Class Projects

Lower East Side and San Juan : A project by Aracelia, Jacquelin, Kevin

As a part of the class assignment, Aracelia, Jaquelin, and Kevin teamed up to develop a project that would bring to light the ties between Puerto Rico and Loisiada. In their project they developed surveys to see what to do with an empty lot to the Lower East Side, to keep the Puerto Rican culture alive.

Como parte de su proyecto Aracelia, Jaquelin, y Kevin hablaran sobre las formas en cual pueden mantener la resistencia y la cultura del Lower East Side y Puerto Rico.

Our research project consists of three parts. The first part will be on the history of Puerto Rico. The second part will be on the community of Loiza in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and how this community transformed a local baseball field and restaurant with the help of a few celebrities. The third part will summarize the past, present, and future of the Lower East Side and Puerto Rico. We will include our hands-on approach with the Lower East Side community in regards to, interviews, videos, vision board, and surveys. We will conclude our research by participating in the local Loisaida Parade on May 26, 2019, to bring public awareness to the land vacancies in the area with our research and collect more data from our surveys. The group intends to give this data to the Loisaida Center for public change. We hope to show the resiliency of the Lower East Side Community and Puerto Rico.

En su proyecto, Aracelia, Jaquelin, y Kevin hablaron de las diferentes formas en cual pueden transformar un solar vacante en el Lower East Side. Esto era con el propósito de mantener la cultura en el Lower East side. También para demostrar la resistencia de la comunidad de Puerto Rico y el Lower East Side.

Windmills in Puerto Rico: An Essay by Ekaete Udoh

As part of the class assignment, Ekaete has written an essay to explain the current state of Puerto Rico and how hurricane Maria has devastated the island. This is an important part of understanding the island’s current state and envisioning what areas need more support. This with a focus on windmills and their production of energy for the island

Como parte de su proyecto, Ekaete ha escrito un ensayo en donde explica el estado de Puerto Rico después del Huracán Maria. Es importante para poder entender como esta Puerto Rico y cuales condados necesitan más ayuda. Se enfocó en girasoles y la energía que producen.

Windmills are vital instruments as they are used to convert the kinetic energy offered by the wind into mechanical energy, which can be used to pump water, grind grain, or turned into electrical power using a generator. Windmills today are in the form of wind turbines for electricity generation and are mostly constructed in groups or in a wind farm to increase their strength and to make them more efficient to produce enormous quantities of electricity. Electricity generation using windmills is now a vital source of renewable energy across the world. Energy from wind is renewable, free, and inexhaustible over time and offers clean electricity without pollution. Compared to traditional power plants, windmills do not emit greenhouse gases or air pollutants. Countries across the globe today are engaging in extensive studies regarding the production of energy using windmills. The power that wind provides is beneficial compared to conventional fuels as the wind moves without emitting hazardous waste or harmful materials. The strength of the wind at any given time determines the amount of electricity that a windmill can generate. The construction of windmills in a particular location is based on an extensive examination of wind patterns, direction, and strength at different daily and yearly periods to ensure predictable patterns.

En su ensayo, Ekaete se enfocó en como los girasoles en Puerto Rico producen energía para la isla. Ella platica de los beneficios y como en el futuro si hay más girasoles puede ayudar a Puerto Rico ser más auto-sostenible.

Constance H.: The Faces of Puerto Rico

In her project, Constance visualizes the different faces of Puerto Rico and captures the beauty in being tied to the Puertorrican identity.

En su proyecto Constance coge el concepto de imágenes para representar las diferentes caras de Puerto Rico y con fotografías ella captura la bella en identificarse como Portorriqueño.

The purpose of this final project is to shed light on the many young faces of Puerto Rico and their perceptions of Puerto Rico in the after math of hurricane Maria. After the storm left pervasive devastation, indigenous people to the island experienced a series of emotions, ranging from grief to bewilderment; how could an island with so much cultural vibrancy and strength be devastated in the blink of an eye? In the wake of the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, reconstruction efforts and activism for the territory rose, however, Puerto Rico in many regards remained neglected on a global scale. With particular regard to its parent nation, Puerto Rico was ignored largely when compared to populations with similar tragedy. This project aims to give a platform to the young people of Puerto Rico, specifically millennials who will be most active in shaping Puerto Rico in the coming decades. The project is simple: Short, empathic interviews with people of Puerto Rican decent at Queens College. Students are asked where in Puerto Rico they have origins and how the hurricane effected them and their family, if at all. Finally, they are asked what the perceived problem(s) in Puerto Rico is/are to them with concern to the islands infrastructure and socio-economic needs. The project takes form into a colorful creative design, which will be a series of pictures and the answers to these questions. The project will be displayed on a bulletin board at the Loisada Festival.

Cassie and Joaly: Mapping Puertorrican Necessities

For their project, Joaly and Cassie created a map where they are able to showcase the different areas of the island that need the most help.

Joaly y Cassie juntas han creado un mapa en donde han podido representar las diferentes áreas de la isla en donde todavía necesitan ayuda después de la devastación del huracán María.

This project focuses on the experience of Puerto Ricans that have been affected by Hurricane Maria that reside in Puerto Rico and in the United States. The project will allow Puerto Ricans to discuss the fragile infrastructure that Puerto Rico had in place prior to Hurricane allowing for each participant to provide feedback in a resilient community. The project and research will be facilitated through personal interviews, research around infrastructure for supportive services such as hospitals, schools, etc. that are currently up and running and the need for additional community supports. The end result will produce a model that replicates San Juan prompting participants to Envision a resilient Puerto Rico.

Este proyecto se enfoca en la experiencia que tienen los Puertorriquenos que han sido afectados por el huracan Maria y cuyos viven en Puerto Rico y los Estados Unidos. El proyecto le dara la oportunidad a los participantes a hablar sobre la estructura danada que existia en Puerto Rico mucho antes de el huracan. El proyecto se haria con informacion obtenida en entrevistas, donde se hablara de los servicios necesarios que todavia faltan en las escuelas, etc. El resultado final seria un modelo replica de San Juan donde los participantes crearan su vision para un Puerto Rico resistente.

Nagely: An Interactive Map to Understanding San Juan

In her project, Nageli created an interactive map and model of San Juan in which the public can learn about that part of the island.

En su proyecto Nageli ha creado un mapa interactivo que representa San Juan. Está hecho para que el público pueda levantar una pieza y aprender de esa parte de la isla.

After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, the island was left with destruction and it accentuated the economic, political, social, health and food problems that have been present for the past decade. Millions of Puerto Ricans were without power, water, shelter, and subject to a collapsing food system. About 85 percent of its food is imported and it has an outdated agriculture industry. It is highly dependent on food imports and increases the level of vulnerability of its population. Puerto Ricans need a sustainable food system to contribute to the recovery and reconstruction of their community. The lack of proper governmental crisis management forced the people to find alternative ways to increase food security. Information was collected from different sources to create an illustrative image of the locations of various community gardens and production sites in the municipality of San Juan. My research findings indicate that the municipality of San Juan has the potential to increase the supply of fresh local fruits and vegetables within the local community. Urban agriculture in the form of community gardens will contribute to increase local economic investment, reduce food waste, decrease CO emissions, increase nutrition value and promote sustainable agriculture. These results illustrate how tactical urbanism projects could strengthen urban communities and promote effective environmental, social, and health improvements.

Despues de el Huracan Maria en el 2017, la isla fue devastada y le causo mas problemas a los que ya existian. Siguiendo esto, se sabe que la populacion de Puerto Rico depende de las importaciones de otros lugares. En este proyecto, Nagely propone plantar las semillas de algunas plantas que le daria la oportunidad a los participantes del huerto comunitario a que crescan sus plantas y las usen para preparar comida.

Louis: A presentation on Energy

Louis created a project that targeted the energy supply of the island, and explores the possibility of having multiple sources of energy through micro-grids in communities.

Louis en su proyecto se enfoco en la distribución de energía de Puerto Rico y exploran la posibilidad de tener una multitud de micro-grids en comunidades.

Puerto Rico endured a natural disaster which disseminated much of the small islands already fragile infrastructure. It has for all intensive and purposes Hurricane Maria put them in a incredulous predicament, the residents of Puerto Rico had to either fight for the islands revival or abandon it for greener pastures. Thankfully some sought that later, this effort required an enormous amount of work and the exploration of new and renewable energies. New York is one of the leaders of new resilient technologies, from Microgrids to Energy Storage they are in the fore front in the search for resilient energy. The purpose of this paper is exploring the belief that Microgrids are a viable solution for San Juan’s search, the island already attempted renewable energy sources but Hurricane Maria was too powerful and destroyed their already fragile energy grid, because San Juan is the capital of the island and its largest, it will be the focus of this theory due vital importance to the island and its economy. It is important this island experiences a full recovery; renewable energies can provide the roadmap for this happen. Microgrids can lead the way and ensure that the next extreme weather event does not render the island incapacitated.

En su proyecto, Luis decidio estudiar alternativas para la consumcion de energia. Como en Puerto Rico es solamente una compania, Luis quiso saber mas sobre que conviniera mas, tener esa compania como encaragada, o tener varios metodos de distribuir energia. Luis empezo a mirar a los micro-grids que proveen energia, a una sola area pequena, usando la energia del sol.

Aysha: A Personal Account of Puertorricans

Aysha wrote an essay with first-hand accounts of the impact Hurricane Maria had on people both in the mainland U.S. and the island of Puerto Rico.

Aysha escribió un ensayo en donde habla de los impactos que el Huracán María dejo en la gente en Puerto Rico y eso un los Estados Unidos.

On September 17t​h​, 2017, a category 5 storm called Hurricane Maria Maria hit Puerto Rico along with Dominica and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In regards to Puerto Rico, the island was severely hit while leaving the island in complete turmoil. Hurricane Maria has been noted as the worst hurricane to hit Puerto Rico as of yet. It is truly a devastation to the island. This essay discusses how the aftermath of Hurricane Maria continues to develop social, economic and environmental challenges. The challenges are explained in detail, while also demonstrating how one crisis leads to another. Following further, this essay also examines how the U.S government and FEMA failed to respond appropriately to the hurricane. The FEMA report revealed how the help was not sufficient enough to assist the people of Puerto Rico. While being in an economic recession, Puerto Rico has been dealing with a weak social and economic infrastructure. The aftermath impacts of Maria have only caused a domino effect. Causing the problems to spread and worsen all throughout Puerto Rico.

Aysha, despues de leer extensivamente sobre el huracan Maria que devasto a la isla, Aysha decidio explicar en un ensayo el devastador efecto que tuvo Maria.