Author: j.lin33

Makers Hub Pop Up Makerspace

Posted on by j.lin33

 

As my friends and I went into the Maker Hub Pop Up Makerspace event, we were surprised with how empty the room was; as it only consisted of three students on their laptops listening to an instructor teach them about 3D programming and another student in the back of the room talking about engineering to another instructor. Since we didn’t have our laptops with us, we weren’t able to fully follow what the instructor was teaching about 3D programming. We decided to sit in the back of the room, where an accumulation of various 3D printed toys were scattered on the table. As we explored what all the toys were, the 3D printer in the corner of the room caught my attention. It was being used to 3D print a yellow toothbrush which was programmed on Thinkercad.com to make the design. To make the designs, you’re able to use Thingiverse.com to choose from various default designs then alter to your liking. The process was really cool because on Thinkercad, you could choose from the shape and how hollow the design was to what color you wanted your design to be.

The 3D printer that was in the room was one of the cheaper versions in the 3D printing world, coming in at $3000 per machine. It used a plastic called PLA, which was very cheap compared to other 3D printers such as the ones that used liquid or powder to make 3D objects. You would first have to insert a roll of PLA plastic into the printer then plug in your USB that had your design in it to start the process of printing. The toothbrush that was being printed took around 2 hours to make, since it was a fairly simple design. The instructor also told us about the Google Cardboard, which was a cheaper version of a virtual reality device. The Google Cardboard consisted mainly of cardboard with the main component being the curved lense and a slot to insert your phone in. After we downloaded the Expeditions app, we were able to see the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Northern Lights, and outer space. We also learned that some designs needed support material so it wouldn’t sag down due to gravity such as 3D printing a chair but for other designs, you could get away without using support materials by using itself to support it. You could also mass produce designs by first making a template then programming the printer to repeat its process until you got the amount you needed. This event was very informative and has furthered my love for creativeness.This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.

 

Whitney Museum

Posted on by j.lin33

Being a CUNY students has a wide variety of benefits, one being free admissions to selected New York City museums. On Wednesday, I took the opportunity to take advantage of this benefit along with Stephy, Crystal, and Brian to the Whitney Museum of American Art.

To get to the Whitney Museum, we had to take the L train to the last stop, 8th Avenue, and walk a long twelve minutes before arriving. On our way, we had the opportunity to get a glimpse of The Highline, which was really close to where the Whitney Museum was located. To be admitted into the museum, we had to wait in line for our tickets, which the lady behind the booth nicely gave to us after having a look at our CUNY ID’s. We were suppose to go to the lower level of the Whitney Museum for coat check but accidently got on the elevator going up so we decided to just proceed with our journey.

We got off the third floor and quickly realized that it mainly consisted of meeting rooms for groups that decided to come and look at the art pieces in detail so we got back on the elevator for the eighth floor. The eighth floor was named Calder: Hypermobility which had many more art pieces but were not of our taste because the sculptures were too minimalistic and had little detail. We took a quick look around and decided to go to the floor below; Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection 1900-1960. The seventh floor was more of our liking because it included paintings of all sorts that focused on how relationships, institutions, and activities shape our lives according to the artist’s perspective. The works of art were very intriguing because it covered war, peace, The Great Depression, recovery, social discord and recovery that happened over the course of six decades.

We also saw collections like “No One Exists Alone”; which focused on migration in America and the experiences of the artist as a child. We also saw “The Furniture of Home” which included oil paintings that represented the furniture found in your home and what they symbolize. We concluded our trip to the Whitney Museum with the AIDS collection, which showed how AIDS has affected society.

One piece that stood out to me the most was an oil painting of a man who was on the verge of death from AIDS laying on his bed. It was scary to know that a person could get to that point in their life and look so empty. The whole experience has made me appreciate art more and I will definitely be visiting more museums in the future.

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UCLA GIM #1

Posted on by j.lin33

Before coming into Baruch, I was worried that I wouldn’t feel at home like I did back in high school, since most of my friends had parted ways for college. I spent the first week of college going from class to class in a foreign setting, not sure if I had made the right decision to come here. It wasn’t until a few days before club meetings began that Qi Qi Wu, a member of the United Chinese Language Association (UCLA), sent me a message inviting me to come to their first General Interest Meeting. She was so warm hearted and quickly convinced me to join.

 

Qi Qi had said that many Midwood High School students were in UCLA and it wasn’t until I got there with my friend, Melina, that I realized what she said was true. When Melina and I arrived, there were already a whole hallway full of future UCLA members waiting to go into the room since it was still being set up. We waited in a semi-secluded corner and it wasn’t long until we were quickly approached by Sandy Dai and Wendy Lei, who welcomed and thanked us for coming to their meeting. We clicked immediately and went on talking about our past high school experience and how we were adjusting to this new change. Sandy and Wendy even gave us a few tips on how to survive college!

 

After about ten minutes of waiting in the hallway and becoming acquainted with many new people, we went inside the meeting room which quickly became full due to the large amount of people who showed up. When we settled in, the UCLA E-board members introduced themselves while showing us a Powerpoint presentation. We then moved onto ice breakers, we played the whisper challenge, pictionary, and a dissing game. We were all dying of laughter from how much of a fool the volunteers for the whisper challenge were making of themselves. At this moment, I finally felt like I belonged, as if I had found my second home.

 

As we finished up with the last game, the whole group huddled up together for a group photo. As we finished up posing for the photo, the food finally arrived. It was apparent how hungry we all were with the cheers that erupted throughout the room. We were served many different types of Chinese food and beverages. I also got the opportunity to meet Qi Qi face to face for the first time along with Isaac and Sandy Mei while waiting in line for food.

 

This was a great experience and has made me realize how nice and welcoming people are. I cannot wait to officially join UCLA in the upcoming week and acquire many more of these memories for my college journey.

 

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