3D design and Production

For this course I basically was allowed to choose what my projects were because it was the 4th 3D printing class I had taken. I decided to make a barn that had a unfolding roof and the details inside. It took me a couple weeks to design everything and then even more time to print it. The issues I ran into with this project was the hinges were very tight and when made looser they would fall apart. To fix this issue I used two different materials and took the ABS and used an acetone bath to reduce the friction in the hinge. This worked better than I expected and made the print look nicer. The whole course took me about 2 months to complete and allowed me to continue to explore the world of 3D printing.

Civic Engagement

At GCE it is required to do a total of 200 hours of civic engagement. For my hours I decided to do them at the build out of their new school. I volunteered to work 20 hours a week with whatever they needed me to do. Having no experience in building or the machinery they were using I thought that it would be an excellent opportunity to learn.

The first job that I was tasked with was to build lighting fixtures for one of the offices and to wire it. Going about this I had to use a metal grinder and various other tools that I was unsure of how to use. I learned most of these skills through the other members of the team and completed the fixture in a couple days. Once finished I was supposed to make two more, which went much faster.

After I had finished those the flooring needed to be done and it was going to take the whole team because otherwise it would have taken forever. It took us about a week to complete the whole floor. The issues we ran into though slowed us down quite a bit. The floorboards were made of bamboo and sometimes the nail gun would not shoot the nail all the way through and it would bend, screwing up the floor board. Once we got a rhythm down it started to speed up.

Afterwards I was mainly tasked with more lighting fixtures because I already have previous knowledge in circuitry. However, the different fixtures were all unique in design and required different tools. Some needed wood to be cut and sanded, others needed pipe cutters.

From my time working at the school's build out I learned how to  use a variety of tools, styles of building, and a lot of general knowledge when it comes to building.

Rhetorical Inspiration

The second Action Project of Journalism was to create a podcast of  a voice that represented the 21st century/was a voice that was recognizable by everyone who was a part of it. The obvious choice for me was Barrack Obama because almost everyone I talk to has an opinion of him/his voice and he has inspired many to pursue learning the power of rhetoric. I interviewed two people, Riley Florsheim and Jacob lending, about the inspiration and the effect he has had on them. They both agreed that because of him they have pursued learning about speech and rhetoric because they understand the influence a person can have if they are an amazing rhetorician. The hardest part of this project for me was actually creating the sound because my experience in sound editing is minimal and the experience I do have is in a program that I do not own. This made me need to learn a whole new program.

Spot Story: Derrick Rose and the Bulls

Derrick Rose signed a four year contract with the Chicago Bulls in 2008 after studying at the University of Memphis for one year. He then re-signed with the Bulls in 2012. Since then, Rose has had numerous injuries, but still has lead the Bulls to three postseasons. Derrick Rose won Rookie of the Year in 2008-2009 and won Most Valuable Player in 2010-2011.

After Derrick Rose’s many injuries, it seems that talk of him leaving his home  team, the Chicago Bulls, has finally started. Last night, I was lucky enough to go to the United Center, the Bulls stadium, with my father. As I arrived, I knew this could be the last time that I saw Derrick Rose in Chicago colors. While the Chicago Bulls have prospered with  Rose on their team and Rose has allowed the Bulls to come within arm’s reach of getting another championship ring, it is time for the Bulls to move on from their once favorite basketball player. Rose was instrumental to the Bulls’ success for many years, but because of his recent injury ridden history, his true value has been diminished. As ESPN writer Scoop Jackson puts it, “Rose has had 14 injuries since he won the NBA MVP in 2011 (five injuries, one surgery and 29 games missed alone last season, which was supposed to be his "comeback") and he missed 237 of a possible 350 games over that same period” (Jackson). As of now the Chicago Bulls are not really happy with Rose’s injury plagued career. However, Rose isn’t too happy either with his salary and wants more even though he isn’t playing at his peak and is not looking like the superstar he once was. “Making sure my family is financially stable, as far as seeing all the money that they're passing out in this league” (Rose). Rose currently has a $20+ million annual salary not including his deal with Adidas that  guarantees him 50 million for 20 years. With that being one of the highest salaries in the NBA, Rose’s recent scoring doesn’t align with high salary. As Bleacher Report writer Tyler Conway stated, “Rose, however, is anything but an average superstar.” While Derrick Rose’s career is far from over, his partnership with the Bulls will surely come to an end shortly due to his poor performance and request for obscene amounts of money..

While this might be the last time I will see Derrick Rose as a Chicago Bull, the energy at the United Center has not changed at all. Jimmy Butler has become the center of attention and the thousands of Bulls fans are still excited to see the Chicago Bulls. This year will be the highest paid year for Derrick Rose, but it definitely isn’t his best year in his ability to score. So far, he has averaged only 13 points a game, not nearly as many as the NBA players who have a comparable salary. Derrick Rose may be leaving the Chicago Bulls, but hopefully his career is far from over and he can come back from these injuries. Derrick Rose is only 27 years old, so he could still have many years left in his career. If all goes well, Derrick Rose will play to his full potential when he signs with another team.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/13794493/the-love-story-chicago-bulls-star-derrick-rose-hometown-not-fairy-tale-ending

http://allaboutrookies.sportsblog.com/posts/6715910/nba-trade-rumors--derrick-rose-leaving-the-chicago-bulls-.html

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2586503-derrick-rose-latest-news-rumors-and-speculation-on-bulls-stars-future

Investment Portfolio

For the second and final Action Project in Economics I had to make an investment portfolio and show how I would invest our money if I had the funds. I was given set time frames and told to research companies and figure out the risk involved and what their expected return would be for each different time frames. I was allowed to choose an amount to allocate myself for the project and chose 15,000$ because it is more about the percent allocation anyways.  The main problem I had with this project was that the site I was asked to use for the portfolio was very limited and didn’t allow for commodity or currency exchanges. This led me to just creating my own way of representing my portfolio. The main thing I learned from this project was the research time involved in picking a few stocks.

As an investor I like to take on risk because there is the highest potential to make money and no one gets anywhere playing it safe all the time, which is the same philosophy as John Slazas. I tend to invest in shorter term stocks that are volatile and are traded daily because of the adrenaline that you feel from the face paced trading, but for this project I was asked to invest long term with 3 different time frames, 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years. I had to research more long term stocks and balance the risks so that I wasn’t completely invested in high risk companies.

For my first objective, one year, I decided to take a more risky approach because it wasn’t my life savings and I could recover from any of the loses. I decided to invest 10% of my portfolio (1,500$) in SunEdison Inc, SUNE, because it is one of the major providers of solar energy and just recently signed a deal with India allowing them to operate there. They also recently released their earnings and they were not too promising so the market pulled back and lowered the price to around 5 dollars a share from 8 a couple weeks ago. However, the reason for their low earnings is because they recently have been borrowing a lot of money to expand and create a stable revenue stream. They seem to have gotten that opportunity in India. This is my riskiest stock because there is no guarantee in their success and they recently haven’t been doing well, however, it offers the highest return if successful. The next stock that I put money into was Apple, APPL, to manage my risk with a more stable stock. Apple is a super power in the technology world and continues to maintain a grip on the American cell phone and computer markets. 2015 was also Apple’s most successful year ever according to their earnings reports.I would put 25% of my portfolio in Apple.  Apple is a safe investment with low return. Activision Blizzard Inc, ATVI, is the third company I would invest in because they recently announced three upcoming games/expansion releases and a movie that is expected to be a huge hit. While their main cash cow, World of Warcraft, has been losing players, their other games have increased in popularity and are played around the world. I believe they will continue to increase in value for at least another year as these new games come out. The past year their stock has been at an all time high. This is a moderate risk investment as the games could fail or the movie be a bust and it would be a huge hit to their stock. I would invest 15% in their company. The rest of the money I had would be put into a bank collecting interest, the safest way to earn money.

Name	Price of Stock	Stocks Owned	Percent of Portfolio	Risk
SUNE	4.92	305	10%	High
APPL	112.34	34	27%	Low
ATVI	34.59	66	15%	Medium
Bank	N/A	N/A	48%	Extremely low

For the second time frame, 5 years, I decided to take on an equal amount of risk as the first time frame because it still is only 5 years, which means the money can be earned back and isn’t everything I have saved. I kept the same stocks as the first time frame except changed some amounts based on balancing my risk and incorporated more stocks into my portfolio. I decided to add Allergan, AGN, to my portfolio at 10% because it is on the verge of making a deal to merge with another pharmaceutical company and is also getting of its drugs FDA approved within the next month. However, if the merger falls through or the approval then the stock price will drop a bit. This is a medium risk stock as it has historically only varied by 10-20$ for a stock that is valued at 298$ that is great. The next stock I decided to add to my portfolio was Smith & Wesson Holding Corp, SWHC, a gun company that produces a variety of different firearms. They recently have received more deals from law enforcement than usual and are expected to receive the Armies pistol contract. Their stock in the past year has risen 82.7% and is expected to continue to rise. This investment is a moderate risk because if they lose the Army deal their stock price will drop a few dollars. The stock currently is valued at 17.14$ and I would have it make up 10% of my portfolio. The last thing I would buy would be an ounce of gold as it is a commodity that throughout time has been valuable and considered the most valuable metal. The price of gold normally follows the market as a whole and rises and dips with it, making it a safe investment. One ounce of gold would be 7.2% of my portfolio.

Name	Stock Price	Stocks Owned	% of Portfolio	Risk
SUNE	4.92	457	15%	High
APPL	112.34	20	15%	Low
ATVI	34.59	44	10%	Medium
SWHC	17.14$	88	10%	Medium
AGN	300.20$	5	10%	High
AU	1,084.45$	1	7.2%	Low
Bank	N/A	N/A	32.8%	Low

For the last time frame I would use most of the same companies except Activision Blizzard Inc because I believe that in 25 years we will have a new superpower in the gaming industry and ATVI won’t be as huge. I also believe Apple will not do fantastic in the long term because they are not innovative anymore and are bound to be eclipsed. This will make Apple a higher risk for the long term because there still is a chance that they change course and once again become an innovative giant. I would invest in Google as my new safe bet because over the past few years it has been collecting more and more companies so that it can offer any service in the world. I believe that they will create their own operating system that is parallel if not better than any out there currently because they will be able to offer the best of everything. I would put 15% into google and bring down my Apple investment to 10% and my ATVI investment to 5%. I would also add a company called Oculus Innovative Sciences Inc. because they are heading the development of public virtual reality, which I believe to be the next craze after video gaming. The reason for this is because as time has gone on all entertainment has become more advanced and the user has gained more control of the way they receive this entertainment. It used to be music where we could listen, then TV where we could watch, then TV turned into a mass collection of channels and allowed us to control what we watched, and then video games where we controlled what the entertainment does.With virtual reality you gain complete control of the entertainment and can do whatever you want with it.  I would invest 5% into this company as they could fail and another company takes their place but currently they are heading the virtual reality world. This is a high risk investment.

Name	Stock Price	Stocks Owned	% of Portfolio	Risk
SUNE	4.92	457	15%	High
APPL	112.34	14	10%	Low
ATVI	34.59	22	5%	Medium
SWHC	17.14$	88	10%	Medium
AGN	300.20$	5	10%	High
AU	1,084.45$	1	7.2%	Low
GOOG	717	3	15%	Low
OCLS	1.1$	682	5%	high
Bank	N/A	N/A	22.8%	Low

Works Cited

"Apple - Press Info - Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results." Apple - Press Info - Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results. Apple, 27 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"Gold Spot Prices Today – Live Gold Charts." JM Bullion. Jm Bullion, 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"Oculus Innovative Sciences Inc." OCLS Stock Quote. Market Watch. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"Smith & Wesson Holding Corp - SWHC (NASDAQ-GS)." SWHC Stock Quote. Motifinvesting. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"SunEdison: The Market Has Got The Earnings Wrong." Seeking Alpha. SunEdison, 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"TheStreet Rating: A (Buy) Get the ATVI Report Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI)." TheStreet. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

College Cost Analysis

For the first action project of Economics my project was to analysis going to college and its cost benefit. I chose to look at Northeastern University because that is currently my top choice for college. I had to look at the different debts I could take on and the different job opportunities that college offered. The most challenging part for me was the researched involved because finding the information for an entrepreneur is more difficult than most jobs.

The Meaning of Life

For my first unit in Journalism I had to interview a person with a unique meaning of life and try to capture that with an image of them. I decided to interview my teacher, who has been a mentor and a friend to me throughout the years because he has influenced the way I see the world and has a very unique background that was influenced by his view on life. The project was not that challenging for me as my teacher is incredibly friendly and open to interviews. The only hard part was getting the photos because I only saw him during class or while he was alone.

Travis Chandler has a unique view on life that led him to become the teacher he is today. He currently teaches at the school that he attended and brings his vast knowledge of movie production, music, and engineering, accumulated over years of exploring life and experiencing whatever he could.Travis believes that we shouldn’t question the meaning of life but should instead realize that not everything has meaning.“Meaning is a human construct. Our brains love narratives and finds them everywhere, even when they are not there” (Chandler, 2015.) However, this has made Mr. Chandler want to explore his passions wherever they take him, constructing his own meaning for life.

To him life’s meaning is to allow us to learn and experience everything that we can so that we can become as knowledgeable as we can. He has shown this through his career with the frequency of job changes and then concluding by working as an educator to share his knowledge with others. He also encourages students to take risks and to go out and do what they believe is best.  He is always there for his students, willing to guide them and help them through whatever they need.

I approached Mr. Chandler, who I had been a student of for more than a year, and asked him about transferring schools to GCE and its experiential learning model. Instead of turning me away, like most teachers would do if a student approached them about leaving their school, he spent a whole class period and his lunch break explaining the pros and cons and did not once say what his opinion was. With his questions, he let me come to my own conclusion as he does with every other student who approaches him. This is because he knows that to learn, people need to experience life for themselves.

However passive he is when it comes to advice, he loves to debate and draws all of his opinions from experience. One of the prime examples of this is his class at DePaul, which is “Ethics in Video Games and Cinema.” As an avid gamer himself, he brings a unique view to the class and sets it up in a debate format with an open conversation with his opinion as valuable as everyone else's.Observing his class, however, he is up there, talking and sharing his experiences, causing his students to see the knowledge in their own experiences. He doesn’t teach his students, he guides them.

Our interview took place in his classroom at Francis W. Parker, where I learned everything I know about 3-D printing and design. This picture was taken before we had started our interview and just represented Mr. Chandler through my eyes. He is constantly busy at this desk from 7 AM to 5 PM despite not having classes all day, but no matter what, he is always available to support his  students who request his advice or simply to chat. There have been countless times when I came in to talk about issues going on in my life  and he was behind his desk ready to listen.

The photo was taken with a low aperture and ISO so that the light from the computer didn’t overwhelm the photo and make it over exposed. However, this caused more shadows and a darker looking photo except around the desk, which helps with the representation of his class because the lights are always off for some reason and it is illuminated by computer screens.

The shutter speed was pretty fast because he was typing and again, the computer screens light. The photo places him on the first third line and a little lower in the photo. The issue with my photo, and all of the photos that I took, is that they represent something to me because I have known Chandler for a long time. I also believe I should have gotten his face more in the photo so that people can identify him and it isn’t such a vague picture. In addition, taking a picture of Chandler during a conversation with a student would have really captured his way of seeing life.

Right after walking in he finished up his email and was ready to be interviewed, without any questions on the topic or scheduling. Our interview was quick because he doesn’t have a defined meaning of life but it was very interesting to hear his story of how he ended up where he did, and from our previous conversations I understood how he viewed life. Life is there to be experienced and shared.