Youth Empowerment Day Reflection Journal

Let me start off by stating that anyone that did not go to this conference a poor sucker, because this was a Shrektacular conference of epic proportions.

We first started off the conference at 52nd Broadway at the United Federations Teachers building where we were given some breakfast and a raffle ticket. Then we proceeded on to the main stage where we sat down close to the Youth Panel. Apart of the panels were a Harvard Graduate, a New York City Police Department Lieutenant and a Human Resources manager at a firm. 

 They explained their positions and the struggles they endured to reach their position and what mistakes we should avoid if we were to reach their position one day, then there was a giveaway and 2 of our boys won iTunes Gift cards and movie tickets. The Panels continued on for 3 hours and at around 12:30 just around when everyone was starving we were given lunch that included Turkey and Tuna Wraps and a really big cookie that we ate whole heartedly.

 After that we had a few more giveaways(still no dice for me) and in addition we had a friendly inter school dance-off including our reluctant teacher, Ms.Ramirez.
Now the the program was about ending and the final speaker of the day was Mr.Hampton a creative director at Johnson Inc, he gave us some ideas about Multiple Intelligence theories and how we ALL are geniuses which I have to say was very inspiring.
At the last few minutes there was a iPad giveaway which was very close to being mine, by only 4 numbers !

 We received Ms. Cherlyl Wills book 'Die Free' which I shall read very soon and an MCU card that contained breath mints after that we went outside and took pictures with Ms.Ramirez and the rest of our group and we departed our separated ways.

Lab 19 : Feathering

 In this Lab we did a bit complicated lab, we did something called feathering, which is improving specific parts in irregular objects such as ships, cars and planes.

 For this Lab I selected a ship that  decided I was going to make into a ghost ship. By using refine edge tool, I altered the edge radius , the smoothness, feathering, and finally the contrast. So in the end I also had to change the background color as well, so I got a decent looking ship that looks very spooky.

Original Image : 

Feathered Image:

Lab 20 : Puppet Warp

  The last and final Laboratory experiment for the 1st marking Period of the Spring term was the Puppet Warp.

 The Puppet warp features basically allows you to select parts of the image and warp it so to say or extend it to your liking.

 I chose to warp a Starfish and make it have 7 legs instead of the usual 5.

Project 8 Brochure : Bronx Zoo Brochure

 A fortnight ago Ms. Ramirez announced that we would be doing a Brochure and not some picture, but a real brochure that people would see and feel in their hands.


     To start us off Ms.Ramirez assigned us each a group of usually 4 to 5 people. I was placed in a Group with Sean Patrick, Ashley Cruz and Ashley Sequeira. After careful deliberation we chose our roles with my being the Manager, Sean being the Designer, Ashley S being the Secretary and with finally Ashley C being the Researcher. We then decided our Brochure was going to be about the Bronx Zoo. Sean and the two Ashley's came up with the layout of the Brochure. Our roles were quite simple in this Sean did most of the Design, the two Ashley's provided pictures and information for him and I kept everything in check to make sure no one goes offtrack, I also provided quite a bit of Proofreading to make sure every word and sentence makes complete sense and compliments each other.

Overall, I learned quite a few things from this Project especially Adobe InDesign and how to use it and make two sided brochures on it and what not, I got to know more about my teammates and how other groups made their Brochures, to be frank I am quite satisfied with our project and would have not wished to be placed in any other group.
 

Lab 8 : Vector Shapes

Lab 8 was a Laboratory experiment about different vector shapes. 

First I made a 30 boxes by using the single row and single column marquee tool and filled them in using a color. Then for each boxes I used a different shape and a different color for each shape. This was a very interesting Lab as it taught us how to use the single marquee tools and how to apply them practically. To top it off I put my name in the little corner on the bottom right.1

 

Lab 4 : Image Adjustments Part 2

 Lab 4 : Image Adjustments Part 2 was a very Lab to do as it let me choose any picture I wanted and play around with it. Our Goal for this project was to choose any object and make copies of it  and also change the color balances,saturation and hue of each image. I did exactly that and choose a sports car called the Lamborghini Veneo. In addition to learning the different color options of Adobe Photoshop it was really fun seeing how the colors changed right infront of my eyes. I finished this project with my name in the Middle on a white background where the 4 cars are.

Original Image

My Adjusted Image

 

Lab 3 : Image Adjustments

Hello,

  In this Lab , we had the pleasure of receiving an image of a Dog and then were told to duplicate it and change the color/saturation of each dog in Adobe Photoshop. First I had to make 2 copies of the original image , so one for each dog and 3 dogs in total. Then i selected the first dog and copied it onto the rest of the Image. After that I only had to select each layer/dog and changed the color/saturation by going to image adjustments. The tools required for this lab were the Quick Selection tool, the magnetic lasso and the layer tool.

Before Image Adjustments :

After Image Adjustments

Lab 2 : Melon Head

In this extremely interesting Lab, I was given a picture of an assortment of vegetables and fruits and was told to make them into a type of melon head using the selection tools.

In this Lab i used the magic wand for some small areas and the quick selection tools to select the big areas of the fruits and finally the lasso tool for some correction. I made My Melon Head like a French Chef with a French Chef Hat and a big nose and two ears and a type of body with the watermelon , I also put my name and the lab number using the text tools and a big font to make it more visible. 

 Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my creation and I hope i can create more things like this in the future.

The Selection tools in Adobe Photoshop

1. The first selection tool you will find in Adobe Photoshop is the Lasso tool which allows you to draw completely in free hand.

2.  To make selections in Adobe Photoshop, you have to first make a new background layer and then select the part of the image and go around the edges until you have a perfect selection.

3. Now if you want to select the whole image , instead of using the magic wand tool which will take a lot of time to select the whole image you can use the quick selection tool which will select the whole image for you 

Soft Skills : Synopsis

 This course is preparing us for future employment and the skills needed to succeed in the workplace, with things we learned such as teamwork,enthusiasm,attitude, critical thinking and professionalism. These are skills employers highly value and the chances of getting hired or even promoted are even higher.

Soft Skills: Critical Thinking And Problem Solving

Thinking on your feet and solving problem creatively is a highly valued skillset by employers. This can mean identifying problem whether they are small or big, thinking out of the box and presenting solutions to a problem within a reasonable time. To put this into perspective, a new employee might want to offer fresh new insight into a company with well-crafted solutions making use of good judgement and making decisions that well benefit the organization.

Soft Skills : Professionalism

 Professionalism is an integral part of the workplace, every employer expects you to have professionalism. This can mean conducting yourself in a professional manner which includes,integrity, accountability and excellence. Employers highly respect and value employees that conduct themselves with professionalism. Being professional means getting to on work on time, doing things yourself without your employers instruction.

Soft Skills : Teamwork

        Teamwork without a doubt is an extremely essential part of our life especially in work. Teamwork allows people to work together to accomplish something that would've taken a person a lot of time. Teamwork builds synergy between the people in the team so therefore everyone is a lot more efficient and knows what they are doing. There also is the part about giving credit when it is due, this means that everyone is the team who worked on something should get credit and not just one person gets all the praise and respect all alone.

Soft Skills : Enthusiasm & Attitude

         

            Enthusiasm & Attitude are essential in life especially when you're working in a job, for example If you're working in a job and behave like a Debbie Downer or a Pessimist your boss will get the impression that you don't like working there and are bad influence for the rest of the co-workers and probably fire you and then you probably will become jobless and probably homeless as well, so good Attitude & Enthusiasm is extremely important if you want to stay solvent.

Soft Skills : Communication

             Communication is an essential part of life, without communicating properly people cannot understand us,and if they don't understand us , then we shall face MAJOR problems and a communication gap will exist, where you say one thing and the other person gets the wrong idea/impression. Communication is used in every sector, whether its the financial sector, school, or even the grocery store. So therefore Communication is vital necessity for economic production and education.

Project 7 Respect for All GIF Reflection

Project 7 was about creating a GIF about having respect for everyone regardless of their gender or physical status.

  Project 7 for me was particularly felt very hard as we could not use anything from the Internet and the GIF had to be 10 seconds long. So after brainstorming for a couple minutes I got a idea which I felt was unique and that nobody else was going to do.
So with that I decided to do a GIF that showed us about respect and how without respect we are barely humans and  that bullying hurts everyone. This project really let out my creativity and I can say firmly I am very satisfied with the outcome.