Third week of project

It's hard to believe that we're already on our third week of senior project. Recently, to my surprise, I discovered that there is actually one 8th grade, 7-person French class left at Old Trail. Since Senora was going to be teaching the same lesson in both of the 8th grade Spanish classes that day, I dropped by the French class. There was a student in the class who was behind because of missed school, so I was able to pull him out into the hallway and teach him what he missed, catching him up. Although I'm really enjoying learning the Spanish language, it was a nice chance to practice one I've already studied.




Also, I was able to work with Juan Pablo (the Spanish-fluent 4th grader) and record him reading some books. And later in the day, we went to the Young-5's class, where he read aloud one of the books we've recorded. The five year olds loved him! It was really fun listening him read and observing the reactions of the five year olds.

Today, the 7th graders in Spanish class learned many new verbs, all of which I learned how to conjugate and wrote them down in my notebook. In 8th grade, we finished watching the Don Quijote video. Sadly my day was cut short because of the mid-project report day, but it was still really fun.

First Week of Soccer

My second week of project I decided to teach the children some basics of soccer. We started of by watching a highlight video of me during my junior year playing soccer in order to give the students an idea of what they could be like, and a goal to work for. Many of the children were inspired by my video, and they looked up to me, they wanted me to teach them all the skills and moves I knew. I was delighted, I managed to grab their attention this way they would listen to me more and do what I ask of them. But then again, there were some other students whom despite my video were uninfluenced. They disliked soccer because they were ignorant of it. They kept asking the head gym teacher if they could play a "real sport" like football or basketball. This insulted me that I had to force them to actually learn a new sport for a change, which could be helpful especially with the 2010 World Cup coming up. So despite their relentlessness, i still made them play what ever game the class were playing, and when they refused to do it or listen, I had them sit out on the sidelines and watch their friends play. I originally thought I was only going to be teaching the 4 and 5 graders but I ended up teaching the whole school, during their gym period because there were always a few in each class that truely wanted to learn soccer. Ihad a very passionate student on Friday who insisted on wearing his shinguards and cleats and team shirt although it weren't necessary. He was too passionate about the game, he felt like those gears might put him in the right competitive mood to play lol. He was a funny kid but the gym teacher and i didn't want to break his spirit by forcing him to take off all his overly passionate for the occasion gears lol. I taught the children how to pass andtrap the soccer ball and how to dribble. I referenced soccer to basket ball alot of the time see how thats the sport those students at Harvey rice could relate to better. For the most part they did really well, and some have more potential then others but theres a very promising team at Harvey Rice.

Tenth Day of Project

No experiments today!!! I was glad and sad at the same time...but it's not the end of it. I had to take a break from doing experiments so that I could analyze the data I had already collected. So first of all I had to record all the areas from the ten experiments I performed on Thursday. Each experiment had its own graph and the graphs each had 3 peaks: methanol, water and 1-octanol. So I had to take the area under each peak for all the experiments - it wasn't as bad as it sounds; the computer did the calculations for me, I just had to record the numbers. :)

After collecting all the data, I entered them into Excel together with the actual data I had made up (the actual percentages I used in making up the solutions for the experiments)...then I had to do some 'tedious' calculations on Excel to find the percentage of the total area for each component (methanol, water, 1-octanol), then the sum of the percentages (both from the data taken from the GC [the raw data], and the data I had created while making up the solutions [actual data] ). I then had to graph the actual data against the raw data, and had to get graphs that were linear and passed through the origin - but that wasn't the case with my data.

It turns out you have to "normalize" the data (I'm still trying to understand what that means). So I had to figure out response factors for the 3 components, then use them in the same calculations I had done before -then plot the graph again. This time it wasn't so bad; the graphs were almost linear, and not so far from the origin.

So, next time I will probably try to smooth out my experiments (make sure my injections are perfect) and do the same thing all over again...hopefully the graphs will turn out better!

Ninth Day of Project

So, Tuesday and Wednesday I had AP Exams...Today the 1-Octanol finally arrived, and so I could try the methanol/1-octanol/water separations. But first I had to make up solutions like I did on Monday with the methanol and water. Firstly, I had to figure out the percentages for the solutions I had to make, and I had to make sure that they were all single face. So I came up with 10 combinations of percentages, and then I converted them to masses to see approximately how much of the solutions I had to measure out. Then I did the measuring, making a total of 10 different solutions of methanol/1-octanol/water.

After making the solutions I injected them one by one into the Gas Chromatograph and let it do it's job. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't changed the settings from Monday so the GC stopped after 4 minutes which means that I did not get peaks for the 1-octanol that was in the solutions I had injected. So I had to go back and re-do the injections, with each separation taking a whole 13 minutes! All the separations took me the whole day to finish, and I even decided to put in some extra hours just so I could be sure I was on the right track with every thing.

Besides it being a very long day...it was very fun. And today Prof. Wainright decided to let me do everything by myself which made me feel great about my skills for doing the experiments and I felt very independent!

2nd week of OTS

I haven't mentioned this before, but last Friday in the afternoon Old Trail participated in their annual "Walk-a-thon," which is an event where all of the middle schoolers walk five miles and raise money for charities. Priya Sharma and I helped by walking along with them, and would watch over the students (we had to make sure that they were always on the right side of the road, that they wouldn't get hit by any bikers, that they weren't too loud or disruptive, etc.). It was really fun being able to help out and was just like old times!



Yesterday was also a very eventful day at Old Trail. In the morning, as usual, I sat in on the 8th grade Spanish class and listened to Senora's lesson. The 8th graders played a "pictionary" game to help memorize vocabulary words and I joined right in. During the 7th grade Spanish class that I attended, Senora was showing the class many different Spanish songs that helped them memorize conjugated verbs! After listening to various songs, we learned some new Spanish verbs and filled out some of Senora's verb conjugation work sheets.

Later in the day, I went to Senora's first grade Spanish class. Again, I was able to work with a group of four first grade students, teaching them a new lesson of Symtalk and practicing sentences that they've already learned. The children were really enthusiastic about learning more Spanish, and they were really fun to work with!

Also, I was able to work with the fourth grade boy from Mexico, Juan Pablo. I had brought my laptop into school so I was able to record him reading more childrens books on the Garageband application. We were able to get through four books this time. This will be very helpful for the grade called "Young Fives," because now they'll be able to listen to Juan Pablo's recording as they read along! It was another entertaining and rewarding day recording him, and he has a terrific Spanish accent so I was able to observe that as well.

Now, today I attended Senora's 7th and 8th grade classes. In 8th grade, they took a quiz in the beginning (which I had made many copies of for Senora), and afterwards, we watched more of the Don Quijote video. The 7th graders have a huge project coming up, so the class went to the lab. There, I was able to help the students conduct research on their project and found some useful websites for them. As for first grade, I sat in on Senora's class so I could observe her teach the Symtalk lesson for the day. Before we formally met with the first graders, however, earlier today I met with a group of four of them. Eventually (possibly tomorrow but likely next week), I am going to record some of the first graders reading sentences from the Symtalk work books. This will be helpful for future students and teachers, and can even help the current students because they can practice by listening to the recordings. I was just able to practice reading certain sentences with them today so they're all ready to go when I finally record them!

So even though I'm learning lots at Old Trail, I also have had my share of play time. Yesterday, Priya and I joined the 8th grade biking gym class, and we rode our bikes along trails by Old Trail. It required a lot of energy and hard work, but it was really fun! And today, Priya and I helped the kindergarten teachers supervise recess and had the chance to play with the kids. It was a great chance to have a little fun and have a break in the day.

Walden

We entered the Walden 'estates' and met with Mr. Rosencrans, the Managing Partner. As we drove into the club we were impressed with the developed location as we passed barns and horses. Our good feelings were short lived after meeting Mr. Rosencrans. Upon meeting meeting him we were kindly welcomed but then once the interview was underway our feelings were overturned. Our first question was simply, "how many members does walden have?" With a very sarcastic response he said, "too few, not enough." He refused to give us a number, which other clubs were more than happy to tell. All his responses were extremely negative and used the phrase, "putting a gun to my head" more than once. Mr. Rosencrans' horrible attitude with us may have been from a tough week or personal problem but in a professional setting that was our feelings towards how Walden is doing right now. From talking with him he made it sound that the entire club industry is, "slowly bleeding to death." However, other clubs are at least confident that we can make it out of these tough times. He said that no club has ever succeeded, which is nonsense because the club business has a rich history.
The impression we received from Mr. Rosencrans we had no reason to tour or take photo's of the club. From all we were allowed to gather, we would not be surprized if Walden was in serious financial trouble due to his depressing mood and bitterness.

Canterbury Golf Club

At Canterbury Golf Club we met with Mr. Eric Rhodes, GM.
"Everything here is around golf!" Mr. Rhodes made it clear from the beginning that Canterbury is a Golf Club and all the amenities are focused on providing for the golfer's needs. Recently, the club completed a $3.8 million renovation to the Picard Lounge, named after the former head pro at Canterbury who won the Masters in 1938. His green jacket hangs next to the bar, one of only two jackets not kept at Augusta National Golf Club where the Masters is held. The renovation was to replace the formal dining hall with a more casual mixed grill equipped with bar stools and no table cloths. Mr. Rhodes said that the golfing atmosphere can be less formal and more of a beer and hamburger joint. Despite the attention to golf, members still have the social options that other country clubs offer.

Canterbury is extremely young with an average age of 46 years old and is very family oriented. There are 200 kids under 12 that attend the club. They have junior golf, tennis and a 100 kid swim team. Babysitting is offered for parents who wish to drop their kids off for a round of golf. Mr. Rhodes claimed that it is the youngest club in the Cleveland area. The attire is not very stuffy; golf attire is always allowed even in the dining rooms. As a very young club, members tend to dress relaxed. There is a kids room with games that is adjacent to the pool (see picture), "somewhere they can put their feet up and not get yelled at" according to Mr. Rhodes.

Membership is similar to the country clubs around. 350 families use the club with 225 as golf members. A social option is provided including a social + golf, which includes five golf rounds a year. Each member is allowed a one year leave of absence if needed.

Food and Beverage:
Mr. Rhodes does believe that the club chef's are the top quality. To be a chef in most restaurants around all it takes is a pair of scissors to open the package and a microwave to warm it up. At a club the chef must be prepared to cook eighty 3-course meals and also get out an order of french toast in the middle of dinner service. Mr. Rhodes explained how involved and passionate Chef Rios is in the cooking world from teaching culinary classes to being the president of the local Chef's Association. Michael Symon is a member and counsels the kitchen staff at Canterbury. They also throw dinner nights where he cooks a five course meal for $250 a person. This exciting and a special presentation that sells the club's dining option. Canterbury does however lose money on their food but makes up for it in their tournament revenue.

Golf:
Canterbury's golf is unparalleled in Northeast Ohio with greats such as Arnold Palmer, Walter Hagon, Jack Nicklaus, and Chi Chi Rodriquez who have won PGA tournaments at the club.

The prized part of being a member at Canterbury is that you get to play on a course that is always kept to a professional tournament standard. As prestigious as that sounds the club only pays $1 million a year on the course which is middle of the road. Since it is only situated on 140 acres of land, the maintenance cost is low. The course was designed by Herbert Strong. Canterbury strives to have a Major tournament every five years, whether men's, women's or senior. The pro shop is owned by the pro himself and is a complete separate entity.

Canterbury charges $1,000 a month just to belong to the club. However, you pay for what you get. Mr. Rhodes states, "When you belong to Canterbury you're driving in a Mercedes not a Chevy Cavalier. To get the nice leather seats you have to pay for them. There are other cars out there that will get you there but will not be as nice." Canterbury in a way is its own kind of club. It is a golf focused but family oriented club with very high standards and a high price tag.