3/8 Center For Architecture Foundation

Ella, Calen, Maya P., Manny, Niles and I went to the Center For Architecture Foundation and helped sep up at 10 am. When families arrived we gave them nametags and got them ready for the newspaper challenge. The newspaper challenge was where you were given only one newspaper and you had to take it and try to make the tallest building possibly with the newspaper, and the tape you were given to build with. You only had two minutes to complete your design and then about 10 minutes to build your structure. While the families were busy making their structure we walked around and asked what their design and plan was to win the contest. If they needed any more tape to help them build with. When the 10 minutes was up everyone brought their design to the front of the room. It gave people a chance to really see what different people had made and see who’s was the tallest. After it was time for Grace (the coordinator) to measure all of the structures and find a winner, she said it was a close call and that everyone did a great job. Grace then showed everyone a PowerPoint of some structures by artists in China. We got a chance to see the amazing art of the buildings in China. For me, I thought it was a great thing to experience, because I know that on my free time I never look up buildings in China and I had no idea what they were like until that day when I saw that impressive PowerPoint. Behind the buildings you could see some of the scenery and make it seem that you were there in that photo. I thought it was moving to watch, seeing some of the buildings in China where I was born. Their structures are so different then they are in New York City. A lot of the buildings I saw in the PowerPoint seemed unreal, in the sense that the buildings were so fancy and astonishing to look at. Some buildings looked as if they were wavy while others were straight but still had an interesting flare added on to it. Each building seemed to bring more. Part of the time while watching the PowerPoint Ella and I cut 10 feet of wire a bunch of times and then rolled it up into circles. Once the PowerPoint was done and people had a sense of what they could do, they drew up a plan for the next building they needed to design. We then distributed one Styrofoam board and 10 feet of wire to each family. Once every family had what they needed they started to build their structure. This time if they needed any more material they were allowed to take it. Extra materials; tape, scissors, glue, tissue paper. We walked around one more time making sure everyone had what they needed and how they were coming along with the challenge. Once everyone was done within 15 minutes the families all shared what they did differently this time along. What their plan was and how the whole process went for them. When it was around noon we helped clean up and set up for the next group coming later in the afternoon that day. By 12:30 we were completely done for that day. After that was over I felt very good and that I helped out and felt very pleased and it was something that I enjoyed doing the whole time. Helping the little kids out was something that I will cherish. That was a day to remember.-Amy