For my capstone I want to redesign the UNICF water pumps that are used in developing countries such as Malawi, Africa. These water pumps are miles away from some families, they are fragile, and they do not provide enough water for all the work that is being put in to pump it. I want to design sturdier and easier to use pumps that will be closer to the families. The reason why I am passionate about this project is from my personal experience in Africa using the pumps. While I was there the pump broke and it took a few minutes to pump a bucket of water. The most horrifying part was that my family was a 45-minute walk from the water pump and some families were even farther.  Water is a pivotal aspect to life and should be easy to access. By producing and perhaps designing a functional water pump, I think that it will show my research and knowledge of engineering. This capstone will also show my growth in building and critical thinking skills.

The design I had in mind for my capstone was to design water pumps that have multiple purposes and I ened up with a pump that is similar to a soccer goal. When the ball hits the panels it will generate energy and power a piston. That piston will bring up ground water, that will be drinkable due to the ceramic filtering. I have the complete design on google sketch up ( with the link to dropbox is below).

Amanda Millatt
Favorite spot:  Clark Park
Neighborhood: University City
Address: 42nd Baltimore 

I am: A Philadelphia high school senior, and a runner, a volunteer and a aspiring doctor.
Years in Philly: 18
Current Home: University City

I do not like you. I do not like any of your local summer events that I greatly anticipate during the tedious winters. I do not like attending everyone of your monthly flee markets with my best friend. I defiantly do not like getting awesome novelty items such as an accordion or locally made jewelry for amazing prices. I do not enjoy watching the  free Shakespeare theatrical productions every year with my mother, which I want to add is well put together and humorous. I do not like snow days because I always have the best time going sledding down the massive hill at the bowl. I did not enjoy spending hours playing hiding-go-seek and giggling with my middle school friends. Most of all I dislike all the unforgettable memories that I had with you. I can not simply like you, I love everything about you. Thank you Clark Park for the best eight years of my life!

The themes I emphasized in my project were societal judgment and public vs private. I basically created a blanket, one side represents the negative thoughts of society about Juno and Hester and the other side represents each characters positive qualities. My idea for this piece was to show how society can sometimes cover up a persons inner good with their harsh words and actions. I tried to make the design speak for itself and not have to write anything more than adjectives. On the societal judgment side, I made the background black and I put a large scarlet letter in the middle. The adjectives are written in black and red sharpie and in capital letters. The reason for the black background and the black and red sharpie is that this side is the darker side of society, the more harsh and cruel side.  I wanted to write the words in capital letters because I feel like society is yelling it at these two girls or making it so obvious about the two characters decision that it is like yelling. Lastly I created the scarlet letter to represent that side because society judged the physical aspects of each character (Hester the Scarlet Letter and Juno the baby bump). Some of the words used on the blanket were “ Hussy, Harlot, Immature, whore and irresponsible.”  because people in both the book and movie associated the characters and real people in their situations with these words.

            For the other side of the blanket, I took a completely different approach. I decided that I wanted this side to show the great quality that each character has on the inside. I made the background bright yellow and the words are written in different colors because I wanted the audience to see the positives and know that this side represent the good. I created a heart and sewed that in the center of the project because the heart represents something that is covered, but still the most important part of you. Those aspects of the characters are covered or ignored by society because of their situation, but they are still important. Some the words I decided to use were “caring, passionate, wise and forgiving” because I thought these words were applicable to Juno and Hester.

            The first step was o go to the thrift store and by all the components: blanket, yellow sheet, white sheet, red fabric, shapies etc. Then I came up with the words I wanted to use by looking at my notes from the Scarlet Letter and Juno.  After that I cut out pieces like the heart and “A”. Lastly I sewed everything myself on the blanket. The project took about 7 hours in total to complete because it did take a while to sew on the A and the heart. The only issue that I had was sewing because I hadn’t sewed something so large since I was 10 years old. My fingers were also soar after hold the needle for such a long period of time.

            The part of the project I feel that I did well on was the idea behind the project. I thought that it was different from the projects that we did in class and the ones that my peers were creating. I wanted to make my project different, which I did. The only aspect I want to improve on it the aesthetic part. I imaged it would look ten times better in my head, I felt like if I had another week I could have spent more time perfecting the minor errors. I am not saying I hate my blanket, but there are some parts that I wish I could have fixed.

            If I had to do this exact project again I would have changed a few parts of the original design. First off I would have made the blanket longer so that I would fit more words on it. I would have also added some pictures from the movie and some cartoons of the book because I feel like it would have added something different to my project. Lastly I would have added more detail, like have a colored border around the words because that would have made it more visually appealing. To conclude I enjoyed working with both Juno and the Scarlet Letter, they are both timeless pieces that I teach our generation a lot.

Mi nombre es Amanda Jane Millatt y soy extraña.  Amanda es mi madre  nombre favorita. Ella dice que el definición de Amanda es una persona que es amada. La opción otra para mi nombre fue Bella porque la significa guapa y mi madre piense que yo soy. No me gusta mi nombre porque me molesta cuando la gente dice mi nombre como “A - man- duh” o canta la canción de el programma de “The Amanda Show”. No soy un hombre o Amanda Bynes. Mi nombre segundo es de la tía del lado de mi padre. No me encontré ella pero mi madre dice que mi tía y yo mirada similar. Mi apellido es del lado de mi padre, pero mi madre odia su nombre de familia.

Tengo dieciséis años. Soy parte afra ay británica. No practico un religión, sin embargo, yo creo en Dios. Los demás piensan que soy atlética porque soy alta y delgada. Mi pelo rizado es la mayoría marrón pero es un poco rubio también.  Mi piel es un marrón claro porque soy bi-racial. La gente dice que mis ojos son enormes y ellos son asustadizos. Por un lado, mis labios, orejas y pies son pequeña comparado a otra chicas que son igual a mi. Necesito lentes, sin embargo llevo unos lentes de contactos en todo lo posible.  Tengo caractericas únicas, pero  mi personalidad es aún más única.

Hay gente que no sabe que soy huraña. Odio hablar en público porque me pongo muy nerviosa en estas situaciones.  Se dice que tengo confianza pero es todo lo contrario- soy insegura. Disimulo mis sentimientos y pensamientos realmente de mis amigos y familia, no entiendo por qué. A veces soy permisiva sobre la  vida no obstante valgo mucho de mi vida.  La mayoría de todo, soy empática realmente. Tengo los sentimientos de la gente en dolor emocional, es muy extraño para mi. Sin embargo no me gusta que soy seria por tanto rió en casi todo. Unas demás piensen que porque rió demasiado, que soy no inteligente. No entienden que puedo ser seria a veces.

Soy cariñosa por tanto; me gusta ofrecer y ayudar mis amigos. Me siento contenta cuando ofrezco con mis amigos y completo práctica de correr. Me importa mucho ayudara la gente porque quiero hacer gente sonreír y contentos. En el futuro, quisiera ser doctor de niños y trabajar con el programa Doctors Without Borders. Esta organzición ayudan país en desarrollo con sustentabilidad, educación y mejoran la vidas en general. Me molesta mucho la gente narcisista porque ellos se ponen agobiados con sus mismo.  Para mi ellos deberían preocupado sobre sus comunidad y otra personas. No creo en perfección porque la idea de una persona o cosa perfecto es absolutamente imposible. Es siempre algo equivocado con hasta la mayoría de cosas perfectos. Sin embargo intento ver lo bueno en todos.

Estoy agobiada de todos las organizacións participó en. Soy miembro de Students Run Philly Style, buildOn, Dukes of Edinburgh, programma de museo en The Franklin Institute y laboratorio technician en Thomas Jefferson Hospital. Me gusta todos actividades excepto para correr. Corrí dos maratones y después de los maratones me siento igual a muerte. Odio sentir dolor es por eso que un problema con ir al práctica.  A veces lo quiero , la relación con correr es complicada igual a todos mis relaciones.

Tengo una madre vivo con ella. No se mi padre porque mi madre lo deja él cuando yo era joven. Yo nunca hablé a o me encontré mi padre pero no me importa si alguna vez hago. No tengo hermanos, pero mi madre se casaro su novio quién cuarto niños. No preparó por cuatro hermanos pequeños obviamente es por eso que estoy contenta con voy al universidad pronto. Veo mi otra familia en fiesta religiosa solamente. ¡Tengo los mejor amigos en el mundo! Mi mejor amigo es Maddie Walls, hemos tenido ser amigos por seis años. Nos llevamos bien porque Maddie es graciosa y cariñosa. Espero que mantenerse en contacto cuando estoy en la universidad. Oltra relacion es con mi novio. Salir con Oswald y enamorado de todo sobre el. A veces discutimos, pero es normal por relaciones románticas. Fuimos juntos por dos años. Mi madre y yo nos llevamos mal porque nos todo lo contrario. Miramos idéntica, pero discutimos todo el tiempo sobre nada. Diferimos en todos ideas y opiniones pero todavía la amo.

The point of divergence  was when Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated on March 30th, 1981. He was shot in the lung right outside of the Washington DC Hilton hotel by John Hinkley. I changed this event and made the shot fatal (in the original event was inches away from his heart) and Reagan dies after surgery. The future I imagined was a bright one, Reagan ruined America's economy because of his famous "Reaganimics" plan that only benefited cooperations( the rich). I believed that George H W Bush wouldn't have choose the same plan, but would have just raised taxes. In the future since George W Bush is never elected we don't go to war with Iraq, which only helped our economy. For 2012 the economy is stable and prosperous. The education system is incredible because America did have a surplus of money to give towards education.The only problem in America is the amount of homeless families that has continuously grew because funding for welfare is modicum and very selective. 

I enjoyed learning about the Reagan policies because I didn't realize his presidency was so pivotal in American history. He changed a lot about the economy and foreign relationships. I thought the most challenging part was deciding how to present the project because their was just so many ways to do it. I also thought just thinking about a different future was difficult. I thought that researching how each individual event and person affected another event that would ultimately change the future was extremely interesting. 

I felt that any change will effect the future , even if it is just a small impact or huge. For example if  the systematic change was that "Reaganomics" never happened, our economy would not end up in debt. I felt the same way about individual change because as I showed in my benchmark with the absents of Reagan our future was completely different. Well one decision can change everything, for example Bush made the decision to fight a war, which hurt our economy. If Bush would have made a different decision than perhaps Americas finanical situation would be completely different.

I thought that if i had a timeline in my project that would help with describing the future. I tried to include some of the history in my magazine like I would specify which president helped that event happen. The timeline would have just added that extra bit of understanding. If i had to do my project over again I would have done way more research and started it earlier, not to say I didn't spend hours just reading about the history, but I also feel like I missed some important events. If I would have started just a week earlier then I would have had more time to do research and create the best project. 

Last week was about understanding dating in Spanish speaking countries and now it is all about marriage. This week I talked to a 35 year old teacher from Colombia who was very willing to talk to me about marriage. To help understand my conversation, there are a list of vocabulary below. 

Vocabulary

Casamiento/Matrimonio - marriage 

Pareja- partner/ pair 

Vigencia- validity 

Cédula-  identity card 

Juzgado- court 

Reclamar- to claim

llenar- to fill out 

Coincidir- to coincide 

Catolicos- Catholic 

Pedir- to ask 

Vendidas- sold 

Tribu- tribe

Entregado- Selfless 

Marido- husband 

Summary 

• Marriage in Columbia is just like marriage in the United States  
•  Some people never get married, but do live together or civil unions
• They have reception type dinners where the whole family come together  
• They have to get everything approved by the courts 
•  In some indigenous tribes they have a form of arranged marriage; they sell the women. 

1. "¿Que Tal" -Whats up?

2. "¿Dos como and as?"- How is it going? 

3."¿Que pass?"- Whats up?

Respectful way (elder, parents, respected figure)

1."Hola ¿Como estad usted?"- Hi, how are you?

Be Concise

Be Visual

Be Smarter

Be Transparent

Be Different

Be Accurate

Be Attractive

Be Varied

Be Creative

• Hicimos un PSA sobre contaminación en Filadelfia.
• Es un asusnto importante a nosotros porque Filadelfia es bello pero mucho contaminación.
• Esperamos que el público de Filadelfia esto lo que puedes hacer para parrar el contaminación en Filadelfia.

• How did you group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
  Well we waited until we were together in class and then we split up. We worked on our parts separately, but  we did come together when we had to review our stuff.
• 11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
  It is there role to vote and that helps create change because they are picking the future and how it will change good or bad.
• How has your understanding of the electoral process and whether or not the US is a democracy evolved during this unit?
  Well i didn't know anything about the election because it didn't really apply to me. I found it interesting that hardly anyone votes and that it is actually difficult to vote. 
• How did you decide to best relay a message to a national audience with your marketing campaign?
  Well we wanted to make it appealing to everyone. Like we made a song that would appeal to the younger voters and then the print ad was more serious and that was supposed to appeal to the older voters.

“I don’t like him!” She tried to hide her awkward smile, but I saw through her lie. We were the loudest people on the usually quiet trolley. I never realize it until all eyes are on our conversation.

“Oh my gosh, you are such a liar. I hate you and your lies.” I said to her in a serious voice. I couldn’t help but laugh after I said it. She laughed back, but her laugh said it all. It was the “Amanda you so crazy laugh”.

Then she actually said it “You are so crazy, but I do a little. I just don’t want to anymore.” I laughed at her. I hear those words everyday “Amanda you are so crazy”. I completely agree with that statement, those words not only describe my speech, but also my actions. It’s strange, but I only hear these words from my friends.

 “How has your winter break been?” My Great Aunt Linda asked me when I was over her house for the traditional Christmas dinner.

“The break has been wonderful. So far, I have completed all my homework and my mother and I have watched a few movies.” I replied in a light, yet sweet voice. Then I smiled, and put on a complete “I-am-such-an-angle” act. My family always falls for it .I could also see something else in my aunt’s eyes when I talk; judgment.

 “Our family looks down on us because I am a single mom. They pity us and they don’t think I raised you right. That’s just our family, get used to it.” My mom stuck this idea in my head when I was young. I grew up trying to be better than my families perception of me .I couldn’t be relaxed around them. I had to be perfect, I had to show them that my life was completely normal and that I was intelligent.

According to James Baldwin “You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” In simpler words the way a person speaks, the vocabulary they use and the accent they have, can tell all about a person. For instance, if a person always talks with words that aren’t in the dictionary and their grammar is completely wrong, then most likely this person didn’t go to one of the best schools and probably works a minimum wage job. This could also mean that their parents didn’t push them enough or that they have too low of self-esteem to really believe in them selves.

Since I believe this quote to be true, I am afraid to use slang or just say whatever is on my mind around my family. Using slang will prove what they already think is true, that I am not educated well and that I pretty much live in poverty. My family believes that because I never went to the most expensive private schools or had a father in my life to support me. My guard always has to be up around them, I can’t just let lose and be goofy. I have to be proper and always watch what I say.

I was always the youngest in the family. The only other girl in the family near my age was about six years older than me. I was out casted because of such an age difference. My cousins didn’t want to have a deep conversation with me; I was to young too talk about anything relevant to their lives like dating or high school. I knew from a young age they didn’t want me around. I could just tell by the stares that pierced me whenever I walked into the room.

“Hello” Glenda my oldest cousin asked while going in for an awkward hug. She didn’t say it as if she cared, it was just something to say to break the tension between us.

“Hello …”I go in for the unwanted hug and then pulled away quickly. She stared at me.

“How have you been?”  I said swiftly, I wasn’t used to these word. “What’s up?” is what I say to my friends, she wasn’t my friend. She was far from one.

“Great.” Anywhere but here, it was like she was thinking out loud. Glenda walked to the other side of the room as soon as her mom peered out of the kitchen. I didn’t know what to say, it was strange because I always have something to say. I always felt this way around my mom’s half of the family.

I couldn’t help but to notice that I wasn’t myself around people I wasn’t comfortable with. With my friends I felt like I could just be myself and talk anyway I pleased. I didn’t feel the same around my family .It could be the fear of not being accepted by them or just not knowing what to say in a conversation. Whatever the reason, I can’t help but to code switch.