Driving Question: How can I use video to present my investigations (SPEED factors) into the lives of the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico?

Project Summary: In this project, Zoya looked at the lives of the Zapotec community in Oaxaca, and how their lives are impacted by their exposure to Spanish. Her film explores the different aspects of Spanish language exposure (in education, economy, and stigma) and what it meant for the Zapotec people, with a question left to the audience: What does the future look like for the Zapotec?

Driving Question: How can I use video to present my investigations (SPEED factors) into the lives of the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico?

Project Summary: For his project, Diego focused on the death of indigenous languages in Oaxaca and how the Zapotec people are fighting to keep their language alive, despite the odds.

Student Reflection:
“Even though I live in Mexico, exploring another side of the culture was really interesting, such as language death. Connecting with people and learning about the story was something special that I can’t really put into words.”

Art is such a big part of Oaxaca’s culture and its diversity is what makes it so unique. We had the chance to talk to artists who make art for a living, and it has been in their family for 5 generations. We also had the chance to talk to newer artists who may not depend on it for an income. It has been a very interesting experience to take in all the different perspectives of these artists, and learn about how they all coexist in the same place.

-Class of 2024 Student Keetah B..

Driving Question: How might we convey the intersection of local arts and economy through documentary filmmaking?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

During the AyAyAyAyAy module, my goals were to improve my filmography skills while gaining an in-depth understanding of art and economy here in Oaxaca.

Through this module, we were filming and editing for hours at a time, so I improved my filmography skills through constant practice and analyzing what I did wrong and how I could improve it. We also got feedback from local videographers, which was very useful when using Premiere Pro for the first time.

During both the weXplore and back at the main residence, the experiential learning really helped me feel like I understood Oaxacan art. We even got to take part in making the art and talk to the artists. I now have a greater understanding of the relationship between art and economy, art and politics, and art and culture. I feel that I have also learned about how vital artisanship is here and the perspective more modern artists have of artisans.

What new things did you learn about yourself?

I learned more about my filming style and what I can improve on when filming. I also learned that I’m a perfectionist, especially when it comes to editing.

I learned that my perspectives of what art is and the motivations people have for art don’t always align. I also learned how people’s perspectives of art itself might change depending on why they do art.

Driving Question: How might we convey the intersection of local arts and economy through documentary filmmaking?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

To inform others about local artists in Oaxaca relating to art and the economy. 

What new things did you learn about yourself?

Throughout this module, we learned multiple different things: From how art and economy in Oaxaca are changing to learning how to edit and film our very own documentary. This module also tested our limits, as it was very demanding no matter how interesting, and we can say that we are very proud of our final result.

What are your big takeaway lessons from this project?

Our biggest takeaway is how the art industry has evolved here and how that impacts the artists here in Oaxaca, and how there is more openness to expressing oneself through art.

Driving Question: How can we utilize principles of cinematography, storytelling, and editing to create a two-piece film?

Project Summary: For their joint mastery project, CM2 Students Che and Alf set out to create a holistic anthology consisting of two films. Both films fall under the same concept but possess their own unique properties and location. The films were crafted independently of one another, formed from footage and recordings gathered by the pair of students.

Student Reflection: “By embarking on this project, not only did we hope to create videos that we would be proud of, but we also hope to be able to hone the skills of film making and video editing. Inspiration from films and videos often reaches the two of us easily, so by creating our own videos, we also hope to inspire other people, too.” -Che and Alf

Driving Question: How can I modernize traditional Filipino fashion?

Project Overview: For her mastery project, CM1 Student Gigi Engalla set out to create a fashion collection that modernizes the traditional Filipino. To do so, she mastered elements of couture craftsmanship and developed a deep understanding of Filipino fashion by learning about its significance and how its classic features can be integrated into a modern medium.

Driving Question: How can I study the psychological impact of video games?

Module Overview: For her project, Zoya focused on psychological research by measuring the emotional and behavioral impact of violent and non-violent video games. Her correlative research looked at how playing video games affects individuals by observing them in their natural environment. The participants reflected on their mood and behavior, and Zoya evaluated this research to arrive at her conclusion.

Project Reflection: “Through this project, I learned that I am quite interested in psychology. Conducting research was exciting; however, reading about existing research and previous studies was also quite fascinating. I learned so much about different research methods, and I made so many mistakes while conducting my research. Learning from my own mistakes, however, makes me confident about conducting more investigations in the future.”

Driving Question: How can I address some of the present threats to global health while promoting human rights and social progress?

Project Overview: In this module, students were introduced to the foundations of global health. They learned about basic concepts, measurements, and determinants of health, and a number of key perspectives for considering global health issues.

For her project, Estelle explored water scarcity in Honduras, which leads to a lack of basic sanitation and clean water for up to 1.8 million people. Non-communicable diseases in Honduras attributed to water cause a DALY rate of 4,540 per 100,000 people. Disease spreads through contaminated food and water tanks, and poor management, climate change, and political unrest worsen the issue.

Project Reflection: “Exploring the niche of environmental global health opened my mind to so many new areas of interest in this field.  I thoroughly enjoyed this module and felt like the skills will be very applicable to other modules.”

Driving Question: How can I become proficient in Australian slang through art?

Class of 2021 student Gigi E. designed her project on Australian slang and how it has become a part of the country’s identity. Her goal was to become competent and confident in communicating slang with the local community. She demonstrated this by creating a mini dictionary documenting Australian slang terms she learned through interactions with the locals. 

“To further my understanding of Australian Slang, I thought there was no better source than the people of Australia themselves. Today I went around Scape and talked to people about their favorite Australian slang words. It was interesting to see how many of the terms that I already knew. Just from my experiences with Lexie and Elyce, I was able to learn a lot more terms than I thought I did. 

The first people I interviewed were the people at the reception at Scape. They were able to confirm a bunch of the other terms that I had in my initial entries. This helped me know that they are still relevant and used today. One new word that they told me (which is now one of my favorite terms) is Eshay, a wannabe teenage gangster. They were able to show us pictures of what they meant and it was quite funny to walk around the city and recognize them on the streets.”

Driving Question: How can I incorporate more local and homemade food into my diet to improve my sustainability and health?

Project Description:

My project is a short book of recipes I have written myself that use local, sustainable, and healthy ingredients. To write these recipes, I looked at foods I eat most often and local foods I have access to decide on the items before researching the history of each item and the different methods used to make them so I could create my own recipes. I also researched how a recipe is written, how to cater to your intended audience, the proper language to use, and the elements to include. My final product is a collection of these recipes that could be used by relatively new cooks.

Reflection:

“This project was especially interesting because I have done a lot of cooking and baking in my life, but I have never been one to follow recipes. Doing this project and creating my own recipes really helped me understand how recipes can be useful as well as how much work and effort goes into making each one. I think I will now be at least slightly more inclined to follow recipes when cooking in the future.”