My name is Keyon Tanksley and I am currently a junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. A little background on me is that I am half African-American and half Chinese, I was born and raised in San Francisco, and I can understand Chinese but can’t speak it very well. My favorite subjects in school are science, math, and religious studies.

I first fell in love with STEM at a young age. When I was a kid I really enjoyed astronomy and wanted to become an aerospace engineer at NASA. But as time went by I began to pursue a path in Forensics to help save lives. This career choice was actually highly influenced by Sacred Heart Cathedral when I participated in a Forensics summer program here at SHC.

Outside of school, I participate in track and field, CSF, and Interact Project. As a part of the Interact Project, we learn processes of design and design apps, websites, concept inventions, and many other things. An accomplishment of mine is I helped to design a poster that represents Black Economics, which was later placed in the Oakland Museum as a part of the “Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism” Exhibit. Another small accomplishment of mine is that I qualified and took part in the Junior Catholic Decathlon in the Science division. This was a competitive academic challenge against other catholic schools from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Now at school, I participate in track and field as a sprinter and hurdler. Some races I run are the 4x100m, 300m hurdles, and 110m hurdles. Our team is known across S.F. for being supportive and encouraging of each other at every meet we go. I really enjoy the team bond and community that playing sports brings. Everyone looks out for each other and encourages each other.

My first i2 project (2021-2022) was a group effort with two other i2 students named Brandon Holland and Rylan Gutierrez. Our project was to convert one of our normal bicycles into an electric-powered bicycle. We’ve compiled research on how to make it happen and then began our building process. The aim of our project was to learn about the mechanics and circuitry behind electric motors and engineering. We learned a lot from this project and shared them with others.

My last i2 project (2022-2023) was an app called Athletic Injury Recovery or A.I.R for short. This app would help athletes or any person who engages in physical activity identify injuries. Along with identifying the injury the app would be able to provide ways to heal the injury on your own while also providing ways to track the progress of recovery. This project won me the best project of the class of 2025.

MY BLOGS

My 2023-2024 Project

This year I am working with Rylan Gutierrez on the proposed project idea of continuing my previous project A.I.R and creating an actual functioning app that people can use. The rough idea of my project last year was coming up with a concept design for an app that allows its user to track, prevent, and […] Read more

Progress on i2 project

My i2 project previously was to make a kit for converting a normal bike into an electric bike with i2 students Brandon Holland and Rylan Gutierrez. We realized this project may be too difficult and cost too much money so we decided to just convert one of our normal bikes into an electric bike. For […] Read more

The i2 Journey begins Begins

I feel really excited and lucky to be a part of i2 for the next 4 years. I am excited to create things I am passionate about and be able to collaborate with a wonderful group of students and teachers. I also look forward to meeting new people and making new friends within this group. […] Read more

i2 Projects

Ohm

The idea for Project Ohm initially came to fruition after three friends not having any idea of what to do for their i2 project, decided to build their own e-bike and in turn explore the intricate mechanics and engineering or electric drivetrains. In the end, our project aims to serve as an example and inspire others about engineering to explore and pursue their ideas and passions.

Project details

A.I.R

A.I.R or Athletic Injury Recovery is a conceptual design for an app that allows its users to identify injuries related to their sport or physical activity. Once identified the app will be able to provide ways to heal that injury on your own or with a partner. This app will help you also track the progress of your injury and see how close to recovery you are. Also the app will be able to provide you with the history of your prior injuries and if a current injury is related to a past one.

Project details