Guild of SITHS

As part of Mrs. Zerega’s AP World History class, students visited the MakerSpace to reproduce historical artifacts out of clay.

Last year, Ms. Ratushyuk, as part of her Russian class project, had students reproduce a scaled version of a Russian village with elements of famous Russian clay folk art "Dymkovo toy". This year, Ms. Ratushnyuk turned the project into a club called the Dymkovo Russian Village Team. All students were welcome to join and meet to take part in the arts and crafts each week. They used clay, paint, cardboard, and other materials available to them in the Makerspace to create more clay figurines for their village.
Dymkovo's bright colors and eye-catching patterns were meant to cheer up the Russian people during the harsh winters who were bored of seeing dark depressing sights around them. The students followed this concept, as well as added their own flair to the project in many small forms.

Through the Science Engineering Research Program (SERP), students Omar Elmogazy, Daniel Indictor and Dominick Villamor studied the link between extensive computer usage and the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), particularly those relating to the hands, wrists, and arms. As education continues to incorporate technology, students become more susceptible to MSDs. Alternate keyboards have been explored as a method to reduce the incidence of risky postural behaviors that lead to MSDs. By using knowledge from their research and data from their observational study on students' typing postures, the team designed and constructed a specialized keyboard with the goal of promoting good posture.
The students submitted their proposal to the Quality of Life competition along with their fellow classmates. They achieved third place for their data analysis techniques, experimental design, and final prototype.

The Makerspace has been a major resource for the Science Olympiad team and global event preparation. While the lab has been heavily utilized for collaborative and after-hours study for the more academic events, the following engineering events have benefited greatly:
Mousetrap Vehicle and Electric Vehicle: The machine shop provided opportunities to modify the moment arm of the mousetrap vehicle to adjust output torque and speed. The drill press, mill, and associated hardware promoted rapid and precise
prototyping. Soldering equipment from the electronics section of the lab was utilized for the electric vehicle to develop the appropriate circuitry for multiple designs. Measured racing arenas were constructed for both events to facilitate testing.
Helicopters and Towers/Boomilever: Various jigs were constructed to accurately join mechanical and structural members of these building projects. A variety of adhesives and related materials provided the most efficient joinery options for maximum performance. Multiple testing stations were fabricated to spec for tower and boomilever weighted trials.
Mission Possible: Every aspect of the Makerspace was used for developing this "Rube Goldberg" device, specifically the formal training and use of the machine shop, electronics lab, CAD lab, 3D printing stations, the extensive the supply room, and of course the guild.

Congrats to the SI Tech Life Cafe and Lifestyles for the Disabled, the NY1 Staten Islanders of the Week, who are always cooking up ways to give back. They work throughout the school year to help people with developmental disabilities.