Correlation Between School Budgets and SAT Scores

Casey Vieni

In order to build my own guitar I clearly needed to research how I would go about the task. Thus began, unbeknownst to me, my first true application of the scientific method that would eventually inspire me to become an Intel participant. I researched multiple designs in order to create something that felt both original and practical and then I made detailed lists of the necessary supplies. I collected materials from around my house, online, and occasionally even the garbage can. I scrounged everywhere for the parts, all the while keeping within a tight budget. Sometimes I even had to create parts rather than purchase them. With the help of my own dad, I learned to create a functioning circuit, wire the pick-ups, solder the wires to the pots and capacitors, and hook up all the electronics to the input . . . I spent countless hours in my garage toiling in the heat. Seven in the morning and I’d be there, surrounded by a fog of paint fumes, diligently constructing amidst my clutter of scattered materials. But that was just it. It was my clutter, my mess, which would eventually transform into my guitar . . . Thus, in order to conduct my research project I needed to master statistics. Encouraged by the research I had conducted on guitar models and designs, and the knowledge that I had asked my dad to show me how to create a functioning circuit, I sought help from the mathematics department in my school. I scoured the library and pestered my math teachers until I felt I had a firm understanding of the basics of statistics and modeling. I discovered a completely unfamiliar branch of mathematics and I learned it with gusto.