I did it.
I'm done with Capstone. I can't believe I'm done. I am so relieved and happy that I don't have to worry about this class. I am proud of myself for how far I've come. I've grown so much over the past year. If the person from last year saw me now, she wouldn't recognize me. I've grown more confident and more responsible. I am able to manage my coursework in a healthy way and have gotten better at my time management. Capstone has not all been easy; there have been good moments and bad moments. There were moments I didn't sleep and was so exhausted, there were moments that I wanted to quit, I was fed up with this project. There were moments I felt so stressed and dejected, and I felt that there was no way this project would succeed. But for all of these low moments, there were moments where I was proud of what I accomplished, of my presentation, of my paper, and of myself. There were moments where I completed something and I felt like I could take on the world. These were moments that reassured me that in the end, I would be okay. I learned that I can accomplish what I set out to do and am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for. This semester, I think I did really well. I accomplished everything I needed to do in a timely manner and there was really no need for me to stress. My mental health improved. I accomplished everything I set out to do in the beginning of the semester. In the beginning of the semester, I wanted to stop procrastinating and I wanted to improve my mental health. I accomplished both of those things. This semester, I worked on my time management skills and my problem solving skills. I ran into some unexpected troubles with my experiment, and I needed to find a way to improvise, adapt, and overcome the issues. These skills will definitely help my mental health in the future, as I can manage my time so I don't have to do everything at the last minute and I can find a solution to my problems. If I had to give some advice to incoming capstone students, I would say to manage your time. Everything is msanageable if you do a little bit every day. The quality of your work will also improve this way. And that's it. I'm done. Thank you for reading this. I'm done. This is it, Bye guys! Thanks for everything. The End. Tags: Time Management, Reflection, Blogs, Communication, Problem Solving, Productivity
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I did it. I made it through Capstone Night in one piece. It's over. However, this week did not go off without a hitch. I have been sick for the past week with a terrible cough. It is terrible and nothing seems to help. I've taken cough drops and devoured them as if it were medicine. I've drank water and tea as if it were my religion. I have tried everything, and yet this cough keeps on persisting. I don't believe that it is connected to my ailment from before break (where I lost my voice). In the beginning of the week, I presented my Capstone project, with the only feedback being on my presentation style and removing one slide that discussed my rationale for my methods and replace it with an in-text citation for where I got the idea for the methods. I immediately implemented the changes about my presentation into my presentation. For my presentation style, most of it was due to the fact I wasn't feeling well. I needed to speak more loudly and be more natural with my body language. I believed that if I were feeling better on Capstone Night, these issues would resolve itself.
For the actual Capstone Night presentation, I presented at 6:05. I knew one of the judges, who was a former student here last year, so I wasn't worried about his grading. I was still coughing on this day so I was worried about how I would get through an entire presentation without my voice giving up on me. I did my presentation, but by the results section, I only had five minutes left to present. I got nervous, so I began speaking more quickly. I was still understandable though, so I don't think it was that big of an issue. For the questions, one of the judges felt I was speaking too fast and asked me to repeat my result and conclusion section. Since she wasn't a native speaker, I felt like that played a role in it too. Overall, I think I did really well. Tags: Reflection, Presentation, Projects This week was a very short week. We didn't have school on Tuesday, but we did have school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It is finally hitting me how close Capstone Night is. It is next week. I still had to do my poster and presentation, with very little time. This week I finished my presentation. I mainly used slides from my previous presentations, including from last semester, to make my final presentation. I used the literature review summary slides from my final Capstone 1 presentation. I used the same methods and materials that I have been using all semester. I used the same question, hypothesis, and variables slide as my final Capstone 1 presentation. I used the result slides from my results presentation. I used the discussion and conclusion from my results presentation. The only thing I made new this time was a diagram to explain how to set up the cells and treat them, as well as my citation slide. I added mostly the same photos I used for previous presentations, so that wasn't new either. I finished it and checked it over a few times this week, so I think I am set. For right now, I don't have to complete my poster, but that is nearly done anyway. I used the same introduction and methodology section that I did for my Capstone 1 presentation template, but I added some more relevant information on it. I added my results and discussion. I also finished my acknowledgement and references section. The only thing left is to do the conclusion, summary, and future works section and then I am finished. Next week I have to present once in class before Capstone Night. I am excited because I know my topic inside and out. This area is so specific in such a specific field, there are very few people who could challenge my knowledge come Capstone Night. This fact has given me the confidence I need. Tags: Presentation, Project, Planning, Reflection, Results, Productivity Happy Holidays everyone! I am currently sitting around blasting Christmas music. This blog will be a little shorter due to the fact it is the holiday season and I am taking a break. This was the last week of school in 2018. I finished revising my conclusion and the rest of my paper. I have to combine my results, discussion, and conclusion with the rest of my paper, but that will not take long. Other than that, I didn't accomplish much else. I updated the blogs on the website and published them. I am planning on updating the rest of my website over the break. When I get back, I have to finish my presentation and my poster. I don't think those will take me that long, probably one week altogether. I then have to practice my presentation.
I've been reflecting on this past year and I have to say, it was really good. There were some moments that I would have preferred it gone the other way, some moments I wish I could go back and change. But overall, nothing bad happened. Surprisingly, my mental health has improved. While I am still extremely stressed and anxious at times, I feel like I have learned to handle it better this year. I am definitely less pessimistic and more optimistic. I have been pacing myself better and making my health a priority again. I accomplished so many things this year that I didn't know I could achieve and have overshot my expectations for myself. I am more confident in myself and my abilities. I feel confident going into the new year. Next year, I want to take better care of myself. I want to stop putting myself down and talking about myself negatively. I want to take up stretching and maybe meditation to continue to improve my mental health. I want to continue and finish the year strong. While this year was great, I can't wait to see what next year brings. Good or bad, I am ready to face what comes. Happy Holidays!!!! Tags: Reflection, Productivity, Presentation, Time Management, Planning Honestly, this week has been amazing. Everything went my way this week. I was extremely productive in Capstone. I finished writing my first draft of my conclusion. I edited my discussion and my methods. I updated my bibliography. I even found some time to relax today. I passed my ECE Calculus test, which I thought would be very hard. I actually did very well. I was only stuck on one question. These past two weeks, I feel like I practiced productivity the most, because I had a lot of things to complete, and somehow I managed to do so. In order to submit my paper on time, I just have to finish editing everything and put everything into one document. I want to also edit my website and update it a little. I feel like I can definitely get a better grade than I did on my last website draft. I also want to start thinking of my presentation and my poster. For my presentation, I plan on using slides from my previous presentations. Many of them are in different formats, so I will make everything one format. After, if I need to add anything, I can. I will also need to look at the time. I need it to be under 20 minutes (I think-this needs to be confirmed by Ms. Crudale). I hope that I will be able to relax over Christmas break because God knows I deserve it. I want to finish my work so I don't have to do anything over winter break.
Now that my project is coming to an end, I feel optimistic. I feel like I'm in a good position to pass the classand to get my work done. While I would have wanted to actually finish and complete my project, I did really well considering the circumstances. I did plenty of high-end research. I read a bunch of scholarly articles and was ale to articulate my research in my paper. I was able to do so much with what I had and to be honest, I am actually proud of myself. It wasn't easy, but I did it. This is something I can build on in college. Which brings me to the best thing that happened this week: I GOT INTO JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY! Yes, that's right, you are looking at Johns Hopkins University Class of 2023 member. I am so happy. I think that mentioning my experience in research and laboratory skills, with previous science fairs and this capstone project, really made me stand out. Although I didn't get into the program I wanted (biomedical engineering), I can still pursue my second option, Chemical and Bio-molecular engineering. I can also do a pre-health track and participate in research in the city. I am so happy and proud of myself. I was so nervous, because this has been my dream school for as long as I can remember. But the joy I felt when I learned I got in is indescribable. I have gone farther than I ever thought possible. I am so proud of how far I have come and I genuinely believe in myself for the future. I am so excited for what's to come! This week was very productive. I managed to complete my discussion and sent it to Ms. Crudale to revise and grade it. Doing the discussion was a lot of work. I found sources to support the claim I was making about the data that I had and then I found sources to support the hypothetical results I would have expected had the experiment gone through. It ended up being close to five pages, which isn't bad considering I tend to draw everything out. I ended up using about 7 additional sources in my discussion, which is good. I added those to my bibliography. I presented my results presentation. I did well, except I apparently had a negative tone while presenting. I was going for a neutral tone, but I guess I didn't pull it off right. I was surprised at how well I did. I was very nervous and I felt like I was stuttering and tripping over my own words. Surprisingly, the only points taken off my presentation was for my tone. I will try to work on it in my next presentation. With only two more weeks until the end of 2018, I am in a good place. I just need to finish my conclusion and update my website. That's it. Next week, I plan on finishing my conclusion, editing my bibliography, and editing my results. If I have time, I might also edit my discussion.
My mentors have been very involved in the process. They were the ones who supplied me with data. They have also helped me revise my Capstone paper, including the literature review and the methods. In the next two weeks, they can help me edit my discussion and conclusion as needed. With all this said, I just need to finish the year strong. There is not much left to do and I know I can do it. Next week, I hope to be as productive. Wish me luck! Tags: Discussion, Results, Forward, Presentation, Productivity, Time Management Time is moving by quickly. We are now just 22 school days left until Capstone Night. Surprisingly, I am feeling good. I feel confident. I do not know whether it is because I am truly confident or whether I am just so numb to everything that my stress doesn't register with me. I am pretty shocked at how confident I am, because usually I am freaking out at a time like this. I guess it is a testament to how much work I have put in and how Capstone has changed my perception on time. I think Capstone has also allowed me to manage my stress and expectation levels much more accurately. I am more aware of my capabilities and I guess I believe I can pull this off. My draft of the result is coming along. I actually finished my draft. I didn't realize that we just had to include the charts and table. I thought we had to write something extra. I then realized that it was just the charts and tables, which I already had. I believe I am track to complete my project and my paper by December 21st. All I have to do is write my discussion, edit the results, edit my discussion, write my conclusion, edit my conclusion, edit my bibliography, and then I am done.
This week, I took it pretty easy. I finished my results, but other than that, I haven't really done anything. I did start working on a presentation for my results which I have to present next week. I haven't started working on my discussion, but I believe that I can get it done very quickly. Next week, I would like to finish my first draft of my discussion. For my discussion, I need to include other sources, since most of my results will just be hypothetical. I will use this to answer my hypothesis in a theoretical sense. I also have to present my results next week. I have a lot of work to do, but I believe I will get it done. Tags: Discussion, Forward, Presentation, Projects, Results, Time Management Happy Thanksgiving guys! This blog will be pretty short since this week was a short week. I'm sitting at home and enjoying some down time and watching Friends Thanksgiving reruns on t.v. . Unfortunately, I don't think that will last long. This week was a short week. We had class Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday was a half-day because of Thanksgiving and the long weekend. On Monday, I was able to finish most of my discussion. I also edited the website and redid the Gantt chart to accurately reflect the timeline it should have taken to do the experiment. On Tuesday, I took my senior portrait, so I was late to class. Once I got there, I was feeling unsure about how to proceed. I got Ms. Crudale to sign my task sheet so I didn't have to worry about it being incomplete. I finished the discussion yesterday. The hardest part was incorporating the hypothesis and finding research to support the hypothesis one way or the other. With the help of Ms. Crudale, I was able to find some research and was able to use that in my discussion. I found that theoretically, my hypothesis should be true. I also decided to add a section about ways to troubleshoot the issues I was having doing the experiment and a section on what the theoretical results would mean going forward. Next week, I will begin the editing process. I think that I need to do a lot of editing because I don't think the draft was my best work. I will also begin working on the conclusion.
Other than that, I will try to go shopping this weekend for all the sales. I have a lot of homework to do, mainly for English and Calculus, so I will try to find some time to do that. I will also try to finish some college essays for a few applications that I want to submit before December 1. On the note of Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for all the experiences Capstone gave me because those experiences gave me the chance to grow and reflect on myself. I am thankful for my family and friends. Mostly, I am thankful for myself, for being there for me, and for just being amazing. Happy Thanksgiving! Tags: Discussion, Planning, Projects, Forward What have I done? Why did I do this? Did I put too much work on myself?
These were the questions racing through my mind this week. You see, I finished the results last week and decided I would work on the discussion this week. I forgot this is a short week, so I didn't have a lot of time to work on the discussion. At the beginning of the week, which was Tuesday because Monday was the day we observed Veteran's Day, Ms. Crudale gave us a task sheet to help us plan our week and next week, which will also be a short week due to Thanksgiving holidays. I thought that I would have ample time to complete everything I needed to, so I wrote that I would finish my initial discussion draft, redo my Gantt Chart, and update and revise my website. I didn't realize how much work goes into writing a discussion. On Wednesday and Thursday, we had a half-day for conferences, so between these two days, I had Capstone 2 for about 2 hours. On Friday, we had a 2 hour delay because of the snow and rain that fell the night before. We had Capstone for 35 minutes, but that time went into work for National Honor Society, which would be right after the class ended (we had Capstone last). In addition, I've been feeling under-the-weather the whole week. I've had a sore throat and have just been exhausted all week. I have had no energy to do mundane tasks, let alone my school work. Unfortunately to say, I've been slacking off all week. I wrote about one paragraph of my discussion. but other than that, I've just been staring at a blank screen waiting for the words to come to my brain and for my hands to subsequently type them. With that being said, I think next week I need to work on being more productive. During those moments of writer's block, I could be doing other work so later on it is easier for me and I have less work. I need to work on my time management as well. Granted, I had a calculus exam which I was studying for all week, but I should have enough time in the day to get most of what I need to get done done. Hopefully, next week I can put these skills to work and be extremely productive. If I can finish by Wednesday, I can give myself a semi-break over Thanksgiving weekend. Fingers crossed! P.S.- The image below is a Tamil meme that is me looking at my results :D ! P.P.S. - It just means "Friend, results have come, I've looked and I've passed! You..." Friend replies, "Oh, you use "All Clear" shampoo huh? I use Head and Shoulders bro! Tags: Time Management, Results, Reflection, Productivity, Planning, Discussion This week was actually really good for me. I finished my SAT Subject Tests over the weekend. I think I did better than I expected to, especially in the physics. Now all that's left is for the results to come in. I am done with standardized testing and I am done with the SATs for the foreseeable future. I am really excited now because I can focus all my energy and all my effort into my college applications and my schoolwork, including Capstone. This week, I began writing up my results on Monday. I began figuring out how everything should be formatted. We didn't have school on Tuesday because of Election Day, which I was really happy about. It wasn't so much of a day off though, as I had a lot of school work I had to catch up on that I procrastinated on. Still, I got it done. On Wednesday, I didn't come to school. This week was the end of Daylight Savings Time and that in combination with the changing weather really affected my physical and mental health, not to mention my mother's health. I decided to take a mental health day to recuperate. I took it pretty easy Wednesday. I did some work for my other classes, mainly my project for ECE English and notes and homework for ECE Calculus. In the evening, I went to the Open House that was happening at the school. I had already said I was going to be there, so I stuck to my work and went, which I am very proud of myself for doing. The event was only 3 hours, but by the end I was truly exhausted. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I guess I still haven't gotten used to the time change, which is something I will need to work on this week.
On Thursday, I managed to finish my results section. I thought that I needed to add some additional information that I actually did not need. Once I confirmed this fact with Ms. Crudale, I went ahead and shared it with her so she could provide me some feedback. This means that this weekend, I don't have any Capstone work which leaves me free to focus on some things I need to get done for applications and some of my other classes. This week, I was actually much more productive than I thought I was or than I felt. I am very happy that I was this productive. Next week I need to write my discussion section, so I would like to work on staying on task. I am hoping to finish the drafts before Thanksgiving so that way I don't have any work over the long weekend for this class. Let's see how next week turns out. Tags: Reflection, Results, Blogs, Planning, Discussion, Time Management, Productivity |
AuthorShubhangy Raghavan Archives
January 2019
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