On Wednesday, May 22, the Senior Project Fair took over Upper Heath. Seniors presented the results of their six-week independent projects, with subjects ranging from cooking, writing, music composition, construction, AI explorations, bird-watching and more! See a list of projects with descriptions below.
Arius Tamasdan - Anodyne
I wrote a sci-fi/fantasy book based on the premise of “what if magic was magnetic” that devolved into a story. My project was about the process of actually writing the story, as the idea had been bouncing around in my head aimlessly for a while. Among the many things I had to do to put together a suitable first draft, my goal was to finish the story after having delayed it for so long.
Brayden Gray & Gunnar Pikul - Wooden Manual Transmission
We built a model of a five speed manual transmission out of wood in hopes to demonstrate the complex mechanical inner working of that machinery. We studied the ways in which a transmission operates, and worked hard to innovate in how to display those complexities in a digestible and comprehensive way.
Bina Filozov - Duality of a Hopkins Student
My senior project involved photographing images of students inside and outside of school to juxtapose our lives as students. I wanted my project to shed light on each students variety of unique and cool interests and passion.
Andrew Toft & Lucas Samuelson - Ice Bath
We constructed an ice bath by building a wooden frame around a feed trough. We also wrote an article about cryotherapy and the cryotherapy methods at Hopkins.
Devon Denkin - The Shattered Stone
My project was an epic poem that follows a soldier caught between his conflicting devotion to his family and duty toward his homeland, which has come under invasion.
Brendan Cafferty & Toby Scheps - Senior video
Our project consisted of gathering footage by interviewing the senior class in addition to any candid footage that could be paired with said interviews. We created a trailer to be played at the project fair to preview the full video, which will be played at the senior picnic. The trailer was primarily candid footage, whereas the full video will show all the interviews we completed.
Alyssa Friedman - Building an AI Chatbot
I created a mini-chatbot using Python, Flask, a JSON intents training database, and the Chatterbot and Tensorflow libraries. The chatbot should be able to answer basic Hopkins-related prompts and more! The best output is determined by calculating a confidence interval, or comparing the accuracy of the user’s input to the data in the JSON intents file.
Giovanna Parnoff - Crochet
Learning to crochet from scratch. Starting with smaller objects such as squares and scarves, and then moving on to larger stuffed animals. All of this stuff is to be donated to Safe Futures and Operation Gratitude.
Ella Zimolo - Croatian Cooking Project
Every week I would make a Croatian dish using cookbooks my grandmother would use. I connected with my family, by talking to relatives about each individual dish I made and their knowledge of it. With each dish, I would research its history and roots.
Sophie Denny - Movie Mania
I watched and reviewed the 10 best picture nominees from the 2024 Oscars! I wrote reviews and posted on personal blog and social media. Finally, I rated and “awarded” movies!
Emma Yan - Screenplay
I wrote a screenplay that surrounds topics of education, culture, and queer identity. Here is a synopsis: a Sub (substitute teacher) yearning to become a Teacher lies about her credentials at a drunken happy hour, landing her a permanent job as a Chinese teacher, a language she has never spoken before.
PJ Fitzsimonds - Lacrosse Photography 2024
I photographed the boys and girls lacrosse teams and learned more about how to photograph sports. I then had to choose and edit photos. I ended with about 125 fully edited.
Kiersten Brennan - Chinese Chatbot
My project consisted of a website for a chatbot that spoke conversational Chinese with the user. The chatbot was based on the Integrated Chinese textbooks used at Hopkins, and is intended to encourage users to practice certain vocabulary and improve their grammatical comfort. The website offers several features including audio and English translation, and it is my goal that students of Chinese will find it useful in the following academic year.
Joseph Cardenas - 6502 CPU / Breadboard Computer
I designed and built a simple computer using the 6502 CPU, a very old CPU that was used in old products such as the Apple II and Nintendo Entertainment System. The computer I built can connect to a keyboard and it has a small display. I programmed the computer using assembly language, a very low-level programming language.
Brendan Kaduboski - La Sinfonieta della Repubblica
My project was to write a piece of music that can be preformed by the Hopkins Orchestra. It is 3 movements and generally in the style of a march. The piece comes out to a total of 10 minutes and 45 seconds for violins, viola, and cello.
Ryan Coffey - The Statistics of Women's Golf
My project analyzed a variety of LPGA Tour metrics in hopes of determining which parts of the game are the most important for scoring in the women's game and how the women's game differs from the men's game. I also looked at how driving distance impacts scoring and analyzed the distribution of LPGA scoring averages to detect any patterns and quantify the performance of the top female players.
Jay Maroney - Learning Languages
I wanted to learn 2 new languages, Hindi and Korean, by practicing all aspects of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I practiced reading and writing daily through online resources such as Duolingo. I also practiced listening by asking people for Korean and Bollywood movies and shows. Finally, I conducted weekly conversations in both languages to practice my real life comprehension and speaking skills. These conversations ranged from quick interviews to cooking traditional food with others in both languages.
Amelia Clark - New Haven County Bird Field Guide
For my senior project I decided to create my own field guide detailing some of the birds you're likely to see around Hopkins. I spent my six weeks photographing many different bird species around my house and Hopkins, editing photos, collecting identification information about each species, and designing my own website to showcase my photographs. For the fair, I presented a poster board with 4 of my species printed out, a QR code leading to my website, and my website up on a laptop!
Yasmin Athulathmudali & Ivy Sun - WellMap
The overarching goal of WellMap is to enhance community health and ensure that everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, immigration status, etc., has access to medical care. There are many pre-existing free clinics, but they are not publicized sufficiently, and it can be difficult for individuals in need to locate these resources. By compiling a comprehensive map through our website, WellMap aimed to bridge this gap and create an easy to use system.
Lucas Samuelson & Andrew Toft - Ice Bath
We built an ice bath and wrote a brief research article to go along with it. The bath itself is made from a stock tank and a wood exterior. The paper details the risks, benefits, and other information about ice baths and cryotherapy in general.
Angelina Li & Jason Yang - My Story, Our Future
Collecting AAPI Narratives Across the Tristate Area. Jason Yang and Angelina Li interviewed a series of Chinese American immigrants from our lives to compile a number of stories. These stories were then brought to Hartford for the approval of the AAPI Coalition citation.
Christopher Hwa - Student Symphony
The Student Symphony is a 6 minute orchestral piece written for string orchestra or quartet. Its goal is to emulate the feeling of stress experienced by a student, containing fast, dissonant, and tense sections, keeping the listener on the edge of their seat. Eventually the piece resolves into some beautiful chords, just as senior spring brings relaxation and acceptance.
Beyla Ridky - Eleven Years
I learned and recorded six tunes on folk harp. I’ve been playing harp for about eleven years, and I recorded an EP to make note of where I am now.
Grace Laliberte - Learning To Sew
Learning to Sew from scratch. With the help of my seamstress Grandma, I learned how to operate a sewing machine, source fabrics, and put together patterns. I eventually was able to create five garments, the last one being a pattern I recreated all on my own with my own measurements.
Liam Yin & Soren Eskstrom - Music in nature
We made songs either using sounds from nature or songs that were nature inspired. We used a new software called FL studio. The projects main purpose was to learn how to use the software while also making music.
Eli Balkan & Liam Lochridge - Short album/ ep
We first learned how to record music. We then wrote some song outlines and recorded all instruments, writing vocals as we went. Finally, we cleaned up and mastered all our songs, learning to do so as we went.
Benjamin Simon - Relearning the Saxohone
Over the last few months, I practiced every night and relearned the saxophone, playing songs that ranged from classical to jazz to pop. Special thanks to Mr. Elligers who met with me for a lesson every week.
Ava Maccaro — Things Colorful
Things Colorful is a complete collection of three cohesive, coherent fashion pieces. Color has been a trademark of my art and fashion throughout my high school career, and Things Colorful is the final collection to tie together my portfolio. Inspired by the expressive and unexpected qualities of street wear, Things Colorful is a funky spin off of three classic puffer jacket.
Jeremy Mao - Chinese-Mexican Fusion Street Food
Inspired by the local New Haven food carts, I invented, created, and tested different street food recipes that combined Mexican and Chinese flavors, cooking techniques, and ingredients. Dishes such as "Kung Pao Cactus" and "Barbacoa Fried Rice" were also accompanied by interviews with local food cart owners and my dad.
Kian Amhadi - Local Reporting
I wrote stories for the New Haven Independent on a weekly basis, and then printed them as a magazine.
Guilia Croscio & Mira Krichavsky - Jewish/Italian Fusion Cookbook
Dani Lustberg - What’s Yappening?
Grey Fisher - Mandolin Songwriting
Leila Hyder - The Mural of Tiles
Brandon Kumpf - Community + Inclusivity Children’s Book Series (3 Books)
Nia Lampley/Jada Lowery - Nia and Jada’s Podcast
Eli Ratner - Lacrosse Mesh/Head Analysis
Alix Rawald - Children’s Illustrated Storybook