Domingo

On By anabelb17In Uncategorized1 Comment

Hello! My name is Anabel Barnett, and I am one of the 14 students traveling to Puerto Rico for my senior project. Our 12-day trip is chock full of cultural and environmental explorations that intersect with service work. We’ve met as a group about fives times to get to know one another as well as prepare for the trip. I certainly feel ready to go, and that seems to be the collective sentiment as we inch closer to our departure on Sunday.

While there were a number of other school-sponsored trips that appealed to me in the selection process, none did so more than Puerto Rico. In my Spanish 5 class last year, I learned much of the history of Puerto Rico, particularly in regards to its relationship with the US, through which I gained important socio-historical context that frequently fails to appear in American history/social studies classrooms. This context, for me, is vital in grasping the present situation in Puerto Rico and the (mainland) US; it has helped me unpack the president’s response to the post-Maria crisis as well as the overall socio-political climate of our country. In traveling to Puerto Rico, I am seeking to expand my present understanding alongside my classmates, hopefully gleaning experiences, information, and ideas that can be brought back to campus to fuel discussion and action.

We fly out Sunday morning, so I will be in Fajardo the next time you’ll hear from me!

Sewing a Dress

On By reena2019In Uncategorized1 Comment

Hello Friends! My name is Reena Bradley. For my senior project, I will be creating my graduation dress. One of the most significant events in a ‘high school career’ at Westtown is graduation in at the Greenwood. As a sixth generation Westonian, I cannot wait to walk down those stone steps as my mother, cousins, and grandparents did before me. It is truly a special moment and deserves a truly special dress.

One of the most prevalent traditions of commencement is that all of the young women graduating wear white dresses. My mother has been trying to get me to pick out a white dress for graduation since sophomore year as there are only so many white dresses in stores (and everyone wants to be unique). In order to make my dress completely mine and add my own personality to it, I have decided to sew my own dress.

I have limited sewing ability, but I’d like to consider myself an ‘advanced beginner.’ I have only made a few wearable items, but I am optimistic about my ability to do this. The project will be about understanding the effort and detail that goes making a more complicated garment, especially one that is made for such an important event. I will be working with a seamstress in Wayne to construct the dress. I am so excited to begin. But first, I must find some fabric!

In order to acquire material, I will be headed to ‘Fabric Row,’ thus beginning my journey.

This is one of the shops I will visit on 4th Street in Philly (Fabric Row)

Distilling Grasse to an Essence – A Study of Culture and Perfume

On By kreider grasseIn Uncategorized1 Comment

02/28/19 – PHL – Introduction

Ever since I’ve been little, I’ve loved the idea of going to France. I’ve been taking French since I was little and singing French songs. I used to joke that the fact that my last name was the name of a city in France was fate, that I was destined to go, never would I think that for a week I would end up going alone.

Hello! My name is Kreider Grasse, and I will be going to Grasse, France for a week to study southern French culture and also to be making and studying perfume. By following along, you will hear about how it is to adapt to French culture and also enjoying loads of pictures of what my days, hopefully, different from each other, will entail. I hope to bring light to a different culture, a different city and a different type of senior project.

I’m not quite sure what my days will look like, other than my seminar at Galimard Perfumery. I want to keep my days as open and free as possible. Go into town for coffee or light snacks, live in the moment without the worrying and stress of due assignments. To have an open day, in a city I don’t know, is pure and utter independence. I am so happy to start exploring

Cooking with S.P.I.C.E.S! (A Quaker Service Project)

On By bessgoldsteinIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hi everyone! My name is Bess Goldstein, and my senior project is essentially a service project involving service at food banks in Northern California. In my blog posts, I hope to bring you all along with me, showing you my progression, what I’ve done and what I will learn, and of course… pictures!

The premise of my project is to utilize my Quaker beliefs and values in service in a new part of the country that I have yet to explore. I will be staying in Arcata, California.

Arcata is located in Northern California, a small town in Humboldt County, close to the coast. There, there are many opportunities for volunteering and exploring. After a lot of scheduling and research for what I thought was best for my project, the family I am staying with and I decided that it would make most sense to volunteer at a certain food bank in Eureka called Food For People.

Originally, I was hoping to volunteer at the children’s theater in the area as well, but unfortunately, some communication issues got in the way of that. Either way, I am looking forward to bringing my love for service into my project despite the lack of theater.

So if you know me, you know that I am a Quaker, born and raised. I have always loved the values and beliefs they uphold, and that is why I hope to bring those values into my service project. The S.P.I.C.E.S are the Quaker pillars, in reference to my title. They stand for Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. By going to Humboldt County, CA and volunteering at Food For People, I know that most, if not all, of those Quaker pillars will be met with my service. Food For People values sustainability, respect, teamwork, integrity–all contributing to these important Quaker values.

Aspiring to contribute to my Quaker values is only one of the goals of this project. Another certain goal of mine is to work on my Spanish language skills while volunteering at Food For People. I am aware that it is extremely beneficial for volunteers at this food bank to speak or comprehend some Spanish, as they have families and people that speak Spanish come in often. ¡Espero que logre mucho con este proyecto!

Aside from the volunteer work, I am also looking forward to exploring this beautiful part of California; specifically the Redwoods forest and other national parks in the area. I will make sure to bring you all on the project with me, with updates, pictures and more! Thanks for reading!

Bess

Italy Senior Project Trip 2019!

On By jackd19In Uncategorized1 Comment

Leaving Friday morning, this is the majority of the Italy senior project group! We will be starting in Sicily and then moving into Rome and all over the Southwest coast of Italy. We have all been adamantly practicing our Latin and Italian over the last few months in excitement! Some of the things we are most looking forward to are the Colosseum, Pompeii, classic Italian food, and of course Teacher Dan’s hometown. All of us our super excited to go and cannot wait to start!

Reflection

On By Auria ZhangIn Spain/Portugal - Auria Zhang, UncategorizedLeave a comment

After two weeks of happily walking around the streets of Spain, I am back in West Chester, PA, grumbling about school.

I have learned an incredible amount of random things during this Senior Project. I know more Spanish than I had at the start of this Project. Postres means desserts, and cerveza means beer. I learned that when you ask for water, you get an entire 1.5L bottle and you have to pay for it. And on the topic of food and drink, the quality of both is infinitely better than that of the United States.

Generally, Spanish people seem to take their time and enjoy the little things in life, like beer. Except for rainy days, in the early afternoon, I would always see cafes open with people sitting at little black tables drinking glasses of beer. Occasionally, there would be a coffee drinker, but coffee seems to be a morning beverage for the Spaniards. If that’s wrong, let me know!

Looking back to the trip specifically, I think I went to churches and cathedrals the most, followed by museums. I visited churches that were more than 300 years old and churches that are still under construction. My favorite is still the Sagrada Familia. The colors from the stained glass differ depending on the time of day. I easily spent about three hours walking around there.

I have learned a bit about traveling in general though. A lot of time was spent waiting in line to purchase tickets. Online ticket-buying is a must. Also, I didn’t allot enough time to simply wander around the city. Much of my time was bogged down in tourist places. While that did allow me to see the more famous side of Spain, I was not able to engage with the local culture.

Even so, I believe this was a very worthwhile trip. This project has encouraged me to go beyond my comfort zone and pursue areas of knowledge that I previously knew little to nothing about.

 

 

Xi’an, From Ancient to Modern

On By nick_sokollIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Day 4:

The wake up call was super early, 4am to be exact, but it was okay because we had to catch our flight from Beijing to Xi’an, the first capital of China.  The hotel prepared boxed breakfasts for us that we ate a few bites of on the way to the airport.  Around 1 in the afternoon, we finally arrived in Xi’an.

It was a rainy day so we had to move our itinerary around a little bit but it all worked out in the end!  Directly from the airport, we went to the Muslim Street which is this hectic street market.  The Muslim Street looks just how I pictured China looking and smells just how I pictured China smelling.  There are thousands of different food being prepared in carts scattered around the street and countless different stores selling everything from cigarettes to counterfeit handbags to rice.  Joanna, Kamryn, and I went around on the street and tried some of the different “street meats,” my favorite had to be the lamb on a stick!

After the Muslim Street, some of us decided to go get a massage.  In China, massages are a fraction of what they cost in the United States so this was an opportunity that I could not pass up!  The massage place was somewhat sketchy but it was definitely a fun bonding experience.  After the massages we all went for a dinner and a show at the Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show.  It was some of the best food that we had and the performers were amazing.

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Day 5:

Our wake up call was super early today as well.  We all went down to the lobby for our breakfast before we loaded up onto the bus to go and see the Terracotta Warriors.  From the way it was described to us, I thought that the warriors were in the city, but oh was I wrong.  In reality, the warriors are a two hour drive outside of the city.  After this excruciating drive, we finally arrived at the Terracotta Warriors Museum.  The warriors were amazing to see.  The Warriors were buried in the ground, and there are THOUSANDS of them, so the area is still very much an archaeological site.  The different pits, the holes where they are digging up warriors, are covered by massive buildings that look like airplane hangers.  Inside the hangers, you can see the thousands of warriors that are being rebuilt by archaeologists.  While the site was really cool at first, after a few hours I was very ready to move on to our next event.  After the warriors, we had a traditional noodle lunch.  It was really cool to watch the chefs make the many different kinds of noodles that we got to try.   After lunch, we got onto the bus for the ride back into Xi’an.

When we got back into the city, we went to an art museum where we took a tour and then had a traditional Chinese calligraphy lesson.  I am very non-artistic so I didn’t enjoy the calligraphy all that much.  Then we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which is a massive Buddhist temple. We climbed the seven stories to the top of the pagoda and the views of Xi’an were amazing.  After we climbed, I went to the gift store to buy Buddhist prayer beads for my family.  After the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, we went to the ancient city wall where we were supposed to ride bikes on the wall.  We got to the wall and Kamryn and I decided to take out a tandem bike because she just had ACL surgery and couldn’t bike by herself.  It was a terrifying experience but was super fun as well.  The Festival of Lights was still going on so a part of the wall was covered in massive lanterns.  Kam and I walked through the lanterns and ended up being super late to the bus but it was 100% worth it.  After this we went back to the hotel for a hot pot dinner.  On day 6, we are off to Guilin and Yangshuo!

Ô Monde Neuf, Ô Splendide Monde!

On By Summer CaiIn westtown schoolLeave a comment

March 22th, 23th, 24th, 25th

“O brave new world/ That has such people in’t!”—Act V, Scene 1, The Tempest, William Shakespeare.

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My memorable Senior Project in Paris officially ended when I arrived at Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. I still can’t believe that three weeks went by so fast, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve seen and learned so much during my trip to Paris that I definitely have to have stayed there for more than three weeks.

Now looking back at the list of things I wanted to accomplish before I left for Paris, I’m really proud to say that I’ve done most of them and even went beyond. First of all, I used Paris public transport system to get around the city a lot. With its complex bus and metro network, Paris is definitely the most navigable city by public transport. This experience also helped me understand why public transport strikes in France are as common and effective as they are. Secondly, I’ve had an amazing experience with my host family in Paris. They are the most considerate people I’ve ever met and had interesting dinner conversations with.

Most importantly, I got to explore more amazing smaller museums and churches than I’ve originally expected. Since I was staying in Paris for three weeks and I only have free time during the afternoon, I thought it would be sensible to spend more of my time visiting smaller museums and temporary exhibitions. Going through many museums, I soon discovered that I’m particularly interested in Romanticism, Impressionism and post-Impressionism paintings, especially Renoir, Monet, Mary Cassatt etc. Thus, I went online to look for museums and art shows that focus especially on these artists. In fact, during my last two days in Paris, I was fortunate enough to see two more amazing temporary exhibitions in the Petit Palais: Dutch artists in Paris, 1789-1914 and The Art of pastel from Degas to Redon. I was so intrigued by my experiences with smaller private museums and temporary exhibitions that I’m starting to consider interning at private auction houses in the future.

Furthermore, I found myself really enjoying visiting churches during my stay at Paris. I am often drawn to the serenity and impressive art and architecture of the grande churches in Paris. I’ve found these visits to churches a pleasant temporary getaway from the busy city life and my busy traveling schedule.

Awesome as my Senior Project trip to Paris was, my stay was not without minor disappointments. First of all, several of the museums I’m really excited to visit were closed for renovation: Musée du Cluny and Musée de la vie romantique. Even though I was able to see part of Musée du Cluny in the Louvre Museum, I’m still a little disappointed to be unable to see this amazing museum of Middle Age at its full glory, especially the remains of the frigidarium of the Roman bath incorporated into the museum with its famous mosaic, Cupid riding a dolphin.

Secondly, I wished there were less rainy days at Paris so that I could have more time wandering in the numerous, gorgeous public gardens like Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries and Les Jardins du Château de Versailles. On the same note, I hoped I’ve have stayed even longer at Paris so that I would have more free time to walk casually around the artistic neighborhood of Montmartre and Le Marais, to explore some boutiques, and to have more sit-down meals and afternoon tea at the local café, salon de thé and bistros.

All in all, I’d love to think that every successful trip should have highlights and some unfulfilled wishes so that one would want to return to the city again for more inspiring experiences. This is exactly what my trip to Paris has brought to me, amazing surprises, discoveries, and the strong wish to return someday!

Summer

The End of the World

On By Auria ZhangIn Spain/Portugal - Auria ZhangLeave a comment

March 25, 2018

First you hear it, then you smell it, then you see it. The fireworks of Las Fallas.

People who follow the festival of Las Fallas know this post is late, the last day having been on the 19th of March.

For those who are less familiar with Las Fallas, it is a festival held annually in Valencia, Spain. It is usually in late March. The intent of the Fallas is to honor Saint Joseph.

I arrived in Valencia, Spain on the night before the last day of the Fallas. The first indicator of the festival was fireworks of green and red in the distance. It was a stark contrast to the black night. As I drove into the city, the sight of the fireworks was replaced with the noise of firecrackers going off in every alleyway and every street. These continued into the early hours of the morning.

The next day, I went to the mascletà at 14:00. This is where I got the inspiration for the title of this post. I managed to be simultaneously amazed and terrified. But that’s just me. Do you like loud sounds that make the ground under you shake (dare I say quake) and excessive amounts of smoke? If so, then you might be amazed and not terrified!

Nonetheless, it is a worthwhile event to attend, unless you have heart issues or get headaches easily. In truth, I went to Las Fallas to see the ninots, which are the enormous statues made by groups of local people for the festival. I was not disappointed. The ninots were breathtaking. They showcased the creativity and work that the artists put into them.

I spent most of my time during the day after the mascletà taking pictures of the ninots.

The main event for the Falles (and the reason it is called so) is La Cremà. This is when all the statues are burned. It takes place at night.

Even though I am usually in bed by 11:00, I was determined to see the burning of the main falla, which was scheduled to be at midnight. So, when the time on my phone changed to 00:10, I was a little annoyed. The people around me were too, whistling and gesturing with their hands. It finally began twenty minutes after midnight, with a slew of fireworks to begin. Immediately after the fireworks, I was able to see the flames beginning to burn the main falla. In a matter of minutes, the entire structure was incinerated. Below is a “before” picture followed by “after” pictures.

As I walked back to my hotel, I saw piles of ash, formerly the huge colorful ninots only an hour before. It was somewhat saddening to know that something so beautiful was destroyed.

I hope you enjoyed reading. I’ll be writing a reflection on my time in Spain in my next post. Thank you!

~ Auria

Saturday: Assembly — Ethan

On By mclearedIn Tiny House 20181 Comment

A third short but efficient and transformative day in the shop. With finish applied to all non-gluing surfaces, Mom and I determined in what order things would be glued and assembled so that it all fit together, and then we went ahead and did it.

I think I’ll let the table and shelf speak for themselves:

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From here, all that’s left is to continue applying polyurethane (the second finish) to both pieces, insert the wedges into the tops of the legs, sand them flush, continue applying polyurethane, clean up any glue that might have dried in inopportune places, continue applying polyurethane, and move the whole thing into the Tiny House. I expect to write about that in my last blog post. There’s also the matter of “signing” the table in some way, but I’ve only just begun to think about that — I have no doubt it will come along on its own eventually.

It seems like the table has taken shape on its own in the last few days, and I’m beyond pleased with how it looks now. It’s fun to imagine who will end up using it when they stay in the Tiny House — a table and shelf made from walnut sourced from the campus, continuing to serve an important function, if in a slightly unexpected way.

 

— EDM