Disclaimer: I apologize for not being able to update this blog as much as I'd like to. Shad Valley has been a very intensive program thus far - running from 7 A.M. in the morning to 10:00 P.M. in the evening. Anyways, here is an update on what happened during Day 2 of Shad@Mac. I will post Day 3, Day 4, and the remaining days when I get the chance. Thank you all for your patience!
Day 2: This was the first full-day of Shad Valley at McMaster. To my frustration, the sounds of birds chirping awakened me at 6:15 in the morning. Still tired, I cupped my ears with my pillow and went back to sleep. 15 minutes later, at 6:30, me and my roommates slipped out of bed unable to stand anymore of the annoying birds' endless chirping outside our window.
The program day officially began at 7:15; my roommate and I went downstairs at Hedden to assemble with the remaining Shads in the Ravine Room. There, we went off to breakfast at Centros where we were served omelets, bacon, sausage, and potatoes.
After the meal, we went to Hamilton Hall where we were given a lecture by Dr. Robert Fleisig - an engineering prof at the University. The topic of lecture was The Design Process. In a nutshell, he taught us that The Design Process consisted of 3 important steps:
1. Get to know your teammates. You can't design a successful project if you don't know the people who you're working with. Get to know your teammates; find out more about their strengths, weaknesses, talents etc. and put them to good use!
2. Think before you act, and act on what you believe. Before jumping the gun to build your project, take some time off to think about the final product - what will it look like? What are its shapes and dimensions? After you have that figured out, draw the final product on paper so you and your group have an idea on the goal you're striving to create.
3. Build the project!! No explanation required here :P
 |
| Where the Lecture Took Place - Hamilton Hall |
After being taught The Design Process, all the Shads were then divided into groups of 3 and asked to build a spaghetti tower using a strip of masking tape and 20 pieces of spaghetti. The tallest spaghetti tower built within a 5 minute deadline would be crowned the winner. Unfortunately, the spaghetti tower my group built imploded on itself like the World Trade Centre during 9/11 by the time Dr. Fleisig came around to measure the height. Damn you gravity!!
After the lecture and workshop on The Design Process, all the Shads then headed back to Centro for lunch. After lunch, in the afternoon, all the Shads went on a school bus, which took us to one of the hundreds of waterfalls in Hamilton. There, we went on a nature hike and learned about the different types of rock, organisms, and plants surrounding the waterfall. Here are some pictures from the trip:
 |
| School bus ride to Hamilton Falls |
 |
| School Bus Ride Part 2/ Fancy School Bus With Speakers |
 |
| Erosion of Trees Due to Water Flow From the Waterfall |
 |
| The Whomping Willow |
 |
| A Waterfall in Hamilton (Side View) |
 |
| Thumbs Up for Waterfalls! :D |
 |
| Lighting Bolt |
After the invigorating hike, we returned to McMaster and had rec time. The options were to play either Ultimate Frisbee or Capture the Flag for an hour. An hour later, when all the Shads were sweaty and tired from the aerobic exercise, everyone went back to Centros for one last time to have supper! After that, at around 6:30 P.M., we returned to Hedden Hall to host our evening activities (which I can't remember right now off the top of my head - my apologies). Finally at 9:30 P.M., we had some free time, and all the Shads went to play their favourite card game/board game for the remaining hour. Just like that, the extremely exhausting but exhilarating day came to a close and at 10:30, we all returned to our rooms so we can sleep and rejuvenate for the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment