"Update on Koi Pond: Onward!," Reflections from Edge Students

It's spring, and the Edge community is gearing up to continue our koi pond project. (If you are only joining us now, click here to get up to speed.)  Interested to hear our plan? Read on for the voices of all ten of our Edge students!

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Ben:  
"Hello everyone! While Ian and James were in Florida, they made a partnership with Blackwater Creek Koi Farms, Inc. and managed to get many fish donated.  Not only that:  the staff gave us great advice on raising the fish from young to old and creating an environment to breed them.   

"My project is terrain park and mountain bike trail building/designing.  I'm in charge of shaping out the pond and making sure it's deep enough. We plan on breaking ground soon!"

James and Ian:  
"While we were at the Blackwater Creek Koi Farms, the owner showed us the different types of filtration systems he had made.  He went into detail about how all of these systems work and how the fish can stay healthy.  He also showed us his koi farming facilities where they took the koi and sorted them by size, shape, breed, and color.

"As of right now, it's warm enough to do the digging.  We plan on doing that in the next two weeks using Kildonan's maintenance crew. (There is one last conflict, and that is the fact that there is a pre-existing drain pipe that will need to be moved over. We need to coordinate with the maintenance workers on that.)  Finally, we will be creating a parts list of everything we need AND we will install the pump when it's ready."

Ambrose:  
"My project is comics and graphic art.  I will be part of any of the art that might be incorporated into the Koi Pond.  The Edge group will try to find a bench for me to paint so we can add a bit more color to the project."

Farrell:  
"My contribution to the project is an animated short in the style of the opening to the TV show, 'King Of The Hill.'" 
 
Maddie:  
"My project is animal control and veterinary science.  I will be contributing to the koi pond project by doing labor work.  I have also done a lot of research into maintaining and caring for fish, so I will help lead the group to make sure we keep the fish healthy."
 
Annabel:  
"I contributed to the Koi pond project by creating the poster for the project at the Fall Ball.  I will also make an end of year presentation or maybe a magazine on this with pictures and some blurbs.  I also plan to make another poster/scrapbook."
 
Nelson:  
"I will help by removing the stumps and roots around the pond site.  Give me a shovel, a weekend, and maybe an axe.  I am also building a submersible drone that will help me film/record the pond and fish.  Finally, I will find stones and use a book on flora to select plants for the pond."

Chris:  
"We are going to dedicate a bench near the pond to a veteran of Vietnam (since the Vietnam War is my project).  I need to find a Kildonan vet OR dedicate the bench to all of those who served."

Santiago:  "This is Santiago.  Since I am studying business, James and I will ask about taking money from the amount we raised at the Fall Ball.  I will also help by ordering the parts (and figuring out the best way to do that)."

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Stay tuned for updates as we continue the work! As always, thank you for the support.  Feel free to leave a question! We will respond.

Ben & James: Snow-Making

Hey! It’s Ben and James.

We're here to tell you what's been happening with Ben's snow park project.  The project is mostly about terrain park design.  For those of you who don't know what that is, all ski mountains have jumps, rails (hand railings), and jibs (anything to jump on or tap) to ride.  Please read Ben's post (linked here) to learn more about the parks!

Now, we are trying to build a terrain park here at Kildonan, and we have a little problem this winter in New York.  There is an extreme lack of snow on campus.  So, an idea that we have been floating around since the beginning of the year is to build a snowmaker.  That process may seem easy, but it actually involves several gas-powered and electrical machines. 

A snowmaker forms snow by shooting pressurized water (made using a pressure washer) at a high velocity into the cold, dry air.  That process involves a temperature of at most 28 degrees Fahrenheit (but, if possible, preferably lower).  Then, a fan, positioned behind the snow gun shoots the newly formed snow even farther away, giving it a chance to absorb more water as it slowly falls to the ground.

So...what have we done so far? The gun itself has almost been constructed.  It’s based on several successful models that have been out on the market for years.  It uses three pressure nozzles for spreading the water in a misty state so that it can fall slowly to the ground, giving it plenty of time to freeze.  In addition, we were loaned a powerful air compressor to help break down the water into ever smaller molecules.

Here is where we need your help:  all we need is a powerful pressure washer capable of putting out 3 - 3.5 gpm (gallons per minute).  If you, or somebody you may know, is interested in helping us acquire a pressure washer or otherwise supporting our dream to bring skiing and snowboarding back to the Kildonan campus, we would love to hear from you.  Join us in bringing a long, successful, snowy season to our school by donating to our GoFundMe.

GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/let-it-snow

Thank you,

Ben & James

To reach Ben and James, please leave a comment below and the Edge Team will make the connection!

Note on photos:  Ben and James working diligently on their snowmaker.  All images taken and shared by Ben and James.

James: Engineering

Blackwater Creek Koi Farms in Eustis, FL.

Image taken by Mr. Pendergast.

Hello readers,

My name is James. This is my first year in Edge, and I'm hoping to accomplish a lot. There are a few topics that I am extremely interested in:  engineering, construction, and design. I'm trying to keep it in touch with engineering mainly. I’ve always liked the idea of group projects, so some of the contraptions that I may make throughout the year will hopefully help others within the community.

So far this year I’ve done a lot of research on Koi ponds and the fish with Ian (we are basically spearheading the project). In doing so we’ve done a lot of presenting to our school's Admin and to the whole school on Parents’ Day. The project relies on donations, so we asked for help from the community and came up with the idea to auction off the fish during the Fall Ball. In total we’ve raised over $1550. That is much more than we were expecting.  The money will allow us to get better equipment and materials. We can also expand the pond's size.

Breeding barrels at Blackwater.

Image taken by James.

As we look forward in the year, I'd like to do several projects, including building a snow-gun to help Ben with his project and (hypothetically, at least) redesigning the NYC subway. There are many things wrong with the subway and NYC’s infrastructure. From bridges to tunnels, there are a lot of problems. I have been consumed by research about them. Let's take a lot at NYC’s transit:

Map of the NYC subway system.

Image located at nextcity.org.

How many people have taken the subway? Many of you, I'm sure. What if I told you that the system could be nice, instead of grimy, cold, dark and dirty? What if we could start over and reinvent it so that it could be nice and reliable? The bridges and tunnels also need some work. Can anyone think of a traffic jam or a closed tunnel? I sure can, and I don’t even live in NYC. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to deal with the chaos? What I want to do is redesign everything, but before this I need to learn some more trade skills (and get some short-term internship with an outside builder). The best way that I learn is with hands-on experience, so I am looking for some type of off-campus learning and to establish a relationship with future job partners.

This year is going to be great!

- James