Senior Projects

Week two started yesterday and so far I don’t have a set plan. I’ve been crocheting a lot (surprise surprise haha) and I’ve been doing lots of yard work. I think I’m mainly going to do house and yard work this week because my mom just got a new job and she’s been working a lot. One goal that I do have this week is starting my Kahn Academy lessons. Before summer orientation, I have to do a math placement test for college, so I want to make sure I’m super prepared. I don’t think I’m going to vlog this week because I don’t have a set plan, and vlogging yard work is much harder than vlogging scarf making. Next week I’m doing a cooking and baking week, so I will vlog then.

For my project this week, I am learning how to knit, taking a math class, and making masks. For some reason one mask takes me about 4 hours each!! I’m still going to continue what I’m doing. Here are some pictures..

This past week I have been working 9am-2pm at the food pantry in Creve Cour. Then When I get home, i would spend 2-3 hours on mask making. This process has been slow. I have made about 25 total and still have some close to completion.

Now, for this week I will work at the same pantry from 9am-12pm and I will be spending 4-5 hours on masks, to hopefully speed up the process and get more masks out. I have also either been taking two 30 minute bike rides or 1 hour walks each day just to get out of the house.

Other than that, not much has been going on. I still hope to get some time to write and cook this week and the next following weeks. Welp, I’ll have to play all of that by ear.

Hope everyone is ok!

Hello everyone! I miss you.

I have not heard anything yet from one of my organizations, so it seems like I will be continuing to study on my own.

By now I am starting to be able to correctly pronounce words, having finished up memorizing the alphabet. Today I listened to the names of the numbers. My phone is in Arabic, which is a technique I would say is pretty effective.

I have learned about some systems of the body, nutrition, and exercise, as well as what it means to be a doctor.

A new plan I am thankful for is to be less regimented about how much time I do each thing and just aim to accomplish 5 hours every day generally involving the four plus subjects, while leaving time and energy for other pursuits in my life.

Cheers friends,
Eleanor L.

The second week of my Senior Project will be spent working at Dardenne Prairie City Hall. As of Friday they had been practicing social distancing but had not graduated to gloves and masks. In light of the Governor’s stay-at-home order, they have upped their cleaning protocol and are restricting public access to just the lobby with barriers to prevent roaming. When I shadow I will be wearing a mask and gloves per my parents request and my own efforts to not obtain and spread the virus.

On Monday, tomorrow, I am shadowing the Mayor and City Administrator to get an overview of the operation of city government and the interaction of the voters and their elected representatives (i.e. mayor and board of aldermen). On Tuesday I am shadowing the Court Administrator and Prosecuting Attorney’s Assistant to get a close look at the role and function of the municipal court. For Wednesday I am shadowing the building inspection/permit/code enforcement department and the economic development department to learn how and why the city manages the build code and regulates construction and renovations in residential properties and how the city promotes the businesses in the city and attracts new businesses. On Thursday I am set to attend the weekly Staff Meeting at 9:00 and shadow Buildings and Grounds Department and the City Clerk/Treasurer to learn how the city takes care of parks and buildings and how the city keeps records, responds to record requests, and handles money. Lastly, on Friday I am shadowing Parks and Recreation to see how the City develops and manages recreation programs. I was scheduled to see the preparations for the annual children’s Easter Egg Hunt scheduled for 4/11 but that was cancelled.

It is a pretty packed week however there might have been some changes to my schedule due to COVID-19. I am excited to get out of the house and have some human interaction outside of my immediate family. Like I said, each week I am looking one week ahead. I just got news that my shadowing opportunity at Elasticity Marketing in St. Louis has been cancelled since they are not an essential business. I am in the process of coming up with productive and meaningful things to do next week, some of my ideas are: upcycling some clothes, teaching myself how to embroider, learning how to design and code a website, and possibly fulfilling my childhood dream of becoming a fashion designer by learning how to sew. If you have any suggestions please reach out!

Hey all! For the first week of my project I did a DIY Week. At the beginning of the week, I planned to make masks, jewelry and a crochet scarf. It’s Sunday now and I thought I would do a quick post on what actually happened!

I ended up just crocheting a scarf. It took me SIGNIFICANTLY longer than expected. I had never crocheted before, so my mom had to teach me. When I started, I was terrible at it and I thought it was the biggest waste of time ever. After 30 minutes of trying to make one row of stitches, I rage quit. After pouting for a little bit, I decided that I didn’t want to be mad at a piece of yarn anymore and that I wanted to give it another try. I worked on it for a while and I started to get a little better. When crocheting, you always have to have the same number of stitches in each row or what you’re making will keep getting smaller. I didn’t know this, so my scarf kept getting smaller by each row I stitched. I had to rip out all the work I did multiple times due to this. I spent all week working on the scarf and I’m happy to report that I have completely changed my mind on crocheting, I actually LOVE it! It was so nice to spend a week doing something that wasn’t starring at my tv, phone or computer screen. I’m so proud of it and I can’t wait to wear it next year when I’m at Drake!

I ended up going to Walmart yesterday and buying a lot more yarn to occupy me for the next few weeks at home.

I’m thinking about just turning my senior project into crocheting for 7 weeks. I have a bunch of yarn and a bunch of projects I want to do. My mom and I figured out how to do the masks, so I can also work on that.

Hi everyone, I thought I’d give an update on what I did this week!

Getting to the end of the first week, I’m beginning to settle in the schedule at made for myself to keep myself on track.

Here’s my schedule:

9:00- Wake up

10:30- Studying

12:00- Lunch

1:30- Arts and Crafts (I plan to finish one art project each week)

3:30- Reading (I plan to finish one book each week)

4:30- Workout

5:30 Studying

My family usually has dinner at 6-6:30 and that’s when I’m done for the day.

Right now, studying for me includes online classes through Udemy and Blueprint, and I’m also planning and doing a research project on a different animal each week (except this past week). I’ll make some sort of way to present it and I’ll share it with everyone on my blog posts.

This week, for my art project, I learned how to cross stitch! It was pretty simple, Mom taught me how to do it, and I’ve already ordered some more patterns to try out.

Most weeks I’m going to switch between writing and a visual craft from day to day. But, this week I just spent time on the cross stitch.

For reading this week, I finished a book called The Reader by Traci Chee. It’s a fantasy book, the first in a series. I started it a while ago and took this week as an opportunity to finally finish it. I really enjoyed it, it has very good world building, and the description was very vivid. I’ll have to find the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, I am no longer planning to volunteer at the rabbit house, but I’m hoping to try out lots of new crafts/hobbies and learn about some things I’m interested in!

Grace

Hello! I hope this post finds everyone well.

I want to you give an update on the non-profit organization that I have been working on, The Incandescent. 

Here is our mission statement: “Our purpose is to create a platform for teens and young adults to express their opinions and emotional response to world issues in the form of poetry, prose, visual art, and more. We also hope to be part of the solution to problems our generation is facing, such as global warming and COVID-19, by collecting funds through writing and art contests supporting young artists.”

About a week ago, a friend reached out to me and asked if I want to be a part of an entirely non-profit, teen-run literary magazine. Of course I said yes. I joined the planning committee, and I was fortunate enough to bring this platform into existence with a team of amazing young people (some of whom I knew through the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop).

I became a part of the creative thinking team. We spent most of the time discussing the format of the website. Since it is entirely an online platform, the aesthetics and functionality of the website are both important. During the first sections, we brainstormed names, discussed office positions, created email/fundraising platform/website/social media accounts…

We fundraised over 700 dollars on the first day and bought our platform on Wix.com. As of for today, we raised $930 in total. We brainstormed alternative ways to raise funds like contest fees and subscriptions. We also researched the process of filing as an official non-profit organization.

After another long meeting, I spent a couple of hours working on the website. I figured out how to add tags to the pieces and also how to attach a free submission manager (Green Submission) to the website.

I’m really excited for this project, and I think it will do a lot of good in the world.

If you have any relevant piece, you’re strongly encouraged to submit to us and contribute to our first issue. The deadline is Saturday, April 11th. Here is the link to submit: https://forms.gle/ofupakHuGSVrvJdC7.

If you’re unsure, feel free to ask me any question and/or read more in the description of our gofundme. Here is the link to the gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-incandescent?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1.

Here is the link to our website: https://www.theincandescentreview.org/. We are still working on it, but please feel free to subscribe to our mailing list. Our spring issue is coming soon!

Please go follow @theincandescentreview on Instagram and donate if you can!

Like most of us, my plans for senior project have pretty much been cancelled. The Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary and the Endangered Wolf Center have both said that I can reschedule my internship for another time, so I might still get a chance to do what I was going to do, but for now I have to redirect.

Instead, I’m going to volunteering at the Missouri House Rabbit Society three times a week. They are entirely volunteer run, and so they need help to keep all of the bunnies taken care of. They’re taking health precautions and requiring all volunteers to be social distancing, as well as keeping the number of the people in the building as low as possible.

Other than that, I have days to fill with other projects. Each week, I would like to complete one art project (whether it’s writing or visual art) and read one book (luckily I have a long list).

I also will be trying some online classes through Udemy and Blueprint on things that I want to learn how to do or to get better at (like drawing/sketching). I’ll post pictures of my art projects and of the rabbits as long as I can do volunteer time there!

Grace

Hello!
So far some of my project has been cancelled, like the State Park, but that’s okay. God gave me the idea to do an independent study!
I’m excited about being able to research some subjects I’m quite passionate about. This is independent study involves four plus subjects, with ideas in ():

Arabic (Speaking and understanding the Egyptian Dialect and the Basics of the language in general…)

Apologetics (Scientific, archaeological, historical, logical case for the Bible, God, and the gospel…)

Medicine (the body systems I want to learn more about, medical fields and majors, advice for medical school…)

Other (Spanish vocabulary and grammar, writing, Math concepts…)

I would highly recommend! I think I am doing 5 hours over 6 days instead of 6 hours over 5 days.

Eleanor L