A dessert and hot chocolate reception was hosted this week on campus in the Carter Innovation Studio to showcase the work of Upper School students in engineering and architecture courses. Students taking 3D Art and Architectural Arts with Monica Tiulescu, and students taking Applied Science & Engineering, Engineering I, and the Art and Science of Making with David Otten, exhibited a range of projects. 

The appliance dissection project undertaken by the Engineering I class challenged students to understand the inner workings of a colorful range of mechanical devices. 

First, students were asked to individually choose an appliance that felt interesting to them. From there, each student was tasked to perform a careful dismantling of their appliance followed by an identification and study of how each component worked. In order to display their findings, students laid out each deconstructed item on a flat piece of cardboard and integrated written explanations of the purpose and function of each mechanical part into the display.

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Items selected for dissection spanned several decades: a vintage radio, an Atari Video Pinball console, an Atari Super Pong console, a boom box, a soldering gun, a Black & Decker drill, a mouse, a color printer, and a digital camera were on display. Seeing the dismantled products side-by-side gave spectators the opportunity to observe key differences among the appliances. For example, the complexity and number of parts contained in a digital camera differed significantly from that found in a toaster.

Apart from the experience of dismantling a complex object and researching its components, learning also came from inviting students to think about what drives complexity in product design. The role that manufacturing capabilities and the availability of technology during any given era was also considered as a contributor to design thinking. Experiential learning is alive and well at Athenian thanks to our amazing faculty, students and the Carter Innovation Studio!

Following the acceptance of their film into the All-American High School Film Festival, Olivia A. ’22, Frances F. ’22, and Caitlin S. ’22 reflected on their experience of making the film and seeing it screened in New York.

This past March, the three of us participated in the Filmmaking for Change March Term. We knew little about the intersection of activism and film going into this class and, over the course of the month, we learned the art of filmmaking.

Our film, Avoidable Trauma, focused on creating awareness around the effects of gun violence on school communities. The three of us have been passionate about this issue for a while and thought that media broadcasting would be a useful tool to educate others about this issue. We submitted our film to the All American High School Film Festival, which holds screenings in Times Square, where thousands of high school students gather every year to share their films.

Since we didn’t have any previous filmmaking experience, we were surprised to be granted the opportunity to view our film on the big screen, and once we found out that we were accepted, we wanted to do our best to attend. After working through many details, we finally got to go.

We got the opportunity to view so many incredible films and witness many students receive hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of scholarships to college. Even though we ourselves didn’t come away with an award, it was a privilege and honor to be able to attend such an inspiring event filled with many of the world’s future filmmakers.

It was also a good reminder to try something new, even if you have no experience because pursuing your passion through activism can change the minds of many. Activism can occur in many forms and is crucial to shaping the world of future generations.