Metacognition:

• • What have you discovered about your process, your habits?
  • Now, what do you know you don’t know? Circle back to your essential question.

Throughout my experience so far, I have discovered that my process is strongest and I’m most consistent when I have structure. I think one of the biggest challenges for me going into Senior Project was making my own schedule and not really being accountable to anyone but myself, however, I’m very proud of how much I’ve gotten done. I tried really hard to space out my visits and not exhaust myself too early in the week so I’d feel balanced. I’m not going to lie, it was hard in the beginning to stick to the schedule I had made for myself each week, but the more locations I visited, the more fun I had.

Each week, I visited up to 3 or 4 different locations and I learned something new every day. One of my biggest takeaways was how much don’t know about a place until actually being there. You can read hundreds of articles and listen to a million podcasts, but you can’t get a real feel for a place until your feet are on the ground in front of what you’re looking for. My favorite visit so far has been The Sphere because I was so surprised by the location itself; I swear I looked like a crazy tourist while trying to find it. The Sphere is located in Liberty Park which is a little elevated park right next to the West Side Highway and across from the 9/11 Memorial; little do people know that The Sphere is also a part of the memorial. Another shocking thing was that the park was almost completely empty. There were no signs or plaques on the outside of the park explaining anything, which I think is a huge reason why a lot of people don’t know it exists. It’s not promoted or exploited for the public eye, which allows it to stay hidden.

My essential questions are: What can we find in NYC when we stop to look and what history & stories are hiding in plain sight? My project is all about uncovering the unknown and sharing New York City’s hidden gems with as many people as I can. There are countless places in New York just like The Sphere, unpromoted and unseen, yet are existing in their secrecy and beauty and I can’t wait to uncover them all.