Overview:

Del Norte holds an event called Night at the Museum towards the end of each trimester. This event provides an opportunity for students in project-based classes, including studio art, photography, ceramics, computer science, and other unique courses, to exhibit their projects. It allows them to display the hard work they have put in over the previous few months and to view the work of others, gaining inspiration and insight into different perspectives on art and creative thinking. In this blog post, I will share my thought on this trimester’s N@TM. Here are some of my immediate goals:

  1. My aim was to effectively present our AP CSP project to the audience and to answer any queries they had to the best of my ability. Additionally, I wanted to explore the projects of other groups in our own AP CSP class (taught by Mr. Mort in period 3) as we have been working together throughout the trimester. I was particularly intrigued to see what other groups had developed, particularly following the midway CPT presentations that were held a couple of weeks ago.

  2. Moreover, I was interested in going beyond the scope of CSP and examining the CSA projects. I wanted to evaluate their ideas and see how they integrated and merged the programming skills they acquired from both CSP and CSA to create an innovative project.

  3. Lastly, I wanted to delve into art-related projects outside the realm of Computer Science. Several arts courses, such as ceramics, photography, and studio art, had designated classrooms for their projects at N@TM. I was eager to determine if there were any similarities in the idea generation process and the journey towards the final product between these projects and our own Computer Science projects, despite the courses themselves being vastly distinct.

Rental Retreat:

During the N@TM event, my group was presenting in the same room as the Rental Retreat group, whose project I had been providing feedback on for the last few weeks. I was eager to see their final product, especially when I saw the catchy slogan on their home screen: “The place where your vacation finds perfection.” This inspired me to consider developing a similar slogan for our own news project. As I explored their project further, I discovered several main features, including a schedule maker, a “Near Me Finder” to locate popular tourist spots nearby, a property search function, an account creation option, and a review section for users to provide feedback about their vacation experience.

Out of all the features, I enjoyed playing around with the Near Me Finder the most. With the Google Maps integration, I was able to view various labeled tourist sites in the area, making it an extremely useful tool for vacation planning. Additionally, I appreciated the close-up view provided by the little person in the bottom right corner of the map. Overall, the Rental Retreat group did an excellent job of presenting their project, and I look forward to seeing a more polished and functional version of the product in the future, as their unique ideas have the potential to be incredibly useful to many people.

Code Cards:

During the presentation, I was extremely impressed with how well each member of the group understood both the front-end and back-end components of the project, as well as how each feature functioned seamlessly together. The project, called Code Cards, was developed to be a simpler version of Quizlet, as the group noticed that Quizlet had recently started charging users after a certain number of study sets and lacked a feature to effectively track and focus on specific concepts. Using Java, Python, and JavaScript, and with a great deal of customization of their front-end using HTML/CSS, the group created a functional login/signup page that allows users to create their own accounts and study sets or access existing ones.

At the N@TM event, I tested the project by creating my own account and studying a set, and the group demonstrated how Code Cards surpasses Quizlet. Unlike Quizlet, Code Cards allows you to indicate whether or not you got the answer correct, which stores that specific term or flashcard for later instead of simply skipping over it. This feature is especially helpful for learning from mistakes when studying a particular set. Additionally, I tried searching for study sets from Quizlet, and the project smoothly outputted all the tests, flashcards, and content from each set in a visually appealing and functional manner. Overall, I found the project to be engaging, and appreciated the opportunity to test the project myself, which increased my interest in it.

Photography and 3D Animation Projects:

N@TM offered more than just computer science classes; there were also exhibits showcasing the work of photography and 3D animation students. Unlike typical presentations where students stand next to their work, these exhibits were set up like a gallery where visitors could freely walk around and view the projects.

As someone who had experience with both photography and 3D animation, I was particularly interested in these exhibits. The photography projects featured interesting pictures that offered unique perspectives of ordinary objects. I was especially struck by the angles that many students used, which transformed commonplace items into intriguing works of art. For example, there was a photo of a basic VANS shoe that was shot from such an unusual angle with creative lighting and editing that it took me a moment to recognize it as just a shoe.

Next, I checked out the 3D animation projects that were created using the Blender application. Although I had already taken 3D Animation 1 during my freshman year, I wasn’t able to participate in the N@TM component due to the pandemic. One of the primary projects in 3D Animation 1 is the donut project, which requires students to make a realistic-looking donut and design an environment in which it would be enjoyed. One standout project was a scene by the seaside where a donut was placed on a table with white tableware and gold utensils. The room was painted a light gray, and a window framed a beautiful blue ocean view. The project impressed me with the amount of effort and detail the creator put into it.

Reflection

In general, my experience at N@TM was quite enjoyable. I had the opportunity to interact with many new individuals and explore a wide variety of projects. I met some really awesome people, from whom I was able to grasp some truly unreal concepts from. Whether it was examining a class or a particular project, I was able to gain novel insights and outlooks that I can utilize in my own life and in my AP CSP project. Would give it an 8.1/10!