Josh Christopherson

Mrs. Lester

Advanced Grammar and Composition

5 March 2012

Speech Outline

The sun is responsible for every living thing around us. It gives life to almost

every creature and it gives people the power to progress.

Throughout my childhood, I was almost always outdoors. My family brought me

camping whenever we had the chance. Even during weekdays, my friends and I explored

the forest to see if we could find an adventure. During one camping trip, though, my

sister went missing at night and we could not see through the pitch black of the night to

find her. We had a flashlight, but the batteries were dead. Everyone in my family started

to panic. Thankfully, though, it was just a false alarm, as she just got lost on her way back

from the bathrooms. It did cause an uproar in my immediate family because they realized

it could have turned out much worse. If only we had usable batteries, This situation could

have been avoided and solved much more easily.

Now I am going to tell you about my research paper. In my paper, I researched

many issues with solar energy, such as its poor power rating, cost inefficiency, and how

difficult it is to use. This made me wonder if making a cost efficient solar battery charger

was possible.

Now I am going to tell you about my facilitator, Price Webb. Dr. Webb has

earned a doctorate in teaching. He also is teaching physical science, CP physics, and AP

physics. He is one of the most intelligent people in the state. I chose Dr. Webb because

we have known eachother for a while, he is a teacher at creekview, and he has a very

flexible schedule.

Now I am going to explain the process I followed. First, I had to set up meetings

with Dr. Webb, which was easy because his schedule was very lenient. Next, I had to do

a lot of independent research. I researched for about 10 hours by myself to understand the

subject. The next thing I had to do was to sketch an appropriate circuit. I also had to

decide what type of circuit I wanted it to be: parallel or series. a parallel has a constant

voltage but lowered current, while a series has an lowered voltage and constant. The next

thing I had to do was to search for the supplies: the solar panel, rechargeable batteries,

battery holders, soldering tool, LED lights, diodes, and resistors. The next step was by far

the most difficult. Assembling it took time and effort. I had to solder the wires on and off

plenty of times. The wiring kept messing up so I had to retry many times. This was by far

the most frustrating step.

Now I am going to explain the obstacles I went through. I went through a wild

goose chase to get the parts. Fries, the electronics store, was out of everything that I

needed! The first Radioshack I went to didn’t have most of the components I needed, so I

ended up going to a different one on highway 9 later. When I was assembling the device,

the LED light stopped working randomly; I later found out that it was overcharged from

the lack of a resistor. In addition, the diode was put on backwards. This caused it to not

charge correctly, and it took me awhile to figure out why. Lastly, one of the biggest

obstacles I had to overcome was my poor work habits. Mrs. Lester should be able to tell

you: I am not the most punctual in the class. To overcome my procrastination, I set up

meetings with Dr. Webb weekly, in advance, to force myself go to the meetings.

I am not going to tell you about what I learned during the senior project. The

senior project has opened my eyes about myself. I found out that I was a bad

procrastinator, that I am sharp, and most importantly, determined. Once I get my mind set

on something, I am determined to finish it. My communication skills have become much

better throughout the course of the year due to the senior project. I learned to have

patience with others, to be more formal around adults, and to get in contact with them as

soon as possible, via phone, email, or even face to face. The Senior project has shown me

that I still would like to follow my original plan to become an electrical engineer. I plan

to attend Georgia Tech to achieve this goal.

Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask now.