Project Overview: In this mastery project, I made a photo essay on people in my life who contributed to who I am today. I wanted to photograph family/friends/teachers/and relatives. This wrapped up my senior year and the last year of a six-year journey. I also added written reflections and poetry to each of the portraits I took.
Driving Question: How might I grow my creativity during the COVID-19 crisis through exploring the science of creativity and innovation and experimenting with art?
Project Title: The World and Its Viruses
Location: Wuhan, China
What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them? I wanted captivate and express my creativity, something which I had been struggling with lately. So I decided to create a series of art pieces to express my perspectives and thoughts on the COVID-19 crisis through maps. By extensively researching my theme, receiving and applying feedback, as well as trying different techniques, I managed to express my creativity and perspectives through this unusual type of art.
What did you learn about yourself, your creative process, or your medium? I learned that creativity is not a state of mind, but an innate condition that people just do not cultivate.
Driving Question: How to grow in Spanish in a fun and unique way?
Project Description: For my project, I wrote a short story in Spanish using the skills I developed this school year. For inspiration, I used the nights spent under the stars in Patagonia and the odd assortment of dreams that came with them.
What were your goals for this project? How did you achieve them? My first and foremost goal was to learn Spanish, but I had no idea it would evolve to what it ended up becoming! To achieve this rather ambitious but straight forward goal I ended up employing multiple different techniques.
First I used the tried and true Duolingo learning app. While it did help it did not cover the topics I wanted to explore nor did it start at the level of Spanish I was at. For most of my Australia term, I ended up using the Duolingo stories since they contextualised the language more and were more interactive for my style of learning. I also ended up watching multiple Spanish language movies that were provided on Netflix with English subtitles. One that stood out to me was ‘El Hoyo’ about a futuristic prison.
Eventually, I ended up just writing and revising my Spanish with native Spanish speakers as they were able to answer my specific questions.
What are you passionate about that lead you to choosing this project? I wanted to challenge myself and as someone who did not excel in language studies in my previous school and even went as far as to quit Spanish and get a Pass in French to avoid my grade. I wanted to prove my past self wrong and to prove my present self that I could learn to love languages.
Did your project develop and change from your initial idea, if so how? My project changed significantly from primarily focusing on speaking to writing once the Chile term was changed. I previously hoped that my Spanish would improve once in an environment that forced me to start using the words I learned. However, later on I opted to focus on writing as it was something I could do more independently.
Driving Question: How might I create an uplifting documentary that shows how deafness adds value and diversity to our society?
Project Description: For my second mastery project, I decided to improve my filmmaking skills by making a documentary about deaf artists living in Melbourne. The main objective of this was to tell a story of a group that’s not often talked about and to portray it in a positive, inspiring way. The film sheds light on what it’s like to be a deaf artist in a hearing world and the struggles that come with it. But most importantly, it shows that deafness brings a valuable perspective to our society by showcasing the talent and passion of two Australian artists.
What are the biggest lessons you learned through the process of your mastery project? I think the main thing I’ve learned through this project is the importance of being adaptable and flexible when things don’t go as planned, and knowing that some things are just outside of my control.
Driving Question: How can we teach the concepts of branding, marketing, and project management to build a fashion brand?
Project Overview: We developed this service project to help local Panamanian fashion entrepreneurs Maale & Lorena build their streetwear brand, Sure. We did so by designing a website, graphics, and by offering business strategy through regular phone calls. We found the work to be more rewarding than initially expected. In this process, we not only discovered a passion for graphic design but also became passionate about the future of the project. Are You Sure refers to the branding we came up with in conjunction with the two young women.
During the fifth week, right before heading to WeXplore in Venao, Principal Russell Cailey asked for volunteers to help two of the girls at Hairarchy build a business website for a fashion brand. There we realized they were missing other important elements of their business so we decided to help.
As to who they are exactly, Maale and Lore are two Colombian girls that moved to Panama and began working in Hairarchy Casco. Lore is a bartender at La Bárbara, the speakeasy that operates at the back of the salon and Maale is the receptionist for the salon. They are both passionate, creative, and entrepreneurial people that love to use art to communicate with the world around them and they both love music!
It was also great to have our hard work recognized by two of the other members of their team, Ryan and Dave. One thing led to another, and Levith and I got offered a part in the brand if we continued with the project. The service project has become a passion project, and we very eager to see its development in the future.
Driving Question: How can I use fictional/non-fictional storytelling to create a meaningful experience about Greek society (ancient/ contemporary)?
Project Description: During the online COVID term, our module focused on fictional/non-fictional storytelling to create a meaningful experience about society, and we were given the option to write a script or a podcast. For those of us who chose to write a script, we were given free rein regarding the topic; however, we had to stick to a ten-minute timeline.
The topics that people came up with were quite varied. Some of us chose to write about the current COVID-19 situation, some of us decided to talk about other aspects of society such as poaching or the LGBT+ community. Below you can read scripts by CM2 students Bella and Giulia, who highlight the effects of social media and a young girl’s battle with cystic fibrosis and COVID-19.
Bella
If you’ve ever thought about what Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok would be like as people, you’ll love reading this. In my own work, I’ve combined elements of fiction with exaggerated reflections of reality by personifying social media apps.
The inspiration for this piece came from the Nosedive episode from Black Mirror. The episode is set in a world where people’s entire lives depend on their “rating” based on social interactions. The setting shapes a tragically social media-obsessed society—no doubt a critique of how people interact with each other online. I wanted to reflect a similar message but in a more light-hearted, comedic way. In my play, I wanted to demonstrate our modern dependence on social media and the negative impacts it can have on our well being and relationships. My hope is that the audience learns to examine their own relationship with social media, and decide for themselves if they could benefit from a break like my main character, Logan.
Giulia
My work shows a young girl’s battle with cystic fibrosis and COVID-19. It is meant to give you a glimpse of what people with pre-existing illnesses are going through at this time.
The inspiration for this came from my own surroundings back at home in Denmark. I was noticing that not all people were sticking to the rules effectively putting those of us who are at risk. I think that some people don’t realise the danger they could be putting someone else in, especially as you don’t know what other people are dealing with at the moment. My hope is that the audience starts looking a little more closely at how careful they are being in these tough times.
