Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Kayvon Gorji


Hello all. My name is Kayvon Gorji and I am a current high school senior at BASIS Scottsdale. I am a fairly varied person in that I enjoy hobbies from reading passages from art history textbooks to listening to indie rock genres. I am also avid about binge watching tv shows like the Office which I have on and off probably rewatched more than I dare to count. But beyond a hermit with a Netflix account, I also am passionate about outdoor activities like playing in pick up soccer games and going for pant-filled runs. 

*Now that we have examined Kayvon the person, let's take a closer look at Kayvon the scholar.*

For my senior project, I will be working for a startup company, BlocPower, in New York. The company works to create energy efficiency projects in inner city buildings, thus fostering a greater social and environmental sense of well-being in the surrounding underserved neighborhoods. 

Although I have no prior experience with any of these topics, I am excited by how it will provide a crucial resource to further my research question. This question, throughout the project, is concerned with a specific subset of BlocPower, that is school buildings in inner cities. I am interested in examining specifically how creating sustainable infrastructure and systems (within these schools) correlates with the teaching of STEM topics. Through my research I hope to better understand how the creation of, for example, rooftop gardens can improve ventilation, air quality, and learning of earth science altogether and if such projects are worth the effort (that is time, money, and labor). 

In addition to working for BlocPower, for the duration of my project I will be volunteering for a rooftop garden connected with an after school program called 5th St. Farm. This is exciting because while I am providing quality assurance (one of my duties for the company) for BlocPower’s day-to-day operations, I will be able to actually perform fieldwork and collect tangible research material as well. 

I hope this journey will be as exciting to you, the readers, as it is to me. I look forward to cataloging my experiences and in the meantime here are some helpful links which may answer your questions if you are confused or befuddled: my site placement and my research proposal

Thanks for reading my first post and I look forward to posting about education, sustainability, and amusing gifs in the coming weeks!


26 comments:

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  2. Hello Kayvon! I am very excited to follow your journey and anticipate what your conclusion will be. Considering the state of the environment across the world, your project is particularly important due to the actions which your conclusion could lead to. Environmental wellbeing often leads to prosperous health, something which I hope to maintain until the day I die. Also, I can't wait to see what wonderful gifs you use throughout your blogging.

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    1. Awesome! I too am excited about environmental wellbeing because I hope my research will help show two facets of energy retrofits: its growing prominence in inner cities and the possibility of its education within schools.

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  3. Hi Kayvon! I'm really excited to be following along with your project. Working with inner city schools sounds like a really valuable opportunity. I have a few questions though. Will you be traveling to New York in order to work with BlocPower? The first thing my mind goes to is that would make for a lot of really cool photo opps. Also, how do you plan to see if sustainable infrastructure correlates with the teaching of STEM topics? Will you be interviewing students and/or teachers?

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    1. Hi Gillian! Yes I will be going to New York to work with Blocpower. In terms of the correlation between infrastructure and STEM learning, I plan on reviewing case studies (especially those in the Bronx) as well as interviewing students/teachers both at 5th St. Farm and at other inner city schools that are utilizing sustainable energy.

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  4. Hey there Kayvon! I cannot wait to see how your research progress. This is an amazing chance to help create social change and impact many children's lives. I assume you will be living in New York in order to conduct your research which means you could take some edgy shots of the city and your project to allow your audience more than a glimpse of what you'll be doing research wise and recreationally wise. Again, this research project sounds very intriguing and I am glad to have the opportunity to follow your journey.

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    1. Hi Frida! I am excited to share this blog, and I hope my work at both Blocpower and the rooftop garden help enact the same social change in children's lives as you pointed out. Also I will be sure to post edgy shots of the city (because a blog involving New York would be incomplete without it).

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  5. Hey thanks for following my blog. I hope you find it interesting!

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  6. Nice work here Kayvon. I especially like how your project has narrowed in focus to pay particular attention to the ways in which sustainable projects can be integrated into the curricula of schools where said innovations are being established. This reminds me a lot of what Reznick does with her little rain catcher thing and other assorted projects.

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    1. Thank you Mr. Covalciuc! The topic and research question would be incomplete without your insight, so I really am indebted to you in that regard. In terms of the integration of scientific curricula into school programs, I am eager to see specifically how implemented systems like gardens affect students socially. I plan to talk with some of the professors at ASU we discussed as well as principals at these schools to gauge the consequences of these energy projects. I look forward to gaining your input and cannot wait to begin my research.

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  7. What will you be defining as a low-income neighborhood, and which neighborhood will you use? I am very interested in your project.

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    1. Hello. I will be defining low-income neighborhoods as urban areas where schools and buildings receive inadequate government funding. And I will use case studies like ones conducted in the Bronx to supplement my holistic research, so it will be a project more focused on studying how sustainability efforts affect schools in inner cities rather than how these retrofits impact a specific place or neighborhood. I truly appreciate your interest and look forward to gaining your input as the project develops.

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    2. Hey michael I noticed you commented on my week 1 post. For some reason my blog deleted that comment if you would like to repost that. Thanks again.

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  8. Hi Kayvon! I'm excited to see where your project takes you and what work you do towards improving our earth, one building at a time. I like how you are diving in to a topic that you don't know much about and will have a great impact on our earth and also citizens of New York. Good luck on your future work and projects for BlocPower!

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    1. Hi Marvin! I too see my project as a a gradual, stepped process as you aptly pointed out. I really see beyond impacting a younger generation of inner city school children, this project improving the environmental well-being of urban citizens as a whole.

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  9. Hey Kayvon! Your project and possible implications of it(how it could help many schools and the well-being of the environment) are fascinating. I am very interested in these topics and how you will research and blog your results. I also find it exciting that you will be volunteering as well, in addition to BlocPower. Have fun in New York!

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    1. Hey Oscar! At BlocPower I have already been working on their user interface so I think this coupled with the hands on experience of 5th St. Farm will aid me in my research and findings. On the one hand I will be understanding how for-profit organizations help schools while I will also be examing how these projects allow students to interact further with their environment.

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  10. Wow Kayvon! New York sounds like a great opportunity. While this project focuses on business, it also provides potential upgrades to the quality of learning for the emerging generation of kids. However, it would be nice to see if there were any other projects you could do other than a rooftop garden. In addition, what are you looking forward to get from the experience in New York, because it is such a large and interesting city. This project looks really exiting and I hope everything goes well in your journey!
    -Harrison Miao

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    1. Hey Harrison! I too have been somewhat skeptical of using my experiences at a rooftop garden as representing the overarching consequence of retrofits on school education so for that reason I plan on also interviewing school administrators of buildings where changes like added boiler and efficient heating/cooling systems are implemented. In terms of what I hope to accomplish in New York, I hope to help the day-to-day operations of BlocPower (through quality assurance) as well as find opportunities to volunteer and further research case studies involving my project.

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  11. Hey Kayvon! Working for a startup company in highschool seems quite exciting! Your project seems to have a very noble goal in mind. New York seems like the perfect place for this project! I look forward to reading this blog. However, it would be interesting for you to provide information on how your experience in New York could relate to all inner-cities around the country. This project seems very well planned and I look forward to following this Blog in the future. Good luck!

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    1. Hey Kirill! This first week has given me a lot of exposure into the nuanced tech world of startups so in that way it has been exciting. It's interesting that you should bring up the implications of how this project could relate to inner-cities around the country, because with that in mind I am beginning to look at how the growing popularity of green education in New York could serve as a model for underserved neighborhoods as a whole.

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  12. This seems like an interesting method to improve inner city schools, what are some specific things you will be doing while volunteering? Enjoy your stay in NYC!

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    1. Hey Ahmad! So at my volunteer opportunity I will be helping children learn how to plant and in the process hope to enhance their learning of the natural sciences. I realize this seems vague, but I will be sure to include a more updated response once the opportunity begins.

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