Blog

Summer Block 3 Sessions

August 3rd - Goodbye Shodor

Unfortunately today is the last day of my Shodor apprenticeship but I am planning on applying to become an Intern at Shodor for the next year. For my last day at Shodor, I practiced my presentation and in the afternoon I presented 5 of my favorite projects to my fellow apprentices, Joel, Jennifer, Ernie, and Aaron.

August 2nd - Mock Interview

Today I finally finished my final form of my personal portfolio website. I made sure all of my web pages validated. I also fixed any bugs and inconstancies in my webpage that the people around me and I could find. To finish the day off, I starting working on my presentation for tomorrow.

August 1st - Mock Interview

I had a mock interview today with Jennifer. I used everything she taught me yesterday and I think I did fairly well. After my mock interview, I worked on applying my css to the rest of my website. I made a copy of my old website just for safe keeping however.

July 31st - Interviewing Skills

Today at Shodor Jennifer taught us about interviewing skills. But before she did, I continued work on my personal portfolio website. I made an entirely new css document and focused on a test HTML document in my newDev folder, trying to make that document look like the plan.

July 30th - My Last Week

Today was the first day of my last week at Shodor. I started the day off by working on my final draft for my personal portfolio website. I first referred back to my HLD that I made in Block 1 for instructions on what to do. But after a while I had to scrap my idea because it did not look good. I then went back to Inkscape to design another design for my website.

July 27th - Documenting the Website Design Workshop

Today I documented my first workshop. It was the Website Design workshop which was being taught by Joel. The students we mostly finishing their websites since it was the last day. In the afternoon, I finished up my dice roller database project.

July 26th - Electrical Engineering

Today Ron and some of the engineering interns gave us a lesson on electrical engineering. We started off by learning about some jobs electrical engineers do. We then used a modeling website to model a circuit. We then used a breadboard and other components to create the circuit. For the rest of the day I worked on my dice roller datebase.

July 25th - Programing in mySQL

Today I worked on creating a database using mySQL and linking it to my website. I had to make a dice model where the user inputs their name, a color, their shoe size and brand, and the numer of dice rolls. My program then rolled the set amount of dice and stored their information into my database. I did this by using PHP and SQL.

July 24th - Working at the Reception Desk...Again

I worked at the reception desk in the morning today. I got four calls but two of them was a spam call trying to sell Shodor insurance. In the afternoon, I watched the livestream from the morning and learned about E-R databases for systems. I then made my own E-R diagram for a relational database.

July 23rd - First Day of Block 3

Today was the first day of Block 3. After a quick orientation again we went on to start learning about the programming language mySQL. We got assigned a syntax guide and I finished part of it today.

Summer Block 2 Sessions

July 20th - Last Day of Block 2

Today at Shodor I did not do much. I put the final touches on my remaining projects and made sure everything validated. I finished my resume and made sure everything looked nice. For the rest of the time I was helping other people finish their projects on time.

July 19th - Engineering Workshop

Today at Shodor Ron and a couple of the interns gave us a introduction into structural engineering. We first played around with a couple of applets where we could design bridges and test structures center of gravity. We then went into a competition to see who could build the tallest structure while holding the most weight. In the afternoon, I worked on my resume.

July 18th - Uploading my PHP projects

Today I focused on uploading my PHP projects to my public_html file so that all of the internet can view my projects. I had to embed PHP into an HTML file so that everything else looks nice. I spent the rest of the morning going through my website to fix inconsistencies. I finished the day by completing the optional calendar project.Hint: You are on the right page

July 17th - Learning About Dynamic Webpages

Today we started off the day by completing a demo on dynamic webpages. This means that the HTML for the webpage does not exists until someone clicks on the link. The the PHP creates the contents for the webpage to be displayed. I finished the day by finishing Krista's projects part 2. We finished the dynamic demo together a I finished by XML blog on my own.

July 16th - Learning about Rendering HTML in PHP

Today was the first day of week 2 in block 2. We started the day off by learning about how to render and embed HTML code inside of PHP. Ernie gave us a demo and we rendered HTML code into our coin flip PHP code and created a displayable webpage from it. I finished the day by starting on Krista's PHP projects part 2.

July 13th - Finishing PHP projects

Today was the last day of week 1 of block 2. Today I finished my PHP projects. I completed my Dane Joe project which switches the first and last letter of a first and last name. I completed my dice model, where the user can input the number of dice, rolls, and sides on the dice.

July 12th - Working in PHP

Today I continued to work on my programming concepts sytax guide. I finished the PHP side of the guide and Ernie said wait until next week to work on the third language. Ernie also gave us a demonstration on forms in PHP. Forms allow us to take information from the user and use it. I then took what I learned from the demo and applied it to other projects.

July 11th - Making a Resume

Today I continued to work on my programming concepts sytax guide. I finished the JavaScript side and started to work on the PHP part of the project. Then Ernie gave us a PHP demonstration and we modeled a coin flip. After lunch we were taught about resume writing and we started writing our own resume.

July 10th - Working at the front desk again

Today I worked at the front desk for the second time. This time, I was at the front desk in the morning. I got 3 calls but one of them was a spam call. While at the front desk I worked on my programming concepts syntax guide. In the afternoon I continued working but left early.

July 9th - First Day of Block 2

Today was the first day of the second block of the summer apprenticeship. It was nice to meet my fellow apprentices who did not show up for block 1. I started the day by organizing my public_html before we started. We then reviewed programing concepts and got assigned a JavaScript and PHP research guide.

Summer Block 1 Sessions

June 29th - Finishing Block 1

Today I finished all of my block 1 work. In the morning I finished my personal portfolio HLD and sent it to Ernie for approval. Then after lunch I played around in Inkscape making random images. I then moved on to helping other people around me to finish their work.

June 28th - Working on My Personal Portfolio Project

Today I finished my Responsive Website Design after many bug fixes. I then went through my website to find more bugs and made it look more aesthetically pleasing. I figured out how to add emojis and special characters on the computer. I finished the day by starting my personal portfolio HLD

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June 27th - Starting my Responsive Design Website

Today was a slow work day at Shodor for me. I started out by creating collages with Aaron and Ernie's face. I then debugged most of my website before Ernie reviewed it. I finished the day by working and almost finishing my responsive webpage design.

June 26th - Working in Gimp

Today at Shodor I primarily worked in Gimp. I started the day off by following the cosmic turtles demo and creating my own collage of random photos. I then used Gimp to change my logos into web banners.

June 25th - Finishing up Logos

Today at Shodor I finished all of my logos in Inkscape. I created two logos that contain my name in them, two logos that use my initials, and two abstract logos. In addition to that, I also created a favicon and put it on my website. I really enjoyed working in Inkscape and using my creativity to create many logos.

June 22nd - Working on Inkscape

Today I started by putting the finishing touches on my summer modeling project. I then went on to work in Inkscape to design my logo. I enjoyed designing my logos as it was a nice change of pace.

June 21st - Finishing the Modeling Project

Today I finished my modeling project and got caught up on the things I missed yesterday when I was at the front desk. I started the day by watching the inkscape demonstration and creating a collage out of random shapes. I then went on to work on my website for my summer modeling project.

June 20th - Working the front desk

Today was an exciting day for me at Shodor. After briefly finishing up my AgentCubes model in the morning I then moved onto the beginnings of my website for the project. Then halfway through lunch I started my first ODAA. I was assigned to work the reception at Shodor in the afternoon. Aaron helped me get situated and to learn everything I needed to do. After that, I only had to redirect one call.

June 19th - Working on Summer Modeling Project

Today started out with Ernie assigning us some projects working with Gimp and planning for a website. After that, I mostly worked on my summer modeling project. I finished my HLD and got approval. I then went on to finish my Vensim model and started working on my AgentCubes model.

June 18th - First Day of Summer

Today was my first day in the Summer sections after a long break. Before we started Ernie gave us a lesson on ODAA which stands for other duties as assigned. This includes helping workshop students and running the front desk. After this we started working on Block 1 projects. The project I worked on was modeling a society with a high Estate Tax. Today I worked on my HDL (High Level Design) document which is acts as a plan for my future agent and systems models.

Spring Sessions

April 21st - Last Day of Spring

Today we finished our lesson on parallel computing. We learned about a little system called LittleFe and compared it to BlueWaters. From then we actually connected all of the apprentices computers and ran a galaxy program in parallel using everybody's computers.

April 14th - Learning about Parallel Computing

Today we expanded more about parallel computing concepts. We started off by learning a simple example of splitting up a forest amongst 4 researchers. We then learned about dependencies between components and how more dependencies can slow down a process. We then took a algorithm or recipe and use parallel computing to optimize it. My recipe was how to put your socks on. We finished by learning about real supercomputers and careers that uses high performance computing(HPC).

April 7th - Presenting our Spring Group Project

Today we presented our Spring Group projects. I felt confident that we presented our project well and engaged our audience. After all of the presentations, Levi gave us tips on how to improve our presentations for the summer. Then Aaron gave us an introductory lesson on parallel computing. I am excited to learn more about parallel computing.

March 17th - Finishing our AgentCubes and JavaScript Model

Today we worked on our spring project. We finished our AgentCubes model with the help of Dr. Panoff and Aaron. There was however a lighting glitch where a circular shadow was cast on half of our model. From then we moved on to our website which we have all the content done we just need to finish our JavaScript page.

March 10th - Working on Our Group Project

I was unable to attend this weeks meeting as I was out for a DECA competition. Today was a work day on out spring group project. We still have to finish our AgentCubes model and our JavaScript model. I contacted my partner, Albert, to see if we can meet and finish our project and be able to present next week.

March 3rd - Spring Group Project

Today we were assigned our group project for the Spring. we were tasked to model forest fires. For our extension, we added a random distribution of the forest and firefighters who create a fireline to stop the fire. We got approval for this story as well as a list of Agents and Shapes. We started working on our If/Then statements and trying to solve the nearest-neighbor problem in AgentCubes.

February 17th - Learning about Code Refactoring

Today we started the day going over what we previously learned. Then we moved on to refactoring our Project Euler program. This means changing the code while still allowing the program to accomplish the same thing. Then we learned about functions. We created a function for Project Euler program to make the program self-documenting. We then moved on to objects and libraries. We used a program that models healthy and sick people using Java. We examined the code and gained access to a library created by Aaron for modeling.

February 10th - Solving a Project Euler Question

We started the day off by going over what it is to be a Shodor apprentice and what is expected of us. Then we went over some operations like modulars, and concatenation. We discussed their type and the type of operands they need. We also went over the semantics of more operators like asperands, or and not. We finished the day solving a project Euler problem using JavaScript. We learned about arrays and loops whilst solving the problem.

February 3rd - Intro into Programing Concepts

Today we started the day off by getting an intro into programming concepts. We also got a glossary for programming terms to reference in the future. We then went over the tools needed to start writing code. I learned there are two types of text editors; rich texts and plain text. We the went over syntax and how different symbols can stand for different things. We finished the day by learning about pseudocode.

Fall Sessions

January 13th - Watching Other Group Projects

Today was a presenting day for those groups who did not present in the fall. Since I only had to watch, I came late at 12:00. Then I watched other groups present and learned different ways to use models and apply them to the real world. I also re-configured my computer since they reset over the break. I finished off the day by completing my part of the fall stipend form.

December 16th - Presenting Our First Group Project

Today was a work day. Arjun and I completed our website and for the group project. We then presented our project and listened to other groups' projects. I was very intrigued by some of the other groups' projects. After that, Levi and Aaron gave us tips on how to improve our presentations for next time.

December 9th - Working on our Group Project

Today was a work day for our group project. Me and Arjun met and got our plan to model the population of dolphins approved by Aaron. From then I worked primarily in Vensim while Arjun worked on own AgentCubes model. I made three different Vensim models with varying complexity. We plan to complete our website during the next meeting and being ready to present.

December 2nd - Our First Group Project

I was unable to attend today’s meeting. But after watching the lecture videos I learned more about modeling. I learned that I should start with a basic idea and then add layers or semantics. I also learned about working in an office and the step in a group project; plan, approve, and implement. We also got our first group assignment today. My partner's name is Arjun and we are both juniors. We decided to do our project in dolphin populations and how the number of fishermen effect the population.

November 18th - Modelling using AgentCubes

Today we started learning about the change and behavior relationship. We applied this to calculus with derivatives and physics with velocity and acceleration. We also learned about in sito vs in solico vs in vitro. We moved on to Vensim and made our own predator prey model. We made a lokta voltero model which is a simple model but we explored ways to make it more complex. We finished the day off working in agent cubes and making a disease model.

November 11th - Modelling using Vensim

Today we got an introduction into modeling and a brief overview of systematic thinking. For our introduction into modeling we learned about the example of rabbits and carrying capacity. We also learned a very important equation; Have=Had+Change. In the afternoon we learned about systematic thinking. we used vensim to model the population of rabbits.

November 4th - Intro into Modelling

We started out the day by getting an intro into modeling. We learned how a good model is a wrong model plus correctiond and even things like straws can be a model for things. We finished the day by working in Excel. We learned about syntax, different commands like IF statements and RAND numbers. We also made models of recessive genes, flipping a coin, spinners, and temperature diffusing across a classroom. We alsolearned about iterations on Excel.

October 21st - Learning about Algorithms

Today was a good day at Shodor. In the morning we learnt about errors in google spreadsheets and did more research to prove not everthing on Google can be trusted. After a break we learnt about shortcuts in Excel. During lunch me and a couple of other apprentices bonded over a game of cards. After lunch be learnt card tricks that were actually algorithms We finished up the day by working on our blogs, reflections, and our first project.

October 14th - Lesson in Ethics

Today was my second day at Shodor. We started by discussing ethics in the workplace. Then I learnt that some of the information on google can be false and we need to compare sites and their credibility to get true information.

October 7th - First Day Orientation

Today was my first day in the Shodor Apprenticeship Program. I am really excited about spending more time in this unique learning environment. Today was the orientation, I got some paperwork to fill out, my new Shodor account, and my mentor, Jennifer. We went over the rules that Shodor has and I got a tour of the office. I also got my first assignment today to complete a tutorial and the Student Apprenticeship Handbook Guide.