Driving Question: How can I make a farm-to-table egg delivery service become a viable business in a suburban community?
What did you take away from this project? I learned that perseverance is very important in order to get the end result you want. When I thought I was done and then realized there was something that bugged me in my video I made sure to take the time and fix it. This was very frustrating at times but in the end I was very happy and confident with my proposal.
What are you most proud of? I’m most proud of the extremely useful life skills I learned throughout this process….and that I made $485 of total income.
Driving Question: How do local people feel about tourism and environmental regulations in Puerto Galera?
Project Description: A couple of months ago, our family went on a trip to an island in the Philippines called Puerto Galera, so my sister and I decided to film a short documentary. It’s our little passion project to spread awareness on unsustainable tourism in the Philippines. We wanted it to highlight the unique perspectives of four local residents we got the opportunity to spend time with. Hopefully, it gives justice to an island that we and our entire family love.
What were your goals for this project? We wanted our documentary to inspire a call to action on unsustainable tourism. The effects of unsustainable tourism can cause an entire island to shut down, resulting in thousands of people losing their livelihoods. By interviewing the residents of Puerto Galera, we want to show our audience the people that are directly affected by this issue, which will hopefully create a sense of urgency to protect our environment.
What were your takeaways from the project? Working on the project reminded me of how unbelievable our world could be. I was reminded of how important it was to make sure that we sustain the beauty of our environment, especially in a small country like the Philippines. This project was a big wake up call for me and I hope that it can be the same to our audience.
Driving Question: How can I acquire deep knowledge on Buddhist philosophies and their perspectives on the self and the world by working with monks and creating an original short film?
Project Description: My film introduces the Korean tradition of Zen Buddhism and its view on how to live a good life.
What were your goals for this project? My goal was to gain deep level of understanding on Buddhism, living it, and sharing it with others. I achieved all of these as I spent significant amount of time studying the text of Buddhism, living as Buddhist at a temple, and filming what I have learned to share with the world.
What were your learning takeaways? I’ve learned that suffering comes from trying to perceive impermanent thing as permanent and unchangeable. This includes my sense of self, my life, values, things I cherish at the moment… etc These are not something solid. They are very much fluid, temporary concepts and consists of myriads of components which forms and alters them. Accepting that, and staying thoroughly present, instead of trying so hard to extend the lifespan of these fleeting concepts, will lead to a more fulfilling life.
What are you most proud of? Experiencing even for a short amount of time, the freedom of not needing anything. Happiness to just be.
Driving Question: How can I use a video format to effectively communicate the many facets of the LGBTQ+ community to someone who knows nothing about it?
Project Description: This project is a 5-part video series explaining the LGBTQ+ community for a beginner audience. The intention of these videos is to be a resource for anybody who would like some more information on the community. You can find all five videos below.
Driving Question: How can I organize a trash clean up event in my community to positively impact the environment?
Project Overview:
I’ve seen the forest back at home gone through all types of natural and unnatural transformations. Every time I visit, there is a trail of evidence that demonstrates the presence of humans. I think it is extremely important to address the relevance and impact of maintaining these spaces clean. Especially when it comes to a natural reserve that is filled with flora and fauna. My project, Por un Lago Azul, is the beginning of a Trash Clean Up campaign in my community that aims to provide spaces and tools to facilitate reflection. I wanted to organize a clean up event that had a meaningful value for the community that could also meet academic needs.
Driving Question: How can I use webcomic style art to convey a message about mental health during quarantine?
Project Description: Daydream During Quarantine is a short story about a girl getting lost in her garden while thinking about her future, her goals and life in general.
What were your goals for this project? I really wanted to grow both my digital art and Japanese skills. Through this project I was able to grow both.
What were your takeaways from the project? Digital art is hard for beginners! I would really like to continue working towards making more digital art and bettering my technique in general.
Driving Question: How can I use my passion for applied physics to create an omni-directional treadmill?
Project Description: Nebula Model O is an omni-directional treadmill specified for virtual-reality gaming.
My goal was to design a functional, beautiful, and structurally sound omni-directional treadmill. Moreover, I wanted to use sustainable, very accessible materials like carbon-glass and other used in 3D printing.
Njeri’s Process Portfolio
The Fool’s Journey: A Look at my Creative Process
I will say, the look of the audience when I lead my presentation with “Hi I’m Njeri, and I am presenting an omni-directional treadmill I devised,” was very close to the best part of it all. It was a look that I am well accustomed to receiving; the look in between intrigue, and “what the heck is she on about?” The key, however, I have learned, is maintaining that perfect balance between eccentricity and conventionality to hold the intrigue of the audience. You see, the eccentricity is what feeds intrigue, but should it not be fed with the spoon of conventionality; you risk losing intrigue in favor of being tossed in the looney bin. It appears, however, that this process of maintaining a balance between sanity and insanity only applies to my presentation technique and not my decision-making process.
Till this day, it both haunts and fascinates me that, inspired by the Australia VR module, I decided to develop an omni-directional treadmill holding only a laughable amount of the prerequisites necessary for such a task.
Expert level understanding of engineering concepts, an understanding of how to use complex virtual engineering software, an advanced understanding of statistical mechanics, material physics? Allow me to laugh in announcing I had none of these.
Zero, zip, zilch.
Quite literally, all I had was an idea of how I wanted it to look, work, and feel, paired with an understanding of classical mechanics in my intellectual toolkit. For lack of a better way to phrase this, in terms of knowledge and skills, this project required a crane, a forklift, and an array of construction equipment, while I only had a small tool kit with a single screwdriver. So my decision, in choosing to build an Omni-directional treadmill may look like one of great hubris, it was one of a much more formidable nature; foolish.
As I embarked on my project, I had to painstakingly learn a six-month formal course on how to use the engineering software Fusion 360 in less than a month. This program served to communicate my idea into a physical form but did nothing to prove it’s functionality. And I was much more interested in functionality than I was in physical design.
In fact, the guiding question throughout the entire project was “Can spherical motion provide an Omni-directional experience, and to what extent is it feasible for the human gait?” The former part, I could only answer through countless simulations I ran. The overwhelming answer was a screeching yes. The answer to the latter, however, can only be theorized for now until a physical human-sized-model is printed and assembled. For now, the assumption is yes.
But you see, in presenting the burning questions that fuelled me through this project, I gloss over the most important part of it all: I had to stumble through it all like a fool. Because I did not exactly have someone to guide me through the janky technical aspects of it, I had to discover things for myself. Moreover, because I was essentially a blank slate in terms of scientific knowledge (in comparison to what I needed to know), I had to treat everything experimentally.
One example of this is when one component would exert far too much pressure on another, a singularity would occur every time I ran a simulation. So I observed it, recorded graphs based on this behavior, then googled it and found out that this phenomenon was statistical strain. It had been discovered more than 100 years ago and sat on the coattails of the theory of thermodynamics. I realized I was in a very unique position where these concepts were not just formulas on a university textbook, but rather something I was actively observing and working with in the most practical sense.
So while I was stumbling through this desert of knowledge as a directionless fool, my lack of direction allowed me to do what science is all about: ask and observe free of any biases. My acceptance of being a complete fool allowed me to skip the Dunning-Kruger curve all together in embracing that I know nothing, and thus birthing my greatest ambition — I want to know.
The truth of the matter is that from a surface level I did it. Against my own expectation (and anyone with even a sliver of reason), I actually managed to do it. Should I have the funds tomorrow, I could print out the human-sized version of the device and begin working on the electrical aspect of it. I could easily have a finished product in less than a year. But that doesn’t matter to me. Nebula is just a device, its inventor, however, as I discovered, is the most foolish, audacious, stupidly curious person who will get it done. That is the greatest discovery I got from this project.
And from this project, I have realized one thing for certain: as long as I live, I will create things, fail, and succeed, allowing the ocean of curiosity to guide my foolish mind.
So I shall leave you with this rhetoric that I continually ask myself: Does it take one to know, to do? or does it take one to do, to know?
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 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: In what ways can the philosophy of decentralization and blockchain technologies be catalysts for disruption and efficiency for the modern business world?
Project Description: For our Panama module, we gamified the backend of blockchain technology to educate users on how blockchain works.
To do so, we developed the game concept of Metaminers with the aim of having users build their very own blockchain on a multiplayer platform. The goal of the game is to simplify blockchain technology in an approachable and fun way.
Players would play minigames to add blocks to their chain and receive rewards for completing blocks as they progress. Adding blocks to the chain leads players to chests containing rewardables that can be used to help solve problems. Players can also place rewardables in a marketplace where others can buy these cryptocollectibles and experience blockchain transactions on the Ethereum blockchain in the process. Throughout our process we spent time developing a wireframe of Metaminers including the game graphics and other assets. We also developed the structure for the games smart contract safeguarding our outlined game ethics with the aim to primarily ensure positive user experiences on the Ethereum blockchain.
