Q1 Narrative
Pilot has been amazing so far, I love having the freedom to learn what I want. I have learned so much about myself and the way I learn. And have progressed so much from where I was last year. The way I learn is hands-on activities or visual learning like taking notes and sometimes watching videos. I have a hard time remembering things that I have read so when I can read stuff that I am interested in I get a lot more out of it. So many of the things I do outside of school connect to the things I am doing in school. That has helped me be more aware of my surroundings and notice more stuff around me. When I take walks in the woods now I notice all the leaves that have fallen and how many salamanders are under them. In pilot I connect so much I learn to the outside world. That has been really cool because everything I am learning about in pilot is stuff I am really interested in so I can connect with certain stuff more when I see or hear about it.
For science right now I am redesigning the waste system in the cafeteria. This will meet the engineering standard. The process will be to design solutions then decide on the best one. Then test it and make revisions to it. The goal is to have it up and running by next year. The trash, recycling and compost on both sides of the cafetera are in bins and not very well organized. It is hard for kids to go through quickly so a lot of the waste gets put in the wrong places. Mayla and I are Exhibition trying to fix this by creating one that will be quick and easy to go through. So far we have a few different designs. We really want it to be as easy as possible to go through, so we are going to have it be a table with bins underneath so that there is a place to put your tray. We are also organizing it in a way that is how you would unload your tray. These are the designs I have come up with so far.
We met with John Jose who works for Central VT solid waste management district (cvswmd). We talked about where our compost trash and recycling is going after u32. We also talked about having people at each station helping make sure everything gets where it needs to be. I had a meeting with Brian Fisher about what he would like to see in it, then made a list of criteria and constraints based on that. I think one of the biggest challenges with this project has been finding times to meet with people and talk about it.
I am also working with my mentor Charlie Wanzer to learn about the carbon cycle, we have had 2 meetings so far. I hope we will design a test and conduct it together so that I can meet the science practices standards and hopefully also science concepts too. During the first one we talked about the basics of the carbon cycle, photosynthesis, and different types of molecules. We then went out into the woods and measured the amount of carbon in 1 square meter of the top layer of leaves. It was really cool. The second meeting we collected old leaves and dried them over the stove. Then burned them to ashes to try and figure out how much of the weight was water. It is really cool to be working with someone who is so fascinated with what they do and is excited to teach it.
Along with what I am doing in science I am also doing VYCC every thursday. So far this year we have worked on the river access trail from the school. We did some benching, which is cutting into the side of a hill to widen the path and make it falter. We did some weeding at the first part of the trail and we started to build a rock staircase at the bottom. Another thing we have been working on is the cross vermont trail down by the bridge. There we dug trenches so that we could build a curb at the bottom of the rallings so that the gravel and dirt doesn’t wash away. Then we filled the backside of the curb with rocks. We also moved some wood and culverts. The other project we have been working on is planting riparian buffers along the and mad river. This involves planting trees and shrubs by the river to prevent erosion, improve water quality, and provide more shade for the river so that it doesn’t get too hot and drive away fish. I was only there for one of the days but that day we planted about 245 trees in all. Ella and I were partners and planted 84 trees together we planted 42 each. It was so much fun. I think the tree planting has been my favorite thing we have done so far. VYCC in general has been really fun and a really good learning experience. It also has some challenging parts because I am missing school each Thursday, so I have to make up the work I have missed. I really like doing it and always feel so much better on the days that I do VYCC. I am so glad I am doing it and I am having a lot of fun building trails.
For English I have written an essay about the history of conservation in the United states and a poem. I had hoped to write more, but I didn’t end up having enough time. The essay I wrote is called the complicated history of conservation in the U.S, it is about protecting the environment and how we have done that in the past. I really enjoyed writing it and learned so much in the process. It talks about indigenous perspectives, different types of protected land, and why it’s important. I read where the deer and the antelope play by Nick Offerman and that was really interesting. The first part was about him and some of his friends going on a trip in Yellowstone national park. They went on many adventures in the park and talked about many different issues. I really like reading it and am excited to finish it. I also read a lot of articles related to the topic for my essay. My favorite part to write was the part about indigenous people and their views on the land and how the creation of national parks has affected them. I learned so much while writing it. It was also in a way the easiest because I already knew a bunch about it. The hardest part was the end with the goals of national parks and also why they are important. It really made me think about why we should continue to protect areas. The last paragraph talking about sustainability, I felt like that was hard because it was hard to find the right words to describe it. Overall it was really fun and I enjoyed writing it.
The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel it. It was very last minute. I wrote it a few nights ago, so I haven't had time to finish it yet. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. Hopefully I will be able to finish it soon. Due to my concussion I haven't been able to get as much done as I would have liked. I would have liked to at least start researching for my next essay. Or reading the next book. but I am happy with what I have so far.
What I have done so far has been something that was part of my goals. I have been pretty good at meeting my deliverables or short term goals. Sometimes it’s things like not having a meeting with a content advisor because we can’t find a time to meet. My learning plan is something I did at the beginning and I have definitely discovered more about what specific projects I will do, and it’s still a work in progress. Something that helped with that was prioritizing my questions. Some of the questions I have answered so far are: What can we do to make U32 a more environmentally friendly place?
What is the history of conservation in different places?
What is conservation?
What is carbon sequestration and the carbon cycle?
There are many more questions that I want to answer and not all of that is going to happen this year. It’s hard because I feel like I don’t have enough time even though that's not true because I am only a freshman. I think not having enough time has been one of the hardest things for me this year. I am doing so much and my life gets really busy really quickly so I need to get better at getting school work and pilot work done faster. Hopefully I will get better at using my time. One of my favorite parts is that I finally feel like I am doing something in the world. It is such an amazing feeling. I love what I am doing and learning about and it has been such an amazing experience so far. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of pilot. It is such an amazing learning experience that has already taught me so much about myself and the world.
For science right now I am redesigning the waste system in the cafeteria. This will meet the engineering standard. The process will be to design solutions then decide on the best one. Then test it and make revisions to it. The goal is to have it up and running by next year. The trash, recycling and compost on both sides of the cafetera are in bins and not very well organized. It is hard for kids to go through quickly so a lot of the waste gets put in the wrong places. Mayla and I are Exhibition trying to fix this by creating one that will be quick and easy to go through. So far we have a few different designs. We really want it to be as easy as possible to go through, so we are going to have it be a table with bins underneath so that there is a place to put your tray. We are also organizing it in a way that is how you would unload your tray. These are the designs I have come up with so far.
We met with John Jose who works for Central VT solid waste management district (cvswmd). We talked about where our compost trash and recycling is going after u32. We also talked about having people at each station helping make sure everything gets where it needs to be. I had a meeting with Brian Fisher about what he would like to see in it, then made a list of criteria and constraints based on that. I think one of the biggest challenges with this project has been finding times to meet with people and talk about it.
I am also working with my mentor Charlie Wanzer to learn about the carbon cycle, we have had 2 meetings so far. I hope we will design a test and conduct it together so that I can meet the science practices standards and hopefully also science concepts too. During the first one we talked about the basics of the carbon cycle, photosynthesis, and different types of molecules. We then went out into the woods and measured the amount of carbon in 1 square meter of the top layer of leaves. It was really cool. The second meeting we collected old leaves and dried them over the stove. Then burned them to ashes to try and figure out how much of the weight was water. It is really cool to be working with someone who is so fascinated with what they do and is excited to teach it.
Along with what I am doing in science I am also doing VYCC every thursday. So far this year we have worked on the river access trail from the school. We did some benching, which is cutting into the side of a hill to widen the path and make it falter. We did some weeding at the first part of the trail and we started to build a rock staircase at the bottom. Another thing we have been working on is the cross vermont trail down by the bridge. There we dug trenches so that we could build a curb at the bottom of the rallings so that the gravel and dirt doesn’t wash away. Then we filled the backside of the curb with rocks. We also moved some wood and culverts. The other project we have been working on is planting riparian buffers along the and mad river. This involves planting trees and shrubs by the river to prevent erosion, improve water quality, and provide more shade for the river so that it doesn’t get too hot and drive away fish. I was only there for one of the days but that day we planted about 245 trees in all. Ella and I were partners and planted 84 trees together we planted 42 each. It was so much fun. I think the tree planting has been my favorite thing we have done so far. VYCC in general has been really fun and a really good learning experience. It also has some challenging parts because I am missing school each Thursday, so I have to make up the work I have missed. I really like doing it and always feel so much better on the days that I do VYCC. I am so glad I am doing it and I am having a lot of fun building trails.
For English I have written an essay about the history of conservation in the United states and a poem. I had hoped to write more, but I didn’t end up having enough time. The essay I wrote is called the complicated history of conservation in the U.S, it is about protecting the environment and how we have done that in the past. I really enjoyed writing it and learned so much in the process. It talks about indigenous perspectives, different types of protected land, and why it’s important. I read where the deer and the antelope play by Nick Offerman and that was really interesting. The first part was about him and some of his friends going on a trip in Yellowstone national park. They went on many adventures in the park and talked about many different issues. I really like reading it and am excited to finish it. I also read a lot of articles related to the topic for my essay. My favorite part to write was the part about indigenous people and their views on the land and how the creation of national parks has affected them. I learned so much while writing it. It was also in a way the easiest because I already knew a bunch about it. The hardest part was the end with the goals of national parks and also why they are important. It really made me think about why we should continue to protect areas. The last paragraph talking about sustainability, I felt like that was hard because it was hard to find the right words to describe it. Overall it was really fun and I enjoyed writing it.
The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel it. It was very last minute. I wrote it a few nights ago, so I haven't had time to finish it yet. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. Hopefully I will be able to finish it soon. Due to my concussion I haven't been able to get as much done as I would have liked. I would have liked to at least start researching for my next essay. Or reading the next book. but I am happy with what I have so far.
What I have done so far has been something that was part of my goals. I have been pretty good at meeting my deliverables or short term goals. Sometimes it’s things like not having a meeting with a content advisor because we can’t find a time to meet. My learning plan is something I did at the beginning and I have definitely discovered more about what specific projects I will do, and it’s still a work in progress. Something that helped with that was prioritizing my questions. Some of the questions I have answered so far are: What can we do to make U32 a more environmentally friendly place?
What is the history of conservation in different places?
What is conservation?
What is carbon sequestration and the carbon cycle?
There are many more questions that I want to answer and not all of that is going to happen this year. It’s hard because I feel like I don’t have enough time even though that's not true because I am only a freshman. I think not having enough time has been one of the hardest things for me this year. I am doing so much and my life gets really busy really quickly so I need to get better at getting school work and pilot work done faster. Hopefully I will get better at using my time. One of my favorite parts is that I finally feel like I am doing something in the world. It is such an amazing feeling. I love what I am doing and learning about and it has been such an amazing experience so far. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of pilot. It is such an amazing learning experience that has already taught me so much about myself and the world.
q2 narrative
I joined pilot because I wanted to learn more about what I was interested in and also to do it my way. My goal is to learn about climate change, conservation and hopefully some marine science. That is pretty much what I have done. Recently I have been doing a lot specifically with climate change and compost. That was really interesting for me because at first I thought I would do a lot more with conservation and learn more about that. When I finished my essay about the history of conservation I started to move away from conservation and instead into waste and climate change. I also didn’t expect to learn more about waste then what I already knew, but here I am.
For english during quarter 1 I wrote about the history of conservation in the U.S. this included national parks, indigenous perspectives, and different kinds of protected areas. That was the first essay I wrote and really the first piece of work I did in pilot. It was fun to write and research about and writing it helped me take in the information more. It was also kinda stressful to write because I had to do it really quickly, and then I was revising and editing for a while. This counted toward my English proficiencies for expository writing and I also wrote a poem that counted toward the expository writing proficiency.
The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel about it. It was very last minute. I wrote it one night when I was writing my first narrative. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. I honestly don’t really like it. Creative writing has never been a very strong point for me so I think that contributes to my dislike for it. It isn't something I am really proud of from this semester.
For English I also read a book called This Book Will Save the Planet by Dany Sigwalt. At the beginning of quarter 2 I was trying to figure out what to do next and I knew I wanted to read a book. This was one that was recommended by my librarian. It was super interesting and I learned a lot about climate change. It was split up into 2 main parts, the first is the problems and what the issues are, then the second is what we can do. In the first part they talked about climate tipping points, natural disasters affecting communities, and capitalism. These are all big parts of climate change. Many Big corporations support the fossil fuel industry by giving them money or by being part of the extraction process. They do this while still making a huge profit. Most of the time they are looking to make more money and have more power instead of helping communities who are getting hit by climate change. They also talked about who is getting hit the hardest with the effects from climate change, and that is marginalized communities who can’t escape natural disasters in time. In the second part they talked mostly about how to solve some of these problems. Like stop supporting those big corporations who contribute to fossil fuel extraction. Other things you can do are to support local businesses, educate your community about these issues, and reuse or recycle stuff that you have. Another thing it talks about is what products we use. For example bottles of dish soap instead of a bar simply for convenience, but it creates so much waste also. There are things like that I am trying to bring into my own life. That is definitely a choice I can make because we have the resources for it, and a lot of other people can’t; that is why we need to change these things on a larger scale. One thing about this book that I found annoying is that it is a little repetitive. It talked a lot about big corporations and I think that they could have made it shorter. On the other hand, everything they talked about was really important. Another thing is that I think they could have condensed the first part a little bit, it just felt like it went on for a really long time. Other than that I really loved the book. Throughout reading it I took pretty detailed notes. I am hoping to do something that involves the book afterward but I’m not sure if that will end up happening.
For science I started with the engineering proficiency. At the beginning of the semester I started working on redesigning the waste stream with my fellow pilot student Mayla. At the beginning it was a lot of planning and meeting with people. Many meetings with our content advisor Aanika, John Jose from CVSWMD, David Hannigan, and Brian Fisher. There have been many different designs along the way, constantly changing the design. We just recently drew our final design that will hopefully get built. As of right now the most likely possibility is for us to build it with the woods teacher Dave during callbacks. I have learned so much about it, like that the plastic fruit containers should go in the trash instead of recycling. And that some of the different types of plastics don’t actually end up being recycled because they are the wrong kind. This semester has been full with budgeting, engineering, taking measurements, having meetings, and learning all of this as we go. I think that was one of my favorite things I did in quarter 1 and we are still working on it. This so far has been an amazing experience that has taught me so much.
Another thing that I have been working on is the carbon cycle. I wanted to tie that in because it is a huge part of climate change. I started off working with Charlie Wanzer (a science teacher at Twinfield) who was my mentor, but that didn’t work out. So I finished that up on my own by making a prezi of the carbon cycle. A Prezi is like a slideshow but you are able to zoom in on things and have different sections. I did more research for the prezi and learned more of the specifics of the carbon cycle. I didn’t find it as engaging as I thought I would, but it was still really cool to learn about. I have learned about photosynthesis and cellular respiration before, But this time I put the entire cycle together and I found that helpful. Currently the Prezi has carbon sinks, the Flow of carbon, and an energy piece. The energy piece was probably the hardest part because it was hard to figure out how to fit it in and make it make sense.
In the process of designing the waste stream and working with the carbon cycle I realized that I didn’t actually know as much about composting and recycling as I thought. So in mid december I started to think about writing an essay about compost, which I have now finished. A lot of parts of my learning were leading to compost, inside and outside of Pilot. In one of my other classes we are working on getting more education around compost into science classes, along with trying to get our compost to go to a place a little closer to home. All these trails lead me to compost so I wrote an essay about it. For the essay I did a lot of research about different ways to compost, what it is, why it;s important, and more. I found it really interesting to learn about, especially food in landfills and methane. The essay can be found in my portfolio under waste, along with some resources about compost.
The science I have gained so far are the engineering one for redesigning the waste stream, the carbon cycle for matter and energy, and the compost essay counted toward science concepts.
Along with what I am doing in science I was also doing VYCC every thursday. This year we have worked on the river access trail from the school. We did some benching, which is cutting into the side of a hill to widen the path and make it falter. We did some weeding at the first part of the trail and we started to build a rock staircase at the bottom. Another thing we have been working on is the cross vermont trail down by the bridge. There we dug trenches so that we could build a curb at the bottom of the rallings so that the gravel and dirt doesn’t wash away. We moved a lot of rocks for the back side of the curb. The other project we have been working on is planting riparian buffers along the Mad river. This involves planting trees and shrubs by the river to prevent erosion, improve water quality, and provide more shade for the river so that it doesn’t get too hot and drive away fish. I was only there for one of the days but that day we planted about 245 trees in all. The last day we put in the sills for the bridge that will be built. It involved a lot of measurements and making things exact. I think the tree planting and the bridge day were my favorite days. VYCC in general has been really fun and a really good learning experience. It also has some challenging parts because I am missing school each Thursday, so I have to make up the work I have missed. I really like doing it and always feel so much better on the days that I do VYCC. I am so glad I am doing it and I am having a lot of fun building trails. After VYCC ended I wanted to get credit for it somehow so I decided to write a newspaper article. I honestly don’t really want to write it anymore but I would also learn so much about writing articles. I just feel like I have been doing a lot of writing recently. So far I have just had a few interviews with people, like Mayla, Ella, and Keith who works at VYCC. I am planning on interviewing a few more people, probably other kids. I’m not totally sure I’m going to do it, but if I do it will be in my next narrative.
Learning to learnThe process of learning how to learn in Pilot is hard and at the same time it is the reason I am able to do pilot. These are the learning to learn skills and how I think i’m doing with them.
Time management is hard because I want to just do certain stuff, But I have to do all of it, Not just the things I want to. Remembering to do stuff has been hard. I often forget to do my weekly journal which means I have to do it over the weekend. I have a habit of trying to do a lot at once and just always going. But that leads to a lot of stress and burnout . When I looked back at my weekly journals I noticed that a lot of the weeks I felt stressed and had a lot to do over the weekend. Another thing I noticed is that I am most stressed when I have to write something like an essay. I was better about most of these things at the beginning of the semester which is kinda weird. Next semester I am going to try making a schedule for myself for the day and sticking to that so I get everything I need to do at school hopefully. This will only work if I set realistic goals that I could achieve at school without too much homework.
Perseverance: if there is something that I don’t want to do I will end up doing it eventually. If it’s an essay I procrastinate a lot. For example this narrative was turned in late because I waited until the last minute to finish it. That thing will eventually get done but it might take longer then I wanted it to because I am constantly trying to convince myself to do it. For actual problems that I need to solve I usually find a way to get around them. An example of this is when we were trying to decide on a final design for the waste stream. We kept running into problems with each design. There are many other times when I have faced problems with something about my study and have had to get around it.
Inquiry is the one I think that I am the best at. I am naturally a pretty curious person and my mind moves really fast. My mind will go down crazy rabbit holes, mostly related to climate change. Like the other day I was trying to write this narrative but I got distracted and ended up researching what companies and stores donate to or support the fossil fuel industry (I didn’t find that many, but I also didn’t look too hard). I just started out of nowhere and couldn’t stop because it was so interesting. I do a lot of research and I really like doing it. I’m not the best at showing these, actually I often don’t represent them in any way which isn’t good. I am going to try to get better about keeping daily journals or reflections and making sure I include those in them.
Accountability: I think I am pretty good at staying accountable for my work and meetings. I make a lot of lists with goals for the week. I try to stick to those goals and keep editing them. I’m not super good with the deliverables because it is hard for me to plan that far ahead for where I am going to be.setting realistic goals that I can meet in that time frame is something I am going to try to get better at.
Demonstration: Most of the things I do are for a project so most of what I learn will be demonstrated in that end result. For example, I did a lot of research on the carbon cycle that went into the Prezi. This might be something I include in my daily reflection.
Self-advocacy is something I'm not that good at in general. In and out of school I have struggled with it because I just feel annoyed even though my needs are important. I have definitely gotten better at it compared to the beginning of the semester. At first I wasn’t really that comfortable yet so it was hard for me to ask for what I needed. Now I feel much more comfortable asking for what I need. I definitely feel more confident asking for help in a space where I am comfortable so I think it will take time. I am going to try to be better about asking for support with my study in semester 2.
All of these skills are things that I am going to continue to work on and get better at. Another thing that I’m not really good at is reflections. So for some of these I might not have really given myself enough credit for the things I have done. Like many others it is hard for me to see my strengths so that doesn't help.
Some of my favorite parts of being in Pilot is that I can learn about what I want and in a way that works for me. It has been so freeing for me to just b able to do what I want to. Like in a normal class you would take tests on different units, but In pilot I get to decide how I show that I am learning instead of just taking tests. With my study on climate change, I have found that I use a lot of the stuff I learn in my life outside of school, especially because it is such a relevant topic. This is the whole reason I joined Pilot in the first place.
My view on the value of school has changed a lot since last year. In 8th grade I didn’t think school was important, I thought it was holding me back from doing the things I wanted to do which was and still is travel. I felt so trapped by school and it limited me so much. This year I have a lot less time to focus on what I hate about school. I also see the importance of learning these things, they will prepare me for when I do get to do all of the things I want to. Also everything I am studying Is stuff that I am interested in doing after high school (as of right now). I have realized why school is important no matter how annoying I find it even if I am in Pilot. Pilot does make the whole process much more enjoyable though.
I feel like I have made a lot of progress this year and am doing most of the stuff I want to do. I have already met a lot of my goals that I had set for this year. I have met about half of the goals I set, and am working on more. In the future (maybe next semester) I want to do more with social and racial justice which is something that wasn’t originally part of my goals. Another thing that I hope to do more with is marine science, specifically related to climate change. It’s something I was planning to do all along. I just haven't done it yet. Next semester I also want to read another book possibly related to social justice or maybe even marine science. I’m not sure if I will end up reading a book. The main struggle I have with reading books is that I read really slow, which means I don’t go through things as fast as I would like to.
For english during quarter 1 I wrote about the history of conservation in the U.S. this included national parks, indigenous perspectives, and different kinds of protected areas. That was the first essay I wrote and really the first piece of work I did in pilot. It was fun to write and research about and writing it helped me take in the information more. It was also kinda stressful to write because I had to do it really quickly, and then I was revising and editing for a while. This counted toward my English proficiencies for expository writing and I also wrote a poem that counted toward the expository writing proficiency.
The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel about it. It was very last minute. I wrote it one night when I was writing my first narrative. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. I honestly don’t really like it. Creative writing has never been a very strong point for me so I think that contributes to my dislike for it. It isn't something I am really proud of from this semester.
For English I also read a book called This Book Will Save the Planet by Dany Sigwalt. At the beginning of quarter 2 I was trying to figure out what to do next and I knew I wanted to read a book. This was one that was recommended by my librarian. It was super interesting and I learned a lot about climate change. It was split up into 2 main parts, the first is the problems and what the issues are, then the second is what we can do. In the first part they talked about climate tipping points, natural disasters affecting communities, and capitalism. These are all big parts of climate change. Many Big corporations support the fossil fuel industry by giving them money or by being part of the extraction process. They do this while still making a huge profit. Most of the time they are looking to make more money and have more power instead of helping communities who are getting hit by climate change. They also talked about who is getting hit the hardest with the effects from climate change, and that is marginalized communities who can’t escape natural disasters in time. In the second part they talked mostly about how to solve some of these problems. Like stop supporting those big corporations who contribute to fossil fuel extraction. Other things you can do are to support local businesses, educate your community about these issues, and reuse or recycle stuff that you have. Another thing it talks about is what products we use. For example bottles of dish soap instead of a bar simply for convenience, but it creates so much waste also. There are things like that I am trying to bring into my own life. That is definitely a choice I can make because we have the resources for it, and a lot of other people can’t; that is why we need to change these things on a larger scale. One thing about this book that I found annoying is that it is a little repetitive. It talked a lot about big corporations and I think that they could have made it shorter. On the other hand, everything they talked about was really important. Another thing is that I think they could have condensed the first part a little bit, it just felt like it went on for a really long time. Other than that I really loved the book. Throughout reading it I took pretty detailed notes. I am hoping to do something that involves the book afterward but I’m not sure if that will end up happening.
For science I started with the engineering proficiency. At the beginning of the semester I started working on redesigning the waste stream with my fellow pilot student Mayla. At the beginning it was a lot of planning and meeting with people. Many meetings with our content advisor Aanika, John Jose from CVSWMD, David Hannigan, and Brian Fisher. There have been many different designs along the way, constantly changing the design. We just recently drew our final design that will hopefully get built. As of right now the most likely possibility is for us to build it with the woods teacher Dave during callbacks. I have learned so much about it, like that the plastic fruit containers should go in the trash instead of recycling. And that some of the different types of plastics don’t actually end up being recycled because they are the wrong kind. This semester has been full with budgeting, engineering, taking measurements, having meetings, and learning all of this as we go. I think that was one of my favorite things I did in quarter 1 and we are still working on it. This so far has been an amazing experience that has taught me so much.
Another thing that I have been working on is the carbon cycle. I wanted to tie that in because it is a huge part of climate change. I started off working with Charlie Wanzer (a science teacher at Twinfield) who was my mentor, but that didn’t work out. So I finished that up on my own by making a prezi of the carbon cycle. A Prezi is like a slideshow but you are able to zoom in on things and have different sections. I did more research for the prezi and learned more of the specifics of the carbon cycle. I didn’t find it as engaging as I thought I would, but it was still really cool to learn about. I have learned about photosynthesis and cellular respiration before, But this time I put the entire cycle together and I found that helpful. Currently the Prezi has carbon sinks, the Flow of carbon, and an energy piece. The energy piece was probably the hardest part because it was hard to figure out how to fit it in and make it make sense.
In the process of designing the waste stream and working with the carbon cycle I realized that I didn’t actually know as much about composting and recycling as I thought. So in mid december I started to think about writing an essay about compost, which I have now finished. A lot of parts of my learning were leading to compost, inside and outside of Pilot. In one of my other classes we are working on getting more education around compost into science classes, along with trying to get our compost to go to a place a little closer to home. All these trails lead me to compost so I wrote an essay about it. For the essay I did a lot of research about different ways to compost, what it is, why it;s important, and more. I found it really interesting to learn about, especially food in landfills and methane. The essay can be found in my portfolio under waste, along with some resources about compost.
The science I have gained so far are the engineering one for redesigning the waste stream, the carbon cycle for matter and energy, and the compost essay counted toward science concepts.
Along with what I am doing in science I was also doing VYCC every thursday. This year we have worked on the river access trail from the school. We did some benching, which is cutting into the side of a hill to widen the path and make it falter. We did some weeding at the first part of the trail and we started to build a rock staircase at the bottom. Another thing we have been working on is the cross vermont trail down by the bridge. There we dug trenches so that we could build a curb at the bottom of the rallings so that the gravel and dirt doesn’t wash away. We moved a lot of rocks for the back side of the curb. The other project we have been working on is planting riparian buffers along the Mad river. This involves planting trees and shrubs by the river to prevent erosion, improve water quality, and provide more shade for the river so that it doesn’t get too hot and drive away fish. I was only there for one of the days but that day we planted about 245 trees in all. The last day we put in the sills for the bridge that will be built. It involved a lot of measurements and making things exact. I think the tree planting and the bridge day were my favorite days. VYCC in general has been really fun and a really good learning experience. It also has some challenging parts because I am missing school each Thursday, so I have to make up the work I have missed. I really like doing it and always feel so much better on the days that I do VYCC. I am so glad I am doing it and I am having a lot of fun building trails. After VYCC ended I wanted to get credit for it somehow so I decided to write a newspaper article. I honestly don’t really want to write it anymore but I would also learn so much about writing articles. I just feel like I have been doing a lot of writing recently. So far I have just had a few interviews with people, like Mayla, Ella, and Keith who works at VYCC. I am planning on interviewing a few more people, probably other kids. I’m not totally sure I’m going to do it, but if I do it will be in my next narrative.
Learning to learnThe process of learning how to learn in Pilot is hard and at the same time it is the reason I am able to do pilot. These are the learning to learn skills and how I think i’m doing with them.
Time management is hard because I want to just do certain stuff, But I have to do all of it, Not just the things I want to. Remembering to do stuff has been hard. I often forget to do my weekly journal which means I have to do it over the weekend. I have a habit of trying to do a lot at once and just always going. But that leads to a lot of stress and burnout . When I looked back at my weekly journals I noticed that a lot of the weeks I felt stressed and had a lot to do over the weekend. Another thing I noticed is that I am most stressed when I have to write something like an essay. I was better about most of these things at the beginning of the semester which is kinda weird. Next semester I am going to try making a schedule for myself for the day and sticking to that so I get everything I need to do at school hopefully. This will only work if I set realistic goals that I could achieve at school without too much homework.
Perseverance: if there is something that I don’t want to do I will end up doing it eventually. If it’s an essay I procrastinate a lot. For example this narrative was turned in late because I waited until the last minute to finish it. That thing will eventually get done but it might take longer then I wanted it to because I am constantly trying to convince myself to do it. For actual problems that I need to solve I usually find a way to get around them. An example of this is when we were trying to decide on a final design for the waste stream. We kept running into problems with each design. There are many other times when I have faced problems with something about my study and have had to get around it.
Inquiry is the one I think that I am the best at. I am naturally a pretty curious person and my mind moves really fast. My mind will go down crazy rabbit holes, mostly related to climate change. Like the other day I was trying to write this narrative but I got distracted and ended up researching what companies and stores donate to or support the fossil fuel industry (I didn’t find that many, but I also didn’t look too hard). I just started out of nowhere and couldn’t stop because it was so interesting. I do a lot of research and I really like doing it. I’m not the best at showing these, actually I often don’t represent them in any way which isn’t good. I am going to try to get better about keeping daily journals or reflections and making sure I include those in them.
Accountability: I think I am pretty good at staying accountable for my work and meetings. I make a lot of lists with goals for the week. I try to stick to those goals and keep editing them. I’m not super good with the deliverables because it is hard for me to plan that far ahead for where I am going to be.setting realistic goals that I can meet in that time frame is something I am going to try to get better at.
Demonstration: Most of the things I do are for a project so most of what I learn will be demonstrated in that end result. For example, I did a lot of research on the carbon cycle that went into the Prezi. This might be something I include in my daily reflection.
Self-advocacy is something I'm not that good at in general. In and out of school I have struggled with it because I just feel annoyed even though my needs are important. I have definitely gotten better at it compared to the beginning of the semester. At first I wasn’t really that comfortable yet so it was hard for me to ask for what I needed. Now I feel much more comfortable asking for what I need. I definitely feel more confident asking for help in a space where I am comfortable so I think it will take time. I am going to try to be better about asking for support with my study in semester 2.
All of these skills are things that I am going to continue to work on and get better at. Another thing that I’m not really good at is reflections. So for some of these I might not have really given myself enough credit for the things I have done. Like many others it is hard for me to see my strengths so that doesn't help.
Some of my favorite parts of being in Pilot is that I can learn about what I want and in a way that works for me. It has been so freeing for me to just b able to do what I want to. Like in a normal class you would take tests on different units, but In pilot I get to decide how I show that I am learning instead of just taking tests. With my study on climate change, I have found that I use a lot of the stuff I learn in my life outside of school, especially because it is such a relevant topic. This is the whole reason I joined Pilot in the first place.
My view on the value of school has changed a lot since last year. In 8th grade I didn’t think school was important, I thought it was holding me back from doing the things I wanted to do which was and still is travel. I felt so trapped by school and it limited me so much. This year I have a lot less time to focus on what I hate about school. I also see the importance of learning these things, they will prepare me for when I do get to do all of the things I want to. Also everything I am studying Is stuff that I am interested in doing after high school (as of right now). I have realized why school is important no matter how annoying I find it even if I am in Pilot. Pilot does make the whole process much more enjoyable though.
I feel like I have made a lot of progress this year and am doing most of the stuff I want to do. I have already met a lot of my goals that I had set for this year. I have met about half of the goals I set, and am working on more. In the future (maybe next semester) I want to do more with social and racial justice which is something that wasn’t originally part of my goals. Another thing that I hope to do more with is marine science, specifically related to climate change. It’s something I was planning to do all along. I just haven't done it yet. Next semester I also want to read another book possibly related to social justice or maybe even marine science. I’m not sure if I will end up reading a book. The main struggle I have with reading books is that I read really slow, which means I don’t go through things as fast as I would like to.
Q3 Narrative
It’s Quarter 3! We are so close to then end of the year so here's how Pilot is going to far.
For science this quarter I have been working on the change, cause, and affect standard. I have been learning about how climate change affects weather. For the weather part of it I have been using NWS JetStream - Introduction to Global Weather. In level 1 I explained the different factors that contribute to climate change. Currently I am working on level 2, which is explaining how those factors affect climate change and how temp/pressure affects air movement around the world. This has included learning about the jet stream and global air circulations. Next I am going to explain how climate change has affected air movement and storms. I am really excited to do that part because that is kind of what I wanted to do from the beginning of the year. I have already learned so much more than I thought I would. So far I have loved everything that I have been doing for this project. I didn’t think I would like the jet stream stuff as much as I do. I find myself wanting to read about that instead of my other work, Which was really surprising. This has been a really fun project and I am excited to continue.
Another project I am going to start is learning about whale song and how that works. It is for the structure and function standard, so I will have to learn about how the structure of something affects how it works. I’m not totally sure what specifically I am going to do for it yet, but definitely something related to whale song.
Other than that, I have been continuing to work on the waste stream project. we (Mayla and I) have been working with Dave Basis (the wood shop teacher) to build the table for the waste stream. We meet every monday during callbacks. So far we have just been planning it, but hopefully in the next week or two we will actually start building it. This process has taken so long, so I am really excited to start building. It has been years in the making so it is really exciting that it is finally happening. There is more information in my quarter 1 and 2 narratives.
I finally wrote my VYCC article this quarter. It took a really long time and I’m not super proud of how it turned out.I am in teh process of editing and getting feedback, but I honestly just want it to be done because it is not something I am super proud of. I found it really hard to write because I just didn’t really know what to say. I started by interviewing people that did it with me, then I organized those interviews into an outline, and then I wrote it based on the outline. It was hard to organize the interviews because most of the people I interviewed said basically the same thing.
At the beginning of this quarter I started reading No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunberg. The book is made up of all the speeches she did in 2018-19, some of them are to legislators and some are directed toward youth. It was so cool to read speeches that were actually read to an audience. She has a really cool way of just captivating you and it’s amazing. I think out of all the books I have read this year, this was my favorite. It was really sad to read, but that made me want to do more which was good. She just published a new book that I want to read, one that is more specifically on science which I think could be interesting. I would also like to listen to more speeches by other people besides Greta Thungburg. She is the one most people think about when they think of climate activists, but there are so many other people especially youth.
At the end of reading the book, I decided to write my own speech about climate change. I felt inspired by what I had read and also by what is going on with the willow project right now. For those who don’t know, the Willow project is a massive oil drilling project in alaska.
This quarter has been really fun and also so fast. I feel like it just sped by and now we are close to the end. I have loved everything I am doing so much. I have also been a little less stressed then I have been in the past. I have finally settled into a rhythm and I have a better plan for when I am going to do what. There are still things that I need to get better at, but that will always be true so it’s ok.
The quarter has been fun but also really hard because I am learning all this stuff about climate change. Some parts have just been really hard to learn about because it is basically all about how our world is dying. That was something that I didn't really think about when I was deciding what I was going to do for Pilot. I thought it wasn’t going to affect me, but it does. Sometimes I have a really hard time focusing because it’s so hard to learn about. But it is so important and I want to keep learning about it. I try not to think about it that much outside of school and just go on with my life, but everywhere I go I feel the effects of it.
I try to embrace most of the problems I face. It depends on how big the problem is. Usually for small things with my project I try to just figure it out and move forward. With bigger problems I often just ignore it until I can’t anymore, then I deal with it. That part I need to work on because it never actually helps to ignore it, most of the time it makes me more stressed. There were many problems last quarter with different projects, but less now. Something that I have been thinking a lot about is the science practices standard which is one that I haven't met yet. I have to come up with a experiment to do and I have been having trouble with that, so that is a problem I am having.
Something that I need to work on is my well being. Usually when I go home I sit on my phone for a while and maybe eat a snack. I instead need to go home and do school work. It is hard because I am so tired when I get home and the last thing I want to do is homework, but that is what Ineed to do. I am going to try to work on that so that I am more productive. As we get closer to the end of the year I am getting more and more stressed about what I have to do, so doing more at home will help.
This year I have challenged myself a lot with all my projects. Many of the projects have, at some point have been pretty overwhelming and hard. Right now in science I am learning about how climate change affects weather. That has been challenging because there is a lot of reading teh science, so mostly how I learn about it is through reading. And understanding things when I am reading has always been hard, especially with sciency things. I might try to find videos so that I don't have to read about it, that would most likely help.
Advocating for myself is something that I have definitely learned to do more of this year. At the beginning of the year I was pretty scared to ask for what I needed, but that's not really true any more. This quarter I have been trying to find a writing mentor who can give me feedback on essays that I write. It wasn’t something I had really pushed for until this quarter. I now have a lot of connections for mentors that I might have. I have done a lot of other things that have involved advocating for myself this quarter. It is a really important skill in life and before this I wasn't as comfortable with it before. I still don’t love doing it but I am working on it.
Documenting work is a really big part of Pilot because that is how we get graded and assenst on what we are doing. I am pretty good at documenting the work I have done. I usually write an essay or take pictures of projects. For my study on climate change and weather I am writing it all in a google doc and then I will put it in my portfolio when I have finished. I use that format for a lot of science related work. For a lot of my English work I write essays. For general Pilot things that's all in my content documentation folder. I need to get better at updating that so it has all my notes and other things that I have done.
I have had so much fun this year in Pilot. At the end of the year last year I was worried about doing Pilot because it is a big step, but I am so happy I did. I think it was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I am excited to continue my projects in Q4 and start new ones next year.
For science this quarter I have been working on the change, cause, and affect standard. I have been learning about how climate change affects weather. For the weather part of it I have been using NWS JetStream - Introduction to Global Weather. In level 1 I explained the different factors that contribute to climate change. Currently I am working on level 2, which is explaining how those factors affect climate change and how temp/pressure affects air movement around the world. This has included learning about the jet stream and global air circulations. Next I am going to explain how climate change has affected air movement and storms. I am really excited to do that part because that is kind of what I wanted to do from the beginning of the year. I have already learned so much more than I thought I would. So far I have loved everything that I have been doing for this project. I didn’t think I would like the jet stream stuff as much as I do. I find myself wanting to read about that instead of my other work, Which was really surprising. This has been a really fun project and I am excited to continue.
Another project I am going to start is learning about whale song and how that works. It is for the structure and function standard, so I will have to learn about how the structure of something affects how it works. I’m not totally sure what specifically I am going to do for it yet, but definitely something related to whale song.
Other than that, I have been continuing to work on the waste stream project. we (Mayla and I) have been working with Dave Basis (the wood shop teacher) to build the table for the waste stream. We meet every monday during callbacks. So far we have just been planning it, but hopefully in the next week or two we will actually start building it. This process has taken so long, so I am really excited to start building. It has been years in the making so it is really exciting that it is finally happening. There is more information in my quarter 1 and 2 narratives.
I finally wrote my VYCC article this quarter. It took a really long time and I’m not super proud of how it turned out.I am in teh process of editing and getting feedback, but I honestly just want it to be done because it is not something I am super proud of. I found it really hard to write because I just didn’t really know what to say. I started by interviewing people that did it with me, then I organized those interviews into an outline, and then I wrote it based on the outline. It was hard to organize the interviews because most of the people I interviewed said basically the same thing.
At the beginning of this quarter I started reading No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunberg. The book is made up of all the speeches she did in 2018-19, some of them are to legislators and some are directed toward youth. It was so cool to read speeches that were actually read to an audience. She has a really cool way of just captivating you and it’s amazing. I think out of all the books I have read this year, this was my favorite. It was really sad to read, but that made me want to do more which was good. She just published a new book that I want to read, one that is more specifically on science which I think could be interesting. I would also like to listen to more speeches by other people besides Greta Thungburg. She is the one most people think about when they think of climate activists, but there are so many other people especially youth.
At the end of reading the book, I decided to write my own speech about climate change. I felt inspired by what I had read and also by what is going on with the willow project right now. For those who don’t know, the Willow project is a massive oil drilling project in alaska.
This quarter has been really fun and also so fast. I feel like it just sped by and now we are close to the end. I have loved everything I am doing so much. I have also been a little less stressed then I have been in the past. I have finally settled into a rhythm and I have a better plan for when I am going to do what. There are still things that I need to get better at, but that will always be true so it’s ok.
The quarter has been fun but also really hard because I am learning all this stuff about climate change. Some parts have just been really hard to learn about because it is basically all about how our world is dying. That was something that I didn't really think about when I was deciding what I was going to do for Pilot. I thought it wasn’t going to affect me, but it does. Sometimes I have a really hard time focusing because it’s so hard to learn about. But it is so important and I want to keep learning about it. I try not to think about it that much outside of school and just go on with my life, but everywhere I go I feel the effects of it.
I try to embrace most of the problems I face. It depends on how big the problem is. Usually for small things with my project I try to just figure it out and move forward. With bigger problems I often just ignore it until I can’t anymore, then I deal with it. That part I need to work on because it never actually helps to ignore it, most of the time it makes me more stressed. There were many problems last quarter with different projects, but less now. Something that I have been thinking a lot about is the science practices standard which is one that I haven't met yet. I have to come up with a experiment to do and I have been having trouble with that, so that is a problem I am having.
Something that I need to work on is my well being. Usually when I go home I sit on my phone for a while and maybe eat a snack. I instead need to go home and do school work. It is hard because I am so tired when I get home and the last thing I want to do is homework, but that is what Ineed to do. I am going to try to work on that so that I am more productive. As we get closer to the end of the year I am getting more and more stressed about what I have to do, so doing more at home will help.
This year I have challenged myself a lot with all my projects. Many of the projects have, at some point have been pretty overwhelming and hard. Right now in science I am learning about how climate change affects weather. That has been challenging because there is a lot of reading teh science, so mostly how I learn about it is through reading. And understanding things when I am reading has always been hard, especially with sciency things. I might try to find videos so that I don't have to read about it, that would most likely help.
Advocating for myself is something that I have definitely learned to do more of this year. At the beginning of the year I was pretty scared to ask for what I needed, but that's not really true any more. This quarter I have been trying to find a writing mentor who can give me feedback on essays that I write. It wasn’t something I had really pushed for until this quarter. I now have a lot of connections for mentors that I might have. I have done a lot of other things that have involved advocating for myself this quarter. It is a really important skill in life and before this I wasn't as comfortable with it before. I still don’t love doing it but I am working on it.
Documenting work is a really big part of Pilot because that is how we get graded and assenst on what we are doing. I am pretty good at documenting the work I have done. I usually write an essay or take pictures of projects. For my study on climate change and weather I am writing it all in a google doc and then I will put it in my portfolio when I have finished. I use that format for a lot of science related work. For a lot of my English work I write essays. For general Pilot things that's all in my content documentation folder. I need to get better at updating that so it has all my notes and other things that I have done.
I have had so much fun this year in Pilot. At the end of the year last year I was worried about doing Pilot because it is a big step, but I am so happy I did. I think it was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I am excited to continue my projects in Q4 and start new ones next year.
q4 Narrative
This is my last narrative of this year! I am so grateful for the Pilot program and all that it has offered me. This year has been amazing. Here is everything I have done and learned this year.
Science
“For science I started with the engineering proficiency. At the beginning of the year I started working on redesigning the waste stream with my fellow pilot student Mayla. At the beginning it was a lot of planning and meeting with people. Many meetings with our content advisor Aanika, John jose from CVSWMD, David Hannigan, and Brian fisher. There have been many different designs along the way, constantly changing the design. We just recently drew our final design that will hopefully get built. I have learned so much about it, like that the plastic fruit containers should go in the trash instead of recycling. And that some of the different types of plastics don’t actually end up being recycled because they are the wrong kind. This semester has been full with budgeting, engineering, taking measurements, having meetings, and learning all of this as we go. I think that was one of my favorite things I did in quarter 1 and we are still working on it. This so far has been an amazing experience that has taught me so much.”
"We have been continuing to work on the waste stream project in Quarter 3. We have been working with Dave Basis (the wood shop teacher) to build the table for the waste stream. We meet every monday during callbacks. So far we have just been planning it, but hopefully in the next week or two we will actually start building it.” Since then we have built the legs, put on trim, and made some of the cuts for the trash. We have most of the pieces, we just need to put it all together now. We have been working on them for so long, and I am so excited for them to be finished.
“So I finished that up on my own by making a prezi of the carbon cycle. A Prezi is like a slideshow but you are able to zoom in on things and have different sections. I did more research for the prezi and learned more of the specifics of the carbon cycle. I didn’t find it as engaging as I thought I would, but it was still really cool to learn about. I have learned about photosynthesis and cellular respiration before, but this time I put the entire cycle together and I found that helpful.”
“In quarter 3, I have been working on the change, cause, and affect standard. I have been learning about how climate change affects weather. For the weather part of it I have been using NWS JetStream - Introduction to Global Weather. The first part was explaining what factors contributed to climate change, then explain how. The second part was explaining how climate change affects tropical storms.” The last part was easier than I thought it was going to be. I really liked this project because it was something that I already knew was happening, but I didn’t know why. I now know how everything affects each other. It was also really helpful because it is something I would have learned if I was in earth science this year.
Currently I am working on my experiment. My testable question is, How does the temperature of salt water affect the humidity? I am specifically focusing on the temperature of water in tropical oceans, because that is where storms form. I have a control temperature and three experimental groups. My control temperature is 25- 29 degrees celsius, which is the average range in temperature in tropical oceans. For the designing an investigation part, I made a procedure, material list, data table, and an introduction. The procedure has changed a lot during the experiment because there are things that I didn’t think I would need or extra steps that I didn’t do. For the actual experiment, I used a fish tank and two liters of salt water to try and replicate the ocean. So far It is going well. I am hopefully finishing it this week, so that I can move onto the analyzing part. I’m not really sure how I am going to do that yet because I have been so focused on getting the experiment done. That is something I am going to do next week. My guess is that I am going to do claims, evidence, reasoning, and a part about flaws in my data. This experiment has been hard for me mostly because I didn’t leave myself enough time for it. Other than that I have really liked being in the lab and doing the experiment. I really liked learning how to make my own experiment instead of just following a teacher's plan.
I also learned about how whales produce sound in quarter 4 . It was for the structure and function standard, so I was mostly focusing on whale anatomy and how they create sound. This involved figuring out how air moves through their blowhole and to their lungs, and how that creates sound that can be heard from miles away. I found it hard to find sources for how exactly they produce sound, probably because it is hard to figure those things out without killing a whale. Next time I think I would also like to listen to more of their songs. It didn’t get to as much as I would have liked because I was more focused on how it happened. I hope I get to learn more about whales in my future projects because it was really fun. I still have to revise that which I will do this week.
English
“During quarter 1 I wrote about the history of conservation in the U.S. this included national parks, indigenous perspectives, and different kinds of protected areas. That was the first essay I wrote and really the first piece of work I did in pilot. It was fun to write and research about and writing it helped me take in the information more. It was also kinda stressful to write because I had to do it really quickly, and then I was revising and editing for a while. This counted toward my English proficiencies for expository writing.” I have now realized that I did actually have time. Since then I have had to write things in a much shorter time.
“The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel about it. It was very last minute. I wrote it one night when I was writing my first narrative. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. I honestly don’t really like it. Creative writing has never been a very strong point for me so I think that contributes to my dislike for it. It isn't something I am really proud of from this semester.” I haven’t really thought that much about this since I did it, because it reflects all the things that are wrong with the world and I don't like thinking about them. Even though that is pretty much my entire project, it is still hard for me.
“In the process of designing the waste stream and working with the carbon cycle I realized that I didn’t actually know as much about composting and recycling as I thought. So in mid december I started to think about writing an essay about compost, which I have now finished. A lot of parts of my learning were leading to compost, inside and outside of Pilot. In one of my other classes we are working on getting more education around compost into science classes, along with trying to get our compost to go to a place a little closer to home. All these trails lead me to compost so I wrote an essay about it. For the essay I did a lot of research about different ways to compost, what it is, why it;s important, and more. I found it really interesting to learn about, especially food in landfills and methane. I also wanted to include some resources for how to compost at home, so that is what I did. They can be found at the bottom section of the essay in my portfolio”
“For English I also read a book called This book will save the planet by dany sigwalt. At the beginning of quarter 2 I was trying to figure out what to do next and I knew I wanted to read a book. This was one that was recommended by our librarian. It was super interesting and I learned a lot about climate change. It was split up into 2 main parts, the first is the problems and what the issues are, then the second is what we can do. In the first part they talked about climate tipping points, natural disasters affecting communities, and capitalism. In the second part they talked mostly about how to solve some of these problems. I really enjoyed reading this book. It taught me a lot about the problems we face, which I already knew a little bit about but not in that much detail.”
“At the beginning of this quarter I started reading No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunburg. The book is made up of all the speeches she did in 2018-19, some of them are to legislators and some are directed toward youth. It was so cool to read speeches that were actually read to an audience. She has a really cool way of just captivating you and it’s amazing. I think out of all the books I have read this year, this was my favorite. It was really sad to read, but that made me want to do more.” For my quarter 3 exhibition I read the speech and got a lot of feedback. I just finished the second draft. I put it off for a long time because I just didn’t really know what else to write. I finally finished it when I was writing this paragraph. I just realized that I couldn’t finish the year without doing it. The first draft I finished the night before my exhibition too. I think I just can’t find the words until right when it needs to be done. In the second draft I added more about how everyone tells us to worry about the future, but we might not really have one. That is such a huge piece of why I am fighting, because I want to have a life after 25. Which by the way is when we hit an irreversible climate tipping point. Sorry for making this depressing.
“This fall I was part of a VYCC (Vermont Youth Conservation Corps) school crew. Every Thursday we went outside and worked on or built trails. During the program we worked mostly on campus. We did some work on the snowshoe trail (river access trail) on the U32 campus, We worked on the Cross Vermont Trail (the Montpelier bike path), and we got to go plant trees for riparian Buffers on the Mad river.”
In order to get credit for doing it, I wrote an article about it. I was intending to write it in the first semester, but then I didn't, so I did it in quarter 3 instead. I kind of just wrote it and then didn’t really edit it. I ended up kind of hating it at first, but then I started working with Jenn Ingersoll who works at U-32. it was going to be more of a story, but I found that so hard. So instead I just went back and read through it, which I hate doing, but I did. Then I made a bunch of edits and added things. Now it’s done and it’s not what I really imagined, but it is still good and I am proud of myself for finishing it.
Learning to learn
I am really proud of what I have done this year. I have grown so much in not just my learning. I joined Pilot thinking that I would get to learn about what I wanted and at my own pace, but I have grown so much. My view on climate change has changed so much throughout this year. I went in thinking I was going to learn more about the sciencey part of climate change. And I did do that too, but I also learned more about what we need to change, steps we can take, and what I can do. My project work has changed and grown so much over the past year, and I am excited for it to continue to go in different directions.
The highlight of my year has been redesigning the waste stream. That was such a hard project and I am so glad that it is almost done. There have been really hard moments during this process and times when I didn’t think that we would be able to finish, but we are so close. I am so incredibly proud of us for doing this. It has been imagined for so long and I am so happy that it is almost done. I have never done anything like this before, and I am so excited for it to be done and for it to be used. Of all the things I have done this year, this huge project is what I am most proud of. Working with Mayla to get this done has been incredible and I am so excited for it to be done.
The work that I have helped me realize what I am most interested in. At the beginning of the year I started this project, not knowing where it would lead me. I had a plan to learn about climate change, conservation, and I hoped I would get to do some marine science. I didn't think those were going to be as engaging as they were. Now I can see myself studying these topics more and maybe as a career. I think doing something with marine science and climate change would be so cool. My work this year made me realize that and helped me get closer to that. I don’t know if I could have gotten there in a normal class. Next year I am planning on taking the Marine Biology course through VTVLC which I am really excited for.
Self advocacy: I got so much more comfortable talking to people and advocating for myself. At the beginning of the year I hated talking to people about my needs. Through the process of redesigning the waste stream I had to talk to so many people I didn't know, especially adults. I got so used to and comfortable with it. I still get nervous and sometimes it;s really hard for me, but I have grown so much since the beginning of the year.
Time management is definitely something I should work on. Most of the time I do the things that I like to do first and then it takes me a while to do the other stuff. This semester I have spent a lot of time doing science work because that is the thing that I had the most to do for. But in the first semester I did a lot more english work. I just wasn’t in the mood to do english, this quarter especially. I have gotten better at staying on task when I am supposed to be doing work. I used to get really distracted, and I still do. But I think I have gotten better at focusing on my work and not getting distracted. I tried to make a schedule for when I was going to do what class work and that worked for a few weeks, then I just stopped because I had too much to do. Other than that my time management hasn’t really changed. Next year hopefully I will get better at sticking to a schedule and getting less distracted by people.
Inquiry: I have always liked learning new things especially if it is a topic I am interested in. So in that way this year has been great. I have researched so many new topics and had to find the answers mostly by myself. That has never really been hard for me and it wasn’t this year either.
Perseverance: this year has been full of hard things that I had to do or problems I had to solve. Most of the time I get it done, even though it is sometimes late. There have been many things that I have wanted to give up on, but I powered through even if I hated it. There were a lot of obstacles with the waste stream project that we needed to get through, and we did.
Demonstration: most of the projects I have done this year have had a final product. I have to write an essay or put all my stuff on a google doc and then that gets graded. mY science work is usually on a google doc with diagrams. My English work has mostly been writing or notes. Next year I would like to try some ways of showing my work. I’m not sure what yet, but I want to do something that isn't just writing an essay.
“Accountability: I think I am pretty good at staying accountable for my work and meetings. I make a lot of lists with goals for the week." Recently I haven’t been very good at keeping up with my goals. At the beginning of May I made deliverables and was pretty good at following them. In the last few weeks though I haven't really been using them because I have been using the time it would take me to make them for my work. Currently I just have a list in my head and havn't really been writing them down. Next year I want to figure out a better system that I am good at following.
This semester has been so crazy and full. I feel like I have done all my science work in just this semester. I have no idea how I'm going to finish all my project work next week. May has been so stressful for me because I started my experiment late which has meant that I am pretty behind on work. Trying to get all the science proficiencies has been really hard because I didn't get that many in the fall, so I have been trying to catch up on things. We are so close to the end of the year and I'm so excited for summer, But I am also still so stressed about this year. I also haven't really had time to think about what I am going to do next year because I have been too focused on this year. I know that I am doing French, English, and health through Pilot next year, but I am not really sure what I want my focus to be. I am hopefully going to figure that out this summer and maybe start working on some of it.
I can’t imagine what my life would be like without having done Pilot this year. It has taught me so much about myself and others. At the end of last year, I was dredging another year of normal school, so my mom suggested Pilot. I was so scared going into it that I would be behind or not get good enough grades, but I did it anyway. I think that was one of the best decisions of my life. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this program.
Science
“For science I started with the engineering proficiency. At the beginning of the year I started working on redesigning the waste stream with my fellow pilot student Mayla. At the beginning it was a lot of planning and meeting with people. Many meetings with our content advisor Aanika, John jose from CVSWMD, David Hannigan, and Brian fisher. There have been many different designs along the way, constantly changing the design. We just recently drew our final design that will hopefully get built. I have learned so much about it, like that the plastic fruit containers should go in the trash instead of recycling. And that some of the different types of plastics don’t actually end up being recycled because they are the wrong kind. This semester has been full with budgeting, engineering, taking measurements, having meetings, and learning all of this as we go. I think that was one of my favorite things I did in quarter 1 and we are still working on it. This so far has been an amazing experience that has taught me so much.”
"We have been continuing to work on the waste stream project in Quarter 3. We have been working with Dave Basis (the wood shop teacher) to build the table for the waste stream. We meet every monday during callbacks. So far we have just been planning it, but hopefully in the next week or two we will actually start building it.” Since then we have built the legs, put on trim, and made some of the cuts for the trash. We have most of the pieces, we just need to put it all together now. We have been working on them for so long, and I am so excited for them to be finished.
“So I finished that up on my own by making a prezi of the carbon cycle. A Prezi is like a slideshow but you are able to zoom in on things and have different sections. I did more research for the prezi and learned more of the specifics of the carbon cycle. I didn’t find it as engaging as I thought I would, but it was still really cool to learn about. I have learned about photosynthesis and cellular respiration before, but this time I put the entire cycle together and I found that helpful.”
“In quarter 3, I have been working on the change, cause, and affect standard. I have been learning about how climate change affects weather. For the weather part of it I have been using NWS JetStream - Introduction to Global Weather. The first part was explaining what factors contributed to climate change, then explain how. The second part was explaining how climate change affects tropical storms.” The last part was easier than I thought it was going to be. I really liked this project because it was something that I already knew was happening, but I didn’t know why. I now know how everything affects each other. It was also really helpful because it is something I would have learned if I was in earth science this year.
Currently I am working on my experiment. My testable question is, How does the temperature of salt water affect the humidity? I am specifically focusing on the temperature of water in tropical oceans, because that is where storms form. I have a control temperature and three experimental groups. My control temperature is 25- 29 degrees celsius, which is the average range in temperature in tropical oceans. For the designing an investigation part, I made a procedure, material list, data table, and an introduction. The procedure has changed a lot during the experiment because there are things that I didn’t think I would need or extra steps that I didn’t do. For the actual experiment, I used a fish tank and two liters of salt water to try and replicate the ocean. So far It is going well. I am hopefully finishing it this week, so that I can move onto the analyzing part. I’m not really sure how I am going to do that yet because I have been so focused on getting the experiment done. That is something I am going to do next week. My guess is that I am going to do claims, evidence, reasoning, and a part about flaws in my data. This experiment has been hard for me mostly because I didn’t leave myself enough time for it. Other than that I have really liked being in the lab and doing the experiment. I really liked learning how to make my own experiment instead of just following a teacher's plan.
I also learned about how whales produce sound in quarter 4 . It was for the structure and function standard, so I was mostly focusing on whale anatomy and how they create sound. This involved figuring out how air moves through their blowhole and to their lungs, and how that creates sound that can be heard from miles away. I found it hard to find sources for how exactly they produce sound, probably because it is hard to figure those things out without killing a whale. Next time I think I would also like to listen to more of their songs. It didn’t get to as much as I would have liked because I was more focused on how it happened. I hope I get to learn more about whales in my future projects because it was really fun. I still have to revise that which I will do this week.
English
“During quarter 1 I wrote about the history of conservation in the U.S. this included national parks, indigenous perspectives, and different kinds of protected areas. That was the first essay I wrote and really the first piece of work I did in pilot. It was fun to write and research about and writing it helped me take in the information more. It was also kinda stressful to write because I had to do it really quickly, and then I was revising and editing for a while. This counted toward my English proficiencies for expository writing.” I have now realized that I did actually have time. Since then I have had to write things in a much shorter time.
“The poem I wrote was about my relationship with the land and how I feel about it. It was very last minute. I wrote it one night when I was writing my first narrative. I was sitting on my couch looking out at the mountains and I just wrote it. I don’t really know why I just did it. It kinda shows how I feel about the environment and the earth in general. I felt so annoyed writing it and I feel like that is definitely reflected in parts of it. I honestly don’t really like it. Creative writing has never been a very strong point for me so I think that contributes to my dislike for it. It isn't something I am really proud of from this semester.” I haven’t really thought that much about this since I did it, because it reflects all the things that are wrong with the world and I don't like thinking about them. Even though that is pretty much my entire project, it is still hard for me.
“In the process of designing the waste stream and working with the carbon cycle I realized that I didn’t actually know as much about composting and recycling as I thought. So in mid december I started to think about writing an essay about compost, which I have now finished. A lot of parts of my learning were leading to compost, inside and outside of Pilot. In one of my other classes we are working on getting more education around compost into science classes, along with trying to get our compost to go to a place a little closer to home. All these trails lead me to compost so I wrote an essay about it. For the essay I did a lot of research about different ways to compost, what it is, why it;s important, and more. I found it really interesting to learn about, especially food in landfills and methane. I also wanted to include some resources for how to compost at home, so that is what I did. They can be found at the bottom section of the essay in my portfolio”
“For English I also read a book called This book will save the planet by dany sigwalt. At the beginning of quarter 2 I was trying to figure out what to do next and I knew I wanted to read a book. This was one that was recommended by our librarian. It was super interesting and I learned a lot about climate change. It was split up into 2 main parts, the first is the problems and what the issues are, then the second is what we can do. In the first part they talked about climate tipping points, natural disasters affecting communities, and capitalism. In the second part they talked mostly about how to solve some of these problems. I really enjoyed reading this book. It taught me a lot about the problems we face, which I already knew a little bit about but not in that much detail.”
“At the beginning of this quarter I started reading No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunburg. The book is made up of all the speeches she did in 2018-19, some of them are to legislators and some are directed toward youth. It was so cool to read speeches that were actually read to an audience. She has a really cool way of just captivating you and it’s amazing. I think out of all the books I have read this year, this was my favorite. It was really sad to read, but that made me want to do more.” For my quarter 3 exhibition I read the speech and got a lot of feedback. I just finished the second draft. I put it off for a long time because I just didn’t really know what else to write. I finally finished it when I was writing this paragraph. I just realized that I couldn’t finish the year without doing it. The first draft I finished the night before my exhibition too. I think I just can’t find the words until right when it needs to be done. In the second draft I added more about how everyone tells us to worry about the future, but we might not really have one. That is such a huge piece of why I am fighting, because I want to have a life after 25. Which by the way is when we hit an irreversible climate tipping point. Sorry for making this depressing.
“This fall I was part of a VYCC (Vermont Youth Conservation Corps) school crew. Every Thursday we went outside and worked on or built trails. During the program we worked mostly on campus. We did some work on the snowshoe trail (river access trail) on the U32 campus, We worked on the Cross Vermont Trail (the Montpelier bike path), and we got to go plant trees for riparian Buffers on the Mad river.”
In order to get credit for doing it, I wrote an article about it. I was intending to write it in the first semester, but then I didn't, so I did it in quarter 3 instead. I kind of just wrote it and then didn’t really edit it. I ended up kind of hating it at first, but then I started working with Jenn Ingersoll who works at U-32. it was going to be more of a story, but I found that so hard. So instead I just went back and read through it, which I hate doing, but I did. Then I made a bunch of edits and added things. Now it’s done and it’s not what I really imagined, but it is still good and I am proud of myself for finishing it.
Learning to learn
I am really proud of what I have done this year. I have grown so much in not just my learning. I joined Pilot thinking that I would get to learn about what I wanted and at my own pace, but I have grown so much. My view on climate change has changed so much throughout this year. I went in thinking I was going to learn more about the sciencey part of climate change. And I did do that too, but I also learned more about what we need to change, steps we can take, and what I can do. My project work has changed and grown so much over the past year, and I am excited for it to continue to go in different directions.
The highlight of my year has been redesigning the waste stream. That was such a hard project and I am so glad that it is almost done. There have been really hard moments during this process and times when I didn’t think that we would be able to finish, but we are so close. I am so incredibly proud of us for doing this. It has been imagined for so long and I am so happy that it is almost done. I have never done anything like this before, and I am so excited for it to be done and for it to be used. Of all the things I have done this year, this huge project is what I am most proud of. Working with Mayla to get this done has been incredible and I am so excited for it to be done.
The work that I have helped me realize what I am most interested in. At the beginning of the year I started this project, not knowing where it would lead me. I had a plan to learn about climate change, conservation, and I hoped I would get to do some marine science. I didn't think those were going to be as engaging as they were. Now I can see myself studying these topics more and maybe as a career. I think doing something with marine science and climate change would be so cool. My work this year made me realize that and helped me get closer to that. I don’t know if I could have gotten there in a normal class. Next year I am planning on taking the Marine Biology course through VTVLC which I am really excited for.
Self advocacy: I got so much more comfortable talking to people and advocating for myself. At the beginning of the year I hated talking to people about my needs. Through the process of redesigning the waste stream I had to talk to so many people I didn't know, especially adults. I got so used to and comfortable with it. I still get nervous and sometimes it;s really hard for me, but I have grown so much since the beginning of the year.
Time management is definitely something I should work on. Most of the time I do the things that I like to do first and then it takes me a while to do the other stuff. This semester I have spent a lot of time doing science work because that is the thing that I had the most to do for. But in the first semester I did a lot more english work. I just wasn’t in the mood to do english, this quarter especially. I have gotten better at staying on task when I am supposed to be doing work. I used to get really distracted, and I still do. But I think I have gotten better at focusing on my work and not getting distracted. I tried to make a schedule for when I was going to do what class work and that worked for a few weeks, then I just stopped because I had too much to do. Other than that my time management hasn’t really changed. Next year hopefully I will get better at sticking to a schedule and getting less distracted by people.
Inquiry: I have always liked learning new things especially if it is a topic I am interested in. So in that way this year has been great. I have researched so many new topics and had to find the answers mostly by myself. That has never really been hard for me and it wasn’t this year either.
Perseverance: this year has been full of hard things that I had to do or problems I had to solve. Most of the time I get it done, even though it is sometimes late. There have been many things that I have wanted to give up on, but I powered through even if I hated it. There were a lot of obstacles with the waste stream project that we needed to get through, and we did.
Demonstration: most of the projects I have done this year have had a final product. I have to write an essay or put all my stuff on a google doc and then that gets graded. mY science work is usually on a google doc with diagrams. My English work has mostly been writing or notes. Next year I would like to try some ways of showing my work. I’m not sure what yet, but I want to do something that isn't just writing an essay.
“Accountability: I think I am pretty good at staying accountable for my work and meetings. I make a lot of lists with goals for the week." Recently I haven’t been very good at keeping up with my goals. At the beginning of May I made deliverables and was pretty good at following them. In the last few weeks though I haven't really been using them because I have been using the time it would take me to make them for my work. Currently I just have a list in my head and havn't really been writing them down. Next year I want to figure out a better system that I am good at following.
This semester has been so crazy and full. I feel like I have done all my science work in just this semester. I have no idea how I'm going to finish all my project work next week. May has been so stressful for me because I started my experiment late which has meant that I am pretty behind on work. Trying to get all the science proficiencies has been really hard because I didn't get that many in the fall, so I have been trying to catch up on things. We are so close to the end of the year and I'm so excited for summer, But I am also still so stressed about this year. I also haven't really had time to think about what I am going to do next year because I have been too focused on this year. I know that I am doing French, English, and health through Pilot next year, but I am not really sure what I want my focus to be. I am hopefully going to figure that out this summer and maybe start working on some of it.
I can’t imagine what my life would be like without having done Pilot this year. It has taught me so much about myself and others. At the end of last year, I was dredging another year of normal school, so my mom suggested Pilot. I was so scared going into it that I would be behind or not get good enough grades, but I did it anyway. I think that was one of the best decisions of my life. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this program.