Done. Finished. Capstone is over. Those are special words to me. After two months of, ” What are we doing next? Let me guess, Capstone,” oh, and by the way, every time I asked that, it was a yes with a sparkly teacher smile, we were done. To me, Capstone being over was as big as the Cavs beating my Golden State Warriors in the Finals. After the final share, I realized that I would miss Capstone. Just a tiny bit. I’ll give you a not-boring play-by-play of my CapCon Share 2016. Hope you enjoy the show.

Like the last words in my intro? C’mon I know you do, you just don’t have to admit it, you’re welcome whoever you are. Anyway, the rehearsal for our big share was the day before it. They call it “rehearsal”, but I call it “sharing the fun stuff to the little kids”, because literally, that was what we were doing. No offense, fourth graders and third graders who think they are “big boys/girls”, P.S., even if they’re definitely not. It started at 9 on the dot with little kids flooding in from all entrances. My sister was the first to see it. She said I like it a little to nice for me to believe it, but hey, you get all the meaningless comments and you put it into one stinky lump, it actually turns into a “compliment”, sort of. This 3rd grader, Kevin tried watching my iMovie, even though my sister was using the only device that could let you hear and he said, “Duh, I don’t get this.” Well, you don’t get it because you don’t have headphones, so you can’t hear anything. I think he was too dense to even figure out that the sound was more than half the project. What are they teaching third graders these days?

After kids started to get uninterested with all the Capstone stuff, they just talked and horsed around with each other, so I just sat there, doing nothing except occasionally trying to catch a fly that was annoying me. I had o such luck.

Five minutes later, the next round of kids came. I was happy. They were about all Kinders. That meant that they would be zoned out while they watched my puppet show so they wouldn’t ask sophisticated questions like some of the brainy fourth graders. One kid was so spaced out that he said, “My brother sat on me .” I remember that kid’s high-pitched voice like it was yesterday.  Every five minutes I would go to one of the aides patrolling the area when we could have snack. I wanted to get out of that sweltering room so badly. But, I had obligations. I almost wished I did a live presentation so I could be in either the computer room or the auditorium which had fans and A/C.

I’ll skip the next rounds because, half the time I was half-asleep, so I don’t really remember what happened. Hopefully, my teacher won’t read this.

When we were done I raced to the 5th Grade wing. I ate my snack, then sang for moving-up “rehearsal”.

The next day, things changed a little. We were going to sing first and watch my dad’s moving-up video before the sharing. I decided not to bring my laptop, and to bring my chromebook instead. I made this decision because I was afraid someone might tamper with it while I would be singing. I think I read and watched to many spy books and movies. This decision would later sabotage my sharing ability, but that’s not really important-right?

In the heat of the moment, I forgot to bring my headphones, and it was way to loud in the meeting room, so I had to just show my family my blog posts and main inquiry question answer. This made me upset. I would have to share everything at my grandparents house, instead of sharing in the meeting room. I was so angry I left the school, missing the nice spread that was set up in the gym. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize with any people. Don’t worry, I was allowed to leave school early.

The share at my grandparents house wasn’t so bad. At least it was quiet. But I did regret not getting a bagel before I left the school, though. To me, it felt like I’ve gone rogue. I really have to stop reading spy books.

Sadly, this is my last Capstone blog post. Even though I didn’t really enjoy the actual project, I liked writing blog posts. Just saying, you’ll miss my blog posts. They’re so funny, a kid doubled over laughing hysterically. If that’s you, well, you see how funny I am. Anyway, my last words will be Agent Marks out, OVER. (Spy Books.)

I’m unique, when everyone is doing a TED Talk or Ignite or something, I’m doing a puppet show. Laugh all you want, it is actually very grown-up. Ever heard of Fred Parson? George Kelley? You haven’t because they’re made up. But puppet shows are grown-up with or without fake people.

When I shared my idea to the class, people were surprised. When we filled in a doc, I saw that a girl in my class, Lizzie Wachs, copied me. In this case “imitation is the highest form of flattery” was wrong. Not cool. She got that idea straight out of my little section in the table. That was messed up. For the rest of the day, I scowled at her. Even when she was on my team during recess.

The next day after I cooled off a little bit and asked her every minute, instead of every second if she changed her mind yet, I got right to work on righting my script. First off, I conceived a title. Whatever mumbo-jumbo teachers tell you about how you should come up with the title last, I know for a fact that that is a bunch of baloney. If you don’t believe me, you could look at my revision history in the doc. Oh wait, you can’t do that because I won’t let you mess with my stuff. I got enough 20 minute lectures about security on my computer from my parents. Although, you will be able to see my script after June 22. If you read this before that date, then na-na-na-boo-hoo on you. Continue reading →

My 5th Capstone Blog Post. After this one I’ll only have 2 blog posts left. Everything was happening sooooo fast. Soon I’ll be leaving Heathcote, going to the Scarsdale Middle School. Tears are coming to my eyes now…Just Kidding. I don’t write boohoo-ey blog posts, I write funny, humorous ones.

Anyway, when I realized that we had to write a full blown essay on answering my main inquiry question, I was on the verge of freaking out. I realized this with 3 days until I had to answer my MIQ and all my sub-questions. I mean, I’m known for cutting things really close like when I have a whole math packet due on Friday and I do all of it on Thursday at 11:00 P:M or when I get into my suit in the car before my uncle’s wedding, but this, this was almost too close, and that’s saying a lot.

Another bad thing about answering my sub-questions was most of them were a kind-of, which means that I kind-of know how to write about it. So I doubled the Capstone work I usually do in one day and expanded how much could fit in my head, so much that I thought I looked like one of those balloon-head aliens. I was in big trouble and this was one situation that I could not escape from. I don’t even think the great Harry Houdini could escape this one.

I somehow answered all of my sub-q’s in one night, but in the morning I looked like a zombie. I was proud of my zombie-self, but clearly my mom wasn’t. “Get up, Michael! You’re going to be late for school!” People these days, they don’t appreciate me sacrificing my rest-time for school work.

Back to the sub-question answers, I wrote a lot for a few and sometimes a little for a few. Overall, I thought I wrote pretty detailed answers with examples and other things teachers always force you to use n your writing. My questions and answers are down below: Continue reading →

If you have not read my 3rd Capstone blog post, you will be confused as my grandpa when he hears me say a 21st Century phrase. I’ll be accommodating and give you a link to my third blog post right here.

After you read my almost rounded to-1000 blog post, I’ll explain my Site Visit. Fast forward to after I knew I was getting an interview with the Senior New Balance Shoe Designer, Andrew Nyssen, I thought that I should go to one of the New Balance stores. My mom and dad agreed. The problem would be what New Balance store. My mom’s first idea was to go to the New Balance Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. I said maybe, but then my dad spoke up and said it was too far. I told my mom that I wasn’t going to get much information at a store. But then my dad said the Flagship New Balance store on Park Avenue in Manhattan might give me more information because it was the biggest one. But even though I tried the puppy eye thing and said that I should stay up because it was for schoooooool they wouldn’t let me stay up longer than usual.  I was extremely disappointed.

The next day, I told Ms. Edwards my options. HQ or Flagship. She said flagship. I did some more research and searched on Google Maps. The flagship store was more than 2 hours closer than the HQ in Boston. My decision was almost final.

A few days later, I woke up after my dream about going to the flagship store.  It turned out horrible. My final decision was driven by my dream! I did not make this up like most fifth graders wanting a spectacular, razzle-dazzle element in their blog post. I was going to the New Balance Headquarters! I was extremely excited. Now, instead of interviewing Andrew through a phone, I could interview him in person.

A few days before we left to Boston, Ms. Edwards told us to fill out a  table that had our site visit/interview information. I put in Site Visit: New Balance Headquarters, I put in Interview: Andrew Nyssen.

The day I was scheduled to go to Boston, my mom revealed something crazy that she should’ve told me before I filled in that table. The New Balance Factory where the actual shoes were made and where Mr. Nyssen works was 30 minutes north of Boston. Luckily, I could easily change the information on my laptop.

After I interviewed Andrew, he gave me a tour around his floor that had where most of the things happened. He showed me some really cool things that I can’t talk about, and I wish I could, but everything was CONFIDENTIAL. Although, I could tell you what some of the general things were. There were some 2D models, a 3D printer, a shoe last which is a tool that is used to transform a 2D prototype to a 3D prototype. Again, I’m sorry that I can’t get into more detail.

After the tour and after we got shoes, we went to the HQ just to see. We couldn’t get in so we were like ,”forget it.”

Here is a picture of the factory store:

Overall, it was a successful site visit.

What factors go into designing a sneaker? MIQ

How do the sneaker designers come up with new sneaker designs?

Do companies use ideas from old sneakers to make new ones and how?

If a celebrity is consulted to design branded sneakers, how much input does the athlete have in designing the sneakers?

After the design, what do the companies do to test their new product?

If a sneaker manufacturer creates a new sneaker design, how does that affect the sneakers produced by other manufacturers?

 

Does are my sub questions and main inquiry question. Although, the path to get there were long and bumpy.

Continue reading →