National Technical Honor Society Inductions

On Tuesday, March 11th, 25 new members were inducted into Commack's chapter of the National Technical Honor Society. These dedicated students completed all of the rigorous steps and met all of the specific requirements in hopes of being selected to join the honor society. Though meeting these requirements is no guarantee for membership, students need to have taken at least one technology course in high school and received a final grade of 90 or higher in that class. In addition, students are also required to have an overall GPA of at least an 85 along with technological literacy. While evaluating the submissions with the other officers, we looked for those who displayed a strong interest in technology as well as a willingness to provide creative and responsible technological service to both the school and the community. Many students showed their dedication on the section of the application related to their experience with technology. All of the projects our new members have already completed through high school are outstanding. Once members are chosen to be in the honor society, they are required to continually accumulate points by showing up to monthly meetings as well as participating in all of our events. 

Our induction ceremony started off with the special entrance of our new and current members, which was followed with speeches made by our advisor and each officer. For this year's guest speaker, our advisor, Mr. Castrogivanni, set up a skype call with a Commack alumni. Peter, a CHS graduate, was a member of THS and took all of Mr. C’s robotics classes. He majored in Engineering Physics at Cornell University where he was heavily involved in the Cornell Baja Racing team, whose goal is to essentially design, build, and race an off-road car.  He then attended grad school at the prestigious Stanford University where he earned his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering. Here he focused on robotics and automatic control systems. He currently works for the Google Maps Camera Hardware Team, which creates mechanical structures, electronics, and software to support the collection of imagery for products including Google Street View, Google Earth, and Google Art Project. Peter served as an inspiration to all the inductees. 

After Peter's speech, the inductees were called up one by one to receive an envelope with a certificate and other items certifying their membership. The ceremony was then concluded with two tables filled with refreshments. Congrats to all of our new members! We are looking forward to much more success for them.

Below are some pictures from the induction ceremony:

~Ashley 



          Here is a video of all the exciting events that occurred in Commack's Technology Department this past year! We are all looking forward to many more exciting events this new year.

Museum of Modern Art

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is getting excited for Christmas break! However, there are still just a few more days of studying and school work we have left to get through. Anyways... enjoy this post!

Just recently, Commack High School's IB Design Technology classes (standard level and higher level) took an exciting trip to the Museum of Modern Art(MOMA) in NYC. The purpose of the trip was to take what we learned in class and apply it to real life. 

Our trip started off by piling over 30 excited kids onto the Long Island Railroad. After about an hour long train ride and 30 minutes of walking, we finally arrived.

Our first step was the to visit the Applied Design exhibits to learn about materials and design as well as how form and function can be combined to produce things we use everyday. There are people who think that design is just about making things, places, and people pretty, however, MOMA's exhibits will change that thought. We had the opportunity to see 3D printed objects, hand made objects, animal made objects, and even video games! Below are just some of the many exhibits we got to see:

The Endless Flow Rocking Chair

Dirk Vander Kooij created a chair different than most. What made it so unique was that it was 3D printed. He used an old, industrial robot and reprogrammed it in such a way that it could "print" furniture. The robot extruded recycled refrigerator interiors into chairs and any other kind of furniture. The term "endless" refers to the chair's endless thread of synthetic material as well as it's endless design possibilities. 

Mine Kafon
When the Afghan countryside was covered with over ten million land mines, Massoud Hassani invented a 70 kg, 190 cm diameter, machine that meanders across the terrain by chance, propelled by the winds, detonating bombs as it tumbles over them, mapping it's whereabouts by GPS. Though it’s simplicity and symmetry made it so aesthetically appealing, its quality of design was even better. With each detonation, Mine Kafon only lost a few legs, allowing it to destroy three or four mines in one journey. It was simply built using $40 worth of recycled bamboo and plastic along with a skeleton made of spiky plungers.

The Honeycomb Vase "Made by Bees" 

Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny designed and made a vase by casting solid beeswax into a shape. Then, he decided to see what would happen if he allowed bees to contribute to the process. He created a vase-shaped space inside a beehive and installed a camera to film the process. The bees worked like a machine. Slowly, layer by layer, they added tiny bits of beeswax. He and the bees have now produced a dozen Honeycomb Vases. This shows that even animals can use applied design to create magnificent pieces of art. 

Pacman

While eating pizza for lunch one day, Toru Iwatani had a vision of a character- a giant yellow circle with a wedge removed for a mouth. The player controls Pac-Man with a joystick, directing him to eat all of the dots in the maze while eluding the ghosts, who can end his life. If he succeeds, he moves up a level. Eating special power pellets gives Pac-Man the ability to kill the ghosts, and by eating transformed ghosts, assorted fruits, and other objects the player can gain bonus points. Eating to gain power, Iwatani has said, was a concept he borrowed from Popeye. He used ideas from other influences as well as applied his own ideas to design a video game that is still played to this day. 

After completing the Applied Design exhibit, we explored the remainder of the museum and saw other interesting pieces of art and designs made by artists who are popular to this day. Here are some more pictures of students viewing the artwork from the rest of the museum:

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After the museum, we stopped at Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and take pictures. Here are some cute group shots:

Later, we went to Dallas BBQ and had a feast. It was like Thanksgiving all over again! We had a large assortment of appetizers, from fried onions, cole slaw, vegetables, to even chicken wings. Then, for our meal, we got a giant, personal rotisserie chicken, french fries, and corn bread. It was delicious! To top it off, we got an ice cream sandwich for dessert.

After a long day filled with walking and eating, we were all ready to go to the train station for the train ride home. It was an amazing day filled with learning and memories. Not only did we learn a lot about the importance of Applied Design, but we all had some good laughs and bonded over the trip.

Hope you enjoyed the post!

~Ashley