inquiry: For inquiry I had to ask questions along the lines of what is neon found in? How can I portray neon in a unique way? What are some facts about neon that could be important to my design?

research: For research I basically found out what type of element neon was and the different objects it was used it. For my print it shows cryogenic refrigeration; which neon is used in.

collaboration: Collaborating for this project involved asking fellow peers their opinions on my design and getting advice on how to carve the linoleum. I collaborated with peers on matting my prints; the best way to get it perfectly even and centered.

presentation: Presenting my final project involved posting a picture and reflection on SLATE. It makes my design available to anyone who wishes to see it and shows what I have created during my final quarter of art.


reflection: I have reflected quite a bit on this project because during the project I had to focus on negative space a lot and at times messed up so I had to redo certain parts until I got it right. Negative space really enhances this print and makes it stand out. My piece was more focused on the negative space rather than the intricate detail because I felt that it gave the piece a more interesting look.  

​Link To Second Site:
http://cbaez6.wix.com/erthanghasuhhist

Link To First Site (It's starts all the way from the beginning):
http://prisonserthanghasuhhist.tumblr.com/

(I couldn't log into my tumblr.. I lost the paper that had all my pass word and information in it. So I just said, I put everything I had on a second website.)


Project Statement:

The globalization of Prison Systems. As a world, we are raised to understand that crime is punishment and punishment is the reasonable action for crime. If someone commits a crime, such as anything which is against the law or unmoral to the community, one sent to trial in which sentenced to whichever happy ending is chosen. We were all raised to understand, don’t do wrong. Bad happens to those who do wrong. Have we always lived in the idea that we go to jail and serve time? Has the Jail system always existed? Not at all.  Everything has a history, especially the dawn of imprisonment and punishment. This system as grown rapidly into what we call Jail and labour. Socially this system scares us, Culturally it affects everyone around the world differently, Economically it is very expensive, Politically there’s a debate about a new prison change, Military play roles as enforces for Jail, and is very important to understand how the creation on the Prison System, is and has affected our world Globally to be enforce the laws that it has. Every country has a Prison system, and every country handles the crime of immoral human behavior very different. But yet it’s so similar, that Globally we may need to remember our own morals in how to treat a human being in truly being productive in the sakes of other lives!

Bibli:

- Halsall, Paul. "William Harrison (1534-1593): Description Of Elizabethan England, 1577." Internet History Sourcebooks. Http://www.fordham.edu/, Aug. 1998. Web. May 2013.

- Foucault, Michael. "Introduction: The Panopticon." Introduction: The Panopticon. Http://cartome.org/, 16 June 2001. Web. May 2013.

- "PRISONS BILL." (Hansard, 24 March 1898). N.p., Mar. 1898. Web. May 2013.

- "Prevention of Crime Act 1908." Prevention of Crime Act 1908. Http://www.legislation.gov.uk/, 21 Dec. 1908. Web. May 2013.

- UK Parliment. "Criminal Justice Act 1948." Criminal Justice Act 1948. Http://www.legislation.gov.uk/, 30 July 1948. Web. May 2013.

Peck, Jim. "The Future of Prisons [Western Prisons Studio Session]." The Future of Prisons [Western Prisons Studio Session]. Http://focuswest.org/, n.d. Web. May 2013. <http://focuswest.org/prisons/trans_future.cfm>.

Secondary:

- Alchin, Linda. "Roman Executions at the Colosseum." Roman Executions at the Colosseum. Http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/, n.d. Web. May 2013.

- Historyonthenet. "Crime and Punishment." Medieval Life - Crime and Punishment. Historyonthenet, n.d. Web. May 2013.

-  Harrison, William, Description of Elizabethan England (originally published 1577-78, republished for the New Shakespeare Society 1877-1878); Rowse,A.L., The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society (1971). [http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/punishment.htm]

- "Build International Space Prison." China Announces Plans To Build International Space Prison | The Onion - America's Finest News Source. | The Onion - America's Finest News Source, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. May 2013. <http://www.theonion.com/articles/china-announces-plans-to-build-international-space,31993/>.

Bergman, Paul. "Sentencing Alternatives: Prison, Probation, Fines, and Community Service." Nolo. Nolo.com, n.d. Web. May 2013. <http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/sentencing-alternatives-prison-probation-fines-30294.html>.

Social

- Medieval Torture. Dir. John Troute. Youtube, 2001.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMP72Q-TW_w>

- Torture of the Medieval Ages. Dir. TiongProductions. YouTube, 12 Jan. 2010. Web. May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYpFNiEiWck>.

- Machines of Malice: The Crank Wheel. Dir. KidProdigys. YouTube, 19 Dec. 2009. Web. May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp6-2Ap04C0>.

- Machines of Malice The Human Press. Dir. KidProdigys·. YouTube, 19 Dec. 2009. Web. May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PdvGkblMpo>.

- orway Prison System Luxurious? Dir. TheYoungTurks. YouTube. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyiodSMNv4E>.

Here are my art pieces for quarter 4.  Please enjoy! 

I knew exactly what the topic of my capstone would be by the time that I entered high school. I have had an interest in animals ever since my first pet dog named Rex. However, it did not stop with him. I was fascinated in animals of all sorts. I remember that my family would buy my books about animals. In particular, I would enjoy reading about reptiles. My interest in reptiles came about when I went on a kindergarten class trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, a place that would eventually become the headquarters of my capstone project.

After entering the Reptile and Amphibian House that first time, I noticed that it contained a variety of animals that were like nothing that I had ever seen before. All of its inhabitants were scaly. Some were legless, and others had shells. I had always seen pictures of reptiles, but finally being able to see how unique that they were in person gave me a lifelong curiosity. After leaving the zoo that first time, I was eager to go back and observe things that I was not able to notice the first time, given my young age. As such, when high school gave me the chance to volunteer at the zoo, I eagerly accepted it. This happened when I chose the zoo for my tenth grade Individualized Learning Plan (ILP). Being able to finally wear the zoo uniform to the zoo took my already present excitement about my internship over the top, as the animals would now look to me not as a visitor, but as a keeper.

After I had finished my internship, I felt emptiness in my body. I knew that for my life to once again be complete, I had to find a way that I could incorporate the zoo into my life. I quickly realized that the perfect idea was to have my capstone project have something to do with the zoo. Although I wanted to use it to learn more about what the zoo does behind the scenes, I knew that I could make a more productive use of my time with the zoo. Instead of being selfish, I thought that it would be a good idea to work with the zoo to make the already amazing experience that each zoo visitor has even better. While I was thinking about how to achieve this, I remembered what I did when I volunteered at the zoo in the tenth grade. Then, the idea came to me to improve the zoo’s already valuable education program in any way that I could. This one thought helped to shape how I was going to do my project.

I knew that although the zoo did educate its zoo visitors about the animals in its care, it did not really get the chance to take notes about how each zoo visitor responded to the information that was being presented to them. I knew at that point that it was my obligation to take observations on the engagement level of each zoo visitor that I came into contact with in locations throughout the zoo. This led my project to a halt, as I had to decide what my definition of engaged should be. However, after collaborating with the zoo, we decided that the best way to accurately judge the engagement level of a zoo visitor was by counting the number of questions that they asked. If they asked more than two questions, I would assume that they were engaged. If not, then I would assume vice-versa. To go with this, I would also record the expression on zoo visitors’ faces, the amount of time that they spent with a zoo presenter, and some of the questions that they asked. Taking the data was the activity that took the most of my time to do, as the zoo required for me to volunteer for at least eighty hours.

After I had taken data for months, I compiled it all together to come to a conclusion. I had originally planned to educate zoo visitors myself, but I ran out of time. However, I was pleased with the findings that I was able to gain. I concluded that the best way to present information to zoo visitors was by way of a visual presentation, as more questions were being asked under these conditions. I shared this information with the zoo in hopes that it would help them in any way possible.

Looking back, I am happy to have had the chance to work with my favorite place twice in my life to do something that I enjoy doing. Although doing a capstone may have seemed like work to some of my peers, for me it brought sheer enjoyment. This experience is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, proudly bringing it up when I feel the need to do so. It is my hope that next year’s seniors will have an experience as wonderful as mine.

As my capstone I decided to make my own choreography concept video. A choreography concept video may sound more complex than it actually is. Basically it has a storyline that is complemented by dancing. The dancing should tell the story. Dancing has been one of my hobbies since before I can remember. I always liked to dance but never in front of people. The only people that knew that dancing was one of my hobbies were my closest family. Coming to SLA I was exposed to an openly creative and unique environment, providing the perfect opportunities to show what you’ve got in a sense. It took me until this year to take advantage of that by means of this project. I wanted to do something that interested me and also show a side of me that not people knew. I knew from the get-go that it wasn’t going to be some kind of paper or science experiment because I’ve been there, done that. My project was more personal to me in helping me become more comfortable with myself and kind of putting my talent to the test.

As for the the core values there are five of them. I think collaboration and presentation are most obviously applicable to my capstone. My final product was to be a video that told a story. In order to do that many things in terms of how to present the story to the audience had to be deciphered. While doing my research on videos similar to what i was trying to do, I found that most of them didn’t have a lot of talking. But because of the storyline I chose, the audience would better understand with talking and voice overs. I didn’t realize how major collaboration was going to be in this project until I got into it. I had three guy dancers and two girl dancers. I also had someone filming for me and extras here and there. As far as inquiry goes I questioned what would make a good video based on what I wanted to include. I looked at tons of dancing videos on youtube. I found that the ones I enjoyed the most had a story and I also found that I like some specific choreographers. Studying what I liked help me create something that I thought my audience would enjoy. When it comes to reflection this is that aspect of my capstone.

The first thing I did for this project was come up with some story lines. I eventually chose one and then wrote a full script. The script wasn’t that hard considering I was used to creative writing as part of my english class first/second quarter. It was in between those two quarters that I had to do a bibliography. I had watched a lot of different choreography videos by a lot of different choreographers, but then i realized my sources couldn’t all be youtube videos. I then started studying two of my favorite young choreographers and a famous one. When I finished the story line and research I had actually choreography three separate dances. This took me longer than expected so I started to film the speaking parts before I finished the choreography. I had six other people that I needed for my capstone.  It was hard trying to get them all in one spot every time I need them. I sent out tons of emails about when I wanted to use them but everyone had a different schedule so it got frustrating trying to accommodate everyone. To overcome this obstacle I often worked with the girls and guys separately. However when I needed to film with everyone together I made sure I would let them know at least three day in advance.  I guess all the people that I asked for help are the resources that I taped into. Two weeks before capstone was due, I spent both of my lunches editing. I definitely took advantage of the equipment Mr. Herman had. Without it my project wouldn’t be nearly as good.

I feel like my capstone showed how I blossomed asa person since going to SLA. I’ve become more comfortable with myself, although not entirely. Despite the stress and even tears I was able to get it done. I learned a lot about myself by doing this project. I was able to put myself to the test. There was no doubt that I could dance but I wasn’t sure if I could choreograph. There were definitely times when I was ready to quit because I could come up with a move that went nicely with the beat I had chosen. I’m also proud of the fact that I had people who care enough about me to deal with me and help me out. If I could do this capstone all over again I wouldn’t want to do anything differently. It was hard at times but everything can’t be easy. I enjoyed doing this with my friends.

Being at the end of my senior made me realize that I didn’t really leave my mark in SLA until this year. Before this year I wasn’t to big on expressing my opinion, I’m still not really big on it but there has been much progress. I’ve brought some calm moments to SLA and some loud ones too.I don’t know for sure if I’ve made SLA a better place but I know that I haven’t done the opposite. I’m not going to say that SLA would be nothing without me. The truth is, I would be nothing if I didn’t get the chance to experience SLA. 

            For my capstone I wrote a business paper that outlines how to create a program that conducts research and activities in the subject it was built around. As for why I chose the project, I chose this project because for the past 4 years I have founded and built a program that focuses on doing research in the Astronomy field along with improving Astronomy education and STEM education in general. While I was creating and building the program from scratch, I had no guideline in how to build a program while creating my program, so for my capstone, my program advisors and I came to the agreement that I should write a guide to creating a program so that people aren’t building a program without guidance.

            My capstone addresses the core values in two different ways. The first way is was my process of building Project S.P.A.C.E (Scholastic Program for Astrophotography and Celestial Events) since during that process I went through Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation and Reflection numerous times to refine the program and bring to where it is today. The second way was the actual paper writing because while I wrote the paper I had to ask myself questions in the shoes of an outsider to identify what I actually did at the start of my process for Inquiry. For Research, I recalled my memories of actually creating the program and looked through documents I had written at the start of the program for resources we used. Collaboration was my capstone mentors helping me recall memories and identify steps I took that I missed. Presentation is the 25-page paper I put together at the end explaining how to create a program and Reflection was the constant refining I did with my peers to make the paper great.

            My process for the capstone was complex due to trying to recall precisely every step I took to create my program. The steps I took to complete the paper were Recall steps, Approach mentors about whether the steps recalled were accurate or there were some before it and then repeat this process until I had an outline for the steps so that all I had to do was to fill in information for each step. While I was recalling, my mentor Derrick Pitts had to point out some steps I missed because those steps seemed natural for me but he pointed out that they might not come naturally to others as they did to me. To overcome this, I went to Derrick when I completed the outline and went over what each step in the outline represented and meant which allowed him to point out steps I skipped over.

            A lot of the resources I used to complete my capstone were human resources like Derrick Pitts and my original founding members of the program. Although they made up most of my resources, they did not make up all of them. I also used the same resources I used when we first started to help me remember some of the tools I used to start researching in Astronomy. I also used notes and random writings on my computers to piece together memories completely.

            What I’m most proud of in this capstone is what others stand to gain from this paper. I’m most proud of that because I remember why I created my program: to improve education in Astronomy and STEM. This paper allows others to create programs similar to mine whether they have the same goals or not, it doesn’t matter because the programs are created to improve an aspect of a life. Whether that aspect is education, environment or a concept, I’m happy to know that my paper can help to improve things faster due to those innovators having a guideline to make creating a program easier for them than creating it from scratch. I learned a lot from my process because I reflected on everything the last 4 years related to my program. It’s helped me to see where I could do better and what I need to work on moving forward. One of those things to work on is notifying the program members far ahead of time since I’m still not doing well with that.

            If I could do this capstone over again the only thing I would change is getting more people to help me recollect the steps I took since although I got it done and wrote the paper, there are still pieces that come to me every once in a while that I wonder if I should of put into the paper. SLA is a better place because I was a student there because I created a student-led program at SLA that is soon going to become a national program. I remember hearing one of my superiors at The Franklin Institute telling me in a meeting this, “There are two things that came out of SLA that are no place else: Educon, the educational conference held and run by the school, and your program, Project S.P.A.C.E, the only student-led program to be created by a student for students that does research into a subject like Astronomy with minimal adult direction.” One of the biggest ways that I’ve made SLA a better place since I was a student there is that through running and building my program, I’ve created awesome new connections and opportunities for students at SLA whether its still being able to go to Wednesdays at the Franklin as freshmen or giving students more ILPs to do at TFI. Personally, I think I have done what Lehmann once told me which was, “You’ve ‘maximized’ your experience at SLA”. I truly believe I have since I don’t think I could answer how I could of made better use of the time I had at SLA. 

Capstone Process Paper

June 7, 2013

For my capstone project I designed and built the Science Leadership Academy mascot costume, the rocket. I decided to do this project because I felt this was something the school could use at sporting events, fund-raising events and even just use it to boost school spirit. I feel that all the SLA core values are represented within the project. From the moment it was decided that this would be my project all the way until now, the core values have been considered and returned to for guidance. 

This particular project definitely took a lot more planning then I had initially thought. The idea is simple enough, make a costume but the more planning that occurred, the more questions sprang up to delay the construction. But first things first, I had to find someone who knew what they were doing. Extremely luckily for me, a family friend owns a costume and display company, Character Translations Inc., where I was able to work under careful direction. After ensuring I would be able to work here, the fun began. 

The scale model phase took approximately 6 weeks. This included, choosing the main material, deciding on a basic structure and sketching and building models. After being sure of the desired structure and material, I began assembling the pieces. This involved making paper outlines of each type of piece so that they would all be identical. These outlines would then be traced onto sixty gauge plastic which would then be cut out. The next phase was assembly. Almost all the pieces on the rocket are riveted together, only excluding the inner harness, which was screwed in after riveting. After the rocket was in order, I began making the flames and fins. The flames are different sized materials that are all cut and sewn to an elastic band which is Velcro-ed to the inner bottom rim. The fins are made of hard foam that was cut, shaped, sanded, and painted. After drying, they were glued on to the bottom. At this point all major construction sections were done, so I moved onto to details. All of the plastic on the rocket was originally silver but using spray paint, I was able to add the some school colors. Before painting, sections of the rocket had to be very securely masked off to cover silver sections and fins. Once the paint had dried, all that was left to do was add the decals. Simple brown glue was used to place the “S L A” and American flags on each side. This entire process spanned over 5 months. 

The main problems I faced when trying to complete this capstone were time and knowledge. Finding time to come to the work shop in Norristown was difficult. I often used Wednesday afternoons and national holidays for work time on the project. Of course, things come up and I was not always able to make it to the work shop but overall, I feel I had the perfect amount of time to complete the project. My lack of knowledge proved to make this project more testing. I had no idea the amount of work I was signing on for when I chose this project. I knew very little about costume design/production and at times, it showed in my work. Without the help of employees at Character Translation Inc., this rocket would not exist. They taught me as we went along and I learned a great deal from working with them. In the end, my original obstacles became some of my favorites parts of this project. 

I am most proud of this project because it is something I can give back to the school that has given so much to me. Of course, I am happy with the way it turned out and the experience I gained but I am more pleased to be able do something that will maybe have a positive affect on the school. I learned a lot about design and construction but probably one of the more important things I learned was how to work with people in a professional atmosphere. The things I learned from the project and also the things I have learned from attending SLA for four years, are things that I will use and cherish for the rest of my life. Thank you. 

I think by taking this class I made so much improvement. I know I am not good a drawing characters but when I compare my drawing to the first when I came in class, then I did better job. Because you learn at every stage in your life and I learn a lot during this class. The online tutorial guide me so much. It was so helpful for me as It teaches step by step. In short I did my best and I took benefit of taking this class. It helped me alot. 

Here is my art from this quarter. Some of the drawings from this quarter were stuff I already did first quarter, which you can see in my first quarter blog post

For my side project I did iPhone Photography

 http://bitsofcaribbean.weebly.com/process-paper.html

http://​achalfen.wix.com/jeremylin

check out the insanity behind the "linsanity"

For my final project I made a college on my bed room wall. It started out as me just cutting things out a placing them on the wall. But I turned in into something.

This link below is the teaching of double dutch !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2MadHLWYg0

​Drama High Super Edition: Holidaze is the 9th book of The Drama High series written by L.Divine. Divine is a young author who was born and raised in California by her grandparents. Many people didn’t believe in Divine’s writing. She wrote for her schools paper, blogs and many more. It wasn’t until 2002 she self published and wrote her first book  and began selling and/or giving it away to anyone who was interested. By 2003-2004 she baecame an agent and publisher for the first book. Ms. Divine formed L. Divine, Inc. She attended UCLA, earning a B.A. in African American Studies (1999) and an M.A. in African American Studies (2000, specializing in Educational Psychology). She now lives in Atlanta with her two kids one son and one daughter. L.Divine's picture is shown at the bottoms. 

Jayd Jackson is a 16 year old who is the main character of the book. Her story starts when she goes back to school to South Bay High aka Drama High. She lives with her grandmother who is one of the many Louisiana conjure women which means she has powerful powers from Louisiana gods. Jayd has a lot of drama in her life because her grandmother is a conjurer and her next door neighbor is a evil voodoo queen who wants to take Jayd’s powers for her own. The drama is worse in school. It’s close to Valentines Day, and love is in the air sort of speak. Jayd has to face the fact that her crew is falling apart and her frenemy Misty is getting help from her evil next door neighbor. Jayd will need more than her inner strength. She'll need the help of her gifted ancestors, to save herself and her crew. 

I can relate to this book because it seems like my life is always filled with drama. My mom thinks it’s because I don't mind my own business which is somewhat the case, but at the same time people tell me everything and then it just goes downhill from picking sides or friends being mad at the other. At home it’s not as bad because my grandmother isn’t my main care taker. I live with my mom and she’s around when I need her. My relationship with my dad is like Jayd’s. I can’t say I hate my dads side of the family because I don’t really know them but my dad wasn’t really around he was in Ohio for 13 out of 15 years of my life. Sometimes he does try to be a dad but it doesn’t work out the way I want it to and it’s the same way with her dad. 

Another thing is Jayd cares a lot about her grades and friends. Like with me my school grades are a lot more important than buying new things or the new show on tv. It’s hard for Jayd because she also has a soft side for her friends. She feels like she always have to fix things because she’s the only mature on of the group. No one else wants to grow up and try to fix things. When her to main concerns start to mess up it becomes too stressful to think and you just want to crawl back into the bed. I can relate to that, I really do care for my friends if one of them is hurt I’m always there but it seems like no one there for me. It’s the same way for Jayd the only person who understands all her stress is her grandmother and ex boyfriend who is in his own world. 

Over all Holidaze was a good /interesting book. I’m a sucker for drama books, mysteries occasionally I like horror and romantic books. I love the Drama High series once I start reading the book I can’t get enough of it. I have actually recommended the series to two of my friends who have also enjoyed the books. I want to keep reading the series until I finish all the books. The one thing I think can be cut back on is Jayd’s powers. I think it’s great she has them but her and her grandmothers traditions go against my religion. Sometimes it’s a lot to read about and it’s the same thing, I want something fresh. That little problem still doesn’t stop me from reading my book. When I’m done the series I’m going to wait for the 16th book in the meantime I am going to be reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I will be writing a book review for that so stay tuned. Book cover is shown below

I recommend this book for people teens and young adults of the age 13-20. Adults can read it because my mom enjoy the books too but it reaches out to kids in high school. This can be for both genders but it seems like girls would understand the drama that’s in the book. To boys it would probably be silly the stuff they fight about in the book. Overall this book is good for people who can tolerate cliffhangers and don’t mind reading more than one book to get to the ending. It’s a romantic drama for teens. If you give it a rating it’s rated P.G 14 it has it’s moments where it gets graphic with violence and the language. It’s a book that will keep you reading because you want to hope that Jayd will get a better life outside of South Bay High. The first book in the Drama High series is The Fight.

For my creative project I made a prezi that shows how Jayd overcame her obstacles that kept her from her mission. 

What is negative space?
Negative space is the space around and in between shapes. If you draw the outline of a shape, without adding detail inside of it, you are drawing negative space.

How did you find negative space?
I found negative space in my cut-out based on what was shaded and what wasn't shaded in the template. Everything that was shaded represented the negative space. I found the negative space in the drawing by just drawing the outline of the shapes and not drawing the lines inside of it. I basically just drew what the shadow would look like.

Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?
It helps an artist to see in negative spae so that they can get a different perspective on their art. That way, they can think of new creative ways to draw the same thing in a different way.

Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings?
Seeing in negative space does enhance drawings because it gives you two perspectives to look at. On one hand, you're looking at the objects themselves, and on the other hand you're looking at everything around them. This way, the drawing looks even more sophisticated and if you do negative and positive space in one drawing it looks more abstract.

Art work From quarter 4

The Secret: My Secret

My Secret,

The One that holds me back,

The One that no one knows,

Except the friends I’ve told.

Not even my mother,

Nope not at all.

I feel that this secret is not me,

But, yet a phase.

One that will go away,

Just a feeling in the moment.

But, the feeling, it overshadows me.

Keeping me in the dark and not wanting to come out.

My thoughts, they’re mines,

But it takes over when the oppurtunity presents,

When it presents, it wins,

All the time.

No, I am not ready to accept my secret, 

The Lie that I tell myself everyday.

You probably no by now,

But, I am still not ready to share.

To me my secret is an untold truth,

But a lie to myself being.

It may be true,

But, right now, I am not ready to accept, “The Secret.”

                For my senior capstone, I conducted a research project on water hyacinth; an invasive plant species from the Amazon. Choosing this project came naturally to me. I knew that during college I would want to study environmental science or civil engineering. While at the Environmental Protection Agency, a coworker suggested I look into the plant species that habitat the Delaware River. After researching the Delaware and invasive plant species, I decided this would be the perfect project.

                My capstone addresses the SLA core values in many ways. For one, collaboration was a major, if not integral, portion of my capstone. It was often necessary to reach out to coworkers to give feedback on my proposal as well as research paper. I also had to gain the backing of a knowledgeable team. With a great team behind me, it was easy to move forward with conducting our research. Another very important piece of this project was research. Countless hours were spent understanding the water hyacinth plant, removal and disposal methods, and its anatomy. This information was vital to properly conducting the project. Understanding the growth pattern of water hyacinth along with the tidal patterns of the Delaware made conducting research easier. In terms of the value of presentation and reflection, a great deal of attention was paid to the detail within the research paper. After reading some other published research papers on water hyacinth and its applications, I made sure that my paper was read over by many pairs of eyes. This ensured the quality of the project was evident in its documentation.

                To complete this capstone, four steps were followed. Research, comprehension, application, reflection. These steps were used countless times during the process of my capstone. Research was used to layer the basic understanding of all elements incorporated into my capstone. From understanding scientific measurements of the biology of a river to using probes for water quality testing. This research was often revised and revisited. Comprehension played a key role in the project. After conducting all the necessary research, the team got together to ensure that all information was not only relevant, but that it could also help us to direct our study areas to those in which finding/identifying water hyacinth would be possible. This step was also used to devise the course maps for the project. Application was the manifestation of our research and planning. We took everything that we learned and went into the field to collect our data. Over the course of two days, the team managed to visit 6 different sites. Three sites were on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River while the other 3 were on the Pennsylvania side. These sites were chosen after careful deliberation with the project team. We ensured that all sites had a relative proximity as well as being easy to navigate to. Reflection was the final step in completing this capstone. Reflecting on the team’s work, it was evident that our research could have a long term impact in the quality of our river. After conducting the project, it was evident that we needed to reach out to other agencies to ensure that the right people were aware that water hyacinth may have spread to Pennsylvania as well as New Jersey.

                One major obstacle that presented the project team early on were the effects of the sequestration. Due to the sequestration, it was unclear at times whether or not the research project would be able to move forward. Another factor that affected the project was the equipment needed. The boat that was set to be used had not yet undergone its inspection and checklist. For this reason, the course map was redrawn to allow us to visit sites in which we knew water hyacinth could exist while having access to the shore. In the end, these two factors caused the project to be conducted from shore instead of using the boat. During the course of the project, there were often many a time in which other knowledge bases were needed. Often, I tapped in to my coworkers. They proved invaluable with a plethora of information about conducting research projects, writing a clear research paper, and quality assurance standards to use while conducting research.

                I am most proud of the experience given by this capstone. Most students in high school do not get to conduct their very own research project. Having the experience of conducting and leading a research team for a project was very exciting. It showed me a lot about collaboration as well as effective use and consolidation of resources. When we found that we could not use a specific program or tool, we quickly turned gear to find another way of doing things. This project has also taught me a lot about environmental science as a major. It gave me a deeper understanding to the things that environmental scientist and engineers do on a daily basis. If I could do this capstone over again, I would change the timespan of the project. Having the research conducted in two days was sufficient for the scale of this project however, with a greater timespan, we could most likely get more locations surveyed.

                My capstone has made SLA a better place because of the people that I have inspired. When underclassmen would ask me about my capstone, they were instantly intrigued that I got to lead and conduct a research project. This also allowed me to network people to bring about more resources and materials for science learning at SLA.