Student builds custom computer for Senior Ex project

With some knowledge of desktop computing and completion of several courses offered by our Tech Ed department , recent graduate Brendan Krom built a lighting fast custom gaming machine for his Senior Ex project. This is not your ordinary desktop machine you would find at the local electronics store- here are the specs:

>GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

>Antec TruePower New TP-550 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

>Scythe KS01-BK "KAZE SERVER" Advanced Fan Controller

>LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner

>AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGIBOX

>SPARKLE Calibre Series P960GBOX GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

>(x2)OCZ PC3-10666 Platinum RAM - 4GB, 2x2GB, 1333MHz, DDR3, Low Voltage, Dual Channel

>3-Button PS/2 Optical Scroll Mouse

>105-Key USB/PS/2 Backlit Multimedia Keyboard

>(x3 raid 0)Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

> Windows 7 pro OEM(64 bit)

> (x2) Acer 19" wide-screen TFT LCD, 1440 x 900 resolution, 2000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 160°/160° horizontal/vertical viewing angles, VGA, DVI (HDCP) connectors, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 5ms response time

A Progressive Mural: Black Water Burning

In response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a group of BHS students headed by John McColl (art teacher), have started a progressive mural on one of the pillars in the Commons. The mural is a community effort which reflects the students’ feelings and reactions to the oil spill. It should raise awareness about this current issue. The idea came out of a class room discussion on the topic. Many questions could not be answered such as, “Why don’t the super rich oil companies have numerous back up plans that work immediately? Why doesn’t our government have laws in place to enforce effective back up plans?”
The mural started out as an oil rig in a beautiful ocean and clear sky. Each day the students paint the mural and as the disaster progresses, the oil rig has caught fire, blown up, and started to smoke and leak oil. The progression of the mural asks the question, “What Happens Now?” News articles and Post-it Notes reflecting student sentiment about the advancing oil have been tacked up so that as students walk by they are confronted by the problem and are forced to think about the possible impact and possible solutions.
Many students have begun to realize the gravity of the oil spill and take an interest in discussing it. We hope it in-spires many people to take action and speak out about the “black water burning” in the gulf. Please stop by and take a look at our mural as it highlights an issue that is of great importance to all of us.

Students Learn Math through Student Created Video Games

This semester eleven students volunteered to design and develop a video game for our BHS Algebra students. The game was created by Mr. Gluck’s Computer Technology students. In Computer Technology students learn programming, de-sign, and problem solving skills through video game creation. The students spent their free time during and after school utilizing all of the skills they learned in class to produce an educational game. They collaborated with Mr. Lyons, Mr. Gluck, and each other to create a game based on quadratics. The game takes students through several stages where they must defend a castle by manipulating formulas and answering questions while monsters advance. Everything in the game, including sounds and animations, are original and were created by BHS students in a four week time span.
Articles submitted by Adrian Gluck