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
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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 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 This week was productive for Capstone, surprisingly. We started presenting our presentations on Monday. For every presentation, we had to provide feedback on their delivery, presentation, and organization. I thought everybody did really well. Our classroom is in the hallway though, and at times students were making quite the ruckus, making it harder for the class to hear the presenter. If these background noises were not present, most of the presenters would have been quite loud. My presentation went really well. I presented on Wednesday. I made a lot of people laugh with the jokes and puns I put in my presentation. People seemed to be giving me their undivided attention. I spoke really loudly, almost close to a scream for most of the presentation so that way people in the back could hear me, even if the lunch crowd was creating a disturbance. I tried to use my hands and relax my body so that way I looked relaxed and ready. I also smiled throughout the whole presentation because I thought people would be more likely to pay attention if I looked happy.
The feedback from people was mostly positive, with two people saying that I was reading off the slide. Some more people said that at times I should have spoken louder, but I think that it was just because of the room we were in. Most people gave me a perfect score, with only the same two people taking off some points in delivery. Other than that, my presentation was really good. I forgot to include a rationale for my experiment, so I got some points deducted off for that. I didn't really practice for this presentation because I was pretty busy, so next time I would like to practice a little bit more before the presentation, that way I don't have to look at the slides that much. This week, I obviously worked on my communication skills. I had to communicate my project description, my methods, the science behind it, the materials, and the problems I was facing. I thought I did that pretty well, as evident by my presentation and my rubric and feedback from my peers. Next week, I would like to gather some data from other sources on the effect of estrogen and GDPD6 expression on GPC levels in breast cancer cells. In other news, I am supposed to get my data within the next few weeks. The head of the lab said that she would ensure I at least get some preliminary data for my project, so that's good. Hopefully next week is easy on me. Tags: Forward, Planning, Presentation, Reflection, Projects This is the last week before finals and the inevitable end of school. To say that I am stressed is an understatement: I am stressed, tired, cranky, worried, anxious, and overworked. I have so much to do over the next few days. But I just have to take it day by day and try to finish everything on time. In order to make sure everything gets finished on time without delay, I've been trying to prioritize my tasks and multitask. For instance, during some free moments during class, I've been working on editing my lit review. I finished editing everything up to the conclusion. I felt it took a higher precedent than some of my other classes because I have a higher grade in those classes so getting a lower final exam grade wouldn't hurt my grade as much. However, based on an online final grade calculator, I need at least a 78% on my final exam to pass Capstone 1 with an A. So with that in mind, I am putting all my effort and thought into my schoolwork. The first thing that pops in my mind when I wake up is what I need to complete that day and the last thought of the day is what I haven't finished and need to do tomorrow. In Capstone, I need to finish editing my conclusion (including my potential impacts), then add the revised problem statement and methods section. After, I might need to include an intended results and conclusion section as well as an abstract, though that is pending based on the answer Ms. Veillette gives me when I ask her about it. I am hoping to finish it by tomorrow afternoon or early evening. Then I want to actually fix my website and add everything I need. It will probably take me a couple of hours, but seeing as I have a final on Monday, I will either finish it tomorrow night, Sunday night, or split the work and finish it Sunday afternoon. However, since it is due on the night of the final exam (which is Thursday for me), I do have some leeway when it comes to completing this aspect. I also need to finish the introduction and methodology for my poster for next year. I don't think it will take me that long since I know what I want to write in the introduction. I could probably finish it in about 2 hours max, even if I have some unforeseen trouble. This will probably take me to the end of the weekend, since I also need to study for my Monday final. On Monday, I would like to finish my final capstone presentation. On my methods presentation, I did really well. I got 100/102, with the two point deduction coming because I forgot to add something that was on the rubric. On the verbal aspect I was graded highly. I would like to do just as well, if not better, on this final presentation. It is just a combination of the first presentation and the methods presentation. We are on a strict 12 minute schedule so I am hoping for no more that 14 slides with content. I need to practice it obviously and get the timing down, but I think I can do it. I found the perfect theme for my presentation. Now I just have to make it through finals week. Since this week is the last proper week of school, this is my last blog for the school year. But fear not, because when I go to Baltimore to do this experiment, I will be blogging weekly again. There won't be a blog next week, but look for a blog in 2 weeks time. Tags: Presentation, Lit Review, Time Management, Project, Forward. Reflection, Problem Solving, Independent, Blogs.
This week was pretty mellow. All we did was work on our methods presentation and present them. We had Monday and Tuesday to complete the presentation and started presentations on Wednesday. The presentation was only 10 slides plus citations and you only had 6-8 minutes to present. I had trouble keeping my slides condensed because there was so much I needed to add to my presentation. I had three separate slides for the methods and materials needed for each phase of my experiment (cell preparation, immunoblotting, and NMR- spectroscopy). There were so many materials I needed for the western blot that I had an entire slide dedicated for just the materials. I then had another slide just for the procedure of my western blot. Writing about the cell preparation and the NMR-Spectroscopy were easier because there were fewer steps and fewer materials, so I was able to fit everything onto one slide each. I also provided an introduction to my topic because I didn't define certain terms in my last presentation, and I was docked points for that. In order to make sure that everyone is understanding what I'm saying I summarized the background information one would need to understand my project. I spoke briefly on anabolic metabolism and biosynthesis, choline metabolism and GDPD-6, as well as glycerophosphocholine. I then launched into my questions and variables. In the variables section, I realized I wrote "control" where "constant" should be, but I covered it while presenting by saying "My controls and constants are...". I don't think anybody realized it though. I then spoke about the materials and methods used in each phase of my experiment. Finally, I presented my rationale. My presentation went well overall. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible. I was nervous at first but as soon as I started speaking, I knew what I was talking about. I was able to list the materials section for the western blot from pretty much memory. There were times that I stuttered or paused because I forgot the word I wanted to used, but I did better than before. I also became nervous again close to the end, but I managed to push through. I went over time however. I was only supposed to speak for 6-8 minutes, but spoke for 9 minutes 44 seconds. I believe it was just because I had a lot of materials I needed. In the final presentation, which can only be about 8 minutes I believe, I can shorten the time I spent on the methods section. I plan to generalize the materials list some more just to shorten it. I have to start working on everything, since we only have one more week before finals. Tags: Presentation, Reflection, Forward, Projects, Independent
This week has been pretty uneventful. Even though the Experimental design paper was due today, I asked for an extension so I could talk to one of my mentors and finalize a methods. I spoke to them today and we finally decided on a method that is doable with my level of expertise. I will be testing whether estrogen increases the rate of choline metabolism by using empty vector and over expressing GDPD-6 MCF-7 ER+ cell lines. I will then starve them and then treat the cell lines with estrogen. After, I will test for GPC and MAP kinase using western blotting and NMR -spectroscopy. I now have to finish writing my methods section but my mentors offered to help me revise it so it's perfect, which I am grateful for. I also have to work on my lit review. I meant to do it this week, but we had standardized testing and I procrastinated. The good news is that I have three supporting sources for my second document already. If I finish writing up the supporting sources and incorporating it into my lit review, I would be mostly finished with the second draft. I just would need to add one more supporting source. While talking to my mentors, they recommended some articles, so I plan to use that as another supporting source. I just have to read and analyze them. Besides the write-ups, I have to work on my website. It still looks like a website for a company that offers tours up mountains. I would like to fix some parts of my website, mainly finish up my home page, by next week but we'll see how it goes. I got my scores back from my presentation and they were not as good as I expected. I got points deducted for not defining terms for my audience. I rehearsed it in such a way that I would explain, but I was sick and tired that day so I rushed through the presentation. I need to remember to do that next time I present. I will probably use photos to help me explain, as that's the best way to learn about metabolism and metabolic pathways, I also need to edit some of my slides to include information about my problem statement. I feel as if I answered all those questions while I was talking, but my teacher felt otherwise. I will just add the five facts to the slide so it's visible. Till next week. Tags: Lit Review; Networking; Planning; Presentation
This week was not too bad, surprisingly. Monday and Tuesday we worked on a presentation about our Capstone project. It covered the basics: two sources from our lit review, problem statement and justification, hypothesis, goals, and problems we were facing. It was due on Wednesday. As usual, I waited until close to the last minute to finish the presentation because I didn't know what to put for my hypothesis. Wednesday was Exhibition Day, where we were paired up with another class and showed what we were working on. We were paired with another Capstone class in Aerospace and were tasked with showing our problem statement and if we had time, our presentation. It went well and I got some positive feedback on my project. The only thing I had to work on was explaining my project more precisely so that others who do not know anything about cell biology can understand it. Thursday and Friday were presentations. We had a sign up sheet and I decided to go first on Friday, because I knew I was not ready to present on Thursday. I was able to see some mistakes or elements in other people's projects that I wanted to add to mine, so it was a good idea for me to go Friday. I got an idea of what I needed to say and how I needed to present. I practiced Thursday night so I would be ready. But Friday came and I woke up with a scratchy throat. I could barely speak or swallow my own spit. I took some Benadryl but that did not work out as planned. I became tired and exhausted, sleeping in my first two classes. When I went up to deliver my presentation, I rushed through what I had to say and omitted some parts that I had rehearsed. I was very tired. But apparently, I didn't do too bad, and I got it out of the way, which was a positive. I know that I have some points to work on in presenting, mainly not looking at the board, speaking clearly, and to stop rambling on. I plan on working on this in the future. For some reason, I've lost 10 points on my last three blogs. The three blogs were put in the grade-book as one grade. Since I lost 10 points on three blogs, I lost 30 points out of 300, causing my grade to drop to an A-. Hopefully, my presentation can bring up my grade, as well as my lit review. I still need to talk to Ms. Veillette about my first draft, which I know wasn't as good. I rushed through the last parts, and thus didn't write as well as I intended to. I was planning on starting to revise the draft without talking to Ms. Veillette, but I would like to know when to turn in a second draft, especially because the lit review needs five supporting sources. I will start working on the second draft, even if I don't get to talk to her so I can at least get a head start on my second draft. In other news, my AP Biology test is on Monday. I'm going to need all the luck I can get. I looked through the material and I know most of it. Luckily, the questions deal with the application of material and not memorizing the material itself. There are some things that I need to brush up on, which I plan to do over the weekend. Wish me luck! Tags: Blogs, Forward, Independent, Lit Review, Planning, Presentation, Projects, Reflection
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AuthorShubhangy Raghavan Archives
January 2019
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