DP Update
Escape Room Reflection
Will Klumpenhower
Biology
The Escape Room Project in Biology was probably my favorite project of the year. It involved much more in class hands-on work as opposed to homework, which is one of my strengths. It also had a lot of logistical planning which is also something I enjoy. I had a lot of fun figuring out where things would go in the room and being a Gamemaster. All of these factors contributed to this being one of my favorite projects of the year.
Since we knew throughout the entire project that the public would be going through our room, I felt like it had to be as good as possible. We spent a lot of work making sure that everything didn’t look amateurish or fake. This got me frustrated when the fire marshal said we had to take down our walls. I thought it would take away the illusion and worsen the experience. Some people said it didn’t take anything away, but they were probably just being polite. When you put as much effort as we did into this project, something like that can really make you angry.
Perseverance and Problem Solving were two Habits of Heart and Mind that stuck out to me in this project. In a hands-on project like this, you need to solve a lot of problems, most of which don’t have obvious solutions. It took a full day of scrambling and trying new things to figure out what we were going to do without our walls. I remember trying several different ways to hang small lights in the reception room to create an illusion of a small space, all without having the lights be too noticeable or obvious. Another example of perseverance that I saw was the constant struggle one week to try to make the Apple TV work. While I was not directly involved in finding a solution to the problems that came up as a result of this, I witnessed several people work really hard in order to make what may have been our last resort for a security camera system become a reality.
One thing I learned about myself in this project was that I could actually work hard at something school-related. During this project, I had been experiencing a strong desire not to do my schoolwork with the pressures of performing well in baseball and several other factors in my life. In most of my other classes, I blew off most of my assignments for a search of having fun. This probably stemmed from my feeling of boredom I experienced during my time in London and carried over to when I returned. I think I got used to not having anything to do, and when I got back I took every opportunity I had for things that wouldn’t have been fun beforehand, sacrificing my schoolwork and as a result, some of my real friendships. This project reinvigorated me in some of my work again. I began to care about a project like I used to in eighth grade, when I would do my work easily and go have fun. I still didn’t have the same enthusiasm in my other classes, but it was a step in the right direction. I grew to think of Biology as my favorite class, a surprising revelation for me, considering I had always disliked science in general. I am thankful of this project for that reason, and I think it has given me an optimistic view on school going into my TPOLs.
This project was a lot of fun, probably the first genuinely fun project I’ve done since the Teacher Creature Project in Digital Art last year. This was a great thing for me since my view on school has been getting steadily more pessimistic since my freshman year. School used to be fun for me. It used to be my favorite part of the day. My friends at school were my life. But once those friendships became further apart, school has gotten worse. I can’t take school as seriously as I used to. I was probably spoiled by having a great group of people in my eighth grade class, and I wish I could have all them, just them, in my class today. I can work with my current peers, but I honestly think my academic career peaked in eighth grade. This project has brought back some of the magic of my favorite learning experience ever, and I’m thankful of that. This was a great project, and I hope students in the future will be able to enjoy this incredible experience as well.
Will Klumpenhower
Biology
The Escape Room Project in Biology was probably my favorite project of the year. It involved much more in class hands-on work as opposed to homework, which is one of my strengths. It also had a lot of logistical planning which is also something I enjoy. I had a lot of fun figuring out where things would go in the room and being a Gamemaster. All of these factors contributed to this being one of my favorite projects of the year.
Since we knew throughout the entire project that the public would be going through our room, I felt like it had to be as good as possible. We spent a lot of work making sure that everything didn’t look amateurish or fake. This got me frustrated when the fire marshal said we had to take down our walls. I thought it would take away the illusion and worsen the experience. Some people said it didn’t take anything away, but they were probably just being polite. When you put as much effort as we did into this project, something like that can really make you angry.
Perseverance and Problem Solving were two Habits of Heart and Mind that stuck out to me in this project. In a hands-on project like this, you need to solve a lot of problems, most of which don’t have obvious solutions. It took a full day of scrambling and trying new things to figure out what we were going to do without our walls. I remember trying several different ways to hang small lights in the reception room to create an illusion of a small space, all without having the lights be too noticeable or obvious. Another example of perseverance that I saw was the constant struggle one week to try to make the Apple TV work. While I was not directly involved in finding a solution to the problems that came up as a result of this, I witnessed several people work really hard in order to make what may have been our last resort for a security camera system become a reality.
One thing I learned about myself in this project was that I could actually work hard at something school-related. During this project, I had been experiencing a strong desire not to do my schoolwork with the pressures of performing well in baseball and several other factors in my life. In most of my other classes, I blew off most of my assignments for a search of having fun. This probably stemmed from my feeling of boredom I experienced during my time in London and carried over to when I returned. I think I got used to not having anything to do, and when I got back I took every opportunity I had for things that wouldn’t have been fun beforehand, sacrificing my schoolwork and as a result, some of my real friendships. This project reinvigorated me in some of my work again. I began to care about a project like I used to in eighth grade, when I would do my work easily and go have fun. I still didn’t have the same enthusiasm in my other classes, but it was a step in the right direction. I grew to think of Biology as my favorite class, a surprising revelation for me, considering I had always disliked science in general. I am thankful of this project for that reason, and I think it has given me an optimistic view on school going into my TPOLs.
This project was a lot of fun, probably the first genuinely fun project I’ve done since the Teacher Creature Project in Digital Art last year. This was a great thing for me since my view on school has been getting steadily more pessimistic since my freshman year. School used to be fun for me. It used to be my favorite part of the day. My friends at school were my life. But once those friendships became further apart, school has gotten worse. I can’t take school as seriously as I used to. I was probably spoiled by having a great group of people in my eighth grade class, and I wish I could have all them, just them, in my class today. I can work with my current peers, but I honestly think my academic career peaked in eighth grade. This project has brought back some of the magic of my favorite learning experience ever, and I’m thankful of that. This was a great project, and I hope students in the future will be able to enjoy this incredible experience as well.
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