In our STEM Exploration, Engineering Design, and Building Innovations classes we discovered a problem with submitting virtual assignments. Often we have to record an audio or video to submit. It can be very difficult to hear what students record on their Chromebook or other devices in their homes. As a solution to this problem, we studied and built Sound Booths.

For this project, we first had to gather materials we had around the house. We looked around and found a milk carton, corrugated foam mat, paint, paint brushes, cardboard and duct tape. Not all of these materials were used in the final project, however, new items were found and added as we went along.

Next, we had to draw a design on how we wanted our sound box to look and figure out the estimated dimensions. Shortly after that, we started with the build of the box. We measured all sides of the inside of the box to the edge of the box. You have to make lots of measurements all over. Once my brother, Tyler, and I measured the sides from inside the base to edge, we took those measurements and we marked them on the corrugated foam mat. With my Dad’s help, we cut the foam to fit inside the box. Then we measured the outsides of the box and marked the measurements on cardboard. We then cut the cardboard and placed it on the outside of the box and held it together with duct tape.

As we were doing the project, we kept thinking of new ideas and things to add that would help our project like an old Vernon Vikings T-shirt and material scraps. I made the Vernon Viking themed box and hot glued the navy material on the sides. No cutting of the material was needed because it was small already and I put the entire shirt on the box. Today with the Covid-19 virus and the new way of learning, I had added the ‘Hybrid and Virtual’ lettering on the sides on the navy material. Tyler did an American theme with American flags on his box. He had a lot more material to measure out and cut. Tyler had to measure the outside of the box, starting from my navy material to the other side of the navy material. He also measured front to back giving some room for material to be left inside. He marked the measurements on the material and cut with scissors. He used pins to hold the material to the box because the hot glue didn’t work.

The white rectangular metal piece that we placed inside the bottom of the box is from my computer desk set that I never used to hold a computer. So we thought it would be helpful to store and hold the Chromebook up from the bottom of the box for sound. Tyler used the sound box for the last project and put his phone under the Chromebook to record his music so this metal rack came in good use.

Finally, we had to come up with a sign and name of the project. It took two days for us to come up with the name for our projects, but we tried keeping it simple and finally came up with CJ’s Sound Booth, and Costa’s Country Podcast. We made a little stand out of cardboard to hold our project name signs up on top of the box. I placed sticker letters on a small piece of cardboard and Tyler took a piece of scrap material and placed the sticker letters on the material and then pinned it to the cardboard.

The great thing about this project was that as we went on we were able to have different ideas and make changes. When we finished, we had enjoyed the time we spent together doing this project and we felt proud of ourselves and what we had accomplished.