a plan.”

He said he worked with an anodizing company to come up with the materials he would need for the project.

“I literally went through the entire process of anodizing material,” said Matt of meeting his goal of anodizing an aluminum disk, which he added is the second hardest material in the world when anodized.

“I’m relieved that I got it done,” he said the day after giving a rehearsal presentation for the Senior Project course, “and it came out as well as it did.”

Matt said he worked on this idea because he wants to study chemical engineering in college.

“It was really fun,” he said, “and I would recommend that other people [take this course].”

Books Are A Part Of Us

With her sculpture close to completion, Kristina Hansen said her experience with the Junior/Senior Project course was difficult at times, but she enjoyed it.

Kristina worked with NHS art teacher Carol Skolas as her mentor. Mrs Skolas, said Kristina, helped her come up with her project idea by having her research different artists. While not being specific, Kristina said the work of artist George Segal inspired her.

“I wanted to do something school related,” said Kristina while describing why she signed up to take the course before having an idea for a project, “but not in the classroom.”

Along with art, Kristina also said she loves to read, and it was this, and the works George Segal, that inspired her create her untitled work of art.

On Tuesday, December 15, when the group of students met in the Lecture Hall of NHS to give their rehearsal presentations, Kristina brought in her work of art. The sculpture is of a man reading a book while a rabbit and girl, dressed in a blue and white dress, stand on his head and shoulder.

The man is reading Alice In Wonderland, according to Kristina, who also said the book was a favorite of hers when she was in elementary school.

“Books can become a part of you,” said Kristina, when describing what she wanted her work to display to a viewer, “become more than just words on a page.”

Work still needs to be done on her project, she said, including adding written words from Alice In Wonderland on her sculpture of the man, and to redoing the smaller sculptures of the rabbit and girl.

Microfinance

Nicole Vournazos said she first learned about the influence microfinance can have during her involvement in raising money a couple years ago to fund a roadside school in Hyderabad, India.

“My senior project was a continuation of my project from last year,” said Nicole.

Seeing the impact microfinance had in Hyderabad, Nicole said she wanted to bring that impact to Newtown High School.

Last year Nicole worked with Joyce Jacobson at Wesleyan University to write curriculum for the subject of microfinance. This year her senior project focused on bringing microfinance to the high school. With guidance from NHS teacher Dave Foss, Nicole taught a class her curriculum, which can be seen at www.webs.com/hsmicrofinance.

Nicole also became involved with Givology, a microfinance organization that partners with grassroots and nonprofit organizations, communities, and schools to sponsor grants and projects, according to Givology.

With her senior project this year, Nicole worked to integrate Givoloy into the NHS community through clubs on the campus.

Nicole plans to use a slideshow to present her project in January.

Website Design

Senior Shane Wurtz said that while his senior project may not be able to benefit him during his last half of the school year, he hopes it will benefit future students at NHS.

“Every morning for the first two weeks of school, my dad would nag me about clubs I could join,” said Shane. He typically responded that he did not know about clubs meeting at the school, and did not know where he could find out about them.

When he joined the Junior/Senior Project course, Shane combine this experience with his interest in business finance and web design.

Shane mentored with Darryl Ohrt and his assistant Stephanie Fuda at Plaid in Danbury. Shane said the first step was to lay out the design for the eventual website.

“We want the kids to know where they are going,” said Shane, “and when the meetings are.”

After laying out an initial design, using another website as a template, Shane contacted all of the club advisors at the high school and asked them to get him information on their club.

Now his website, www.nhsclubs.yolasite.com, is in the process of being linked to the school’s website.

“And I kept the name yolasite there,” Shane said, “because that makes it a free domain name so no one has to pay for it for years to come.”

The high school offers roughly 40 clubs, and, until now, said Shane, there has not been a complete website for them. Shane’s design also gives each club the ability to add more information and create its own blog connected to the website.

The website also offers a calendar listing each of the clubs meeting times on the days of the meetings.

The Family Kitchen

Tyler Davenport said he is hopeful his family will use his Junior/Senior Project in the future, but thinks a more scaled down version is more likely.

 “My parents had been thinking about redesigning the kitchen for the past few months,” said Tyler, “and I knew I wanted to get into architecture, so I thought it would be a good project to focus on.”

Tyler worked with local architect John Madzula. To redesign his family’s kitchen, Tyler started by designing, drawing, and creating a small scale model.

His report after completion of the project put the cost of redesigning his family’s kitchen at $43,000, including the cost of labor and taking out two walls. Tyler said cabinets brought the cost of the kitchen up a lot.

“I really liked making the minimodel, because it was hands on,” he said, adding the model helped him to see his project coming together.

Tyler said he thinks the Junior/Senior Project class at the high school is a great opportunity for students.

“I knew what I wanted to do when I started the class,” said Tyler, “and this project has reassured me that this is what I want to do.”