Service Hours,

During this term, students of GCE were forced to stay in home and work on their service hours through home task.  I did three activities with the time I had at home. The first was garden and lawn work, such as taking out weeds and cutting grass. The second activity was sanding and painting the deck of my house, which took around 4 hours. The third activity was picking up trash from the streets. I used my sword to pick up trash and sort it out throughout the neighborhood, and walked my dog in the process.

I was cautious, mostly about getting the disease since I was picking random trash. I learned about being careful, and making sure I get all the pieces of trash. I also learned about optimistic as the hours would be in either heat or wet when I worked to pick up trash.

JN "Service Work" own work, 2020

Coral Health

This would be the last assignment of my high school life and so it is emotional for me to finish it. During my term in GCE, our grade experimented with a new class called "Frontiers". It includes the science behind oceans, history of exploration, and understanding how climate change affects our environment. We had no field experiences during this course do to COVID-19. We did however meet with Zachary and Phil of Urban Rivers to talk about the health of Chicago's natural ecosystems.

For this final assignment, we would create a literature review based around one of the eight challenges that marine scientist are dealing with. I choose number four where scientist have troubles finding the overall status of the ocean's health. I decided to study into coral as I saw that part of the ocean as an important factor in the survival of ocean life. The struggles I had with this project was finding the information that was easier to understand. The pride I have of this project would be it being the last one.

For an outro, there is not much I could say. Only that I would like to thank the teachers and staff for the past four years. I struggled hard on many things, and I learned to integrate my art with my schoolwork. I just hope college works as well as high school did.

Health and Service

What to do when your stuck at home. That's something I've been worked on for sometime and found several ways to keep myself occupied. But what I do consistently is walk the dog and cook with my grandmother . I specifically cook with her Colombian theme meals such dishes as rice, beans, omelets, arrepas, tortas, and soup. I also learned how to keep the kitchen clean, how to cut and cook certain meats, and how to use food when there is a shortage. It takes me an hour to cook and clean.

As for walking my dog, I normally walk him around the town in a square, which takes an hour and thirty depending on how he is feeling. Sometimes he stops, not because of tiredness but of stubbornness. He is a very lazy dog and walking him was mostly my time to get out of the house.

What I got from these hours was a sense of direction. It helped me stay focused during a time where it was easy for myself to get lost in your own house by yourself. It taught me to be a global citizen by learning new foods from my culture and exploring places in my town I hadn't seen before. I have a total of 61.5 health and wellness hours.

JN, "Walking Dog" own Work, 2020

JN "Cooking Picture" own work, 2020

Last Humanities AP

When do you know compare yourself in the future, how good you are at planning, or how you dreamed big compared to the past ? These are questions I ask for this assignment in my class, Endurance. In Endurance, my class and I studied history of people who were challenged such as those from the Holocaust, my classmates and their experiences, and people who enduring today, such as the people in the worst places for Corona. 

For this assignment, the class individually worked on a planning out their future. Normally for these assignments, I plan on being an animator. What was tiresome were the setbacks that kept happening for the beginning days and what I'm proud of are the blueprints of life I made.

A Tower of Using Talent

When do you know how well you measure well, how good you are at a skill, or how you connect your school life to projects in the future? These are questions I ask for this assignment in my class, Endurance. In Endurance, my class and I studied history of people who endured such as those from the Holocaust, talked to my classmates about experiences in our lives, and talked about people who enduring today, such as the Swedish girl who traveled around the world. 

For this assignment, the class individually worked on a twelve hour project on whatever they chose. Normally for these creative assignments, I would work on animation. However, I felt a bit tired and instead worked architecture as I planned that to be my minor. What was tiresome were the setbacks that kept happening for the beginning days and what I'm proud of are the blueprints I made.

I’m getting close to the last assignment I will have before I graduate, so I would like to reflect about this class in a virtual space. After several weeks, I gained the comfortability with the tech and I now walk around my hometown while taking classes sometimes. However, I still would like to have real life classes since that keeps me better organized and people could learn better when they are in a physical place with teachers. I wondered in the past few months what’s the purpose of real life learning if we could now access the same teachers online and where we don’t use paper anymore. I wonder if the events now are pushing people towards understanding that we can’t be kept under a rock no matter how much we try.

I want to go to college in real life rather than online because I alway saw people as having a mix between real life and online as our progression for human learning. I want to craft materials and learn how to build real life buildings rather than see it digitally. I want to do animation traditionally with a teacher telling what I should exactly do, and always converse with people around me for creative ideas.

  Enduraance from Jeimar Neiza on Vimeo.

Home Made Lasanga

What to do when your stuck at home. That's something I've been working on for sometime and found several ways to keep myself occupied. This includes doing artwork, doing homework, and cleaning the house. But what I'm doing as a new activity is cooking with my grandmother as she teaches me how to make traditional Colombian meals. For Wellness credits, my grandmother helped me make such dishes as rice, beans, omelets, arrepas, tortas, and soup. I also learned how to keep the kitchen clean, how to cut and cook certain meats, and how to use food when there is a shortage.

Today, we are going to talk about how to make simple Lasagna that could be completed easily. Here are the listed ingredients.

- Half a medium bag of Spinach
- Lasagna sheet pasta
- Rosemary and Two cloves of Garlic
-Grounded beef
-Canned Tomato Sauce
- Onion
- Flour
- Mozzarella and Chile Cheese
-Canola Oil
-Salt

1. You first crush the rosemary with the two clothes of garlic and salt. Afterwards, you get a cup of water and the ground beef and put them in a pot to cook. You mix the garlic mix with the ground beef and put a top over it to let it cook. Mix it occasionally.

2. You then get the spinach and cut it up into small pieces using scissors. Make sure you take out leaves that look wrinkled or to moist. You then wash and dry a glass holding.

3. Get 3 cups of water and the store bought lasagna sheets. Heat the water until it's boiled and put in as many sheets as long as there is pasta on the bottom, middle, and top. During this time, after 20-25 minutes, the meat will be done.

3. Get the tomato sauce and cook it with half a cup of flour and some cilantro. This will make the paste thicker. You then cut the onion into small pieces and mix with the paste until the onion pieces looks well cooked.

4. Oil the holding until it is all slippery. Put the first layer of pasta on the bottom and add the cut up spinach. You then put the meet, then the sauce, and top it off with the two cheese. Repeat until you run out of both meat and spinach. If one runs out before the other, save that for later.

5. Make sure to pre-heat the over to 350 degrees farenhiet. You then put the lasagna in for 35 minutes until it's done.

The Midwest Dream

If you could make the world a better place, how would you do so. This is a question I looked towards during my class, Endurance. In this class, students studied explorers around the world, understanding their impact in history, and how their discovery lead to saving several lives. Students also explored hardships of people who survived tragic events, such as the Holocaust or being stranded in the middle of the poles. What students did for an assignment was to make predictions about their future lives and what they would do to make the world a better place. In my future, I want to give job training to teenagers in Visual Effects or animation.

This semester was different because of the COVD-19,  and students were forced to stay inside. This meant students couldn't explore their surroundings and didn't have resources that they had in school. The class was all online and communication towards feedback was done through Google Hangouts or Doc comments. It isn't sure what the future will be for the school, but students will see homework differently due to the isolation.

Food Work Isolation

What to do when your stuck at home. That's something I've been working on for sometime and found several ways to keep myself occupied. This includes doing artwork, doing homework, and cleaning the house. But what I'm doing as a new activity is cooking with my grandmother as she teaches me how to make traditional Colombian meals. For Wellness credits, my grandmother helped me make such dishes as rice, beans, omelets, arrepas, tortas, and soup. I also learned how to keep the kitchen clean, how to cut and cook certain meats, and how to use food when there is a shortage.

JN "Empandas" own work, 2020

For the past few weeks, I learned how to make Empanadas, or a chicken/steak pie. It is made throughout all over South America, but I focused on how to make it the Colombian way. Here are the steps to making the Empanada.

The ingredients are corn flour, all purpose flour, cilantro, Sazon Goya food spices, 2 eggs, chicken, a potato, rosemary, garlic, onions, oil. Panela (spanish sugar cube)

1. Get 2 cups of water and heat it with the Sazon Goya, Panela and the cilantro. At the same time, Lightly oil a pan and cut off the fat from the chicken( 1/3 a pound).
2. Once done with cutting fat, put the chicken in cooking, and t mash the garlic and rosemary together (along with some salt) in a separate container. Fling it on the cooking chicken and use water to get the remainder off. Put a top on the pan with the cooking chicken.
3. Take the first egg and boil in water with potato. Get 1 cup on all purpuse flour and and 2 1/2 cups of corn flour. Mash it with the second egg and slowly pour the cooked cilantro water into the mix. Keep mixing until you can round the mix in a dough ball.
4. After 20 minutes, with turning the chicken around the pot to cook, the chicken will be done.Use two forces and tear the chicken into string. Once done, cut up the boiling egg and leave the potato for more boiling. Once the potato is done, take the skin off and mash it. Mix the potato, chicken, and, egg into a bowl.
5. Cut half a onion into small pieces and cook it for four minutes to take away the acidity. Put onion  into mix.
6. Take the onion pan and heavy it with oil. Take a plastic sandwich bag, cut open two new sides, and roll out the dough in small balls. Flatten the dough balls with a pizza roller with the bag and then put the chicken mix on one car side. Use the bag to make the dough cover the mix.
7. Take a bowl and make a shape out of edges of the Empanda. Close the dough with your fingers and let it fry with the heated oil on the pan. Cook on medium heat until the empanada is a golden brown. Repeat until all dough and chicken mix is done.

Final Project

Part one: The Past

It’s hard to break out of a medium sometimes, it’s almost like a habit. I’ve been doing animation on paper so long that I think the challenge would be to just use a computer. There are many reasons why I choose to do it on paper rather than digital and I guess this use of the medium is intertwined with who I am as a person.

Through Family:
For one, my mother never liked video games and she separated animation from technology when I told her my interest. At some point, I played video games way too often as a pre-teen and stopped at the expense of my mother. I started to hate technology even when it was unnecessary and even when my mother’s discomfort was gone from her. For a time, avoiding technology was a goal for me and that would slowly erode overtime. Not because I saw the benefits, but because I didn’t have the ambition I used to have and that resulted in me putting more time on my phone rather than my work. So, doing animation on paper was to avoid the current present, where I spend too much time on technology and not do work.

Through Authenticy:
A second reason why I did animation on paper was the authenticity of it. I thought if something was older or had a history, it would be better from the current theme. When I did animation on paper, I felt like I was doing it as an art form rather than a work form. That it was physical and I could hold on to the paper and later on have a history with it. That is the same for frames from Disney movies. It almost felt like a storybook, where all the frames were a permanent imprint and you could flip/ read through them. Compare this to computer animation, where it was all code. To me back then, it wasn’t real. I also felt I would trap myself to do more flash cartoons and that, to me, didn’t sound authentic.

Though Preference:
The third reason was I didn’t want to learn about technology. It felt too complicated and I felt I was good at seeing movement. I tried to do animation on technology when I was younger, but I felt discouraged at the end. I also didn’t want to be an artist online and I assumed that would mean using digital. In the end, I thought it would be too much trouble as I thought I would only need the materials and just a good college. I didn’t think too much about it.

Part Two: The Present

Now, grown up, I can’t avoid technology. I already use it far more than I need to and I'm starting to ignore important factors of the industry. My mind has shifted towards doing technology in RISD so I could get a stable job as I always wanted. I’m even possibly thinking about doing other careers in case this one fails, such as being an architect as my family suggested. I’m not uncomfortable with being an online artist if it means getting to do what I want and I;m even interested in starting a studio that only uses computer animation and I could manage it. Only time will tell what I want to go into, but I know I can’t avoid this large factor of the industry, especially now with current events.

So I’m looking back on pieces of animation I did and I want to do a timeline showing my progression. Having a brief description of each piece.

The Midwest Reader

The future is wide and bleak as many people would put it. But I believe it will only grow better as time goes by. In my class, Equality, we were asked what we think the future is. We looked at the past and present on disadvantaged groups such as blacks, latinos, women, and the poor. We also talked about current events that affect everyone such as the Corona virus, marijuana laws, and current presidential candidates. We also had a professor of UIC, David Stovall, as guest speaker.

For the final project of the class, we are supposed to predict an event and create a news article based on that event. The article needed to include minorities and have an opinion piece at the end. I focused on children's media and how it accurately portraid the demographic of the US. The article was based around the Media Act of 2073 or the "Mouse Law".

The factor I struggled the most was organization and formatting of the article. It took me out of my comfort zone as I just do standard essays. Besides that, making the project was fun since I had full creative freedom.

 

Underneath is a person examining the article 100 years later. The article was put in the time capsule and the person shows their reaction.

  IMG_5619 from Jeimar Neiza on Vimeo.

Akre J " Child Obesity..."news.legalexaminer.com, Legal Examiner, Web, Dec 2007

Drobot, "woman suit",shutterstock.com, ShutterStock, Web, March 2020

JN "Diamond", own work, March 2020

"Man in Suit" shutterstock.com, ShutterStock, Web, March 2020

"McDonald Fries"mcdonalds.com, McDonalds, Web, March 2007, March 2020

Midwest Studio, the GCE of animation studios

Building a business takes a lot of initiative and groundwork, but starting a business plan sets your limits for what you can do and what you need to achieve. In order to start planning, you have to understand and learn about how a business works. This is what my class, Social Entrepreneurship, taught in my school term at GCE. During the class, we learned about different legal structures, how to organize roles, and policies companies use today. We also had a guest speaker who works as an independent contractor explain the sacrifices he does for his company.

For an assignment, my class and I created our own individual business with a product and a mention of social good. I ran for education or job training, specifically in the field of VFX. I looked at the demographics of my customers, the org flow chart, and how much money the company will make in 3-5 years.

The enjoyment of making this project was to just dream how my company would look like and if it was an actual possibility. Also enjoy the work I put in and how I could use this in the future after I went to college. I regret doing accounting the last because that changed most of the text I already did.

A Chapter in Chicago

History is constantly changing and being affected by what was before it. This is true in Chicago as it's the third largest city in America and has a history of bigotry and segregation. Over several weeks, I learned about this history of the city and understanding on how it makes the present. Through my class, Equality, I saw Chicago through the politics of gender, race, and class. We also went to see "Harriet Tubman" in the Geneskile film center. It's a film about the hardships of slavery and an american icon. We read "The Case for Reparations", a document by Coates T. that depicts the suffering of black lives since the 1900s and how that continues to this day. Finally, we watched the play "Roe" in the Goodman theatre. A non-bias story that depicts the controversial topic of abortions and the nuance perspective of each historical figure.

What my class did for an assignment was to write on a piece in history and to interview a minority who saw that experience first hand. For myself, I focused on Lori Lightfoot and her significance as mayor. The struggle I went through for the assignment was finding the interviewee and asking the appropriate question at the end of the assignment. I enjoy the design of the project as I tried to make it resemble the Pride Flag.

 

Re-Imagining the Library

All things could be improved as long as the improver knows what to check off. This is what I learned in my class, Social Entrepreneurship and You, during the third term of my senior year. We learned how to do SMART goals, create SWOT organization, and understand different aspects of the economy. We also took several personality test such as "Disc" and "The Big 5" personality test. Finally we learned how to calculate imaginary numbers and understand the history of mathematics.

For an assignment, we worked on how to improve a certain aspect of the school in whatever way we wanted. I choose to do the library since I have a fondness for books. I interviewed several teachers and students to get the best perspective and made my own SMART goals for the library's benefit. I enjoy that most of the work is finished, but I wished I did more with this project. I'm working on an unrelated final project for the end of the year, so I couldn't add much creative energy to this project. Even though this is standard, I believe it's valid when looking at the new space next year.

                                 

I seen multiple projects that put in lot of creative talent as this specific project invites the freedom of medium. If I were to make this again, I would create a video that uses much animation and expresses my enjoyment for the school.

Gym

During the past year, I had to go to a gym known as BMA Martial Arts. I already gone there for several years and this was my last year staying there. I would go at least three times a week for a hour each class being instructed by Eric Boleaga, the owner of the gym. My metabolism isn't the best, so I( didn't advance in the stomach area. However, I did recieve upper body strength and I would stay stable for health from time to time. I had gone through intense work and eing work such as forms, exercises that house push ups and sit ups, and fighting techniques whenever needed for self defense.

The important part of the class was learning how to believe in myself. Before I went to the class, I had trouble believe that I could do great things or even think long term. However, after years of going to his classes and his encouragement, I am in a better shape compared to myself as a child and I learned to try my hardest at all things I do. During last year, I was able to get into my dream school and I couldn't have done it with the encouragement instructor Eric has provided me during the years. I would like to thank him for that and for making me who I am today. My plan before I leave for the year for my school is to get my black belt and to finish my gym credits. I have completed 40 hours the past year and I will will continue to finish my gym credits for this year.

JN "Belt recievings" own work, 2019

Forest preserve work

When I work in the forest preserve, I had learned about the history of several preserves, the natural plant life, and contributions people had done before hand. A good example is in the Lemont forest area know as Black Partridge Woods, where there was a rich history of the forest once being owned by an old farm in the 40s. I got to see the remains of the farm such as where the farmhouse was and several pieces of old farm materials such as old lawn mowers. The forest now is ripe with plants, especially a plants known as dogwood, a thorn plant with mixed colors of red, blue, and purple.

The more important part of volunteering was the people I made connections with and the experience I had making a different. When I volunteered at the Great Chicago Food Depository, I didn't feel like a change was made. Rather, it felt like a long and continuous pile of work of food packaging with nobody wanting connections. I wanted to move, but I could only do so in a limited space. When the group were done, the workers at Chicago food depository would state the difference we made, but I didn't see proof. When I distributed food in Chicago, I would just stand in one place not taking a break. It was nice to give food to needy people, but I didn't feel comfortable just standing in one place.

In the forest preserve, even if one gets dirty, you feel like you make a change. I would see mountains of invasive trees before me and in just a few hours they were all gone and there would be a lovely landscape. I would get breaks and talk to people in the cold as a fire warmed us all up and food was provided by a good friend. I would play my violin sometimes for a special occasion with the people I met their outside and inside of work. The outdoors made me feel healthy, and I was more productive because of it. I'm proud to say I worked 39 hours on end to get my work done and to serve my community.

JN "Workday at Cap Sauers" now website, 2020