Aspen High School students pursue interests, ambitions through International Baccalaureate projects
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale/The Aspen Times
The future of the Roaring Fork Valley is in good hands.
Or at least that’s what one would conclude after witnessing the ingenuity of Aspen High School 10th graders as they presented their personal projects Wednesday. The projects ranged between robotic inventions, studies on student addiction, alternative therapeutic approaches, hand-crafted outdoor gear, and more.
The 150 student-projects showcased in the Skier Dome culminated the high school’s Middle Years Programme, an International Baccalaureate educational framework for fifth through 10th graders that encourages students to connect their studies to the outside world.
Zachary Greiper, who constructed a robot for his project with the help of his robotics team, said the project taught him the importance of collaboration.
“I think a lot of the time people think of science as, this is one (person) figuring this thing out,” Greiper said. “But it really is a collaboration in engineering, in this case. It’s really a collaboration between everybody.”
The projects are a good opportunity for students to take ownership of what they want to learn about, according to project coordinator Kate Korn. She said it is more about the process than the end result. Students begin thinking about the project a year in advance.
“This long-term project is good practice for them as far as goal setting and how to accomplish tasks,” she said. “They’re practicing approaches to learning skills — so self management skills.”
The following are some of the tenth grade projects.
Azul Martinez — Impacts of Vaping
Azul Martinez conducted research and raised awareness about the impacts of vaping for her project. She interviewed students and administered surveys to analyze the effects of vaping on the school.
“And they told me that they started vaping when they came up to the high school,” Martinez said of the interviews. “So I use this project to bring awareness and present this to a younger audience like the middle schoolers and other students.”
She created a brochure to educate people about the harms of vaping, which she is passing out to Aspen Middle School health classes.
“Be smart and don’t start,” she said.
Greiper’s Robot
Surrounded by eager elementary students, Greiper presented the robot he constructed with “Yeti’s Robotics,” his team at Aspen High School’s robotics club. Greiper can maneuver the robot with a controller, prompting it to transport an item upward, before depositing it in a different location.
He worked with his team to construct the robot for two to three hours nearly every day over the course of five weeks.
The robot recently competed in the state robotics competition, placing 20th. At one point the Yeti’s had to borrow a motor from a competing team because one of theirs had broken.
“I think it just taught me that everyone’s trying to move along, move science, move engineering,” he said of the project. “It’s a group effort, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that.”
Glamour Gals — Frances Fink
Frances Fink started a local chapter of Glamour Gals, a foundation to end elderly isolation (glamourgals.org). She and the chapter painted the nails of residents at assisted living homes. Over 60% of seniors in care don’t receive visitors, according to the foundation.
She said the interactions she had with the residents transcended nail-painting.
“We talk to them and hang out with them,” she said. “A lot of them don’t have family members or other young people to talk with.”
Through the project she said she met people she wouldn’t normally meet in the community, and reminisced on a particular interaction with a resident at an assisted living home.
“She’s very friendly, talked a lot, had a lot of stories to tell,” she said. “So I guess her positive mindset rubbed off on me in a way.”
Handcrafted Skis — Bo Pfaffmann
Bo Pfaffmann created skis from scratch for his personal project.
“I’ve been skiing since I was two-years-old,” he said. “I wanted to just look a little deeper into what the process is.”
Given that skis are now often $1,000, he said he wanted to see why they cost so much.
The most challenging part of the construction was cutting the shape of the ski by hand, according to Pfaffmann. While factory skis use a laser cut, he used an electric factory band saw.
He applied 2,000 pounds of pressure with a press to give the ski rocker, crafting the core of the ski with Aspen wood, and the top sheets with ash and walnut.
“I definitely want to take them up to Aspen and Highlands this season,” he said.
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.
Staff cuts through attrition, mill levy override increase considered amid receding state aid
The Aspen School District discussed Wednesday ways to cut the district’s expenditures while increasing employee salaries.
Charges filed for fatal Colorado Highway 82 crash in Aspen
The Aspen Police Department has filed charges following an investigation into a fatal car-pedestrian crash that occurred on Dec. 14, 2024.
