My experience at ra
Hi I am Hunter Stewart. I am a junior at Riverpoint Academy. RA is a "STEM school."
What a STEM school means is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
My very own project.
First Exhibition.
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This is one of my own little projects for my dad. I made this unique laser engraved picture with our laser cutter. What I had to do first was find a stencil drawing on the internet and send it to the laser cutter computer so it could get all the dimensions of the picture. Once it got all the dimensions it started to engrave.
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This is my very first exhibition.
I made a stocking with LED lights on it, trying
to make a for loop. I had to use thermal thread
to tie together the LED's. If the thermal thread
touched together it would cause a spark.
Unfortunately it did not turn out to work.
I made a stocking with LED lights on it, trying
to make a for loop. I had to use thermal thread
to tie together the LED's. If the thermal thread
touched together it would cause a spark.
Unfortunately it did not turn out to work.
My Semester Final.
My team & I had to create a product that
helped someone in the community with a
disability. We found a very unique girl named
Jade. When Jade was 4 months old she was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Also she had
meningitis which caused cerebral palsy. Her
whole left side does not function correctly so she
has to use a wheelchair every once in awhile. We
came up with the idea of building another set
of wheels on the wheelchair and those wheels
would be powered by motors so it would give less
resistance for the person pushing it.
helped someone in the community with a
disability. We found a very unique girl named
Jade. When Jade was 4 months old she was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Also she had
meningitis which caused cerebral palsy. Her
whole left side does not function correctly so she
has to use a wheelchair every once in awhile. We
came up with the idea of building another set
of wheels on the wheelchair and those wheels
would be powered by motors so it would give less
resistance for the person pushing it.
There are so many ways to prototype an idea. Here’s how to isolate what to test. Determining what we were going to prototype took awhile. Our first idea was to redesign the upstairs so that we could have a new unique space to work in.
First had to make a sketch up of our design. We made it so we can have a more secluded and quieter area. Focusing on our wants more than our needs is what we did. My group and I thought of the needs that our school has. As we were thinking all of us noticed how loud it gets in our school. Thinking of how to overcome this problem we thought of sound panels. Sound panels help absorb sound coming from all different angles. To get more information on sound panels we went to Huppins and they have a little section of them and one of the employees explained to us which each one helps with. When we got a better understanding we got egg cartons and two 1’’ by 14’’ foam squares. We put the egg cartons in between the foam squares thinking it would help reduce the sound even more.
Sadly this did not work at all. At school we have these big foam cubes that are more dense than the first foam squares we used. How we tested these foam cubes was by cutting them in half and sticking our heads in between them, it made the sound disappear. Figuring out that this actually works we cut four more cube blocks and started making a new prototype. We took the halves and hot glued them to a wood board then covered it with fabric.
We plan on finding even better foam and start making new designs and hang them around the school to help reduce the sound in here. These could be used in other schools and businesses.
First had to make a sketch up of our design. We made it so we can have a more secluded and quieter area. Focusing on our wants more than our needs is what we did. My group and I thought of the needs that our school has. As we were thinking all of us noticed how loud it gets in our school. Thinking of how to overcome this problem we thought of sound panels. Sound panels help absorb sound coming from all different angles. To get more information on sound panels we went to Huppins and they have a little section of them and one of the employees explained to us which each one helps with. When we got a better understanding we got egg cartons and two 1’’ by 14’’ foam squares. We put the egg cartons in between the foam squares thinking it would help reduce the sound even more.
Sadly this did not work at all. At school we have these big foam cubes that are more dense than the first foam squares we used. How we tested these foam cubes was by cutting them in half and sticking our heads in between them, it made the sound disappear. Figuring out that this actually works we cut four more cube blocks and started making a new prototype. We took the halves and hot glued them to a wood board then covered it with fabric.
We plan on finding even better foam and start making new designs and hang them around the school to help reduce the sound in here. These could be used in other schools and businesses.
Change Maker Story
Have you ever found yourself struggling to get work done because it is too loud? Then we have the perfect solution for you! My group and I were assigned a semester long project to create/design a product that anyone in the community could use. In the beginning we were going to create a new unique space in the upstairs of our school. But we were thinking too much about our wants than our needs.
There are many challenges we were faced with and still facing with. The most difficult things we are struggling with is probably the writing part and the design kits. Design kits are ways to help the group guide their project. My group and I do not like to do the writing parts of this project because we like focusing on building the actual product more. How this project has gave my life an impact is from being able to go out into the community and go to businesses and buy materials. Also to talk with business people and learn more new interesting information on how to make this project more successful.
Therefore, we notice how loud and obnoxious our school can get since we have big open areas and concrete floors surrounding us everywhere. So we put our heads together and brainstormed many ideas until we came up with the idea of sound panels. We determined that anyone and any business can use these sound panels. Who knows if these sound panels will actually work but if not then they’ll just add to decoration! Thinking of how to make sound panels was very hard. Our first prototype was two 12 inch by 12 inch foam squares. In the middle of the foam squares we had egg cartons. My group and I tested out our prototype and determined that the foam squares needed to be more dense.
We did tons of research on soundproofing materials and found out that Roxul Safe‘n’Sound insulation does the best work. We found a soft soundproofing board that is our base of the sound panel. Then we built little side walls to hold in the Roxul Safe‘n’Sound insulation. To cover the sound panel so the insulation wouldn’t be seen we went to Joann fabrics and discovered this awesome fabric that helps with sound absorption as well, this material is called suede. We plan on hanging these sound panels up onto the walls around our school. What makes these sound panels unique is that we can design them into different shapes and different colors.
How our project meets a fantastic need is with how much sound absorption material we used. Say you are trying to get a lot of paperwork done but you can’t concentrate because there is way too much background noise and need it to be quieter. Thats where our sound panels come in handy! Hang them on the wall and let them do their magic! What has been the most challenging thing for us is slacking off and how we overcame this struggle is by reminding ourselves that we only have a short amount of time left to finish this project and then we’re done!
We are involving the people who are affected by this issue by making sound panels for anyone who is in need of them. Schools with big open rooms or areas can be in use of these or big businesses that need a quiet workspace. If people, schools, or businesses are in need of sound panels it would be greatly appreciated if they could tell us information on where they need it placed and what size of a sound panel they need. Also if they want it to be different shapes we need to know that too. My group and I have planned to hang these sound panels up onto the walls around our school. These aren’t only sound panels, they are art.
We did a sound test with a decibel reader on a Tuesday at 12:30. This was right after lunch when everybody was still calming down and it showed the room was at 90 decibels, which is what the average motorcycle sound is. But what was crazy, is that the second we put the decibel reader on the sound panel it went all the way down to 60 decibels! That is what the average conversation sound is. A 30 decibel difference proves that our sound panel definitely works just as good as any sound panel out in stores. If you are in need of sound panels then we’ve got them! Our sound panels are made out of high quality Roxul Safe ‘n’ Sound insulation that is made to block out sound. To help the insulation stay in place we build walls on each side of the base. We used a sound board for the base that actually reduces sound as well. Then the last material we constructed with was a 5x5ft suede fabric to cover the sound panel with. This high quality sound panel is very unique in many different ways!
The picture above is our final product from our semester in Trep Studio. We have created 4 sound panels and we have hung up 2 of them. What we created them out of was a sound proofing board which is our base, framing wood, Roxul safe 'n' sound insulation, and suede fabric. How we hung them was with 3 hooks on the top and 2 hooks on the bottom. We strung rope through the 3 hooks on top and tied it off to, two of the top metal frames on the ceiling. Then for the two hooks on the bottom we drilled two hooks into the wall and hooked the sound panels to those hooks. Now they are at a slant and look amazing!